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First class is good for items less than four pounds; however, not all countries provide tracking all the way to the final destination. I recently shipped an item to Ireland with no problems, but I wouldn’t do it for all countries. I received tracking information all the way to the airport where it left on a plane.
You can find out from this site as to whether a country provides tracking or not:
https://pe.usps.com/text/imm/immc2_022.htm#ep3032639
I don’t see the Solomon Islands, so you might want to send it priority just for the tracking. How much did you charge the buyer for shipping?
Oh, yeh, I’m only saying that if there is an issue with border crossing, whether it be just spotty or the possibility of being stuck in the US, you could go with the more expensive shipping. This is really an unusual situation, and even other Canadian sellers may not know what is going to happen. This has never happened before, so we really don’t know what to expect.
The governors in NJ, NY, and CT have closed places like schools (so kids are moving to online instruction), gyms, restaurants (takeout only), government buildings such as municipal courts, and so forth. Who knows what will happen at the border, especially if you are driving into NY?
Midwest locations, like CO, might be better.
Considering how serious and unprecedented this thing is, you should probably consider temporarily changing all your shipping to Canada Post. Once restrictions are lifted, you can change them back.
Right now, my sales have suddenly died. If I suddenly changed all my shipping to a more expensive method, going from zero to zero isn’t going to change much.
You will need to call eBay and explain the situation. It seems pretty straight forward to me, but I can’t tell you whether or not they will remove it. You did all the right things, and the customer is refusing to return the item.
If you get an unreasonable customer service rep, you can always wait a day and call back. Sometimes different reps will result in different results.
You also can contact the “eBay For Business” group on Facebook. They will take up to a day to get back to you, but they are usually pretty reasonable.
I’m totally out of my normal routine because my high school aged son started doing classwork online today, and I had to help him get started. I haven’t listened to the podcast yet, and I’m not sure when I will be able to get to it.
To add to the craziness, I start a new job on Thursday! I’ve kept in touch with some of my colleagues including a lunch I set up each month. Towards the end of last year, someone mentioned work available at his company, so I responded. I’ll start very part-time at first. Online selling will now be my so-called “side hustle” instead of my main thing.
I felt that the week was slow, but, looking at other people’s numbers so far, I don’t think I did all that badly. I had to add up my sales by hand since GoDaddy is still adding shipping to the cost of the item (already mentioned by DoublyThumbs above).
Week of March 8 – 14
* Total Items in Store: 1458 eBay, 34 Etsy
* Items Sold: 13 eBay
* Cost of Items Sold: $54.85 + $16.60 Commission
* Total Sales: $425.62 eBay
* Highest Price Sold: $106 hand knitted wool prayer rug
* Average Price Sold: $32.74
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
* Number of items listed this week: 31Oops, my mistake. I listed 31 items. I forgot three that sold right away!
I should add that life has turned crazy here as well. My daughter is home on spring break from college, but will be doing online classes for at least two weeks after maybe longer.
My son, who is a sophomore at our local VoTech, started today with online classwork, which will go for at least a week, and I’m sure it is going to be longer. Of course, he can’t do his main elective, Automotive Services, online. The crazy thing is that his teacher, who is new this year, has been out for about 5 weeks due to back surgery. They just brought the previous teacher, who had retired, back in as a substitute. So, now he is going to go for maybe two months without any automotive work except for a few computer modules and tests. Really puts a wrench into everything, literally as well as figuratively.
I just found out that the governor of NJ just announced the closure of all movie theaters, gyms, and restaurants in addition to the schools, so, wow, we are living in a really weird world.
I listed 28 items.
@Amatino: I had requested the April because I had an event that would coincide with the challenge. Just about everything around here has been cancelled or changed to remote (except that I didn’t get out of my dentist appointment this morning). So, the event in April is no longer happening, and I can either change it to another month or leave it as-is. Previously, you said that you had an April challenge that would go well with April Fools. I can now easily switch to May. What say you?Did this just happen today? I’ve had one or two cases where the item was scanned as being delivered, but didn’t show up until a few hours later. Or the next day.
I would first wait. After that, contact your post office and/or the seller.
I ended up cancelling the sale and creating a new listing. His email address wasn’t in the PayPal information, and I wasn’t sure whether asking him would be OK per eBay policies.
I did go to create an invoice, but it had to be made from scratch. So, I would have to copy and cut his information into the form. Isn’t there a better way to do it?
I just saw this thread. I subscribe to all the sub-categories on Savenger Life, but, for some reason, I did not get notified on this one.
I think that all the address changes I’ve had have been USPS and were no problem. What did you end up doing with this? Canceling the sale?
Last week was typewriter week. The first is a 1948 manual one that I bought for about $5 at an estate sale, and sold on offer to a buyer at $61.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184106030135The second is an electric Smith Corona in great shape for $124. This was given to me my one of my parent’s downsizing friends. I kept putting off listing because of the testing part, but it sold in less than two weeks. I listed it higher than others because of its great condition.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184183505662Another whiskey pitcher sold. I purchased a large lot in September, and they’ve been selling little by little. Each cost about 25 cents, and this one is a German gin and sold for $28 to someone in Germany.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183982842006I recently purchased a number of vintage scales. This one has porcelain plates and is in reasonably nice condition. I paid about $3, and it sold for $50.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184183864468In 2016, my first year of selling, beginner’s luck got me to a yard sale with lots of good stuff. Most has sold by this time, but I still had this tea and dessert set of fine china. It started as two sets I bought together. The first sold to someone in PA, and two pieces broke in shipping. I had been careful in my packing, but not good enough. I modified this listing for local pickup only. Someone in CA bought it and then requested that I ship it to her and that she would pay $50. Since I’ve learned a thing or two since my first attempt, I decided to go ahead when I found I could ship it for $24 through FedEx. It has been delivered, and I haven’t heard anything. Fingers crossed! I paid about $12, and it sold for $40. I don’t buy sets like these any more unless they are going to sell for much more!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184006037603Another vintage Zenith radio from a September purchase. Paid less than $3, sold for $40.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184086576513Because I’m in NJ, and we have several confirmed cases, COVID-19 is starting to affect me. Yesterday, the police announced that one of the cases was from our town. The schools are closed down today and tomorrow for cleaning. My son is in the VoTech, which is a different school district, and his is not closed.
A number of events have been delayed or canceled, and now an organization that I am involved with wants to delay one of our events. Since I manage this event, I’m in the mist of looking at what we can do. We might end up cancelling.
It’s just a crazy time. I’m annoyed, but I know these crazy precautions are necessary.
As far as sales, mine have been pretty good, but this weekend was suddenly very slow. This week has been better, but not gangbusters. On the other hand, I had more items in my “make offer to buyers” list this morning. I expect that sales will be better for a while because of all the crazy stuff going on.
