eBay Offers Glitches & Changes Frustrate Both Buyers & Sellers

UPDATE 11-20-24

Apparently the 5% minimum discount for offers was not a glitch, but rather an intentional unannounced change as eBay has now made a stealth edit to their help pages to show it is the same across all price ranges.

Here's what the FAQ said in October:

And here's what it says today:

eBay users have been reporting a series of issues with Offers with some clearly technical glitches and others possibly intended changes that are not working as intended or expected by users.

First, a glitch in the eBay app is giving mobile users error messages about the minimum discount required, with some off the wall numbers being quoted.

Normally, it goes by a tiered structure:

The amount in your Offer to buyer must be lower than the Buy It Now price in the listing:

• at least 5% lower for items under $200
• at least 3% lower for items between $200 and $1,000
• at least 2% lower for items over $1,000

But for those experiencing the glitch, it's forcing different minimum amounts when trying to send offers through the app.

Ebay is forcing a certain discount amount when sending offers now?

I used to be able to send $10-15 dollars off of items priced at $3-400+, but now Ebay is forcing about a 5% discount at least and not allowing me to send offers unless it’s 5% or more discounted on any & all items. I don’t know how everyone else runs their own stores and/or businesses, but I perso…

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I used to be able to send $10-15 dollars off of items priced at $3-400+, but now Ebay is forcing about a 5% discount at least and not allowing me to send offers unless it's 5% or more discounted on any & all items.

I don't know how everyone else runs their own stores and/or businesses, but I personally prefer having ultimate control over discounting my items, not a given set amount by the platform I am selling on.

Ebay now forcing 5% minimums when sending offers for listings over $1000

According to ebay, “The amount in your Offer to buyer must be lower than the Buy It Now price in the listing: at least 5% lower for items under $200. at least 3% lower for items between $200 and $1,000.” but now I’m being forced to give 5% minimum offers, no matter what the price is.

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According to ebay,

"The amount in your Offer to buyer must be lower than the Buy It Now price in the listing: at least 5% lower for items under $200. at least 3% lower for items between $200 and $1,000."

but now I'm being forced to give 5% minimum offers, no matter what the price is.

I was running into the same issue. It seems this is a bug in the mobile app. It forces a 5% offer no matter what the price is. If I go to the desktop version of ebay (not the app) I can send 2% and 3% offers.

But to make matters worse, for some people the app was showing crazy, obviously incorrect information like a minimum 750% discount required, or in some cases a random number with decimal, like 18.38%.

Now im getting complete nonsense glitches.

If this is happening to you, try using a desktop or mobile browser instead of the eBay app - that workaround has reportedly worked for at least some sellers.

Other sellers are frustrated with eBay not allowing for combined shipping on offers.

A Value Added Resource reader related a recent experience they had when a buyer accepted an offer with multiple items in their cart.

Oh boy. So, when eBay made that change to keeping things up for others to be able to buy, they changed it so that if a buyer accepts blind offers, they can pay for what’s in their cart, but that combined shipping doesn’t happen.

But it won’t give them my shipping discount on multiple items from the start and I can’t invoice those items as they were a blind accepted offer.

If I went to buy 13 records like this and it didn’t bundle them, instead trying to charge me $103 on what would be at most $20 in shipping, I might just not buy, thinking the seller is trying to rip me off.

There have also been multiple reports that an intentional feature change (allowing items with offers accepted to remain active until/unless a buyer pays for the item) may not be functioning as intended, with buyers apparently not receiving messages informing them their counter-offer has been accepted and they need to pay to complete the transaction.

Ebay Offer Glitch

This is the second time this has happened. Called in when it first happened and the ebay Rep was clueless why this happened I made an offer to a buyer who countered the offer. I then accepted the offer. The transaction disappears- Its not in the sold nor pending payments.. after Digging deeper int…

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This is the second time this has happened. Called in when it first happened and the ebay Rep was clueless why this happened I made an offer to a buyer who countered the offer. I then accepted the offer.

The transaction disappears- Its not in the sold nor pending payments.. after Digging deeper into the offer area it says payment pending. The Rep could not see it or anything related to an offer or purchase or pending. I just lost 2 sales with this glitch.

The process of accepted offers moving to pending status on the listing's offers management page is something eBay has been rolling out. It was announced in the Summer Seller Update as the latest change by eBay to cut down on non-payers.

While offers are in pending status, the item is available for anybody else to purchase until the buyer pays. eBay is trying to eliminate the inconvenience to sellers when buyers lose interest after an item ends so the seller does not have to start from scratch and lose interested buyers when they relist.

If the buyer does not pay within a certain amount of time, the offer will expire and be removed from the pending section. If the buyer pays then it will become an official transaction on your orders page. In the meantime, any buyer can purchase at full price or make an offer.

Unfortunately, a lot of buyers and sellers are saying buyers aren't receiving notice their counter-offers were accepted. Some sellers have started sending messages letting buyers know they accepted their counter-offers.

eBay has been on a "multi-year journey" to "fix" unpaid items on the site, first testing requiring buyers to provide upfront payment details for offers and auctions in 2021.

But many buyers have balked at these changes, with eBay often walking back requirements to make them happy as Senior Director Trust, David Newman says it's taken longer than eBay anticipated to "unwind 28 years of buyer behavior."

Buyers Balk As eBay Expands Immediate Payment For Offers

eBay expands Immediate Payment For Offers, but buyers are balking at entering payment info to make offers.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

That pushback has led eBay to make some concessions to buyers, including allowing them to bypass seller selected immediate payment requirements all together if they are deemed to be a "trusted buyer."

Does eBay Have A Secret Trusted Buyer Program That Gives Some Users Special Perks?

A recent eBay support experience raises questions about existence of Trusted Buyer program that may override payment requirements & other policies.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

And most recently, eBay made yet another unannounced change that extends expiration time on Seller Initiated Offers from 2 days to 4 days with no notice.

eBay Extends Offer Expiration To 4 Days In Unannounced Change

Sellers are frustrated with yet another unannounced change as eBay extends expiration time on Offers from 2 days to 4 days with no notice.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

At eBay Open 2024, CEO Jamie Iannone reiterated his commitment to solving the unpaid item problems on the site in his pre-recorded keynote - but unsurprisingly his speech was short on any details about how exactly eBay is going to accomplish this now years long project and how much longer sellers must wait for it to happen.

In the meantime, it appears all that eBay has really accomplished so far is to create a complex and convoluted system that makes neither buyers nor sellers very happy while introducing additional bugs and glitches into an already bug and glitch-ridden platform.

What problems and pain points are you experiencing with eBay Offers? Let us know in the comments below!