- This topic has 54 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated 8 years ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
Yesterday and today I have noticed that when I am shipping fed ex there is a difference from what the customer is paying to what the actual cost is. For example I currently have an item that cost $16.89 to ship, that includes my discount, yet the buyer only paid $15.20. I have never had this problem before, anyone else noticed this issue?
-
I had an issue with FedEx Smartpost. I mentioned it under another post:
I negotiated a cost for an item that included shipping. Using the shipping calculator, I found a $10.33 cost to ship a 17x17x7″, 3 pound item from NJ to CA using FedEx Smartpost. When I actually went to pay for the label, the price was over $30. Thankfully, I was able to ship it with Parcel for a bit over $15, but that takes $5 out of my pocket. I’m not so pissed off to call Ebay and waste time on the phone, but it’s an annoyance.
-
-
i just went to pack a sale (thank goodness!) and you can see my FedEx Smartpost breakdown and it looks correct from here.
-
-
My issue is a bit different since I was using the shipping calculator. I agreed to a combined shipping & item cost based on what I found. But, when I went to actually create a label, I got a different number.
Rhianna, who originally started this post, had an issue with the FedEx (probably ground) cost being more than what the buyer paid for shipping. I think that this has happened to me in the past. Since I pass on my FedEx discounts to the buyer, any change will cause me to cover the overage because I have no buffer. I’ve thought about not passing on the discount, but I wanted one method of shipment to be cost effective for the buyer who is really concerned about cost.
-
I spoke to eBay a little bit ago and they basically said that the buyer probably paid for Fed Ex ground shipping, even though that is not even an option in my shipping screen. I also told her I cannot choose ground or home delivery, eBay adds them on one line of the shipping options. Smart post has generally been cheaper in the past but is now more expensive. Basically eBay just said I can ask the buyer for the extra money. HA! I told her that doesn’t seem like a very good business policy. Sigh. I will attach a screen shot, maybe it is an error on my part.
Ryanne, How did you add your picture to the post?-
We have seen sometimes that Ground or Home Delivery is cheaper, usually when the buyer is in a large urban area. My thought is that it is easy for FedEx to deliver in those areas since they have a large presence.
Not sure why the calc was $15.45 in your screen shot, but your cost was $16.56. Are you TRS?
-
-
-
I sold an item that had smart post on it last week. Buyer paid $10 something. Actual rate was $15 something with a discount that brought it down to about $11. I switched over to priority and paid about $11.
Yet another reason why Smart post is crap. I couldn’t even be sure that is what they would actually charge me at the end of the month. They like to slip in extra amounts after the fact.
-
I often more people over to Priority mail, even if they paid for Smartpost, as long as the actual cost to me is close. The Post Office is closer to me than Fedex and I don’t have to worry about surprises. Also I can use free Priority boxes.
The buyers are pretty happy too. It gets to them a lot faster.
When the buyer is on the other side of the country, I have no choice and have to send it the method they paid for.
-
-
For us, SmartPost works very well, and never has an issue. Sometimes we can still ship via Priority and get it there cheaper, but for a lot of items, it works great.
Regarding the extra payments, that has a lot to do with where you drop it off. We have been using one near our house that never remeasures and adds in extra inches. We round up and since we have a good rep, we never get the extra charges. A different place we went to before always changed the size and added in extra charges.
-
I had originally posted this just a few minutes ago in the Main Forum, not realizing that you all were talking about it over here!
I’m wondering if anyone else has noticed a dramatic jump in the cost of shipping Smartpost (FedEx) in the last few days? I know that Ryanne has said several times that she uses Smartpost for her shipping needs quite a bit…I sell some larger items and what typically might cost me $12 to ship, has now jumped nearly 3X to $34!! Anyone else experiencing this hike in Smartpost costs or know what this is all about? I was hoping it was some sort of glitch yesterday but today when I logged back in I’m still seeing these crazy high costs to ship via Smartpost.
-
As I dig around a bit more I am seeing several sources online say that on Jan 22nd FedEx slapped on a dimensional weight component…so looks like my days of shipping larger packages (ex. 28x12x6 and 5 lbs) via SP may be over 🙁
Effective January 22, 2018, FedEx will apply dimensional weight pricing with a dimensional divisor of 139 and a per pound rate to all packages over 71 lbs on all SmartPost packages. Dimensional weights are of course (length x width x height) divided by a DIM factor, which is set by default at 139
-
28x12x6 and 5 lbs will be billed as 39 lbs w/ 139 as the dimensional divisor:
^ That page also shows a line for “eBay’s FedEx” because, at least before recently, eBay had a different than standard divisor for FedEx Ground labels (I’m assuming they had negotiated that). I’m not sure if that divisor: a) still applies for FedEx Ground since the recent updates, b) would apply also to SmartPost. I will be running some prices and verifying that soon.
-
-
-
Also, as of last time I checked a few hours ago, the ebay shipping calculator at ebay.com/shp/Calculator was calculating Smart Post rates w/o dimensional weight – i.e. may be completely wrong for packages over 139 cubic inches in size.
I believe I also saw some chatter on the ebay for business facebook page that calculated shipping wasn’t (isn’t?) working correctly in all cases which is why some buyers are being undercharged.
-
-
-
Ok, definitely having the calc issue now. Sold a pair of shoes, 3 lbs, 12x10x8. Buyer paid $6.60 for FedEx SmartPost, but the label cost is $11.39 for SmartPost. We can ship Priority through Shippo for $6.95, but the fact that the calculated billing to the buyer is out of sync with the calculated label cost is an issue.
Going to call eBay, and we will remove FedEx as a shipping option on our listings if this will not be fixed timely…
-
I spoke with Ebay about the Smart post issue — the rep i spoke with said it is a known issue and they “guaranteed me” with a SR number that I would not pay the price that the shipping label was spitting out, that i would pay the calculated dollar amount that the ebay calculator was coming up with. According to that Ebay rep, FedEx and Ebay are having a disagreement about pricing in the new year.
over the past couple of days i have been printing my shipping labels ‘losing’ money on shipping on the assurance by ebay that i will be charged the correct amount when the package arrives.
-
That’s weird. If FedEx wants to charge more money, OK, let them do it. Fewer sellers will use the service and fewer buyers will select it. The issue is the difference in the price paid by the buyer versus what the seller has to pay. That’s an Ebay software issue.
I wonder if I will be able to collect the difference in $5 where I had to go to Parcel because I couldn’t get the correct label out of FedEx Smartpost. Maybe I’ll give them a call once this is all sorted out.
-
The way i understand it is that ebay charges your paypal account after the delivery with smart post. If i were a betting man they will not reimburse us if we use a different service, but who knows how it will play out. Personally i am sticking with SP as what the seller choose and having faith that ebay will follow through.
-
-
-
I just got burned by Smart Post on a pair of shoes. They’re going across the country, so USPS Priority won’t save me. It’s not a lot of money, but I’m considering taking out Smartpost as an option until this is resolved.
-
-
This is a shipping emergency. EBAY, help us! My latest sale, buyer paid 13.51 for Smartpost shipping from MN to NY. I had it at 4 lbs but it will be 5. (22 x 1 4x 11″ ) My ebay smartpost label is coming up at $33.54! Fedex home delivery is 20.44 and Parcel is $16.14. Priority would be $40. If it’s the post office’s problem, I don’t know why parcel is the best price.
-
-
I would just send it Parcel. Be sure to print the postage cost on the label so they can see you paid more than they paid. They probably won’t complain, it will probably arrive in the same time. If they say anything just tell them what it would have cost and that you didn’t want to cancel the sale, and you paid the few extra dollars yourself.
-
-
-
It’s a black doctor’s bag
https://www.ebay.com/itm/201965811552 19″ Long, x 12 x 9. I lost $3 and shipped it Parcel. -
Nice bag and sale. It sounds like you identified what would work best for you. Yes, sometimes in shipping, these losses can occur because it takes a little more to package the item to protect from harm than originally expected. It’s probably happened to even the most seasoned sellers.
-
-
ok i just took fedex smart post of all my listings as i keep on getting dinged and i am just not going to assume ebay will fix all of it post fact. I really wish EBay would get their STUFF together – to the point on the podcast there is not even an announcement (though i am positive they acknowledge its an issue) and shipping packages to people is sort of a big part of their business after all.
-
So I called Ebay again on the fedex issue — giving them my SR reference number the rep was able to pull the issue up right away and knew what i am talking about. The Ebay rep confirmed specifically that
“Ebay would credit my account for the shipping difference” on the smart post issue for ‘all of the items effected.”
What I wanted to pass on to others: when i asked why ebay is not making a seller announcement about the issue and providing guidance to all on this: “we cannot do that because we should not be paying the difference in shipping” — that they were making an exception for me apparently because i am asking for it.
So the bottom line is Ebay knows there is an issue on fedex smart post and people are on their own dealing with their bug. I would encourage anyone effected by smart post who has lost money on the issue ebay is having to specifically ask Ebay for credits for the issue and to ask ebay for a SR Reference number. Getting the SR number is key anytime you want something to be “on the record” and it makes sure the reps are logging and keeping notes that can be used later.
-
I am hoping that happens later today when I have my call with the rep.
I have three scheduled calls today…joy…
-
This issue needs to go to the executives at Ebay in a way that asks them ‘what are you going to do’
-
-
-
-
Service Request number (I am not sure if that is what Ebay uses but that was what i was using as lingo). Basically my take away is — always get a SR / Reference number on any conversation with Ebay about anything important. It enables a coherent dialogue over time, apparently.
Put another way – if there is no reference number it did not happen.
I got a second reference number today after my call, for example, which i will use to clarify that all of my smart post is to be credited, as defined from just the one incident i called in for originally. My own notes, in excel, with SR number is my new best practice.
-
-
-
Gryff, the wonderful rep that helped us out on the GSP issue, also said that eBay programmers are now working on the bug for FedEx SmartPost. She doesn’t have a timeframe on when it is fixed, but she is VERY awesome, gave me the SR # (Thanks Geoff!) and she is going to call us when the issue is fixed. So SmartPost should be back sometime soon. Hopefully in no longer than a week!
-
-
Not 100% sure. I heard that there was a FedEx change where they were going to use more dimensional weights on SmartPost that was going to increase the SmartPost rate.
Disregarding that, the issue was that the buyers were not charged the same amount as the seller. The buyer was being charged a normal rate for SmartPost, but sellers are being charged a much higher rate. When we got hit, it would have been a loss of $5 per item.
Latest update was that this has been an issue they have been working on since 1/25.
-
-
-
Whoa! Found out about this issue this morning bigtime. Has anyone figured out what dimensions still make sense for SP? I guess something that is pretty small and heavy at this point. One of my packages was only 12x12x8 and like $35, buyer paid like $13. I only ate about $6 shipping priority, but still. The other one was $38 but I crammed it into a MFR priority box luckily.
Also, if Ebay fixes, I have SP as my first shipping option on a lot of items. If a buyer sorts a search by total cost, doesn’t Ebay only have the functionality to sort by the first choice? Thanks.
-
-
@ChristineR I haven’t looked closely using the latest rates, but historically Smart Post became uneconomical compared to other options at around 10 lbs. So the answer to your question would be whenever the dimensional weight would be >= ~10 lbs. For Fedex, around 1330 cubic inches, e.g. 11 x 11 x 11″, gives a dim. weight of 10 lbs, so that should be a good ballpark upper bound for you. Of course, the actual answer depends on other factors such as the actual weight of the package and the shipping distance.
-
-
-
So, from what I can tell SP no longer makes sense vs. the Post Office on the vast majority of items due to the new dim weight assumptions. I believe Ebay does not sort your shipping to show the lowest priced option to the buyer for search or at the purchase point unless they dig, which many do not. Correct me if I’m wrong. So everything defaults to your first option. Therefore, I need to remove all of the SP options or at least change the order of SP out of first place. I certainly do not want my items showing up with $38 calculated shipping taking 8 days. Ugh. Wish I could spend that time listing instead.
-
Correct – Ebay DOES NOT take your lowest dollar amount shipping option to sort by cost, it uses your first option. Ebay will (in theory when it is working) use your fastest option for the guaranteed delivery.
Correct – smart post is a disaster at the moment. I would take it off.
-
-
Christine: You are correct. The first shipping option is the main one on your listing.
See if you can use your Business Policies to make a mass change. We have something similar with SixBit (Presets). We removed SmartPost late last week from all our listings until I hear that this is resolved.
-
-
Thanks. I’m too small time for software and I don’t charge handling but didn’t like business policies because I didn’t want to go through all of my listings to narrow down the polices. Maybe it’s a good time to turn them on if I have to make changes anyway.
Have fast shipping record but waitlisted for GD. Recently I’ve put overnight as my final option just in case it helps later.
I hope Ebay does a good job negotiating commercial discounts going forward. I have to be even more selective I think on buying items that don’t fit in a flat rate envelope, especially being coastal.
-
My latest FedEx Smartpost discrepancy. I called ebay and was told that if I’m charged the higher fee to call back and it would be refunded. I got a service request number like someone said above and the service rep said she documented the case.
I had to push to get her to do this though. At first she advised using a different shipping method but I would have lost at least 10 dollars using USPS.
She said ebay is aware of the problem. I asked if ebay is going to fix this or should I remove smart post from my listings and she said she didn’t know how long it would take to fix and I should remove it from my listings.
Does anyone know the cut off for when the dimensional weight kicks in? And is it just a problem with smartpost or are fedex ground / home affected too?
I don’t understand why they don’t fix this immediately. It’s crazy.
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.