Posted 11 August 2023

EBay ‘Best Offer’ forcing pre-authorisation on payments…

I have had a quick Google search and can see others discussing this, but I have never personally had this forced on my account.

I just tried to send a ‘Best Offer’ on a listing and it is forcing pre-authorisation on a saved card. This wasn’t the case yesterday and I have never been a non payer. Is this a new thing being rolled out to everyone?

It means you also can’t choose PayPal on a ‘Best Offer’ request anymore (well at least in my case lol) 

Has this happened to anyone else?
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  1. thetreelogger's avatar
    good. too many people making best offers and then not paying
    Stormbringer2012's avatar
    Thats exactly why, then lower bidders expect it.
    Good on them I say.
  2. tiggerloveslife's avatar
    Hmmm....glad I've come across this discussion as thought I'd accidentally turned some best offer payment setting on on my ebay account & couldn't figure how to turn it off

    Must admit it's really deterred me from making offers now especially on higher value items as what I usually do is either split the cost over 3 months using pay in 3 with PayPal or put them on interest free for 4 months with PayPal credit as I don't own a credit card & there seems to be absolutely no option to do this & it's pay in full outright
    Superduperade's avatar
    Just unwittingly got stung like this too . Wanted to pay in 3 but instead took it all straight away. Will be onto their chat tomorrow for sure!
  3. Daaru's avatar
    Happened to me first time yesterday. Can't recall if there was a choice of payment options, but as the amount was over £100 I accepted the default to pay with credit card.

    Received email:
    "You’ve selected (my credit card details) as your payment method for the offers and bids you make on eBay."

    The offer was accepted and the next email:
    "Your order is confirmed. We’ll send an update when it’s on the way."
  4. Willy_Wonka's avatar
    Are they offering a Paypal option?
    BabiDealings's avatar
    Author
    There was definitely no option for me to use PayPal as the payment to pre-authorise the ‘Best Offer’ I submitted.
  5. CharlieCheeze's avatar
    For a short time a few years ago, I remember the best offer feature left the listing live until payment was made. I wish they'd have kept that, as now I end up messaging first to ensure they are going to pay. No reply, it's declined.

    PITA if you have something listed on an 80% , 70% or £1 offer and they don't pay.
  6. bozo007's avatar
    Sellers do get an option to choose "immediate payment" on BIN listings, or where the offer automatically meets their minimum acceptance threshold. I am wondering if this feature is related to this.
  7. abigsmurf's avatar
    Guess they're getting as annoyed as the sellers are at people who go through hundreds of listings and send ultra low ball offers.
    Willy_Wonka's avatar
    Probably due to the costs of administration of complaints made against the "buyer" & also the reduction of Paypal fees because they have a better deal with Visa & Mastercard.
  8. bigbill's avatar
    Had this yesterday I feel I will miss out on topcashback or quidco if they allow this, tried to stop it but only way seems to delete payment method held in your account.
    BabiDealings's avatar
    Author
    I just tried deleting my saved card details, and then went to make a best offer but it just makes me add another card to force the pre-authorisation on.
  9. ZigoRich's avatar
    I've had this forced upon me today and I don't like it. I make all my ebay purchases through Complete Savings because I get 10% cashback. By submitting an offer and it automatically using my payment method without any further interaction means I won't be able to get the CS cashback. Does anyone know if this can be switched off?
    BabiDealings's avatar
    Author
    From what I can tell there is no way to avoid it once it starts prompting for it. I haven’t made a single best offer since it started forcing it on my account 
  10. savedbythelamb's avatar
    Well done eBay for destroying our cashback (and ability to use discount codes?) for such orders >.<

    UPDATE:
    You can put a code on the send offer pop up window I just found out talking to eBay. Cashback is indeed ruined - unless you want to go through the hassle of getting the seller to relist something with an agreed buy it now price. Then you will have time to go through a cashback site before the money goes out. (edited)
    t3r4's avatar
    Sellers get an option in eBay messaging to send an offer with a message back to buyer. I'm not sure on the buyer side if this goes back into the cart as it used to.

    Agree though this is really irritating for cashback purposes and now means I have wasted more seller's time by messaging to make offers instead of using the make offer button...
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