Shipping / Media Mail glitch causing major issues

[Anonymous]

I listed a number of large items and a few of them sold right away. 
Even though the weight and dimensions are clearly there EBay let my customers select inexpensive media mail for items that cost 6-7 times as much to ship.

Unfortunately I wasn’t aware this was happening until I got to the post office.

After spending literal hours on the phone with CS - I ended up refunding all listings which I’m sure will result in negative feedback.  Not great..

[klhmdg]

Buyers can only choose what you the seller put in the listing.

Since your listing had Media Mail as the shipping method, thats what the buyer picked.

The seller is responsible for the shipping method in the listing.

You should not have canceled the sales. You should have bought correct shipping and sent the items.

Sometimes mistakes happen and the seller is supposed to honor their mistakes and learn from them. 

[Anonymous]

I don’t agree with this assessment at all sorry.

media mail should not have been an available option - and I did not select media mail envelopes as an option to be available.

The item was a headlight assembly that the customer paid $60 for. 

The post office required $128 to ship this and the customer paid $7. I am not a shop - I am just a guy trying to clear out space in his basement. Did I make a mistake? Potentially- but the platform should absolutely not let an envelope be an option when shipping items that are clearly too big for it.

thanks for your reply though 

[Anonymous]

Also the buyer chose to cancel -  rather than let me find an alternative shipping solution which I did offer.

i gave them both options.

[kensgiftshop]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Did I make a mistake?

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Yes, you made the mistake of adding Media Mail as the only shipping option to listings that didn't qualify for it.

[lakefor94]

You made the mistake of selecting media mail as the option. The seller makes those choices, end of story.

That headlight assembly should have been shipped UPS Ground.

Shipping is the biggest learning curve in online sales with buyer returns coming in a close 2nd.

Buy your shipping labels from eBay shipping or PirateShip for the best deals. If you are buying shipping labels at the post office, you are leaving significant money on the table. 

[Anonymous]

Sure bud..

I find it interesting though, that today Media mail is no longer an option for any of my large items now that I am going in and revising -

But yesterday it was the default and recommended option for this same items.

[kensgiftshop]

Don't know why it would be the default and recommended, but you had the option to choose the correct shipping method.

[soh.maryl]

Media mail is a category clearly defined by the USPS and rather limited in its scope.

Headlights are not media mail.

[wastingtime101 · Accepted solution]

Hey @Anonymous . Just wanted to call out a recent change eBay implemented and I have no idea if it's what happened in your situation, but I am mentioning it so you can look out for it.

If you are researching a part to list, and under another seller's listing photo you click that "sell one like this" link to copy parts of that seller's listing, one of the things it will copy is that seller's shipping method. Make sure you always check shipping very carefully because that other seller may have chosen an ineligible shipping method. It's up to you to review and choose the correct method before publishing your listing.

For example, you don't want to get caught offering Media Mail on ineligible car parts, or offering FedEx when you have no access to FedEx drop off in your area.

[Anonymous]

@wastingtime101  Finally! Someone gets it!! haha Thank you!!!!

That is 100% what happened - and exactly how I have always listed items so that makes a lot of sense as to why I am only experiencing this now. It also explains why the rest of  my "bigger than an envelope" listings don't even show media mail as an option.

Seriously, thanks for being so incredibly helpful. That cleared up a lot of confusion on my end and now I actually know what to keep an eye out for. 

Hope you have an awesome day!!