Global Shipping Damaged Goods

[aperture]

I find that eBay is less than transparent about what a seller should do when a global shipping buyer reports a damaged item. Sellers must know what to do, so after researching and responding, I want to share my experience so others will be prepared.

I sold a glass item through Global Shipping to a buyer in Japan. I packed it carefully including double boxing. Still, it arrived with some components broken. Buyer messaged me with photos of the broken elements. Here is what I did:
(1) Asked the buyer to request a damaged item return through eBay. I DID NOT INDICATE TO THE BUYER THAT I HAD DONE AN INADEQUATE JOB OF BOXING THE ITEM. I DID NOT SAY ANYTHING TO THE BUYER TO SUGGEST PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.
(2) When the return request came to me, I DID NOT CLICK ON ANY OF THE OPTIONS ON THE RETURN DETAILS PAGE – THEY ARE ALL WRONG. Instead, I called eBay. (I used the words Global Shipping in describing what I wanted help with and got to a service rep pretty quick).
(3) I told eBay customer service rep that a global shipping item arrived damaged and that buyer initiated a return. Customer service rep posed a half question like “And so?”. I said “I am responsible for safely shipping an item to the global shipping program in Kentucky and Global Shipping is responsible for getting the item to the buyer”. I am pretty sure the customer service rep needed for me to say these words for her to proceed.
(4) I was transferred to a global shipping customer service person who interacted briefly with me before moving the claim from me to eBay (or Pitney Bowes). He indicated that funds would be unfrozen. I asked for a message to me and the buyer indicating that the return was being reviewed by eBay. He said that was standard procedure.
(5) A few minutes later now and I have a message from eBay saying “We’ll take it from here and review the case, including any messages that you and the buyer sent through eBay. We’ll get back to you within 48 hours.”

I will follow up here in 2 days or sooner if I hear back from eBay. Thanks, Daniel.

[Jay]

I hope other sellers find this post when they have issues with GPS damaged items. You handled it perfectly.

We do the exact same if an international buyer has an issue. GPS always handles the issue as long as we got it to the KY warehouse successfully.

[brianintexas]

I’ve had similar feigned cluelessness when trying to resolve a global shipping problem. And once I remind them that they are responsible once it gets to Erlanger they’re, “oh, of course we’ll handle this…”

… The More You Know… 🌈

[Ryanne]

yes, ebay does not do a good job explaining to buyers or sellers what to do in this situation. i usually tell my buyers to contact ebay directly, but they usually open a case with me. so i do what you said in this thread. i don’t click any buttons on the return case, i just call.

[Retro Treasures WV]

yes, ebay does not do a good job explaining to buyers or sellers what to do in ANY situation.

Fixed that for you.

[aperture]

Follow up: I got a message today from eBay indicating that they are refunding the buyer without any impact to me. I am very happy with this outcome.

[Jay]

Cool! Thats how the GSP should work. Result!

[ChristineR]

Ok, so buyer lets me know global shipping item that left Kentucky has fallen out of tracking. I tell her to contact Ebay. Now I get a message from Ebay to consider refunding and reach out to her. If I click on the link, it takes me to Ebay in French. What? I know it’s part of doing business but I loathe calling Ebay overseas as they never seem to help quickly and efficiently.
Hopefully, the rep won’t act clueless. I’ll be sure to mention GSP asap.

[Ryanne]

you are not responsible for the item after it’s been delivered to KY. it’s ebay’s responsibility to provide tracking and insurance for the item after that. if your customer opens a “did not receive” case, call ebay and they should close it with no consequence to you.

[Jay]

Yeah, dont call eBay France. Just call normal eBay operations in the US. Point to the problem and they will take it from there if it was successfully delivered to their KY warehouse.

[ChristineR]

Thanks – reading my post that was confusing. I definitely won’t be dealing with Ebay France. I just hate calling the main US number because I have a basic store so I get the foreign operators reading the script and I just don’t tolerate it very well. Hopefully I know the magic words and it will be brief!

[bcfol440]

ChristineR – Was this Priority or First Class? I dealt with this for France, France tracking is spotty and not existent for First class.
The buyer can contact their own French PO using the American tracking number somehow is what happened to me in past

[ChristineR]

@bcfol440 I think it was first class USPS that made it to Kentucky. The part I don’t like most is the communication I got from Ebay. I know better because of this forum, but if I didn’t it would be crazy to follow what they sent me and it really puts the ball back in my court even though it’s GSP. On top of this I got a big free return. That was over 30 days return, but I took it anyway. The communication again was it was my responsibility to work it out with the buyer. Not a great Christmas day on Ebay for me, but I still love selling. I decided to be nice and take the return because some poor husband bought the wrong size by mistake.

I feel like in the new year, I need to take a look at my current Ebay listings and my fee statements. I’m not really sure I’m buying into the best practices search and buyer payoff. I think promoted listings is more valuable even at 1%.

[bcfol440]

THANK YOU for this clearly broken down GSP how-to! The time they lost the item after 4 weeks past delivery estimate (a small statue went to Thailand), they refunded buyer and I kept my money but I had to call and talk to a human within GSP as well.

[Author]

Posts