Are you still including invoices with your shipments?

[kathy507]

I bought several items on eBay recently and they all arrived fine, but none of them had an invoice or anything enclosed.

Is there a trend to not include invoices?  Maybe buyers no longer care?

Now that the invoices you can print from eBay do not include the price and shipping charge, is it worth wasting the paper  to include one?  Is it worth the extra effort to print one from PayPal?  (I don't know if managed payments lets you print invoices somewhere else if the buyer does not use PayPal but if you are in managed payments and know the answer please respond.)

I know buyers can print a receipt from their purchase notice, but in the past it seemed they wanted a receipt in the box too.

[Anonymous]

Good to know! 

[tealt]

I guess what I do could be called a packing slip.

I print the "seller's description" and "listing images" from the closed listing and ship those printed pages with the item.

I sell antique/vintage/used and I want the buyer to easily be able to see exactly what was in the listing concerning condition, since there can be wear/flaws on what I sell.  Of course, a buyer could always go to the closed listing on eBay and look for themselves, but how many buyers would take that trouble?  What I do is rather expensive in terms of printer ink, but I think it has saved me from SNADs.

[b86fiero]

Packing slip with item number and description - always.

Had a buyer give me a neg years ago because she got my shipment mixed up with another seller's almost but not quite identical item.  Mine was new - his was very used.  After she discovered my packing slip in the bubble mailer when my item arrived she apologized and asked to rescind the neg.  I sent her a feedback correction request and she changed that neg into a glowing positive.  She has purchase many items from me since.

For what it's worth - there is a recent post on the boards about a seller receiving a chargeback where the buyer claimed "incomplete order - missing invoice."

Don't recall if the thread was on the selling board, power seller board or private managed payments board.  I have since read of an identical chargeback issue on a private eBay selling site to which I belong.

I appreciate packing slips included in my purchases.

[chapeau-noir]

I'm going to drop something off that has been purchased with someone's hard earned money into a massive mail sorting/delivery system that spans the world and not provide some kind of identification or provenance in the package? Really? 

HA HA HA HA HA. Not likely.

[kathy507]

Thanks to those pointing out I was referring to packing slips, not invoices.

I remember some years ago that someone on the board reported they got a negative for not including a packing slip.

I think it is generally a good practice but, as I said in the beginning paragraph, several orders I recently received had no packing slip or identification.  Each seller has to decide this for themselves I guess.

[a_c_green]

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@kathy507 wrote:

I think it is generally a good practice but, as I said in the beginning paragraph, several orders I recently received had no packing slip or identification.  Each seller has to decide this for themselves I guess.

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Right; it's not required, but I can't think of too many arguments in favor of not including one. Nevertheless, I would definitely say that more than half of the shipments I receive from other eBay sellers don't include one. 

[parkersparrow]

I don't include one and never had any complaints. I figure why waste the paper when they can see the same info online.

[backroomnoir]

Waste of paper and ink. 

[monster-deals]

I have not included an invoice ever in 75,000+ sales in 20+ years.

[josepmcelro_3]

I include packing slip.

[pvcliff]

I have never included an invoice, and packing slips only a handful of times when someone bought more than two items.

[lex-talon]

I used to include packing slips early on, but no longer. It's just a waste of paper & ink. Buyer can get all the info

on their purchase history page.

[wpt05]

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@kathy507 wrote:

Are you still including invoices with your shipments?

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Never have, never will.  It is a waste of ink and paper.  

I sometimes cut off pieces of paper on the portion of the label page that has no writing on it.  I use this for a handwritten thank you note.  

[inhawaii]

Same as luckythewinner.

20 years buying and selling.

I don't read them when i buy.  They go straight to the round file. 

I don't include them when i sell.  Buyers have never said anything to me about it, good or bad.  it seems they don't care. 

[wpt05]

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@kathy507 wrote:

Thanks to those pointing out I was referring to packing slips, not invoices.

I remember some years ago that someone on the board reported they got a negative for not including a packing slip.

I think it is generally a good practice but, as I said in the beginning paragraph, several orders I recently received had no packing slip or identification.  Each seller has to decide this for themselves I guess.

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I had one buyer say that he would not leave feedback if there was no packing slip.  He wouldn't leave a negative, he would just leave no feedback at all.  That was the only complaint about packing slips that I have heard from thousands of orders in nearly seventeen years.  

I think you may be able to get a negative feedback removed for that anyway.  You can argue that is a demand for "Goods or services that weren't included in the original item's description or purchase price." unless of course you say in your description that a packing slip is included...