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I just wanted to chip in on the subject of withholding money from a customer’s account when they accept an offer- one of the things that I like about sending offers is the fact that customers can accept multiple offers from us and then we can send an invoice with the correct combined shipping amount. Ebay’s calculated combined international shipping can be laughably high sometimes. Often, a customer will balk when asked to pay the combined shipping amount that ebay has calculated and then rely on us to send a refund. And for some reason, most customers have a hard time accessing the feature that allows them to take the buy it now option on multiple items and then request the total from the seller. I’m worried that requiring upfront payment would make combined shipments look more expensive than they should be, since we refund shipping overpayment.
I REALLY REALLY wish that Ebay had a feature that allowed sellers to send multi-item offers to customers, with a discount option, and with our combined shipping amount included. We had a customer in Japan recently who had to send us 41 separate messages so that we could send him offers with an appx. 20% discount on all of them. It’s just such a clunky way to do things. It would be inconvenient if an item sells before the customer accepts the group offer but there are ways to deal with that- the offer could delete that item and they could still accept it as is, or you could send a new offer with the sold item removed, etc.
That’s interesting. I will admit, I’m still a little puzzled as to how combined shipping works. We offer it but I’ve looked at sales where it appears that Ebay adds all the combined shipping prices on each individual item instead of using the max estimated weight. I have had a lot of customers balk when we tell them they can pay the full price and we will refund the difference.
I’m sure she would notice if it was happening to you! Hopefully it’s rare. My employees do most of my shipping as well so I don’t have a great handle on how much it’s been happening but I’ve definitely seen weird little anomalies 3-4 times in the last month or so. I’ve been letting it slide but today I finally called customer service about it and they acknowledged that something is wrong with their shipping system.
We have just started adding the DHL (AKA Ebay Int’l Standard Delivery) option onto some of our listings- and yes, in the case of the package to Japan, we had that option on the listing and they selected it. They bought the two items and ebay combined the shipping price. When we went to ship, we noticed that they had paid less than the cost of the label somehow.
I just got off the phone with Ebay customer service and they said that their shipping system has some outdated information and hasn’t been updated. They said that it’s being worked on and they are putting in a work ticket for someone to take a look at my account. I’ve had very mixed results when they tell me this and I assume it’s just something they say to make people feel better. They also said that until things are fixed, you just have to send a Paypal invoice for the rest of the shipping. I have no idea how you do that without looking like a greedy scam artist. We just removed the DHL option from a bunch of listings instead.
No matter what brand you get, I highly recommend considering 3 inch tape over the more common 2 inch. If you’re wrapping large boxes it goes a lot faster. I use a Uline dispenser which you can find pretty easily on Ebay and I get cheap tape from Amazon. I also have a generic dispenser but Uline works a lot better. I actually prefer the cheaper tape over the thicker tape such as Scotch. It’s stronger but it doesn’t adhere to the boxes quite as well.
Did you know that if the USPS accidentally takes a package intended for another carrier, they still have to complete the delivery? I learned that when our postal carrier took a Fedex box a while back.
Cool, I haven’t heard of that one. I’ll check it out. Learning about 17track.net was one of the most useful tips I’ve learned from Scavenger Life. Why is it that sites like these sometimes have much more detailed info than Ebay or the shipping company??
Now that all my delayed packages have been delivered, here are the lessons I’ve learned about international shipping from all this COVID nonsense:
1) Use other sites to check tracking other than ebay. Ebay found in my customer’s favor because they hadn’t received their package. I kept checking ebay tracking, hoping it would be delivered within the window to appeal. There were no updates but I checked 17track.net and sure enough! He’d gotten the package, but ebay tracking never showed the updated information.
2) Consider using shipcover to insure international packages while the pandemic is going on. I very rarely have lost packages so I don’t normally use this.
3) Remember to keep checking tracking after you lose a case so that you can appeal the decision. You have 30 days after the decision to appeal. I’m trying to appeal a case over email and the rep says that those decisions can’t be reversed, so I may have to try calling instead, because I know that isn’t true.
I’m wondering if there is any reason to use Ebay International Standard Shipping again. My experience has been pretty bad, but I’m not sure what’s even causing these packages to just stop and never move again. No one has any answers.
We’ve just had another case opened on a $125 package that shipped in early April to Italy. Luckily, somehow, after a month of no updates the package showed up in Milan today. I’ve been telling customers that these packages will eventually break through the logjam but of course they’re nervous. Ebay did something really weird on our package to Japan with four items. There are 4 separate cases and because there was recent movement in the tracking they added 10 days to 2 of the cases. And also closed the other two cases in the buyer’s favor. I’m not sure if they will allow me to appeal that but what a mess.
It seems that most packages with this problem shipped around the time that things started going downhill. So are there just shipping containers out there somewhere that are full of packages and no one wants to deal with them because they just don’t have extra capacity? This is all so weird.
That’s an interesting theory. I wonder if anyone else is seeing any delays in their GSP packages. You’re totally right about the fees. Some customers are more likely to pull the trigger on making a purchase if they think there’s a chance that they won’t have to pay an additional 20% or more in taxes.
We frequently have European customers complaining about the taxes or asking for a better price because their taxes are so high. Sorry buddy, I don’t get to live in a country with free health care so I don’t feel too bad for you.
I don’t like using Global Shipping because of the upfront customs charge and longer delivery time. I guess the delivery time doesn’t matter anymore but we’ve had a lot of customers tell us that they aren’t always charged a customs fee through regular shipping. We’ll have to consider trying it if things get worse in the fall. How do you ship direct to Mexico and Canada? I was under the impression that Global Shipping was an all-or-nothing deal.
All of the packages that we’ve had problems with have nothing in the tracking to indicate that they have left the country. I check 17track along with ebay tracking and they all seem to hit a dead end in the US. But I know that some packages won’t update tracking until they clear customs in their destination country.
That’s what I’ve been trying to tell customers- that the packages are not lost, there’s just some kind of mysterious delay in the system that affects some packages but not others. They’ll make it to them eventually but it’ll be a very long wait. The fact that no one out there, from ebay to the shipping companies is acknowledging it or offering explanations is quite frustrating.
I’m glad to hear that. We don’t use GSP but sometimes we use the Ebay Standard Int’l Shipping (ESIS). I was told by a rep on the phone that if something happens with GSP then ebay will refund the customer but if the package ships through ESIS they do nothing to help out and it’s the seller’s responsibility to reimburse the customer.
