eBay Introduces "Shop More, Ship Together" For Auctions With Immediate Pay Required
UPDATE 12-17-24
eBay has officially rolled out Shop More Ship Together combined shipping with payment method on file required for auction, providing detailed step by step instructions and screenshots of how the process works plus a full FAQ.
The feature is currently active as a test with a limited buyer base, with eBay planning to expand availability over the coming months.
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As eBay continues their multi-year journey to "solve" unpaid items on the platform, one point of frustration with immediate payment requirements has been the lack of support for combined shipping if a buyer wins multiple auctions from the same seller.
Now, an unannounced update to the How Bidding Works policy page shows eBay is rolling out a solution - Shop More, Ship Together - that will still require bidders to provide payment details upfront, while providing a delay before payment is processed to allow for additional items to be won and purchased together.
Starting October 2024, some buyers will begin to see a Timing option when they place a bid on items that are eligible for combined shipping.
They can choose Shop and ship separately to have their payment process automatically 1 hour after winning an auction, or choose Shop more, ship together to delay payment up to 7 days, to allow more time to combine shipping.
Buyers can still choose to check out manually at any time.
Unfortunately, the notice doesn't give detail as to when in October this did or will go into effect, any indication of what they mean by "some" buyers, or if it will an optional setting that sellers can control or a forced mandate across the board.
While both buyers and sellers alike have been asking for a combined shipping solution, extending the delay of payment up to 7 days is a bit excessive and (as some pointed out in the eBay community), could cause problems if it bumps up against the existing 4 day unpaid item timeframe.
I wonder whether this option will override the seller's ability to cancel based on nonpayment after just 4 days.
Surely it would be unfair to allow the buyer to choose the 7-day delay, only to find that on day 5 they have received a nonpayment strike.
Will buyers see this option only if the seller has already set up the policy to allow 7 or more days for payment, for just this purpose?
But many buyers have balked at these changes, with eBay walking back requirements to make them happy as Senior Director Trust, David Newman says it's taken longer than anticipated to "unwind 28 years of buyer behavior."
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."
Liz 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.
Liz 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, eBay created a complex and convoluted system that often makes neither buyers nor sellers very happy while introducing additional bugs and glitches into an already bug and glitch-ridden platform.
eBay had previously tested similar functionality to allow bidders time to combine auction wins before their payment method was automatically charged last year, but in that initial test they only allowed a 3 day delay - something that might be more reasonable to sellers and avoid any issues with the 4 day unpaid item cancellation policy.
Liz Morton
It's not clear why eBay has instead opted for a 7 day window, as they have provided no information other than the note added to the How Bidding Works page.
I've reached out to eBay requesting more information and will update when/if details are available.
In the meantime, let us know in the comments below what you think of Shop More, Ship Together and a 7 day delay for "immediate" payment on combine eBay auctions!
