eBay Seller-Accepted Offers Remain Listed for Sale

by: ThebigR

I myself don't care everything can sell if priced right as long as money coming in exceeds money going out catch me on a good day and you might get that $1000.00 item for $200 bucks. When you process through the big checkout none of it will get you another breath of air on planet earth anyhow...  

by: Overthere

Mercari has on their make offer, that if  offer is accepted, the buyer has to pay for it instantly. And if the buyer doesn't have any money in their account/card on file then the sale is declined.
I have had people on Mercari make an offer and I accept and it is declined I message them and tell them so. Their reply usually is " I just wanted to see how low you would go, I didn't really want it right now." Or "I don't keep money in my account as I just want to see what the lowest price that you will take, and I may want to buy it at a later date" Or "I offered another seller that had the same thing an offer that was lower then the one I offered you and they accepted. So since they accepted I'm going with them and now will put money in my account to get it from them."

by: Snapped

There’s a big difference between a question of what’s acceptable that solicits a non-binding response, and a formal offer made.that promises to pay an amount that implies a predetermined acceptable answer is all that needs to be agreed to.

The ‘buyer’ who uses the latter method as a fishing pole lacks character, and that’s not a trustworthy trait.  

by: OhCalcutta

ebay has made many changes,it must have good reason to do so,
It owns the sales venue,if you dont like its policy,then take your business somewhere else,there is no contract to tie you to slavebay !!  

by: iheartjacksparrow

@OhCalcutta: There's a big difference between a stall in an Egyptian bazaar and a shop in, for instance, an antiques mall. I've watched enough episodes of Expedition Unknown to know that many foreign countries have open air markets where the proprietors will gladly haggle to make a sale. I'm sure even the sellers running stalls in the farmers markets which seem to be in every city will listen to offers. But I don't know why you'd waste the time of a business owner when you have no intention of buying when he agrees to your price.

by: Fruitylovesyou

This won't last, it will make buyer very angry

by: pace306

Buyers ... seem to forget that ALOT of smaller sellers run their accounts as a business and live off it - and being snarky "I just wanted to see how low you 'de go" or "I have no money now, maybe later" is just rude and not appropriate.

Making an offer is an "intent to purchase" and theres NO REASON to back out unless you REALLY have no choice.

Why "try to buy something" if you know you have no money to pay for the item(s)? WOuld you go to Macys and bring 20 things to the register, have the girl scan and total things up just to say to her "sorry I just wanted to see if I could get these items for X and not Y, Ill be going now"?

eBay SHOULD make everyone (read BUYERS since they already have sellers financial info) have a payment method on file. If you agree to purchase and then do not - yet get a strike. 3 of them and you are kicked off the platform.

Just like everyone else - this is a business and not a game - a little professionalism goes along way.

by: OhCalcutta

Ebay is not an antique mall,it is a flea market.
Egyptian store merchants will bargain with you and finally agree to your price,he asked you to step into his store and tell you the price is not in Egyptian bond but British bond,so we are back bargaining again.
Finally the tourists just walk away,but the store owner does not seem to mind he is wasting his time!
any way back to OP,she should be happy if someone could come along and bought the item at a higher price.  

by: Snapped

“ Finally the tourists just walk away,but the store owner does not seem to mind he is wasting his time!”

That’s not an applicable analogy.  They were still “bargaining” (payment method).  There is no dishonor (or wasted time) in failing to reach an agreement as long as both parties are acting in good faith.

by: OhCalcutta

Why "try to buy something" if you know you have no money to pay for the item(s)? WOuld you go to Macys and bring 20 things to the register, have the girl scan and total things up just to say to her "sorry I just wanted to see if I could get these items for X and not Y, Ill be going now"?
------------------------
make an offer is not bringing 20 or 1 item to the register and have them scanned.
The conversation goes like this-
buyer points at an item and asked would you take 50 dollars?
Seller said yes.
Buyer said nothing and left the scene,
The item is still on the shelf,the seller lost nothing    

by: Snapped

“ The conversation goes like this-
buyer points at an item and asked would you take 50 dollars?
Seller said yes.
Buyer said nothing and left the scene,
The item is still on the shelf,the seller lost nothing ”

No, the ‘conversation’ WENT like this:
The buyer takes the item off the shelf and brings the item to checkout and declares they will pay $50 for it and when the seller agrees and rings it up, the buyer says ‘just checking’, leaves the item on the counter, the recorded sale unpaid, and walks out the door.  Now the ‘transaction’ needs to be voided, and the item re-shelved.

The first example is just a question.  No harm, no foul.  

The second is a declaration of intent (an offer), which when accepted, establishes a contract that the buyer then promptly breeches.

See the difference?  

by: OhCalcutta

No,the item is still on the shelf,if I ask would you take $50,I am pointing at the item,it is not in my EBay shopping cart,if it is not in my shopping cart,
EVEN IF IT WERE IN MY SHOPPING CART,EBAY HAS A FEATURE FOR US TO REMOVE IT.  

by: OhCalcutta

IF you are so upset by buyers not paying immediately when his offer is accepted,then why not remove make an offer and just keep it as BIN at a lower price,skip all that BS,

by: OhCalcutta

Someone asked a question earlier if he made an offer and is accepted by the seller ,then he does not have enough fund in whatever his payment method he chose,would he look bad ?
I would think if it happens too many times,Ebay may notice,.
Or if he is using a debit or credit card,the issuer could contact him if it suspects fraud or shut down his card?

by: OhCalcutta

There is an AMZN seller posted on another forum,he said there is a buyer who would buy every item in his shop but it would always remain pending,possibly he does not have enough fund in his payment account and there is nothing he can do about it as AMZN does not have block this buyer feature.
This is a ploy by retail arbitrager to make sure if someone buys from him on another site,he will always have the item to fulfill the order.  

by: Fruitylovesyou

I have such beautiful plants.. I really love this string of tears.. It has been growing like crazy for the last two years or so. Very big and strong. I heart plants

by: WhySoManyDownVote

It’s another one of eBay’s terrible attempts to creatively solve a problem without addressing the cause. As I understand this current problem is that eBay doesn’t automatically pay the seller if the seller makes an offer that is accepted.

The solution is pretty simple, a buyer cannot accept an offer without providing a payment method first. Why is this something that takes years to figure out and solve?  

by: Snapped

“ No,the item is still on the shelf,if I ask would you take $50,..”

Still not sinking in, huh.

A question (“…ask…”) is not an offer.  It’s not just semantics, they are two different things.  eBay provides a method to ask a question without making a formal offer. Even if the answer is ‘yes’, the formal offer and accept process must follow to complete the transaction.

Try this - any listing considered by the buyer is also effectively a seller ‘making an offer’ at X price.  If the buyer ‘accepts’ (hits buy button) a contract is established.  But if they just ASK, is this a correct price, and even state a willingness to pay, the seller can say - no, I was just testing the waters, or alternately sure, go ahead.   Not ideal, but that q/a parlay doesn’t establish a contract yet.

Now imagine the buyer formalizing the process by hitting the buy button, which involves no (or no more) ASKING, and THEN the seller saying - nope, no sale, I was just checking to see if someone would buy at that price.  Same difference - and definitely not ‘ok’.  

Meanwhile, carting the item is not the same as accepting the seller’s ‘offer’, because it’s not yet binding, because the cart, or item, IS ALLOWED to be abandoned.  Just like a buyer making a formal offer but still waiting on seller acceptance is not yet binding.  The widget stays in the cart until the seller removes it to ring it up or re-shelve it.

Refusing to see all that doesn’t change it either.
——-

“ The solution is pretty simple, a buyer cannot accept an offer without providing a payment method first. Why is this something that takes years to figure out and solve?”

It didn’t of course.  And that applies to all methods, be it auction, BIN or offers.  But eBay predetermined long ago that ‘too many’ buyers won’t accept that.  They are loathe to alienate any potential, even those whose motives for that ‘dislike’ (and resultant behavior) are less than honorable.  It’s only recently, when THEY have been impacted by not claiming unpaid items as ‘sales’, that they’ve now begun investigating the best way for them to tread that tightrope.  That, and now they can make another claim to be ‘responsive’ to seller opinion.

See, they don’t have much character either.

by: OhCalcutta

We can argue all day long,but the fact is,Ebay is the sales venue,if you dont like its policy,then take your business somewhere else,it would save you a lot of headache waiting  for Ebay to change its policy to your liking .
Some sellers like this new policy,if buyer does not pay and someone comes along with a better offer,more money in his pocket
Why cant  you the retailer do something like asking why he is not paying ,or when is he going to pay?or why makes an offer if he has no intention of paying OR block him from future offers.

by: OhCalcutta

if you ever have your own merchant account to accept credit card payments,you must know you do not get paid same day,the bank which issues you the merchant account will need to collect from the buyer ' bank and then deposit into your bank account,it could take 1-2 days,overseas credit card would take longer.
Paypal will make the fund immediately available in your Paypal account (with some exceptions),it is not Paypal is faster in collecting the $$,it is Paypal advancing the fund to us .
Now Ebay is using Ayden (MP),there is no advancing ,we will have to wait.