Power Sellers Unite

finegemdesigns · Joined: 28 Jun 2009 Posts: 107

At the end of my eBay auctions eBay has been sending my buyers an invoice immediately. This is bad for me, my business and my buyers since there are many factors that go into calculating the correct shipping and handling costs.

Problem #1- I offer buyer the option of having an "open box" which allows them to keep bidding on items until they are done. This allows me to save them money on combined shipping. I tell people in my auctions to wait for MY invoice but many times new buyers don't see this or they just obey eBay and pay immediately.

Problem #2- On International orders I have had buyers pay immediately and they underpay for shipping and handling based on eBay's invoice. Now I have the unpleasant task of explaining to them that they have to pay more. Bad for business.

eBay needs to stay out of my business when it comes to these types of complex tasks. I sell one of a kind items and there are too many variables for eBay to calculate my shipping and handling expenses.

DaLizardsLair · Joined: 15 Feb 2009 Posts: 4782

eBay will always send the buyers an email letting them know that they have won an auction. That email gives them the option of paying right then and there.

The only option I know of, is to quit selling on eBay.

Stockmiser · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Posts: 1146

In your site preferences section, under selling preferences, there is an option to "manage email templates". That will bring up all the emails ebay sends automatically. For the "won item" email, there is an option to "turn off" the pay-now button. You can also edit what is in the message itself.

While I don't see an option to turn it off altogether, it looks like you can edit what they do send, and prevent the "pay now" button.

finegemdesigns · Joined: 28 Jun 2009 Posts: 107

Stockmiser wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")In your site preferences section, under selling preferences, there is an option to "manage email templates". That will bring up all the emails ebay sends automatically. For the "won item" email, there is an option to "turn off" the pay-now button. You can also edit what is in the message itself.

While I don't see an option to turn it off altogether, it looks like you can edit what they do send, and prevent the "pay now" button.

I don't see this option "manage email templates" in my eBay.
And when I searched this topic the only thing I could find was in the Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro section.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/email-buyer.html

But I don't use either of these for my auctions.

According to what I can find so far there is no way to turn off these automatic invoices coming from eBay.

If you can provide a link to the eBay Help Page that has instructions to stop instant invoices please post it.

Here's the ironic part. eBay gives the illusion of choice at this page:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/contextual/pay-now-button.html

But since payment by PayPal is mandated the Pay Now button is also mandated.

"The Pay Now button is always displayed when PayPal is offered."

DaLizardsLair · Joined: 15 Feb 2009 Posts: 4782

Stockmiser stated that in the "site preferences", which you can find down the left side of the screen.

finegemdesigns · Joined: 28 Jun 2009 Posts: 107

DaLizardsLair wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")Stockmiser stated that in the "site preferences", which you can find down the left side of the screen.

I have scanned every item in the site preferences area and it's not there.

There is no "manage email templates" in that section.

moreorless · Joined: 25 Jan 2009 Posts: 11

On your Ebay Home page. Look for 3 boxes: Activity, Messages, Account
Put your mouse on Account and lots of links will appear. That's where you will find Site Preferences

finegemdesigns · Joined: 28 Jun 2009 Posts: 107

sigh

you people aren't even reading my posts

DaLizardsLair · Joined: 15 Feb 2009 Posts: 4782

SM,

I just went to look, and I didn't find anything labeled "manage email templates".

Although my seller dashboard says I'm an above average seller, even though I haven't listed an item in close to two years.

lammergeiernet · Joined: 01 Feb 2005 Posts: 1007 Location: Canada

Typical eBay ,can't even tell if its some option ,special condition ,setting , or maze like navigation with many options.

I'm so glad I rarely use it now

things4u · Joined: 21 Jan 2007 Posts: 1200

edit your account through pay pal this what the page looks like
View and update your PayPal account information and profile summary. Clicking the links below will take you to PayPal's secure website.

Go to your account overview

View account history

Update profile summary (account information, financial information, and selling preferences)

What else can you do?

View and update your PayPal user preferences on eBay.
Your eBay account is linked with your Paypal account: ( your e mail) Remove link.
(Removing this link will make it more difficult to buy items from sellers who require confirmed PayPal accounts

Stockmiser · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Posts: 1146

Sorry about that....you may be right that it's a "seller manager" (or seller manager pro) option. Seller manager is so interwoven into the my-ebay options its very hard to tell what is specific to the manager.

The option I found was for editing the email template, but it would do nothing for the checkout options. You still have to deal with a buyer going thru checkout.

But going back to the original problem...

The OP wants a buyer to buy an item, and not be able to complete checkout until they send them an invoice (and make adjustments). It's a very old issue - and ebay (and other sites) are moving in exactly the opposite direction where they are making immediate checkouts easier. On a webstore, it's the only way it even works.

Back when I used to charge for shipping, I used ebay's combined shipping rules to accomplish this - but even then, it didn't always work out.

At some point you have to adjust your business practices to match whatever service you are using - or at least find a compromise.

For the combined shipping discounts, I mentined them clearly on the listings and in correspondence, and when someone went ahead did multiple checkouts, I would reimburse them for the discount using paypal. Of course you can also be a hardnose and tell them they didn't do it right and therefore don't get the discount - but I like return customers. 8)

For the shipping "under charges", I think that's a problem in how you are setting up your listings. IMHO, No one should ever be able to checkout and pay less than you want to charge. If anything, I would over-charge and offer to reimburse. Then if the buyer doesn't follow your procedures and doesn't wait for you invoice, at least you owe them money (and not the other way around). Personally, the only time I ever ask for more $$ from a buyer is when we've worked something out in email at the buyer's request (like if they want expedited shipping).

DaLizardsLair · Joined: 15 Feb 2009 Posts: 4782

Back when I did auctions on eBay, I would also get the occasional buyer who would pay early, even though they still had items with bids on them.

I would offer them the choice of my refunding until the auctions ended or simply shipping what they had paid for, since there was no guarantee that they would be winning the other auctions.

The majority of the time, they opted to have me ship the items they had paid for. They would receive whatever discount they were entitled to for those items.