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Well, this story has a happy outcome.. my customer just received and signed for the package (sigh of relief!!!). I had ended up calling Fed Ex and asking how to remove the signature confirmation. (I wanted to just get this “delivered” even if nobody was there to retrieve it. They said I had to fax a written letter to the local hub and request it in writing. I did that, and ended up speaking to the local operations manager who refused to remove it he said it just couldn’t be done. (But in fact, it has been done in other locations – he just wasn’t going to do it.) We decided to hold it until a tbd date. I then emailed the customer via paypal address and ebay messaging that the package was on hold and waiting for their decision to either a) go pick up in person b) call fed ex to schedule a date you will be there to sign in person or c) let us know a friend or neighbor’s address to deliver it to instead who can sign on your behalf. I was hoping this paper trail would cover me in case of an INR case… but in any event, it all worked out.
Moral of the story: You don’t need signature confirmation if the item is less than $750 for seller protection and it only created a headache for this transaction and wasted extra $$ so I will not be using it again.If you are not into making your own box – FED Ex shipping centers have a “large art box” for sale – $14.00 – it is a very large sturdy cardboard box with a drop in insert and plastic bag to put the artwork in – and the insert folds down customizable to the size of your piece – so it doesn’t move inside the box. The boxes are too big for smartpost and usps, though – so you will end up shipping via fed ex ground or home delivery.
Katie, Sorry about your problem buyer! People, are we reporting these abusive buyers? It only takes a few extra clicks to do it < 1 minute of your time. I report inappropriate returns and abusive feedback, etc. EVERY TIME (Don’t get them very often, but they do happen.) I know after several complaints of the same nature from a few sellers (I think I read somewhere the magic number was “3” but I don’t remember which board I read that on…) ebay will reprimand them and either suspend their account for 7 days or they will lose their ebay buyer protection. If there are consequences to their behavior, maybe they will stop doing it.
Hey – sorry to hear you got an INAD – that’s a bummer. I’ve only gotten a few and they were items that I didn’t want back so I let them keep ’em because I didn’t want to pay to have the stuff shipped back – thus, I’ve never gotten to the point where I have had to send a return label to a customer. How exactly do you go about doing that? I thought it was automatically done through ebay? Anyway, please keep us posted on your outcome and good luck!
I charge sales tax in my state (Ohio) and keep track of all my in-state sales in a spreadsheet. I found that it did not hurt my local sales when I started doing this. I have only had one person complain in 4 years and I kept the sale together by just paying the tax as a “courtesy” – I sent her a revised invoice on her best offer with a misc. credit to pick up the tax.
Sounds like you are using a similar system as I am – I use mixed bins. I also use the custom label (SKU) field filled in with the bin letter, and an excel spreadsheet to track my inventory. I used to sort everything by like kind (ie: hat bin) but then I was digging through piles of hats to find the right logo… I found that switching to mixed bins (with only a few hats in each bin, for instance is much easier for me to find.) When something sells the bin number shows up in the custom label field on my laptop under “Orders” – I know exactly where to go to pull it. If I don’t have my laptop on, and only my ebay mobile ap, I can open my Excel spreadsheet (stored on my onedrive) via mobile and I can instantly see where the item is. I have found this saves a few minutes in searching for my items. It also forces me to keep good records of my inventory and COGS – Maybe not the most sophisticated system out there- but it is working well for me.
buytikiselltiki – thanks for your response. I used “FedEx Home Delivery” for this one, and unfortunately, when selecting delivery options I did not select “indirect signature required” (where they can sign the sticker to leave the package…) I selected “direct signature” (which only allows for an actual signature) – probably another dumb move on my part but besides smart post, this is the first time using a regular fed ex delivery and I just am not very familiar with FedEx/eBay best practices.
I just reread the policies and (I didn’t realize but should have known) that ebay now only requires a signature confirmation for anything over $750 (it used to be $250 but was changed a while back.) I think I made a mistake requiring signature confirmation – If not, I would have saved $4.55 and I wouldn’t have had to worry about this mess if I would have just sent it out and had fed ex leave it on her doorstep…
Wow.. let us know what happens. Too bad he left the negative and was rude or it would have been an easy choice to just send it to him for nothing – it would have made your day and you both would have felt good about the transaction. To me “revised feedbacks” are obvious because of the revision date in the feedback thread and may send flags because there was some “issue” going on at one point and this may just be me, but I wonder if it may encourage others to complain also, just to give you a chance to ‘make it right’ (and give out a partial refund). I would probably just make sure he was blocked and relist it in 6 months or longer. (Next time don’t offer to send it for free, so you don’t have to deliberate over it. 🙂 The negative will soon be a blip on the radar disappearing fast with all your new sales and positive feedbacks coming your way. What kind of feedback has he left for others, just curious? Seems like there is a good chance he will blow you off and not even change the feedback anyway and in general you are re-opening an unknown can of worms.. just let him go. GOOD LUCK!
Thanks I appreciate these videos… I NEVER would have thought to stuff a t shirt or jeans, but I have noticed the “catalog” (3d) look on some listings out there and I couldn’t figure out how they were achieving that look – now I know and maybe I will try it out in the future if I feel inclined to do so!
AdventureE, I think you might be onto something, I am going to experiment with your hypothesis… I still have US Protectorates and APO’s excluded no matter what I do. (At one point I had created a shipping policy eliminating them a long while back… and I just cannot get them “unstuck” no matter what I have tried to do on my own) – I usually always use “Sell similar” so I will try some new listings and let you know.
Here’s my “been there done that” 🙂 … I had a buyer purchase a local pick up only antique school desk (I’m in Ohio – she was in California) – she had no intention to pick it up and asked why I couldn’t just ship it to her (she didn’t read the listing)- I explained I didn’t have the set up for it but would be happy to provide shipping solutions and work things out with a shipper of her choice – I emailed her a list of freight shippers and she said she would look into it and then I never heard back from her. I contacted her once to ask her if she had decided on a shipping service to work with – and again, never heard from her. So I didn’t do anything… As far as I am concerned, I am still “holding her desk” two+ years later. I expected her to ask for her money back or leave me bad feedback – I would have refunded her – but I decided not to chase her down and she never responded to me so I didn’t do anything. Eventually I will relist the desk for a higher price when I get around to it, but for now, my kids enjoy playing on it and it is not in the way in my basement.
Good luck with your situation, So Cal Jo…Hi Everyone,
I had the same problem with countries being excluded no matter what I did or reset… You all have probably tried this already but here is one more thing to look at if this glitch is happening to you:
Go to Account Settings –> Site Preferences –> Shipping Preferences (select Show)
Once this section expands you will see “Exclude Shipping Locations from your listings” **Make sure this says “No”… but even if it DOES… hit “Edit” anyway… and make sure all the countries listed are unchecked.
