eBay

sin-n-dex · ‎03-17-2021

I get two such complaints a year.

My items say Niagara, NY. My return address that is used on eBay to generate shipping labels is Niagara, NY. According to eBay rules, I have done this correctly.

My listing says :

To provide better service, we courier most packages to USA for shipping with USPS, please note additional handling time

That would imply that I am sending my packages to the US for shipping, but that I don't actually live in USA.

I send my buyers a courtesy note because most people use phones and don't read descriptions, they buy based on photos (and I'm guilty of this too).

I got a buyer (who is probably upset at all the Chinese sellers) complaining he wouldn't have bought it if he knew I was not in USA. (But it says it right there in the listing, if you actually read it!)

I offered to cancel. Since I don't like waiting for responses and not having a clue what's going on, I just told the buyer if I don't hear he wants to cancel then it will ship on Monday.

C.

rokkworks · ‎03-17-2021

Why not just be more plain, and say - “Note: we live in Canada, but ship from Niagara New York. Please see shipping estimate”. My opinion is there’s no need to inform any buyer on the mechanics (courier) of how you get the package to the post office.

(I bet most Americans love our neighbors to the north!)

Buyers can plainly see a shipping time estimate, and even US located sellers can be slower shippers than you.

sin-n-dex · ‎03-17-2021

@rokkworks wrote:
Why not just be more plain, and say - “Note: we live in Canada, but ship from Niagara New York”. My opinion is there’s no need to inform any buyer on the mechanics (courier) of how you get the package to the post office. (I bet most Americans love our neighbors to the north!)

Buyers can plainly see a shipping time estimate, and even US located sellers can be slower shippers than you.

Aside from the fact I'd have to change 2500 listings... there's a delay in shipping because of the time it takes to go from my house to USPS (and I only ship once a week), so explaining the mechanics justifies the time, I'm not sitting around being lazy and not shipping things (which is a complaint lots of buyers have about sellers).

Anyway I'm doing my best to not be misleading, so I send a courtesy message (if you buy before Friday) that I'm shipping on Monday. If you buy from me on the weekend I print up postage right away, so unless someone contacts me about why it's not scanned yet, I figure it's fine. I don't know about you, but I don't avidly check when stuff is being shipped, and I order lots of stuff.

C.

kare-bearb · ‎03-17-2021

@sin-n-dex

My listing says :

To provide better service, we courier most packages to USA for shipping with USPS, please note additional handling time

That would imply that I am sending my packages to the US for shipping, but that I don't actually live in USA.

Kudos for attempting to be transparent, but please consider being more explicit.

A sore spot with US buyers buying from non-US sellers is that their bank / credit card company will probably charge them an international transaction fee for the purchase. Many buyers look only at the item location & assume that the seller is from the US. Many do not know to also view the seller's feedback page for their registration country.

rokkworks · ‎03-17-2021

Ah, I see.

Good points -

1. have to change lots of listings

2. want to avoid impression of laziness

Maybe you don’t really need to change anything immediately? only 2 jerks per year isn’t an onslaught if you’re a busy seller.
Just gradually add in that you live in Canada and only ship x times a week because you take them to Niagara NY.

If your items are what people want, and your prices are competitive, and your rep is stellar, buyers will buy. Most buyers like fast shipping, but coins are generally not a need-it-fast item. For those who need it fast, for say a birthday gift, can you add a shipping choice with a price that makes you happy to ship it immediately?

ittybitnot · ‎03-17-2021

Many buyers look only at the item location & assume that the seller is from the US. Many do not know to also view the seller's feedback page for their registration country.

@kare-bearb

You are right. Buyers have no responsibility to actually do any of that. Thus it becomes the seller's problem when the buyer simply purchases because of the "nice pictures".

sin-n-dex · ‎03-17-2021

@kare-bearb wrote:
@sin-n-dex
My listing says :

To provide better service, we courier most packages to USA for shipping with USPS, please note additional handling time
That would imply that I am sending my packages to the US for shipping, but that I don't actually live in USA.

Kudos for attempting to be transparent, but please consider being more explicit.
A sore spot with US buyers buying from non-US sellers is that their bank / credit card company will probably charge them an international transaction fee for the purchase. Many buyers look only at the item location & assume that the seller is from the US. Many do not know to also view the seller's feedback page for their registration country.

I get paid with Paypal only, so there should be no international fees unless the buyer lives outside of USA (Paypal is tied to a USA bank account). The only thing Canadian is my citizenship and physical location. I have to keep my items nearby so I can make sure they are shipped correctly, so the item starts out in Canada before it gets into the hands of USPS.

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎03-17-2021

@rokkworks wrote:
Ah, I see.

Good points -
1. have to change lots of listings
2. want to avoid impression of laziness

Maybe you don’t really need to change anything immediately? only 2 jerks per year isn’t an onslaught if you’re a busy seller.
Just gradually add in that you live in Canada and only ship x times a week because you take them to Niagara NY.

If your items are what people want, and your prices are competitive, and your rep is stellar, buyers will buy. Most buyers like fast shipping, but coins are generally not a need-it-fast item. For those who need it fast, for say a birthday gift, can you add a shipping choice with a price that makes you happy to ship it immediately?

When I do changes to my format or TOS, I change my templates and gradually as things sell out, there are less left. I sell 150 items a month, most months, which is around 8% of my total inventory. All my new items have higher shipping due to USPS increase, but I did not change any old items that had shipping amounts from 2016 when I started shipping from New York.

As for the buyer who messaged me today... he seemed to understand that if I have a return address in New York that's on file for printing labels, it would make sense to say the item is in New York. I offered to cancel (because he wants to deal with USA only sellers) but he said that "it's cool, go ahead and ship on Monday."

When I send out offers I put a blurb about shipping on Mondays so they know before they take the offer (if they read that). But I send the follow up message to make sure it's not missed. While people don't need their coins fast, if they are impatient like me, they will want to see tracking movement right away. (I don't visit this impatience on my fellow sellers, but I understand how buyers feel).

It's not in the listing which days I ship to make it possible to change schedule without having to redo listings. I wouldn't want to say shipping happens on Mondays to find out I can't ship on Mondays anymore and it needs to be Wednesdays. (And if there is big volume, extra boxes get shipped... one week I shipped Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, there was so much volume, and big stuff too). But if I'm messaging buyers that I'm shipping Monday from Canada, darned straight I will get that box in the courier on Monday.

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎03-17-2021

@ittybitnot wrote:
Many buyers look only at the item location & assume that the seller is from the US. Many do not know to also view the seller's feedback page for their registration country.

@kare-bearb

You are right. Buyers have no responsibility to actually do any of that. Thus it becomes the seller's problem when the buyer simply purchases because of the "nice pictures".

As a buyer who buys my stamps by looking them up on my phone, I can say I look at the current bid (because most of what I get is auction), I look at the pictures, in the description if that's where they are, and then I look at shipping cost to Canada. People who write three screens of fine print just get a skim over because a lot of what I've seen in the way of long TOS is nonsense anyway. I also keep buying from the same sellers who have done a great job at providing me with good service so I know what to expect.

C.

kare-bearb · ‎03-17-2021

@sin-n-dex wrote:
@kare-bearb wrote:
@sin-n-dex
My listing says :

To provide better service, we courier most packages to USA for shipping with USPS, please note additional handling time
That would imply that I am sending my packages to the US for shipping, but that I don't actually live in USA.

Kudos for attempting to be transparent, but please consider being more explicit.
A sore spot with US buyers buying from non-US sellers is that their bank / credit card company will probably charge them an international transaction fee for the purchase. Many buyers look only at the item location & assume that the seller is from the US. Many do not know to also view the seller's feedback page for their registration country.
I get paid with Paypal only, so there should be no international fees unless the buyer lives outside of USA (Paypal is tied to a USA bank account). The only thing Canadian is my citizenship and physical location. I have to keep my items nearby so I can make sure they are shipped correctly, so the item starts out in Canada before it gets into the hands of USPS.

C.

My post wasn't referring to the international fee (eBay) / cross-border fee (Paypal) that a seller may pay.

I was talking about international transaction fees that a bank or credit card company would charge a buyer when they send a payment to a non-US seller who has their bank account in a non-US country.

Whether or not the buyer (or seller) uses a Paypal account to process the payment, has no impact.

(Paypal is tied to a USA bank account)

However, if you are using a US Paypal account / bank account, buyers wouldn't need to worry about the international transaction fee

rokkworks · ‎03-17-2021

It’s obvious, just by looking at your feedback, that you’re a great seller, I don’t think you have too much to worry about no matter how you decide to address this issue or not.
😀

sin-n-dex · ‎03-17-2021

@rokkworks wrote:
It’s obvious, just by looking at your feedback, that you’re a great seller, I don’t think you have too much to worry about no matter how you decide to address this issue or not.
😀

Thankfully he calmed down instead of leaving bad feedback. He wrote to me at midnight, but because I was running late for work I didn't see it until late this morning. Sometimes a little time is helpful. I responded and he answered me 15 minutes later that everything is OK and I should go ahead and ship.

C.

rokkworks · ‎03-18-2021

Agreed.

After all these years I’ve learned I need to first write the response I’d really like to send, but shouldn’t, delete it, take a breath —- and then the write the professional, appropriate, and kind response.