Some buyers who make an offer on an item are forced to pay immediately upon the seller accepting the offer. eBay confirmed it is a test. You can see a screenshot of what the experience looks like for a buyer (who edited the screenshot for privacy) on this thread on the eBay discussion boards.
eBay has been attempting to eliminate the problem of deadbeat buyers and is using Managed Payments to do try to eliminate the problem of “unpaid items.”
eBay moderator sandhya@ebay confirmed the test and answered questions about it on the another thread on the eBay seller discussion boards.
“Hey all. confirming there is a currently a test running (enabled for some buyers) where their payment method will be automatically charged when the seller accepts the offer or when the auto accept price on the offer is met.
“When making an offer these buyers (who are in the test) are prompted with a payment screen where they can choose from existing payment methods or add a new payment method and also edit/add shipping address. Should the offer be accepted by the seller, buyer will be automatically charged.”
Some other key points the moderator made:
- “At this point as a seller there is no notification built yet to indicate the if the payment will be immediate or not.”
- “The payment screen has an option to pick the delivery option.”
- “The buyer making an offer every time will be presented with the payment screen. So for every offer the buyer in fact has to confirm the payment option, shipping details before they submit the offer. For every offer the buyer does have the ability to edit/add new payment method as well as shipping address and choose from the delivery options available. Again, the payment is charged only when the seller accepts the offer.”
- “The buyer who is in this test segment when they are presented with the payment screen there is a link on there to provide feedback on the new experience. The team is constantly reviewing these feedback and this will be used to share the product into a better product.”
- “If you are in the test group and you are prompted for the payment then this is only way you can submit offers. This is the current behavior for the test group.”
Check out the EcommerceBytes Blog for a link to a video about the feature, and leave a comment.
Will sellers who may sell multiple lower priced items will now be forced to pay 30 cents for every item instead of the order?
Why not place unpaid offers into an eBay shopping cart with a reasonable time limit?
Or, why not combine purchases paid on the same day into one order before start of business the next day?.
@cfrphoto
:Why not place unpaid offers into an eBay shopping cart with a reasonable time limit?
Or, why not combine purchases paid on the same day into one order before start of business the next day?.”
Because that would actually make sense and cost Ebay money, which was the only reason this issue is now being addressed. But it also shows that Ebay has now become so desperate to try and show some kind of growth due to sales instead of their normal focus of taking money from the sellers without the Seller ever making a sale. They have finally run out of ideas to try and steal from the sellers and are now actually going after those who they actually consider their customers, the buyers.
Desperation is setting in quickly as they see those golden year end bonuses fading off into the sunset.