FedEx ship label scam on eBay 01-29-2021

[ibt_computers]

Well, we now have to stop using FedEx shipping labels generated through eBay. I just checked our eBay invoice this morning and eBay just billed our account $26.89 for a 7 pound package going from us, just North of Tampa, FL to Miami, FL via FedEx ground. It was a fairly light laptop computer and our HIGHLY accurate scale weighed the package at 6lbs 7ozs, so we put the package weight at 7lbs when we generated the FedEx shipping label on eBay, it said the label cost was $8.87. Sounds about right for such a short distance. Well, scam alert... FedEx weighed the package at 11 POUNDS!!! WAY OFF! And again, YES, our scale has always been VERY accurate and it couldn't have been off by 4 pounds - maybe an ounce off but not 4 pounds! 

And before you ask... "Why don't you just have FedEx weigh the package when you drop it off at their local dropoff site so that they can print out a receipt of it"? It's because FedEx REFUSES to weigh the package. They absolutely will not do it she said. It will be weighed at the FedEx Distribution Center in Tampa. So I told the FedEx lady... "So I will have no proof of how much the box actually weighs if your distribution center mis-weighs the box"?? She said, "That's right".

SCAM ALERT!! BING BING BING, SCAM ALERT!!

FedEx and eBay have done this to us many times now. WAY, WAY overcharging us for the FedEx shipping label and we have to manually check our eBay invoice every day to see what eBay/FedEx has charged us. And then we have to fight eBay to get a refund for the overcharge. We're done with FedEx shipping labels. We'll be forced to get only USPS labels.

This IS truly a scam. Because this happens a LOT and we're always overcharged. There's NEVER a refund because we've paid to much for a FedEx shipping label. With modern technology, eBay/FedEx should have figured out how to give accurate ship costs many years ago! And FedEx needs to figure out how to fix their scales at their Distribution Centers. Because 40% of the time they (FedEx) weighs the package and it's WAY off! Last month, FedEx weighed 2 of our packages at 15lbs each. The actual weight of each box was... 7.2lbs and 8.1lbs!!! Not even close FedEx!

And we are not setting up a FedEx account and ship directly through FedEx's website. Our labels must be generated by eBay.

This truly is one of the biggest overcharge scams I've ever seen. Can you imagine thousands or tens of thousands of eBay/FedEx ship labels and the overcharges not caught and then paid for.

[therogue-trader]

There have been dozens of threads about this sort of thing already...

[no_zero369]

Yep!  You just stepped into the the FedEx trap!  You are not alone, as one can see by searching posts, many get caught up in this mess.

Shoot a poster even gave a link to all of the "surcharges" FedEx has out there!  Makes a good cure for insomnia!

https://www.fedex.com/content/dam/fedex/us-united-states/services/Fees_Shipping_Information.pdf

Sure wish eBay would find a way to "fix" this or someone would develop a business to offer discounted FedEx rates like others do with the USPS.

[theteamsetguy]

Where a lot sellers run into trouble when shipping Fed Ex or UPS is not entering in the actual dimensions of the package in addition to the weight when they print their labels. They usually don’t enter the dimensions because they don’t know both FedEx and UPS use dimensional weight in addition to actual weight to determine rate. If you are shipping items in compact boxes you will usually have no issues with dimensional weight surcharges. Where dimensional weight becomes an issue is shipping bulky light weight items or putting items in oversized boxes.

Here is an example:

If you put a 6 pound item in a 10” x 10” x 6”  (600 cubic inches) box you will get charged the rate for a 6 pound package because 600 divided by 139 is less than 6. 

If you put the same 6 pound item in a 20” x 20” x 10” (4000 cubic inches) box with a lot packing peanuts you will be charged the rate for 29 pound package because 4000 divided by 139 is 28.77. 

I learned about dimensional weight the hard way 25 years ago when I was in a hurry and put a 2 pound item in a very big box because I didn’t have time to find a smaller one. Figuring the bigger box and peanuts didn’t add that much weight to the package it was going to cost me that much more. When I got my UPS bill I found out I was charged $75. I was surprised and asked my UPS driver it. He told everything I needed to know about dimensional weight. Never had an issue since with either UPS or FedEx with dimensional weight.

[ibt_computers]

Thanks for the info @theteamsetguy but... We know all about Dimensional Weight and so do most other sellers.

We always have two people check both the weight and the measurement of the shipping box (it's dimensions). THAT'S NOT THE PROBLEM!

If you look at the forums here, you will literally find thousands of complaints about this... FedEx's scale is mis-weighing boxes on a massive scale. As we said in our message above... FedEx is not weighing our boxes properly about 40% of the time. SCAM.  Their laser scanner system is also not measuring the dimensions of our boxes properly about 20% of the time. And it's not just a little off... it's WAY off.

Glad to see you are having ZERO problems with FedEx mis-weighing and not measuring the dimensions of the boxes properly, but most of the rest of us are. It's a huge scam. Because FedEx/eBay does this to us constantly. Every month.

[68barbie]

I've been on Bay since 1998 and I've had FedEx overbilling exactly 0 times. How? I opened my own FedEx account and control the billing through there. The shipping estimates I receive are very accurate and any variance is only a dollar or two. Now the downside is when eBay estimates the shipping the buyer must pay it's usually underpriced. I just pay the difference, secure in the knowledge that what I pay IS the final charge.

Many years ago, when I was a young eBayer, I learned the hard way that's it's impossible to press a damage claim against FedEx when using an eBay generated label. After numerous phone calls where each entity pointed at the other for liability, I gave up and never purchased labels for FedEx through eBay again.

-C

[ibt_computers]

@68barbie  but your answer, while a good and appreciated one, doesn't drive at the heart of my original post and my point...

Think about all the hundreds of thousands of smaller eBay sellers that only sell a few items here and there and don't want to set up a FedEx account. And why on earth should they have to? That's my point.

The eBay/FedEx shipping label print system should WORK PROPERLY and right now it's in scam territory. 

I just got off the phone with an eBay customer service rep, really nice guy BTW, and he agreed with me... He could see the final info that FedEx had sent to eBay's computer system about the weight and dimensions of the box and he said the label charge should have been $8.87, not $26.89.

He said he would have to file a manual "dispute" with FedEx and it usually takes about 60 days to resolve!! And the ONLY way for us to check on the FedEx dispute was for us to keep calling eBay to find out if the dispute was "resolved". The eBay rep said that FedEx could say "NO" to the dispute and then the dispute is closed and we don't get our refund. 

THIS SHIPPING LABEL IS TRIPLE, 300% HIGHER THAN THE COST eBay estimated for us. Little 7 pound package in a small box going a short distance. And this is NOT an isolated incident. It happens CONSTANTLY!

Again, for all the sellers on eBay that don't want to set up a FedEx account and expect the eBay/FedEx label print to work properly... This is a SCAM. 

eBay, get your legions of IT guys to make this work right!! It's long past time. You've had YEARS to correct this problem.

[mcc1775]

Size matters, how big was the package?

[pooh333piglet]

I just asking are you sure its ground? I do see a lot of these fedex posts and often the seller didnt enter dimensions correctly or sent fedex 2 day and not ground/home delivery. 

I'm not saying this is the case here but I've started to see a pattern in the complaints. 

[long-gone]

---

@ibt_computers wrote:

eBay, get your legions of IT guys to make this work right!! It's long past time. You've had YEARS to correct this problem.

---

In a previous post you state " If you look at the forums here, you will literally find thousands of complaints about this... FedEx's scale is mis-weighing boxes on a massive scale. As we said in our message above... FedEx is not weighing our boxes properly about 40% of the time. SCAM. Their laser scanner system is also not measuring the dimensions of our boxes properly about 20% of the time. And it's not just a little off... it's WAY off."

I'm confused as to what exactly "eBay's legion of IT guys" are supposed to do about a internal FedEx problem.

As far as all of the "Scams" that you have mentioned there is nothing keeping you from walking out the door and using a different carrier to ship your items.

[asset_liquidators]

That is not true. Yes of course Fedex will try to pass blame, ask you for info on the acct, etc knowing full well it is ebay on the account. I have won all my damage claims with Fedex going back to 1998. Luckily there are not too many of them.

One that sticks with me was from about 2007. An autoclave I shipped to Nevada. A hungover delivery driver drops it hard at the front door (recipient heard it before he rang the bell. She opens the door and the first thing out of the drivers mouth was "man, I am so hungover". 

She sends pics, I file claim, fedex sends item back to me (dont think they do that any more) and denies claim stating "no visible damage found". This thing was damaged beyond repair. Arrives back to me in exact damaged state that photos showed. After numerous calls and arguments with an arrogant fedex "claim specialist" he said decision was final.

I filed a claim with my States Attorney General (don't waste time with the BBB), five days later there was a check in the mail for the full amount.

From that day on I have given fedex ONE chance to do the right thing. If I get the standard denial letter I immediately file with Attorney General.

It shouldn't have to be that way but corporations like fedex that make billions a year off our backs will screw you every chance they get.

One other thing. When they try to charge that outrageous fee ($12-$15 whatever it is now) for an "address correction". I file with AG and get refunded. Why? because I contracted with them to ship to the address that was on the label, not another address. Twice this was from the recipient having it forwarded so Fedex billed me for it and a few other times the address was correct but maybe a truncated long street name (that is how the label printed it). One time it was because the address had the street name and "road" at the end and their system had it as "rd", I kid you not. They bank on people giving up so they can bilk consumers out of millions a year in fraudulent charges.

[68barbie]

I get your frustration but to label this a "scam" is far-reaching.  There is obviously an issue concerning eBay's relationship with FedEx and the likelihood that the end users (us sellers) will fall into the black hole of overcharges or damaged merchandise.  However, FedEx accounts are free even for the occasional user. I only use FedEx when I have a large and/or heavy item that either doesn't qualify for USPS shipping or it's so heavy that I don't feel like weightlifting it to the post office or FedEx counter.  Every seller has to make a decision as to what works best with their business model. My decision is to always control the shipping dialogue without involving a middleman (eBay.)

-C

[ibt_computers]

We're sure @pooh333piglet ... When we send FedEx, we ONLY ship FedEx ground AND we have 2 people check the weight and dimensions of the box AND...

When I talked with the eBay customer service rep on the phone today, he said he agreed with me... he couldn't understand why FedEx didn't charge $8.87 instead of $26.89... AND this is a recurring problem. It happens several times every single month.

[ibt_computers]

Well, @68barbie when this problem has been happening since at least 2014 (or longer), 7 years now and eBay still hasn't fixed the problem.  Sorry, but we call that a SCAM.

We would much rather see eBay drop FedEx as an option on their site and say on the eBay label print web page, "Because of recurring overcharges by FedEx to our users, we have dropped FedEx as a shipping option on eBay. If you need to ship a package via FedEx, please go to their web site and set up an account with them directly."

At least that would be more honest. And you know what... if eBay did that... You watch how QUICKLY FedEx fixes the overcharge problem with eBay. It would be fixed in a week. 

[ibt_computers]

@long-gone ... WOW, even though I've repeated this several times, most of you are missing the point. IT'S NOT JUST US BEING SCAMMED BY OVERCHARGES!! 

It becomes a SCAM when tens of thousands, ?? hundreds of thousands ?? of sellers on eBay ship with FedEx shipping labels and then FedEx overcharges them, the eBay user doesn't catch it, because eBay never warns us in any way that FedEx has overcharged us and FedEx makes $$millions$$ in wrongfully overcharging people.

And the worst part is, that this has been happening and eBay users have been complaining about this for over 7 years and eBay does nothing about it. That's a scam.

And you're nit-picking about the "...get your legion of IT guys to fix the problem". I was just trying to make a general point that this has been going on for at least 7 years so FIX THE **bleep** PROBLEM!!  

Thousands and thousands and thousands of eBay users have been overcharged by FedEx/eBay over the years for FedEx shipping labels and it's time to either a) Fix the problem  -or- b) Drop FedEx as a shipping partner

Period.