⚑ eBay is getting in its own way at checkout ☹
Since this morning I have been trapped in a momentous situation that - like no other opportunity - is ultimately and exemplarily suited to cast a spotlight on the unsatisfactory, unfinished shipping-cost handling in the course of checkout (cash register checkout).
eBay is an offers platform and a marketplace, and it lives from bringing buyers and sellers together. It should be in eBay's original interest to find the best possible ways for the most common constellations, circumstances, and interests - with the goal of making buying and selling safe and straightforward. Under no circumstances, however, should intricate quirks of the platform impair or thwart a purchase interest. Yet this happens again and again to the detriment of buyers and sellers alike, sometimes garnished with bizarre impositions.
To the demonstration that now follows, I will attach a solution concept improved in detail at the end. But first this exemplary situation helps us better understand, in essence, why eBay is so persistently oriented toward free shipping, which in turn shifts the unresolved challenges onto the sellers and for that very reason is not the last word in wisdom.
For my two Acer Veriton desktop PCs, there are still missing - two drive bays each, along with a card holder. Today I find a seller who offers exactly these 4 + 2 plastic parts, original and fitting, but not as separate individual listings; rather - which makes sense - addable to the cart. As a private seller, he will certainly want to get rid of these parts as a whole. Nevertheless, in terms of quantity, he accommodates potential individual needs with a flexible listing design.
So for both of us, the perfect match! I want to buy the 4 + 2 parts, but both Buy It Now and purchase via cart do not work for me, because eBay's checkout system adds all shipping costs when going to checkout, and then I would end up with more than €31 in shipping costs for six small plastic parts. True, I could buy it like that unchanged and then trust that the seller would refund the overpaid shipping costs. There is an extra function for sellers for that. But I am cautious, because there are sellers who show ZERO willingness to accommodate AFTER the purchase.
That puts me in a bind: as soon as even one of these plastic parts is bought by someone else in the next few hours and minutes, the whole set loses its appeal for my purchasing interest. For me, it is either I buy the complete match or not at all. That this purchase could possibly fail because of simple abstention would be solely attributable to the not yet mature eBay checkout system.
The problem we both - he as seller and I as buyer - face: I cannot buy as long as no shipping-optimized invoice is provided to me. As a private seller, he may not be able to provide me with a shipping-optimized invoice because, under certain circumstances, he cannot react if I have not yet bought and therefore will not buy due to the addition of shipping costs.
Contacting eBay makes no sense. Their customer service is now concreted over from the bottom up.
My proposed solution: Could it not work out better for everyone in these cart-added sales constellations if eBay, as the platform operator, implemented a reservation function whose use is exclusively and mandatorily tied only to the (limited duration of the) agreement on the shipping method and its costs? In this process, for general simplification, all shipping options available in the country could be shown preconfigured in the reservation tool with preset - meaning at the same time: individually editable - prices. And specifically all prices based on the current price/service schedules of all shipping providers operating in Germany - and in the respective countries with an eBay presence.
Pushed further, this tool could be expanded for general use so that the prospectively - naturally uncertain - and thus inefficient preoccupation with all possible shipping offer variants, which already has to be done time-consuming in advance when creating the listing, would be eliminated. The intended use of those variants is far more questionable there compared with the point at which a specific interested buyer triggers the reservation tool with regard to the specific agreement on shipping costs.
In my view, this is the premise for a fundamental redesign of the perspective from which sellers and buyers will in future look at the shipping-cost problem - and thus a revolutionary structural change on the horizon of the eBay offers platform seems possible: from now on, the seller simply chooses - more or less accommodating, ideally in coordination with the buyer - the optimal shipping method that is appropriate for him (or both). The old-fashioned transport of goods by means of selecting from an - inefficient - range of shipping options to be kept on hand thus falls out of view. For example, not everyone has a shop or branch of a shipping provider predetermined at will nearby. With the new structure, shop-to-shop shipping variants would also be much easier to agree on and implement [not practicable in advance given the undefined circle of buyers], with the chance of even saving shipping costs in the process. From the buyer's perspective, problems arising from the use of leave-at-door permissions are partly becoming excessive, so that interest in shop or branch delivery is increasing from that side.
With agreement on shipping method and shipping price, according to this concept, a total purchase price offer all of a piece is inseparably created, predetermined. This is suited to eliminate many points of friction, because the co-determination of both buyer and seller in the choice of shipping is preserved. This happens on the basis of the comprehensive, self-contained catalog of services of the equally integrated shipping providers prefilled by the platform system in the reservation tool with default entries.
So that even more clunky, immature eBay functions can be included in this one concerted redesign, the new functionality of a reservation tool would also finally provide the appropriate place to reach an understanding about the actual possibilities of arranging a meeting for self-collection of the item or items of interest. When purchasing multiple prepaid items via the local option, some things are still not mature since the switch to using the QR pickup code.
It would be better to give up all the fiddling in favor of a large, clear restructuring.
paralepepalme
OP2 years agoUnified feedback from you and also a festive announcement 🎭 from me:
I’ve made it through several days of fasting. The trip into the discussion forum and the focused writing progress here have helped distract me. The blood pressure 💗 goes down with reduced metabolic activity, and so does the pulse 💓. Everyone should try it for themselves at least once. It makes you euphoric, but not crazy 👻 - As of today I’m eating normally again. 🍕
I deactivated Dark Mode in the forum. Now I can immediately see the colors that were covered up by it.
Every new demand is confronted by the broad mass of concerns, which feeds on uncertainty about the effects of a change on one’s own situation and lets stubbornness sprout:
With a carefully prepared introduction and the willingness to engage that naturally comes with attention to a major change, that would work - unfortunately just not at eBay, who are unable to provide a few concise and understandable - obvious and readily available - tutorials for the most important recent changes.
The constant in-flux of innovations and changes accumulates - unnoticed by the majority of users, who have other things to do than follow weekly announcements and blog posts - beneath the eBay interface. Concrete experiences regularly turn into misleading and counterproductive actions in the face of diffuse changes. The community tries to straighten out what is now only ❓❔⁉️.
That is why I see in factual terms that the implementation is probably doomed to fail, simply because it will not even reach the decision-makers, who could assess such a structural adjustment from their perspective as marketplace operators and have the power to shape things. It should be clear that every change is immediately checked for potential for abuse. That concerns a secondary problem of sharpening and sealing off.
The main issue is the two objections from
and
that leave me discouraged
For now there is no getting around the lack of legal classification. Until the world legislator, who does not exist, adds something to it, nothing will move at eBay anyway.
Preserving flexibility in the sense of AUTONOMY is an important argument that should be taken into account in favor of the provider side.
So for demanders - the buyers - it will continue to be exciting, and there will keep being “encounters” that know how to spice up dealing on this marketplace in the best possible way. Nevertheless, I like experiencing and enduring eBay. That doesn’t rule out working for change.
The unlucky ones are those who have to get rid of surplus things - because everything that is acquired eventually turns into trash. So it’s better to collect moments, and less to pile up things:
I’m currently experiencing in a very vivid way what it means to sell off the remaining warehouse stock of a previous owner who disappeared after trading in China junk 🈶 for a few years. That only works via flea markets, and even there it’s tough, even if you give it away or sell it for cents. eBay is definitely not an option for that.
and
also
I sleep on my side 💤 😴 and like to turn over now and then 😊 😉 so it doesn’t stay one-sided.
Yes, I still have a seller account, but in the future I’ll probably switch to selling on this one as well, without it becoming one-sided.
That cannot be denied in any case. One might think such behavior would quickly be exposed as abusive behavior. But eBay has long since kicked any remaining trust in effective support from the platform - and “thanks” to AI, that probably won’t get better. In purely practical terms, the can be “deimplemented”.
That warms my heart 💖 The elementary school teacher 👩🏫 used exactly those words many years ago to characterize our daughter. Today the latter is researching the
“Folding of the world” (Levermann).
That’s how it is. If humanity wants to save itself.
Admittedly, when it comes to cut flowers 💐🥀 dogs 🐕 and cats 🐈 or aquarium fish 🐠 I’m completely out. Let’s see whether that will also apply to this thread from now on…
Wasn’t that a gentle landing - or?
petersmodellbahnstuebchen
·2 years agoHi @paralepepalme ,
it’s actually a shame that you give up so quickly. Just because some users here don’t agree with you?
Or because you’ve now realized that this crazy idea doesn’t go down well with the sellers here on the forum?
Since you also don’t address my questions, but instead, admittedly quite artfully, skirt around them, I’m not giving up, but sticking to my opinion and also declaring this discussion over, at least for me.
Nevertheless, good luck with new ideas for how Ebay might be improved.
Kind regards from the Baltic Sea
Peter
paralepepalme
OP2 years agoSo that the basic discussion rounds things out, I can answer the last open question today
from @petersmodellbahnstuebchen who has thus proven to be a Ⓢⓔⓗⓡ ⓖⓤⓣⓔⓡ observer 
That’s actually how it went, in parallel, and it even saved three fifths of the money compared to the initial situation - if I don’t count the time spent writing here in the suggestion board, since in effect this has now also given me a clear sales strategy.
Picked up the shipment today from the post office as direct delivery; the contents were carefully and neatly packaged . . .
sᴇᴴᴿ ᴳᵁᵀ vᴱᴿᴾᴬcᴷᵀ
. . . so that the two Veriton cases now look really ༺ CLASSY ༻
. . .
" Na-na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na Na-na-na-nah Here comes the HotSwapper I'm the lyrical gangster Excuse me mister officer Still love you like that Hey, da-da da-da Da-da, da-da Da-da, da-da "
(freely adapted from Ini Kamoze)
... thanks to the fact that the package was complete, and luckily nobody had snatched even one of the plastic parts from me beforehand, all while I was making a lot of thoughts 🤔 about this disillusioning shopping cart.
As a summary, I’d put it like this: if you want to use eBay sensibly, you basically need two seller accounts — one to make a living and bring in proceeds through sought-after auction items and also for very specific items of indefinite need, i.e. fixed-price offers that are more likely to sell through targeted searches; all in all with the option to issue invoices flexibly — and another one for all the odds and ends, junk, tat, clutter, trinkets, bric-a-brac and junk you’d most like to give away, which can preferably be offered as €1 fixed-price items with free shipping, a one-month return policy and big bundle discounts but for immediate payment, so that in the end it amounts to little more than the actual shipping costs and otherwise comes across as if it were free. So people get into the buying mood and would rather cut themselves short by buying little by little at intervals, because then they’d lose the bundle discounts.
I really have a lot to clear out; I have to make sure I don’t end up on a commercial scale.
Are there any other viewpoints, strategies, tips and tricks for getting rid of superfluous stuff as effectively (in terms of value, as well as cost and time) as possible, and that is short of clearing-out services, the bin and the container ??
You can’t take anything to the grave with you
erwerbsregel
·2 years ago@paralepepalme
With all due respect: Could it be that you like hearing yourself talk - here, of course, write - a bit too much 🤗
In any case, your need to communicate seems limitless 😉
paralepepalme
OP2 years agoIt could be that I spontaneously read it as meaning that this is socially unwelcome
I also haven't really been reading the daily press for a long time anymore, because it comes across as far too extensive, with a lot of redundant content and, over the course of the year, the often same, reheated topics. Here I am arguing for my own point of view - it's about suggestions.
Nobody is forcing me to do it and I don't demand any money for it either
voli-maus
·2 years agoBut there is still a little urge to write here, @paralepepalme ? 🤔
Have a nice evening.
petersmodellbahnstuebchen
·2 years agoMoin @paralepepalme
"
So that the basic discussion comes full circle, I can answer the last open question today
from @petersmodellbahnstuebchen , who has thereby proven himself to be a Ⓢⓔⓗⓡ ⓖⓤⓣⓔⓡ observer
That is indeed how it went paralepepalme in parallel, and it even saved three-fifths of the money compared with the original situation - if I don’t count the time spent writing here in the suggestions board, since in effect a clear sales strategy has now also emerged for me."
It really wasn’t necessary to answer my question after all, since the item number already made that clear to me.
Best regards from the Baltic Sea
Peter
paralepepalme
OP2 years agoNow @petersmodellbahnstuebchen , as for me, I really did think about what questions they might have been, the ones I didn’t address and which ones I, in your view, “dodged,” when I had in fact picked up the points in more detail than usual and dealt with them.
In the end, the only thing that occurred to me was that you would have liked an explicitly stated confirmation of your careful observation that I had taken up your suggestion and contacted the seller. I then took that as the occasion for the last status update - nicely illustrated in anticipation that the thread will still be found and read in the future.
But that’s enough here now — let no one dare draw any conclusion from my multipart post, except that it would have been a completely useless point of contention, as unnecessary as a forgotten, not dismantled detour sign
katzenjogi
·2 years agoHello @paralepepalme
with such a "reservation function" it would be easy to drive unwanted competitors on eBay into ruin. You simply reserve a large quantity of items, which of course you then don't buy because negotiations with the seller "fail".
And that then blocks the possibility that the seller affected can successfully sell anything at all.
dmary56
·2 years agoI agree with you @katzenjogi
The purchase process would not only become even more complicated/opaque and drawn out, but
it would also open the door to manipulation and even attempts at "blackmail"...
Moreover, this would further encourage what is already lamentable in many areas of our society:
always stay noncommittal and
leave as many loopholes open as possible, of course to your own advantage, no matter what the outcome is for the other person, in this case the seller....
An unacceptable further one-sided disadvantage for sellers, who are already the ones getting the short end of the stick in many cases.....
paralepepalme
OP2 years agoNow finally to the reply from @petersmodellbahnstuebchen
The extension of the purchase reservation comes into play in a single-digit percentage of all purchases; if sellers are delinquent and do not respond, then it becomes necessary as a means of handling things. So the extension of the purchase reservation is more of a fallback option for the rarer cases, but it must nevertheless be provided for imperatively so that the purchase does not get stuck in limbo. You all know such blockages in a figurative sense, when the computer no longer responds. That must be excluded in a legal transaction situation!
At the latest with the IMMEDIATE purchase, the seller has to respond anyway. If they then do not respond, there is a disruption to the binding purchase contract - and that has wider ramifications. If there is a possibility of filtering out or buffering such delinquency in advance at the sublevel of the purchase reservation area, then the consequences are far less serious and the damage in the form of temporary unavailability of an item offer remains with the cause, the delinquent seller.
A binding purchase reservation means "purchase pending" or "bought" subject to the proviso/pending the final step of agreement on shipping. If something has been bought, every seller "must" respond anyway if they actually care about selling things on eBay. They won't list their items on eBay just so that they are listed there.
The framework agreements were already taken into account @sunrise1605 in a practice-oriented way, as follows: The buyer's choice of shipping is necessarily based on the seller-individualized configuration or preselection of the purchase reservation tool. If a seller only wants to offer DHL services, then based on their preselection only such services end up in the purchase reservation tool - other shipping lines do not appear there.
Already in my introductory post I wrote that the preselected prices in the purchase reservation tool should be individually modifiable by the seller in its design. So they can add flat surcharges of any kind. The platform surcharges should be able to be adopted and added with one click - anything else would be weak on eBay's part.
The basis is determined by the shipping service, because in the configuration or design of the purchase reservation tool the main focus is on shipping costs, and of course more or less elaborate packaging materials will also be reflected there depending on the seller's taste. It is also not the case that eBay would need to employ a part-time worker to ensure on a daily basis that the shipping cost tables of the individual shipping providers UPS, FedEX, dpd, GLS, HERMES, DHL, trans-o-flex, ... are maintained up to date. The connection is made via modern web technologies through APIs. Core business area of the platform for operating the marketplace.
If the item that has been sought for a long time is not already sold elsewhere with a click & gone before the seller could even respond to the message. 🙁 But in general, an intended goal of the restructuring is precisely to finally get rid of the actually unnecessary and superfluous communication requirements for the always recurring clarification of the shipping problem as an occasional, omnipresent topic, so that communication can concentrate on more essential aspects. Otherwise it would remain a fight against windmill sails, because the cause of the "problems" would not be effectively addressed, which simply consists in the fact that the majority of sellers and providers here on eBay are plainly overwhelmed by getting through the rules when listing offers. One must not forget that new generations of sellers are constantly joining, whose knowledge base tends to be at the level of the Pisa study.
Consequently, I unfortunately have to disagree with @miriam@ebay here, because it is not getting any better. One should not close one's eyes to that. This thread will unfold its potential sooner or later.
As I already showed using the example of buying a refrigerator ❄️: the supermarket 📧 is first of all real and not virtual, and secondly there is no shipping problem there because everyone has their shopping bag, backpack, bicycle basket or trunk with them. It is therefore more comparable to the phantasm of a perfect world of eBay, in which only items with free shipping could be traded (subjunctive). Seen in this way, of course, no restructuring would be needed, because the shipping cost problem would have been conjured away 👏🎇. The real world on eBay is indeed different. That also answers this question.
That is how I arranged it today with my seller on an improvisational basis and just now bought for a 6 € shipping share. I was lucky that no one else snatched one of the PC parts from under my nose. And as already clarified: purchase reservation means purchase pending, whether the seller wants it or not. Otherwise they should not list items on eBay.
Ideas are such that they first have to manifest themselves in order to take hold in the real world - and that is precisely what is underway here, that is happening right now. Oops, that was already it. My pleasure, dear @petersmodellbahnstuebchen 😁
Dear @sunrise1605 Do you now recognize the colorful imagination behind my gray theory? 😿
Annex:
Dear @miriam@ebay could you please, with the appropriate "tact," ensure that the full quotes - where only a short line of reply sits underneath - are trimmed a little so that the thread remains readable and one's thumb or index finger doesn't cramp up while scrolling? Thanks 😄
petersmodellbahnstuebchen
·2 years agoHi @paralepepalme
please first define the term "purchase dependence" according to the BGB or HGB, before we continue discussing the topic of reservations and their consequences.
As for me, I generally offer only one shipping method, namely DHL shipping as a parcel for currently € 6.99, no matter how many items the customer buys. I politely but firmly and consistently رفض requests for cheaper shipping options such as a merchandise shipment, large letter, DHL parcel, Hermes parcel, etc., even if it is an item for € 2.00. I am forced to do this by eBay to protect my service status.
As already written, I generally reject a reservation by mouse click from customers I do not know, because I do not see why other customers should not be able to buy my items just because someone wants to negotiate shipping costs with me.
That can all happen via the messaging function, provided the seller correctly uses the tools made available by eBay.
By that I do not mean the new listing tool for dummies, but the framework conditions that define my shipping methods and costs.
All in all, I see your proposal as a one-sided favoring of potential buyers and a disadvantage for the seller, whose listings are blocked for sale during the "reservation process".
With that in mind, best regards from the Baltic Sea
Peter
pennystocknomoney
·2 years agoHey @paralepepalme,
I suggest you write a book about your topic.
You already have enough material together 😎🤐
dmary56
·2 years agohello @paralepepalme
Short answer from me:
1) I, and nobody else, decide on the shipping provider, which I
have chosen based on years of experience in terms of speed, reliability, and
easy accessibility.
2) Of course I offer combined shipping, but I’m happy to decide myself
spontaneously how I adjust the shipping fees in each individual case, depending on weight,
value, and condition of the item.... I don't want to set any rules in advance,
because they might not fit at all later...
3) I make clear sales offers with lots of photos and an accurate,
detailed description....the buyer can either accept that or just leave it.
Of course, I’m available to answer questions in advance in detail and promptly.
4) I simply want to sell a few surplus things from my household and from my hobbies as quickly and easily as possible...I'm not interested in days of tedious
discussions about shipping methods and haggling over pennies regarding shipping costs,
while other potential buyers are blocked in the meantime...
sunrise1605
·2 years agoDear @sunrise1605 do you meanwhile recognize the colorful imagination behind my gray theory?
Dear @paralepepalme
I do recognize your blooming imagination, but when carried over into practice, it doesn't help us any further; rather, it should find its wonderful application in other creative areas.
I see a lot of potential there 😉
dmary56
·2 years ago@paralepepalme
Do you have any more accounts? If not:
With this account, since 2009 you’ve sold only 20 items, i.e.
your experience as a seller would basically be close to zero... so your
one-sided view wouldn’t really surprise me....
pennystocknomoney
·2 years agoMaybe a flower shop would help TE, since you don't need
to think so much 🌻🌻🌻
paralepepalme
OP2 years agoThe mobile Android scroll board hasn’t been invented yet. (The real one is writing.) Still, let’s continue. Is everything anyway too late here? No, @miriam@ebay had, to my regret, rushed ahead a bit with her decision to go with an accepted solution, as I see it. That’s where it only now gets really interesting.
Dear @petersmodellbahnstuebchen , I thank you for the first real engagement with the issue. I’m already looking forward to tearing your post apart right away, meant kindly - because that alone is what ultimately moves eBay forward in a democratic way: constructive argument!
First, a few general remarks. First, about the concrete starting situation that even prompted me to get active here.
The supplier of the plastic parts has meanwhile confirmed that he has in no way got any inkling that his items are lying somewhere in a cart. That was to be expected from the start and was actually clear, but it is still no mistake to have definitively ruled out such a suspicion. What is interesting is that he mentioned that, as a private seller, he cannot create an invoice - which as a blanket statement of course is not true, because I have myself already been able to create invoices. Those were cases where someone had bought several items from me and I was later asked to create an adjusted invoice, precisely because of the shipping costs. There I was also able to deduct individual discounts in favor of the buyers.
That at least points in the right direction, because as far as his situation is concerned, that he cannot create an invoice, this is connected to the fact that when creating his listings he very likely left the selection preconfigured by the eBay listing tool, which sets that the buyer must pay immediately for the item. That is the point that makes the whole matter enormously more complicated as soon as someone like me wants to buy several different items, each with shipping costs, at the same time. There is no chance to create an adjusted invoice, because all items must be paid for immediately, including all accumulated individual shipping costs.
The listing option 'Immediate Payment' absolutely has its purpose in another respect: eBay definitely thought it up as a tool to make listing items as 'free shipping' popular and to give it an advantage. The benefit a seller gets from it lies in the clear easing and simplification, as well as greater clarity in processing, so that someone can buy various items and once they’re done, click straight on to the checkout - which is why, in this way, the points of contact for mutual communication are minimized or even eliminated, and the seller then simply packs and sends. The ideal image of an IMMEDIATE purchase.
But this scheme only works as long as shipping costs don’t come into play - that is, with an exclusive offer of free-shipping items. As a private seller, the provider likely chose the wrong system. In that case, he would have to work with combined discounts. Maybe he did, maybe not with the expected effect - because in my cart a shipping savings of €3.84 is shown - but that is, of course, absolutely ridiculous in amount. 🤑 That would be the most plausible explanation so far for this shipping-cost outlier.
👨🏫
Now, from the concrete back to the abstract, namely the motivation arising from all the frustration to work the whole thing out for eBay, so that their shipping-cost purchase-processing dilemma, this greatest of all inconveniences, is finally turned right side up with a complete restructuring: shipping can only be definitively clarified for a logical process once the scope of the purchase is fixed, taking into account all conceivable parameters involved - this is not the first time such irritations have surfaced in eBay checkout, and how many hours of my life have I spent, time and again, communicating with various eBayers about some suitable solution. That can certainly be appealing and bring people together. But what is widely underestimated is how much time is unnecessarily lost for everyone involved (and for all time - of one’s own life, that is).
This is about buying and selling - legally speaking, a purchase only becomes effective once agreement has been reached on all essential contractual components. The terms of handover of the goods - of which shipping is a part - are always an essential component, all the more so when the shipping costs exceed the value of the goods by a factor of three. That is why eBay would do well to fundamentally improve the options for reaching agreement on this contractual component, which ultimately makes the most sense before payment (see a few sentences earlier). That is why I came up with the additional mutuality level of a reservation area and the introduction of a reservation tool.
One thing I will grant: the choice of the term "reservation..." is explained by the process of its creation, as the theoretical edifice of @sunrise1605 began to take shape. Because of the now crystallized full scope of its function, the reservation term is no longer entirely - but still sufficiently - appropriate to its original use. The functionality of the reservation tool - which initially only comes into play through buyer action when one or more IMMEDIATE purchases are pending, and when agreement on combined shipping is to be reached - I had already described in such a way that the item or items are to be regarded immediately, that is: directly as purchased, or even more precisely: "purchase-dependent" in the event that, in the final step, agreement is reached on the shipping price and shipping terms.
So, as of now, I am proposing that the reservation tool and reservation area be renamed "PURCHASE RESERVATION... tool/area". It has absolutely nothing to do with having a piece of merchandise set aside in a store or market for half an hour in the sales department or at the checkout (to quickly see whether there’s something better around the corner or the same thing cheaper elsewhere), but instead it concerns solely a "pause" in the purchase-processing flow to ensure final agreement on shipping. With eBay, we are moving on a virtual level that requires certain tricks and concessions to this specific form of virtuality in order to function smoothly. We are not clicking on a physical refrigerator, but on a linked description or a linked image of that refrigerator. That means we are still in the further development and differentiation of new terrain. The former federal chancellor Merkel would put her hands together in a rhombus and say into the microphone waiting there: "With the internet, we are all entering new territory." If I remember correctly, that only happened in 2013/14 and a few funny memes came out of it.
If, therefore, in the city-center shopping district at a MediaMarkt or Saturn you bought a refrigerator and are still standing with the salesperson and discussing together whether you want to heave the thing into the back of your estate car yourselves and take it home right away, or whether you’d rather use the store’s delivery service, then this example from the analog world forms the matching equivalent for what I want to establish in the virtual implementation with "purchase reservation area". It is a freshly identified gap that must be filled so that the virtual purchase-processing process becomes coherent and internally consistent. That is why the tool exists, so that agreement between buyer and seller on shipping can take place as compatibly and sales-promoting as possible in terms of orientation toward cooperation between both parties, and under the best possible conditions.
This whole long text, including my two previous contributions, had to be so extensive because it outlines the foundation, the substructure, that is necessary so that, at the top and in the result of the redesign, the most harmonious buying experience for both sides can be achieved - a significant improvement over the current status quo. eBay has been tinkering for years and trying to build its platform business pyramid from the roof down.
The outlook:
Almost 100% of all purchases could in future run like this within minutes:
[If, in an individual case, the fixed shipping line still turns out to be too expensive for the buyer, they have the option of asking the seller via the purchase reservation tool to remove individual items or cancel the purchase.]
Admittedly, this moves a bit away from click & go, but the process will be much clearer and more streamlined for both sides. Individual text-based communication to coordinate shipping will decrease. The communicative exchange can, if needed, focus in isolation, and thus more undisturbed, on the other topics. Taken together, this brings more clarity for both sides and balances the principle of reciprocity better.
miriam@ebay
Hello @paralepepalme and thanks for this post! As has already been written here several times, the problem lies with the sellers' shipping settings and not with eBay. We have therefore read your post, but at this point in time see no need for action on our part.
Nevertheless, thank you for taking the time to share your experiences with us.
Best regards
Miriam
petersmodellbahnstuebchen
·2 years agoHi @paralepepalme
Did you follow the simple path recommended here after all? Contact the seller and bundle all 6 items into one offer?
EBay item no.:256490121920
That would definitely have been faster and easier than coming up with suggestions on how to bend the system.
Best regards from the Baltic Sea
Peter
paralepepalme
OP2 years ago@alle - paralepepalme derived from Latin / Romanian, meaning roughly: "ducats in hand"
First of all, thanks for your very thorough, much-appreciated responses. In the case of Vk., just like myself, we're talking about private sellers. He has since gotten in touch with an appropriate shipping offer.
I see this discussion forum here - apart from the AI experiment "eBay Expressions" - as the only remaining outlet for getting expressions out there and somehow expressing oneself with suggestions. I realize this will remain fruitless, the Far Eastern methods of flooding the market and their effects on online marketplaces are simply too massive ... but suggestions for the eBay platform can't be anchored in a few spicy, concise lines like this! That's why, since I'm at least convinced of my suggestion, I'm pouring in one more addition like the Chinese with their flood of goods:
As a matter of principle, the reservation tool would be prefilled with all shipping services available nationally and internationally in the country. When linked or merged with a seller account, a seller selects, based on his local, spatial, contractual and billing options, and - if intended - also global options, only the shipping providers and other shipping methods he wants to use. This selection can be checked and changed at any time. The basic framework is thus in place. On this basis, one or more shipping services can be quickly assigned to each item listing when it is created, so that the sorting function by item price and shipping in eBay search works.
The intention is for the reservation tool to be generally and universally usable from the very first item onward. Every auction won and/or every accepted price suggestion from the same seller is automatically initially in reservation status, namely in the seller's reservation area, which the buyer reaches by opening the reservation tool - analogously to the familiar shopping cart function. The tool must be actively opened by a buyer as soon as they want to buy an IMMEDIATE PURCHASE item. By clicking the "Bindingly reserve" button, the IMMEDIATE PURCHASE item is hidden from general eBay availability (listing and search). The IMMEDIATE PURCHASE item is thus in the seller's reservation area (including in the case of multiple item purchases from one and the same seller), which already amounts to the purchase decision. In this way, the buyer can reserve one or more items from a seller as they wish.
The reservation tool, drawing on the contents of the reservation area, shows the buyer all shipping services intended by a seller for the items in that area, plus one or two shipping services following next in ascending order (shipping weight, shipping volume) to the highest intended shipping service of a shipping provider. The reservation area has a time limit, which can be set analogously to the expiry period of a price suggestion within eBay-defined limits, e.g. 24 - 48 h. Within this period, the buyer has the opportunity to select a shipping service suitable according to their own idea and preference (price, security, type of packaging) for the combined transport of all or several purchased items. The reservation tool would additionally provide the functionality that the buyer can set different shipping routes as their selection separately for different purchased items. At this point the buyer is given a suitable way to provide a message with their own ideas about the type or execution of the packaging.
By clicking the "Suggest shipping service" button, it is now the seller's turn, again within a certain time span. They know their goods better than the buyer, and have their own ideas about shipping, which may differ from those of the buyer. Therefore, if it is also suitable for them, the seller can simply confirm the buyer's suggestion or, according to their own judgment, set a different, finally valid shipping service that must be appropriate and may not be below the quality of the service selected by the buyer. The buyer is obliged to accept the seller's shipping determination.
If the seller has not responded to the buyer's shipping selection suggestion within the specified 24 - 48 h period, then the reservation tool gives the buyer the opportunity to extend the reservation by the specified period, if necessary several times in succession. The extended reservation can also be retained in part and only for individual items to be selected. If a buyer does not extend the reservation, for example because they have lost interest in one or for a purchased item, or simply missed the reactivation interval themselves, without a shipping determination having yet been established by the seller, then the seller loses this sale and the buyer loses their purchase with it. At the same time, this means that the reservation of the item that had effectively already been sold is permanently transferred from the seller's reservation area to the reservation area of the eBay system until the postponed item listing is re-enabled for general access in lists, galleries and search results by the seller's interaction in their seller portal.
The introduction of this additional level of reciprocity brings a significant advantage to both sides that does not immediately come to mind: we all know it. At any time, one can end up with a seller who is currently cut off from the outside world and is out in the wilderness on a camp, and has thus neglected their ongoing eBay IMMEDIATE PURCHASE offers. From such a seller, one is hardly going to get a prompt reply to questions, or days may pass before the item is shipped. With the reservation tool, a clever automatic pressure mechanism could be set up in such cases. Since, on the one hand, the IMMEDIATE PURCHASE item has been moved from general visibility into the reservation area of the delinquent seller by the binding reservation, temporary unavailability of the seller and therefore also of their item(s) would be brought into alignment. If the seller's delinquency unreasonably tests the buyer's patience, then - as just described - this purchase is lost. However, the reservation does not disappear into data nirvana, but is automatically retained and, as mentioned, shifts from the seller's reservation area to the reservation area of the eBay system. The seller, on the other hand, must now take action and, after reappearing, ensure the reactivation or release of the affected item listings in their seller portal.
Because this additional level of reciprocity in reservation introduces the possibility that real buyers can easily slip away from the seller again - unlike in the case of a drawn-out processing of an unregistered IMMEDIATE PURCHASE - the seller will be motivated in their own interest to keep a closer eye on their listings. More generally, this will help sales transactions get a bit more lead time and become more firmly embedded in the consciousness of an occasional seller.
To avoid additional burdens, professional sellers who do not calculate on a "free shipping" basis would qualify for the status of "automated response to shipping determination" if they are, as expected, able to serve any shipping service proposed by the buyer from the unlocked portfolio. For individual items and product groups with critical shipping characteristics, the automated response can be deactivated; in such cases, individual handling is required anyway.
So if the seller has responded to the shipping suggestion as expected, then one or more clearly defined overall purchase package(s) would have been assembled, which in any case should be cheaper for the buyer than these unfortunate, simply added individual shipping costs. This is clearer and simpler, and easier for everyone to understand, than building in these complicated and cumbersome combo discounts.
In addition, the buyer may have had the opportunity to influence the shipping method. Many sellers, for reasons of competition, offer only simple, uninsured shipping, even though - acting generically in this way - they cannot know whether a potential buyer would associate a personally justified, higher value with the item being purchased. Therefore, a buyer who may be an enthusiast for the item being purchased should be allowed to act on this interest by being given the option of choosing a safer, better packaged or better transported shipping service. The reverse is of course not true, since the buyer has no way of undermining the minimum standard of the shipping determination specified by the seller.
Accordingly, the buyer would now come into play, enter checkout and set the payment method and valid delivery address for the overall purchase package(s) of the same seller and initiate the payment process. Here too, another unbeatable advantage of the new structural level of the reservation tool becomes apparent: there is not all that rarely a direct connection between the choice of shipping method and, in particular, the shipping provider, with the preferred delivery location. As already hinted at in the opening of the thread, there is a trend toward delivery to a location without a need for the recipient to be present, while still avoiding the risk of deposit/storage, which corresponds with the desire for more freedom and the security aspect. A buyer can pick up their shipment, securely and safely deposited there, from a shop or branch of a shipping provider during opening hours on their own terms. Ergo, in these particular cases, the buyer has a special interest in having a specific shipping provider commissioned by the seller's handover decision if possible, in order to gain any ability at all to have the shipment delivered later - either by direct addressing or via the shipping route - at their own risk! - by redirection to a shop or branch of this predetermined shipping provider. Logically, therefore, the determination of the shipping method should take place before the address determination. At present, this can only be done in an unstructured way with uncertain, exhausting individual communication, every time anew. A DHL parcel cannot be delivered to a GLS shop, just as a HERMES parcel cannot, conversely, be addressed for drop-off at a DP post office branch.
voli-maus
·2 years agoCan that be done in a shorter version too, @paralepepalme ?
sunrise1605
·2 years agoThe TE didn't really look at the listing and overlooked that there is no shipping discount, but on the contrary, a hefty surcharge for each item.
oskar_der_wikinger
·2 years agoNope, because the next Christmas miniseries will be produced from it.
petersmodellbahnstuebchen
·2 years agoHi @paralepepalme
Your idea of reservations and time spans of 24 h - 48 h, with repeated extensions back and forth, during which items are no longer available for free sale on Ebay, already literally contradicts an Buy It Now offer. That means a customer can buy immediately and then a binding purchase contract exists.
A binding reservation by the buyer would be a unilateral declaration of intent to which the "delinquent" seller must respond if they want to list their items for free sale again.
The idea that I have to offer the prospective buyer a selection of shipping services that suit them is also a deal-breaker for me. That is exactly what I do not want as a seller, which is why I do not offer different shipping services at all, partly because of bad experiences in the past and partly because, as a commercial seller, I also have a framework agreement with DHL, which of course depends on a certain volume of orders. That is why there is only one shipping alternative in my shop, namely DHL shipping. Here the customer can of course also select a Packstation or post office branch as the delivery address. If they want delivery to a specific parcel shop, they can of course specify this as the delivery address.
Your idea of storing the providers' price lists in the system is also quite far-fetched, because shipping costs involve much more than the pure postage price, such as costs for packaging materials, legally prescribed disposal costs and, last but not least, the sales commission that Ebay charges on shipping costs.
I'll just claim that 90% of the "problems" you described can be solved with a message to the seller, but without reserving the items.
And the cart shouldn't offer anything more than that. If you go shopping in the supermarket, you put your groceries in the shopping cart and then go to the checkout. Why should it be any different on Ebay?
There will never be a reservation without the seller's consent. But that is exactly what I offer my customers within the scope of the options available on Ebay. I make them an offer for the items they want and, if the customer agrees, I put this offer on Ebay after ending the offers they requested. I send the link to the new offer to the customer. The customer then has 24 hours to accept this offer. If they do not buy, the offer is ended and the individual items are listed again. If, contrary to expectations, another customer buys this offer, then the item is simply sold. But such a case has never happened to me yet.
Anything beyond that in terms of reservations would be a one-sided disadvantage for the seller and would not be accepted by me at least.
So overall, a nice idea, but far removed from the real world.
Best regards from the Baltic Sea
Peter
sunrise1605
·2 years agoThis is what happens when theorists who don't know anything about the subject start making their own thoughts about "improvements."
Feels somehow familiar.... 😎
oskar_der_wikinger
·2 years agoHello @paralepepalme I’m going to get your goat now, but the shipping cost calculation is correct.
For the first offer he charges 5,95 € plus 4,99 € for the second item
and for the other offer he wants 5,95 € plus 3x 4,99 € for the additional items.
That gets you exactly to the sum you mentioned of 31,86 €.
Also, the four differences between 4,99 and 5,95 are exactly 3,84 € which are shown to you as "savings".
sunrise1605
·2 years agoIn that case, the seller can go jump though, nearly €32 for a DHL parcel.
The items all fit in one parcel anyway.
hasjana
·2 years ago~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
since the shipping costs are clearly visible before purchase, you should keep your hands off the buy button if you don't want to pay that
petersmodellbahnstuebchen
·2 years agoHi @paralepepalme
"So for both of us the perfect match! I’d like to buy the 4 + 2 parts, but both Buy It Now and buying through the cart don’t work for me, because the eBay checkout system adds all shipping costs when going to checkout, and then I’d end up with over €31 in shipping costs for six small plastic parts. Sure, I could buy it like that and then trust that the seller would refund the overpaid shipping costs. There’s an extra function for sellers for that. But I’m cautious, because there are sellers who show ZERO willingness to compromise AFTER the purchase."
I’m of the opinion that this is not a problem with the cart function, but a problem with the seller’s shipping settings.
For example, if I add items from my account to the cart while logged out, the combined discount calculation works wonderfully:
Four items (with €6.99 DHL shipping set for each) placed in the cart, and the customer immediately sees how much they have to pay in shipping costs.
I’d assume that in your case the seller hasn’t set up the combined discount correctly.
I don’t think reserving items just because they’re sitting in some cart, no matter for how long, makes sense. That would mean the items wouldn’t be available to other buyers. And as a seller I’m not paying for a little flag saying "Reserved" to hang on every, say, fourth item of mine.
It’s easier to message the seller and ask for the total amount incl. shipping costs. But since not every seller is online 24/7, of course some time is always needed until a reply comes back.
Since I also buy here on eBay myself, I ask sellers who don’t offer combined shipping about the shipping costs for multiple items before buying.
Best regards from the Baltic Sea
Peter
erwerbsregel
·2 years ago@paralepepalme
I haven't completely read through your super long text now 🤗 but I do know that behind your issue there are often missing settings for a shipping discount on the seller's side, and as a now old man I also find all the setting regulations on this platform to be excessive now 🤔
deichchef
·2 years agoVery long text. 😎
Quick fix --> Ask the seller to revise the payment information and send it.
Done. This approach works in 99% of cases.