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Us too! Says 89 of the last shipments were not uploaded at all.
So what is the consensus, just wait this out because you know they are getting a ton of calls or is everyone going to call them, get inline a que line and just wait for an uninformed CSR to tell us… “HuH!..Uhh! .. We are aware and working on it and we know nothing else!”
So what is the game plan here?
Mike at MDC Galleries
SilverFox not disagreeing at all but it comes down to the bottom line of who is going to pay. There is only 4 people involved, the buyer, the seller, the shipper [USPS], the e-commerce software platform provider [Ebay].
So regardless of how the response is worded, generic bolier plate or hand written greeting card, the bottom line is that the seller is trying to get someone to pay for this so she doesn’t have to eat all that cost.
The buyer has already sent the item back and is out of the picture. Ebay is basically saying you used our software platform to sell your item, we are done, don’t care who or why it “broke” or “was damaged”, that is what insurance is for. So in our opinion, the last resort is to appeal to the the Shipper. Possibly call your local PostMaster and state the situation, but bet you dollars to doughnuts, they will not want to be responsible for a shipping point not packaging an item correctly.
All of the shippers have lots of regulations {SOP’s] about how to properly package an item for transit and will fall back on those when they wish to get out from under paying for something. Many videos about how a package needs to be packed and what tests it must withstand to be safely shipped.
So, that leaves the seller with the burden of proof and she can’t because she did not pack or ship it. Again, just an opinion here, but I would still go with what Jay outlined, show me some pictures of the damaged areas I missed or didn’t describe, and if I see it is true, just pony up and try to negotiate as little of a refund as possible. But even that can’t happen now because the return was accepted and the item was returned and it has been received. Ebay has no way of knowing that the item the seller would show them in photos is even the real one that was shipped. Ebay, is saying, color us out of here, we be gone. So long, farewell, good luck.
There still is the issue possibly coming up for an INAD case which, the seller has already admitted to missing stating and showing the damged area and if a negative is gotten may have to stand.
Again just expressing an opinion, but think it really a matter of “who is the final person in the food chain that will agree to pay for this”. And I think it will be the seller, unless they can convince the buyer to accept the responsibility of poor packing and to to file a claim for the seller and then split the cost with you.
For us all of that would just not be worth our time. If all of this took 3 or 4 hours we could list many new items and already be presenting to the buying public hundreds of dollars worth of possible new sales.
Right there with Jay. It is very difficult for a buyer to duplicate our “custom cocoon packing process”. They are hap-hazard and will mostly lead to damage on the return. On delicate items or those with heavy shipping costs, especially since these days most sellers have to cover the round trip shipping costs, it is best to try to work it out with the buyer. By them keeping it, it atleast saves the return shipping cost from coming out of your pocket.
Also as Jay is indicating, when an item is insured, it is insured by the shipping party. So the buyer is the one covered by the return shipping not you. So by having a buyer return the item they are the ones who will have to make the claim. And doing this will require them to have to ask you for photos to send to them, they will have to go through the USPS perocess, fill out the forms and attach the photos. The chances of them taking the time to do all of this is gets pretty slim. So this supports what Jay is saying. Work something out with the buyer. Try the partial refund approach.
BUT if your buyer notifies you that something “arrived” damage, they are fishing, then tell them to send you several photos of the damage and you make the claim and you are good to go and you file with USPS and it is only a little work on your part to get what adds to, still a complete sale.
BUT… when you request for the buyer to send to you, this process gets reversed and is usually not worth the efforts or taking a chance. In this case even if you offer a refund in a large amount that only leaves you your original buying cost in your pocket, so be it. Just a cost of doing business and at least you keep enough to cover the original cost. Worst case scenario, you refund the whole thing, sales price plus original shipping. For the few times this happens in your business life spam, again it is just a cost of doing business.
Right now, all you can do is the complete refund, and as Jay says, see if it is still sellable at a reduced cost or do as Steven S. does and maybe part it out. At least these two suggestions may help recoupe some of the total refund cost you had to do.
Running your store as a business, then national standardized percentages, as has been stated here on SL previously, is approx. 1-1/2% to 2% for “shrinkage” which is breakage, loss, scams, etc., etc. In Jay and Ryanne’s case based on $1,000 per week or $52k per year, then $1.040 per year in these “shrinkage” cases is perfectly normal and a part of doing business. Of course you try to minimize those by using the partial refunds, insurance claims from your end, and then just keep listing and going forward.
It is luck some times and you ahve to just take it in stride. You didn’t win the Lotto either, so don’t lose any sleep over it, even though $150+$60=$210 does hurt in the short term
Take care and have a good weekend.. Go find that $1,000 treasure
mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in AtlantaI agree with Sharyn. Also spot on with the company reccomendations. I have had both of these companies do pick ups for the customer at our offices. They are sub-contractors for the online company. Just give your customer there contact information and have them handle it from thier end.
The companies call you once your customer selects who he is going to use and you work out a pick up time with them.What we do to protect ourselves is we have a copy of the invoice-packing slip ready when they pick up. We have them sign this invoice, we include the date and also have them print their names as well as sign. I also request the person who picks up to show me their drivers license and I write the number, their name and address as well on the invoice and keep it for our records [just in case]. You could also just use your phone and take a photo of the pick up persons license, print it and keep it.
Sounds more complex that it really is. If they pre-paid only one copy is needed. If they pay at time of pick up just do two copies and use one to create a “paid in Full” receipt for them. Then make sure you go into Ebay and mark as paid and shipped.
But basically the buyer handles it all and you make a paper trail for yourself.
Good luck:
mike at MDC Galleries and Fine ArtThanks for the heads up. With everything that is going on, going wrong, changing, morphing all around us, might as well change how we ship too. Just go with the flow.
Who knows, maybe after all is said and done we may wind make up with multiple booths at antique malls..HaHa. LOL..[not really funny.. Uggh.] We will get through it all.
Good point DVS… Yep it could be that also and as you state it is hazardous. Even if phenolic wouldn’t want to be cutting food on it, if it is either of those materials.
Here is a definition. It is what circuit boards are made out of. Can range from about a 1/32″ thick up to an inch or more. Canvas backed and very hard and durable. I have also seen some wear of base plates in the printing industry made from it and the sweet spot that gets the most wear looks very similiar to your flat piece. But again a “drowning man will grab a pine cone if it floats by!” .. LOL 🙂
Phenolic plastics: https://www.nationwideplastics.net/plastics/phenolic/
mike C.
Hey .. I am not sure but something to check. Not knowing the weight and you say “stone”, but Phenolic plastic is poured and cured hard with a mesh impregnated core or exterior. Hard as nails but not very heavy.
Next could be cast cement if it feels like stone. Cloth backed and mold poured over it just like reinforced concert with re-bar only a thin pour with cloth or mesh.Just grabbing at thin straws here but worth looking up / Googling to see if any descriptions match.
Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
I agree with T-Satt. Within WonderLister or SixBit these app handle not only multi-platforms but multiple stores within those platforms. They would be a better way.. Be real careful doing anything back with TurboLister.
It was getting very buggy back when it was active, it is old “spahgetti” code. then when abandoned nothing has been written to fix anything. The old Blackthorn team and TurboLister guys left Ebay and formed their own companies. Chavi at WonderLister and John Slocom of SixBit all used to work together on BlackThorn and TurboLister. They have had thier own companies for about 5 years. I would not encourage people to jump back into TurboLister, but that is my opinion only.If any thing, I would maybe [just maybe] download the trial version of one of these app instead, then download your store into SB or WL and then upload back into another store. But a waord of caution.. these 3rd party APPs are powerful relational databases. They have a ton of features but saying that also come with a learning curve. If all you have ever done is list with the Ebay app, then my guess is weeks of learning these programs and how to navigate them.
Yes File exchange is also an alternative but that too takes work and is not just a seamless click and it is all done.But all this is again just my opinion and there are others much stronger in 3rd party apps, file exchange and the such who may be able to chime in.
Mike at MDCG&FA
@ T-Satt: What do you mean by a review. if you mean just a sort-filter of low views or impressions that is available on WL & SB both with a click of a button. You must mean something else.
Good point you make about having it hard to recruit the talent then on top of all the issues having to deal with users face to face at Ebay Open shortly.
Guess they better practice the “oh my goodness, we are so sorry” speech.
And dont forget it was a few years back, the Ebay engineer that worked on the Cassinni search engine actually came out and said that stale listings were being written into the code and that would be a factor. That is why some of us abandoned the GTC-List it Until Canceled model of J&R and started using 3rd party app to end our listings every 30 days and relisting them as “new” and with new ID numbers.
So my WonderLister program and I have also re-downloaded SixBit and am running both simultaneously, having them end and auto relist our items. Troy [T-Satt, Mark-S and us], have 10 or 20 listings that are ending every day and our software, just auto relists them as new, gives them a brand new Ebay ID, clears the sales, history [who cares about that any way any more]. as far as Ebay’s Cassini is concerned we are listing beand new things every day [NOT- just the same ones over agagin]. But we still are seeing the Summer slow down.
Then we also use Promoted Listings and run periodic sales. It is all part of the “Brave New Wprld”, we are in. Business at the “Speed of Thought”.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art.
Right there with you brother. Even if she got everything in her store for $.10 or even $.05 I would not want to put in that amount of time for that amount of sales.
Good thing I am ramping up my art studio again. I can make my own paintings, sculptural wall mirrors, clocks, lamps, table sculpture, wall hangings and the such. Doing that creates saleable products and satisfies my need to “make stuff, so 20 year old vintage along with my art-sculpture can go on Ebay and Etsy at the same time”.
P.S. Got some things worked out on the SB Trial and working on a new customized Listing Template. Also talked with JC at SB and discussed Shopify and “yes” it is on the drawing board and SB will be creating an interface for Shopify. I also discussed them on how WL was doing auto-SEO on Social media and he thought it was a great idea and was going to add it to the SB “To Get Down” list especially since the Twitter postings were so easy and I told him about the Instagram method. Send the first display picture. The only caveate’ is that you have to host your own photos, [which we do on that new 4 TB external HD] and have a real name / rename for your hpotos. U can’t use Ebay photos because Ebay renames all photos with a jumbled code. But if all SB users will host and name thier own photos, them InstaGram will work. JC seems very interested. So maybe SB will be a real multi-platform App by the time everything falls into place.
Mike at MDCG in Atl.
So, a question… Would you have bought it for $23 and Free Shipping and Free returns? We do this sometimes just to hide the shipping cost into the item cost. Then we run Sales almost weekly at 15%-20% Off. So if this was our item you would see it listed at $23, then crossed off and above that showing on Sale for $18.40 and we would ship it to you Free [our cost being $2.66] for the shipping. This way we would have made $15.74 on what you are seeing as a $6 item.
So, would you have bought it at The $18.40 price knowing you wanted to replace a childhood memory?
Just wondering …
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
