eBay

hidden-staircase · ‎12-29-2023

I think it's ridiculous that ebay does not allow sending pdf files between sellers and buyers. Every once in awhile we screw up and we send a book to the wrong customer. That usually means two customers have received the wrong books.

To remedy this we prepare replacement labels and we need to forward the new labels to these customers so the books can get to the right parties.

Since ebay insists that we only communicate with OUR customers thru their messaging system, we are unable to forward the replacement labels. That means we have to contact the customer somehow and get their email address and send them the replacement shipping label. If unable to obtain we have to send the replacement label via the US snail mail.

It's the 21st Century. Lift the ban on sending pdf files!

This is the 21st century. The preferred method of sending documents by businesses is as pdf files.

simba6 · ‎12-29-2023

They worry you might make off eBay transactions.

sin-n-dex · ‎12-29-2023

@stainlessenginecovers wrote:
You can send a 'photo' to the buyers, so, print the labels, take a picture, send the 'pictures' to the buyers and then they can 'print/cut out/label' and resend...

Which is something THEY may not want to do...but hopefully both are ok with it and both actually 'do it'??

I tried that once, and it degraded the quality so much that the addresses were illegible.

If you go into the Sales Order within 15 days, there's an email address that's masked by an eBay code and you can send a PDF from your inbox to that address. That's how I solved my last issue (buyer put remorse reasons but when they explained, SNAD was more appropriate and I wanted to provide them with a label).

If 15 days pass before you find you need this, then you have a problem. This is one reason I print all sales order AND Payment info into PDFs for my sales record. Then I've saved the masked email address.

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎12-29-2023

@richard1rst wrote:
@stainlessenginecovers wrote:
You can send a 'photo' to the buyers, so, print the labels, take a picture, send the 'pictures' to the buyers and then they can 'print/cut out/label' and resend...
Even simpler than that - with the label on the screen, take a "screen shot" which can easily be done on a PC. The key is towards the upper right. In fairness, I am not sure about mobile devices. Save the shot it as a JPEG and that you can attach to an eBay message.

eBay degrades the quality of images, so the address might not be legible.

I had this problem the last time I went through great measures to send a JPG shipping label to a buyer.

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎12-29-2023

@stephenmorgan wrote:
@hidden-staircase wrote:
I think it's ridiculous that ebay does not allow sending pdf files between sellers and buyers. Every once in awhile we screw up and we send a book to the wrong customer. That usually means two customers have received the wrong books.

To remedy this we prepare replacement labels and we need to forward the new labels to these customers so the books can get to the right parties.

Since ebay insists that we only communicate with OUR customers thru their messaging system, we are unable to forward the replacement labels. That means we have to contact the customer somehow and get their email address and send them the replacement shipping label. If unable to obtain we have to send the replacement label via the US snail mail.

It's the 21st Century. Lift the ban on sending pdf files!

This is the 21st century. The preferred method of sending documents by businesses is as pdf files.

eBay used to if you had a "Paid Transaction" allowed you to exchange email addresses for two weeks? With their proper email address, you could send a PDF. Are you within the two weeks since being paid?

Currently Policy states if you use the temporary Alias eMail that eBay created then you can send a PDF.

Using the User ID to message them is different than using the temporary Alias eMail and you may get different results. Try their temporary eMail and see if this works.

The temporary eMail will disappear from the Order Details eBay after 14 days, see example below, the Alias eMail no longer exists.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/contacting-buyer-bidder?id=4083
How to contact a buyer through Email
For privacy reasons, eBay is no longer displaying personal email addresses. However, you can still contact the buyer through email using their "Buyer Alias Email Address" which you can find in the View order details page.

This email alias, ending in @members.ebay.com, is unique to your communications with this buyer. You can also give email aliases to shipping carriers, so that they can securely share shipping updates with the buyer.

Messages sent using eBay alias addresses go through our secure servers before reaching a members registered email address and their eBay Messages. eBay email alias addresses support PDF, DOC, TXT, JPG, GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP, and TIFF attachments up to a maximum size of 10 MB.

Great info posted.

I will add that if you print your sales orders (showing the email address) to a PDF before it disappears, you'll have it past 15 days if you need to send the shipping label later.

C.

stephenmorgan · ‎12-29-2023

I do as you and save a PDF copy of the Order Details after I purchase the Shipping. I also print the Order Details and save a PDF copy of the Shipping Label.

After the item is delivered I again save a PDF copy of the Order Details because it shows the item has been delivered. I do not print it again, I just save it.