Does this make any sense?
Summary: inhawaii expressed frustration about a seller refusing to ship a t-shirt to Hawaii despite offering shipping to other U.S. locations. dhbookds and others explained that sellers often exclude Alaska and Hawaii due to potential shipping issues and feedback concerns. Discussions also mentioned eBay's announcement about expanding shipping options, though some pointed out that such announcements are not always followed through. Participants shared personal experiences with shipping challenges, including cost and delivery times, and discussed strategies like flat rate versus calculated shipping. The conversation highlighted different seller approaches and the complexities of shipping logistics.
I went to buy a t-shirt today from a California seller.
$18 + $4.99 USPS Ground Advantage shipping to the US (apparently except Alaska and Hawaii).
When I tried to buy it, I got this...
WHY?
skatefool
路1 month agoSure it makes sense... that mainland T-shirt you wanted is afraid of flying over the ocean !
steve_stuff
路1 month agoYes, because -
(1) - It costs them $3.41 more then their fixed flat rate to ship up to eight ounces from any Ca zip to any Hawaii zip -
(2) - Maybe got neg for item arriving at the luau thirty two minutes after ebay shipping estimation.
(3) - They don't ship 'out of country' - only half a joke.
toomuchstuffagain35
路1 month agoIf it's $4.99 to the lower 48 then surely they'd be willing to ship it to you if you offer the $8.40 to HI? Wouldn't hurt to ask.
cityslickercreations2004
路1 month agoI can't find the info now. Sorry.
I thought AK and HI were considered "rural" by the post office. Therefore the minumum GA charge is the 1 pound rate rather than tiered.
My items are usually 4-6 oz. and I have been charged $7.50 +/- on a couple of packages to Georgia and Texas I believe. Those were nasty surprises.
gurlcat
路1 month agoSorry to sound like your 3rd grade teacher, but what part don't you understand? Why some sellers don't ship outside the contiguous states, or why eBay offers you a link to sellers who do?
The former seems unfortunate but I'd think you'd be used to it by now. And the latter seems logical and .... good?
inhawaii
OP1 month agoThe part I don't understand is why this seller would ship GA from CA to the East coast but not to HI. I think a lot of sellers think "Shipping to Hawaii must be very expensive. I just wont ship there."
gurlcat
路1 month ago 路 EditedYeah so many sellers will cut off their noses to spite their faces in every ignorant way imaginable.
Just picture if eBay allowed us to cherry-pick which states we'll ship to from the whole map! Some would exclude states past some distance, states with higher sales tax, states with freight forwarders, and you KNOW there would be some "red" or "blue" state blockers. 馃ぃ
Me, I'd seriously consider blocking the whole country if a fairy godmother would promise me just as much business from foreigners -- EIS or FF, I wouldn't care.
gurlcat
路1 month agoIf you really want the shirt, what would it hurt to write the seller, explain that you sell also, tell them the actual shipping cost and that you'd be willing to pay it if they want to make a price adjustment, and that you aren't concerned about how long the shipping takes? You're diplomatic -I bet you could convince them. Then they'd see Hawaii isn't the nightmare they imagined.
stainlessenginecovers
路1 month ago@inhawaii It is for the exact reason you stated. Some people have elevators that are still stuck on the 1st floor. The whole 'Not Allow to HI/AK originally due to UPS as they started it so even though buyer is using USPS, the 'system' still has those 2 states allowed to be excluded.
fm2000
路1 month agoIf they did calculated shipping instead of flat shipping, they could send you that shirt and not lose any money on the shipping. Why they don't do that... I have no idea. I am happy to send most of my items (under a cubic foot) to all Americans, they will have to pay more thanks to the USPS and that is beyond my control, but I am more than happy to have them as buyers.
Only issue I have with USPS to Hawaii/pacific islands is media mail, which can take over a month to arrive by boat... and even then I just explain it to a buyer and they are usually fine with it.
christworks
路1 month ago@fm2000 I can't speak about the seller in question, but I am on the east coast and I use flat rate shipping. The reason is because I control the shipping amount the buyer sees. I don't have to worry about scaring someone off because of shipping sticker shock, which is what happens when you use calculated shipping and you have to deal with Zones 7 and 8. If my buyer in LA saw the price to shop a 1.5 cubic box to them, they'd never buy from me!
The move flat shipping two years ago is one of the best eBay decisions I've made. I went into it with a lot of doubt though. I worried I'd lose money. Because of how I have it set up, at the end of the month I've not lost money. My goal is to break even and still have my supply and fee costs covered. It's been a little wonky the past few months with all changes in rates every other week, so I cannot rely on my data as of late. Starting again with September, so we'll see how it works out.
As far as AK/HI, I had both states blocked for a couple of months until I was sure I had a good thing in place to handle the rural zips. I recently started selling to AK/HI again for items that weigh 12oz or less and Media Mail items.
onlinecentral
路1 month agoWhatever happened with this announcement from June 9, 2024?
eBay International Shipping will soon include Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/ICYMI-eBay-International-Shipping-Will-Soon-Include-Alaska/td-p/34507136/jump-to/first-unread-message
eBay will soon allow US sellers to leverage eBay International Shipping hubs to help reduce friction and risk of shipping to domestic locations in Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.
Program Manager Kristen Pincus explained that while they are technically domestic to the US, the longer distance can make shipping challenging and expensive, leading sellers to block sales to these locations, so eBay is going to expand EIS to include them so sellers can ship to one of the domestic hubs and have all the same protections on refunds, returns and feedback as international shipments through the program.
She said the expansion will be happening in Q3, sellers who already have EIS enabled will have those states automatically included once they are active, and the option to self-ship directly to those locations will still be available.
chapeau-noir
路1 month agoeBay announces stuff and then seems to wander off and get distracted by something else.
gurlcat
路1 month agoWhoa I never even heard of this one. -They do do that wandering thing though.
toomuchstuffagain35
路1 month agoThey even do it with stuff they 'roll out in phases'. Get distracted half way through and some sellers get stuck with whatever bright idea it was, and others never even know it was going to be a 'thing'.
christworks
路1 month ago@onlinecentral I've been wondering this myself. When I blocked HI/AK earlier this year, I checked a few times to see if they had ever been enrolled in eIS, but they are not.
gurlcat
路1 month agoI'd say let's ask Devon, but it's the weekend (always seems to be the weekend when a question like this comes up). Anyway when was the last time got us an update on something? 馃様
christworks
路1 month agoLast night when I made my post I was trying to find a thread from the old board where this topic came up. It has probably been at least a year ago, maybe even the tail end of 2024. I couldn't find it, but I do remember either Kyle or Devon posting they were going to get us a status update on that. I don't remember ever seeing an update though.
lovincloud9
路1 month agoI turned mine off too after I spent $20 on free shipping to send to Guam and it took 2 months to reach my buyer. It may make it to Hawaii or Puerto Rico or whatever fairly quickly but I try to offer free shipping where I can and it is sooo expensive to go there!
gurlcat
路1 month agoThere's just so many reasons not to do free shipping, but I guess you want to anyway.
lovincloud9
路1 month agoThere's so many reasons to not judge people and to keep your fingers off the keyboard but so many do it anyways... everyone runs their store differently and my comment was a good answer for what this person was asking about
christworks
路1 month ago@lovincloud9 This is a board where we are meant to share ideas, and the upsides and downsides of what we do. You are right, what works for one person may not work for another. This is why I encourage A|B testing to see what works for you, while keeping in mind whatever you decide may not work five years from now.
The probelm with keeping our figers off the keyboard is that it results in no pushback of ideas. I'm someone who wants to get better, because I want to be the best at what I do. I'm not there. I have much to learn. While I think my approach is right for me, and probably would work for some of the people who come here with issues, I still want others who disagree to pushback. If nobody pushes back, I won't ever have a chance to reconsider my position.
Pushing back does not mean someone is being mean or rude. Certainly people can be mean or rude, we have a lot of sourpusses here who are that way all the time with anybody they disagree with me. Still, I would not say they should keep their fingers off the keyboard. If they want to make themselves look like little round holes on the backends of mammals, by all means I don't want to stop them. 馃槅
ten_o_nine
路1 month agoDoes this make any sense?
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Yes.
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Why?
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The seller doesn't ship to your destination.
It's telling you that you can find the item from another seller that may ship to your destination.
eburtonlab
路1 month agoI seem to recall hearing complaints from sellers getting negative feedback from impatient buyers in Hawaii receiving shipments via Ground Advantage when those shipments were put on the proverbial "slow boat". While not all buyers are so impatient, it does not take many such negatives for sellers to decide to cut their losses by exiting that market.
simply-the-best-for-you
路1 month agoWhich is hilarious b/c my HI shipments lately have gotten there in 2 days! By GA. Twice as fast as my landlocked domestic shipments!
gurlcat
路1 month agoThat's impressive! Not sure how this compares but not too long ago I had a 4-day GA delivery to Alaska from the Gulf Coast. And it wasn't one of the AK cities either, but one of those little airplane villages out with the bears and bigfoots.
kensgiftshop
路1 month agoJust like a PO box, some sellers decide to not ship to Alaska and Hawaii.
dhbookds
路1 month agoBecause the seller chooses not to sell to those states...and is allowed to exclude them..