I sold 3 cards of one piece
I sent the cards the same day they bought it and they haven't received it yet and I don't have a tracking number and I don't know how to add one at all. How can I let them know I'm not trying to scam them at all.
21 comments
casey-86
·6 months agoThe best advice I can give is if you're going to be selling trading cards and they're $20 and under, buy a printer and use eBay's Standard Envelope option. It lets you print out a label with tracking and insurance and it costs about as much as a stamp would to ship. Sometimes a little more if its 2 or 3 ounces. You can mail them in 6x9 envelopes but I've also received these kind of shipments in the smaller white envelopes. If you don't ship with some kind of tracking then you have no way of proving you ever shipped it.
If you sell a card thats above $20 then you'll have to use USPS ground advantage unfortunately. I personally think the eBay standard envelope should cover up to $40 total value but it is what it is.
kibble-net
·6 months agoNext time use a delivery service that comes with tracking.
Lesson learned.
xdmeliodas327
OP6 months agoYeah this is a lesson and I learned so much. Thank you all for helping me out as a new seller. I appreciate all of your time and helping me out.
cardsforauction
·6 months agoTake the others advice about refunding the buyer right now.
The real issue is that eBay allows buyers to open a claim too early and does not allow the deliveries to take place sometimes. If it has been only 14 days, that is still not enough time for the envelopes to be delivered. The buyer should be opening a claim around 24-27 days after purchase and that would have given enough time for the envelope to be delivered in most cases. I had ESE's arrive in 27-31 days after purchase.
christworks
·6 months agoUh, no, 24-27 DAYS is an insane amount of time for a buyer to have to wait. As a seller, I disagree with that suggestion.
In the OPs case, it does not appear they even marked the item as shipped. The buyer would not have any way to know the seller had even shipped it. So that's two mistakes right there. If the OP had marked it as shipped, the buyer may have reached out to the seller before opening an INR. I'm sure from the perspective of the buyer, it looked like the seller took their money and vanished.
The OP knows and they have been very receptive to the advice given. I'm sure they will make it right with the buyer and do things correctly going forward. That's a win in my book.
xdmeliodas327
OP6 months agoI did it already. Now the real question is what happens if they received it? Do they keep the cards and they keep the money and cards?
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·6 months agoWell yeah because you have no proof of delivery
kensgiftshop
·6 months agoUnless they leave feedback, you won't know if they receive them or not.
Yes, they could keeps the cards and money.
christworks
·6 months ago@xdmeliodas327 - How did you ship the cards? What service did you buy? Where did you buy your postage?
If you just tossed the cards in an envelope and put a couple of stamps on it, then the answer to your question is, yes, you will have to refund your buyer in full. You'll want to do that before eBay does it, which will be 4 days after your buyer filed the item not received claim.
If you shipped using Ground Advantage, Priority, or most any other way, you are bound to have gotten a tracking number as tracking is included with most services.
xdmeliodas327
OP6 months agoI used those blue ups on the street to send them. And how can I find if I got the number for that order to track it? If it’s still possible.
christworks
·6 months agoDo you mean you put them in one of these?
Did you put postage on the envelope? You have to pay to send things in the mail. It isn't a free service.
xdmeliodas327
OP6 months agoYes, I put them in those with stamps and the address. I didn’t know it wasn’t free.
cardsforauction
·6 months agoIf you placed the correct postage on the envelopes then the envelopes should arrive between 7 to 10 days from mailing. Sometimes it could take longer for them to arrive. Also, hopefully nobody steals mail from the mailboxes or there is a delay in pickup from the boxes. You should instruct the buyer that the envelopes are in the mail and should show up in a few days.
A while back, a seller could send stamped envelopes and then mark the item as shipped. I don't know if that is an option anymore. There is no tracking for stamped envelopes as far as I know.
kensgiftshop
·6 months agoYou can still mark the shipped, but with no tracking, the OP is out of luck.
christworks
·6 months agoThe stamps (assuming you put sufficent postage on it) would cover the cost to mail. However, there is no tracking associated with letters, which is basically what that is. eBay has a special deal with the post office called eBay Standard Envelope. It is meant for cards and other items, but they must be of $20 of value or less and there are specific requirements for the envelope that must be followed. From what I can tell, all of the cards you've sold were for more than $20, so those sales would not have qualified for eBay Standard Envelope. You should have shipped them USPS Ground Advantage so they would have had a tracking number. Actually, in your listing, the shipping option you gave your buyer is USPS Ground Advantage. So your buyer was expecting to have a tracking number, which is likely why they have filed the claim.
Unfortunately, there isn't anything you can do at this point. Your buyer has already filed an Item Not Received claim, and you must either a) upload a valid tracking number showing the package has been delivered or b) refund the buyer. You have no tracking number to prove it has been delivered.
@cardsforauction means well, but at this point you telling the buyer they are on the way isn't good enough. They've already opened a claim. You have to act on that claim within 3 days of it being opened, or else the buyer can have eBay step in. If that happens, eBay will refund your buyer with whatever money is in your eBay funds or from the card/bank account you have on file to cover selling costs. eBay will then give you a defect on your selling account because they had to step in and do your job for you. If you plan to continue to sell on this platform, you do not want that.
This is going to be a painful lesson, but you need to refund your buyer rather than gamble they will be honest and tell you when the cards arrive.
The other thing I will add is that if you never marked the order as shipped, that will count against your account as well for the shipment being late. Go to the order. You will see 3 dots beside it. Click on that and a menu with a bunch of options will pop up. Click on "Mark Order Shipped." Then, respond to the Item Not Received Claim. You will have an option to refund or to upload a tracking number. Refund the buyer in full. Do not refund outside of the Item Not Received Claim. It is important you respond to that.
I looked at your other listings. You have everything listed as being shipped USPS Ground Advantage. That's how you need to ship them. None of what you have listed right now qualifies for eBay Standard Envelope. If you list any cards for less than $20, you select eBay Standard Envelope as the shipping method. You can read more about that service here.
For those things that are more than $20 or if you are shipping multiple cards that total more than $20, use USPS Ground Advantage. You'll want to make sure to make the envelope rigid so it is treated like a package. I just add some extra cardboard to thicken the envelope. This also adds some weight. Assuming you are shipping a few cards, plan on it costing around $5-$6, depending on where it will go. This also assumes you buy the postage from eBay. It is much cheaper than paying the counter price at the post office. Finally, when you ship something with a tracking number, it is important you give it to the postal clerk at the counter and ask them to scan the barcode as accepted. This is how eBay determines whether you met your handling time. If you just drop it in the mailbox, it may not get scanned for days and eBay won't know you met your handling time.
If you have not already done so, I highly recommend you go through all the selling policies to make sure you understand how everything works and what your responsibilities are as a seller. Don't feel bad. Every good seller on these boards has made a costly mistake in the past. That's what makes them good today.
Edit: Be prepared that your buyer may give you a negative feedback. Hopefully they don't. After you refund the buyer, you can also send them a seperate message to apologize that you failed to use a tracking number. You can tell them you did mail the cards and if they receive them, they are welcome to keep them. That may be enough to patch up any mistrust and prevent a negative feedback.
xdmeliodas327
OP6 months agoThank you for all this information. I will get to working then and fix this problem.
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·6 months agoIf you only put stamps then you don't have tracking...refund your buyer
kensgiftshop
·6 months agoIf you just used stamps, you'll have to refund the buyer.
Without tracking, you can't prove you shipped anything.
dryophelia
·6 months ago@xdmeliodas327
Without tracking, how do you know they aren’t scamming you?
If the buyer opens a case for ‘item not received’, you will have to refund, in full.
Tracking also shows eBay you shipped on time. That’s important to your seller metrics (and your peace of mind).
xdmeliodas327
OP6 months agoThey open a case for ‘item not received’ so that mean I need to pay full in that case?
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·6 months agoYep, you have no tracking so no proof of delivery so you need to give them 100% of their money back.