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Ended up canceling the order, but the buyer rebought it later in the day.
I guess it’s FedEx only? In the past I’ve always told the buyer to repurchase with the right address, but this one wasn’t high-dollar and I figured I’d just see what happened.
Closures are a sign of preparedness. We have the advantage of knowing what this has been like in other places that did not take steps to curb this ahead of time. We’re lucky in that regard.
There’s a startling amount of useless information being spread at the moment. I follow an AI-powered news aggregator that groups together similar stories, and even it is breaking down under the sheer volume of material from every outlet that suddenly deems itself worthy of covering a situation like this. The CDC has said that excessive exposure to news surrounding the virus is causing unneeded panic and affecting mental health of those already at risk for mental health problems. I don’t think we need example number 342984823498 that the 24/7 news cycle is worthless, but here we are.
People need to realize that the amount of information you need regarding this is a tiny fraction of what’s currently out there. Pay attention to statements from the WHO and CDC, in addition to whatever local information you have access to.
I don’t feel a need to speculate on a potential downturn/uptick in sales. Last week was my second best week on record. This week is the slowest so far in 2020. I’m operating as normal until my immediate situation changes.
If your built-in camera app doesn’t have Pro (manual) mode, then there’s Open Camera. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.opencamera&hl=en_US
I don’t use it on my eBay phone as its built-in app lets me lock ISO/shutter/WB, but the few times I’ve been on my non-eBay phone and needed pics, Open Camera worked fine.
The more you write, the more eBay messes with the description on mobile. They actually move around and cut entire sentences if the algorithm deems it as not being relevant. You can see this for yourself by viewing an item on desktop and then checking the same one on mobile. I believe you can get around this by just writing one big run-on sentence, but I’ve yet to try it.
I had someone claim I modified the description after I sold the item, and realized that an entire sentence I wrote about a defect had been removed in the mobile description by eBay. Very annoying.
This is still a problem for me. I just got a return in the mail that’s still sitting at “Waiting for buyer to ship item.”
I would call the bluff and ask him to return it. Are their identifying marks on the one you sold so you can tell if they returned the right one?
Hard part in this situation is getting the board back and figuring out if it’s actually defective.
I use a similar phrase for some parts & repair stuff – “Experienced techs only.” I almost wrote it in a listing today, but didn’t because of this situation. After this it’s just short and to the point with everything, although I feel like I’ve already been doing that.
I’ll let someone else figure out if that’ll work, and although I bet it would, risking a ban isn’t worth it. The email made it very clear that any attempt to circumvent their decision was not acceptable, so I just tossed the item. If I can’t communicate a basic fact, then it isn’t worth listing, as it’s just an INAD waiting to happen anyway.
I wouldn’t feel good about hiding the information away in Item Specifics, then having to tell an upset buyer that they just didn’t look hard enough. eBay doesn’t do a good job at surfacing that stuff on mobile in my opinion.
eBay needs to list all this stuff somewhere. I’ve re-read the “rules” they sent me and it’s vague enough to where any listing could be taken down. Something like “Happy bidding” would fit under their criteria for removal, for example.
I should note that this is true for the title AND description, so the item can’t be sold at all since it’s INAD-worthy without the notice of it not being factory reset.
The reporting is too all over the place on this. I’ve been following this since January – one day the virus is “mostly mild”, then the next day it’s “incurable, life-long effects.” I’m sure the truth is somewhere in the middle, but one thing is known: All information coming from China through official methods of communication is 100% falsified to save face. People were skirting China’s locked-down internet to leak real information as far back as January when China was still saying it was no big deal despite the “real” numbers being 2x/3x what the government was reporting.
Regardless, once it’s more well-known here in the US, we’ll see what it looks like vs. modern medicine. China is not known to have the best health practices and there’s still some aversion to modern medicine there. In the US, the real choke point will be hospital overcrowding.
And just for reference, the “normal” flu in Winter 2018-2019: 647,000 people were hospitalized, 61,200 died, and 42mil were “sick”. I found those numbers shocking.
eBay hasn’t emailed/messaged me the link to it yet. Had to do some searching for it: https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-updates/2020-spring/index.html
If you do want to message them, just be firm: “Pictures/description indicated it was just the bookshelf speakers and not the full system.”
Here’s how this can play out:
1) They open a return under missing parts/INAD. You’re covered in this case and can refuse a full refund. You’ll get the item back and have to relist, but this is a reality of selling on eBay.
2) They leave negative feedback, which you can have removed by citing your description/pictures + the message they sent you.
There’s other fringe cases, but I wouldn’t worry about them.
In the future, make sure any model number related to the complete surround sound system is stripped from the item specifics. Having it in the title/description is okay, but in some cases having that detail in the specifics will show a stock image of the full system.
I’ve heard good things about the Motorola Moto G6. It’s around $100.
One thing to consider: Make sure any phone you look at can make calls over 4G LTE, as regular 4G will no longer support calls in the near future.
You can view active offers here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/lst/active?action=search&format=ALL_FORMATS&status=PENDING_OFFERS&offset=0
And offers you sent here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/lst/active?pill_status=sioPending&action=search
But no way to see history of offers for all items. I had to create my own solution for that with the eBay API.
Despite using calculated shipping for USPS Priority International, eBay undercharged my buyer. Now eBay International Standard Delivery is the cheapest option. Dimensions are 24x16x8 @ 10lbs 9oz, making it a flat $59 to Ontario, CANADA.
Shipping label is the same as those odd-shaped FedEx labels (the rectangle) that no printer can figure out. eBay likes their color logo, so make sure you set your printer to black & white only.
Package is going to Kentucky, just like with GSP. And unlike USPS Priority, there’s insurance up to $100 and supposedly tracking.
Will see how this turns out.
