mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
Simply-the-best-for-you Volunteer Community Mentor
OK I just realized that my buyer from earlier this month actually had not responded to me yet, so I just tested the system. This is my exact email I sent.
Hello,
This is my second try at getting in touch with you. I received your package back. It says there is something wrong with the address. We have a couple of choices to fix this.
You can give me your email address and your correct shipping address, then I can send you an invoice through PayPal for the reshipment of your package. Once you pay that invoice I'll get it shipped right away.
OR
I can refund you for your purchase less any non refundable costs I have.
Whichever works best for you is fine with me. I look forward to hearing from you.
It went through just fine. velvet@ebay No errors at all.
@nocoolnamejane wrote:Helpful and solutions have as much value as buyer feedback, that is to say, pretty much none. Unless you overpaid a Sri Lankan “eBay expert” for a course that tells you that helpfuls and solutions have a positive effect on your seller placement.
It’s only eBay’s effort at gamification of the site to encourage engagement.
But lately, we’ve seen a lot of people nitpicking which posts are being chosen as solutions. It’s understandable when an OP chooses their own post telling everyone to eat glass. When it’s someone out of 10 people who offered the same advice and wasn’t picked just because they posted 1st, it’s just unseemly.
Not really. Well up until the Community Team starting to select solutions. Solutions are usually selected by the OP of the thread. They select the post that was most helpful to them. And when a Solution is selected that has incorrect information in it, it can be harmful to other members.
Sometimes a member may have a question but they will search around the threads first for a similar question. Lets say they find this thread as their question is similar to the OP's. They see it has a solution and review that solution thinking that is how it has to be handled, when in fact the current solution on the thread was incorrect. That can be harmful to members we may never know about because they don't post.
So while it may not hold value for you, it certainly does for others.
I know the OPs of threads don't always get it right either. I personally think we all just need to strive to do better when we start threads in selecting what the solution is. It is far more about correctly selecting the solution than collecting solutions on your account.
You are seeing more people complain because Ebay is now coming in and deciding what the solution is. On older threads I don't see that as too much of a problem, but when it is a current, active thread, the OP is even given the chance to select on their own. And that can lead to what happened on this thread.
OK I get it. No insults were intended or disrespect. I will leave you to it then as you appear to not want to have a civil conversation and know everything there is to know on the subject.
@stephenmorgan wrote:
@pjcdn2005 wrote:I agree, we do need a way to easily bill the buyer when they want to upgrade shipping or when we have reship an item. It really is ridiculous to have to refund the buyer and have them make a purchase again. In many cases the buyer could not be bothered to do so. It seems very unprofessional too.
You are allowed to exchange contact information (email's), for 2 weeks for an Paid eBay Transaction and you can do it within eBay Messages.
If you need to change the shipping fees prior to payment, this can be done by sending an Invoice.
If you did not exchange emails and the two weeks has pass you will be locked out from exchanging emails within eBay Messages.
Right. Problem is that it wouldn't let OP do it. I've done this a bunch of times, for a long time years ago, it didn't work & we had to get creative. Then it was changed to the above policy & it has worked for a year or two, but now OP is saying he got the old error message.
So, Velvet, are you saying that the policy is now changed? B/C as has been pointed out, your solution leaves a lot to be desired (I know it's just what you were told) & the way to handle this has been for years, to just invoice the person via PP. It has even been said by 'pinks' on this board. It's not really complicated, you just bill them via PP b/c Ebay has no way to do it, despite the fact that for some of us it comes up every month.
If this policy has changed, then this is a big deal & you should probably remove the page saying it's allowed.
Also, as an aside, I happened to be reviewing one of the Updates last night, I believe it was the Spring Update, but I wouldn't swear to that & it referenced a "new" messaging system. I wonder if that's what is at the heart of this problem? Perhaps the "new" messaging system has reverted & is not allowing it again (like in the past).
As for who's answer is picked as the solution, do people really care LOL? Is someone counting how many solutions they have? Posters pick the wrong solutions all the time. Many times a correct solution has been picked 10 times & a poster picks the 11th. I'm shook that anyone actually cares LOL. Totally with @nocoolnamejane on this one. The point is to help, not to earn worthless brownie points on the internet. But hey, that's just me. I guess everyone has their own motivations.
@katzrul15 wrote:Interesting observation to this thread -
Threads have resumed to taking you to the last post you made or read.
On this thread, it takes me to the solution by the mod.
Is this what happens when the mod marks the solution? If you then click on the thread, it takes you to the mod solution vs where you left off? It is not happening to me on any other thread??
No that is a separate thing they are testing out.
See post 81. I tested this earlier today and it works fine. I posted my exact email to the buyer and I did not get any error message.
You are correct, some people do not care what solution is selected, others do and others will care in the future. As an example I gave upthread just a few posts. If a member comes to the threads and decides to search the threads for a similar question as they have. They see this thread and think the OP represents the same problem as they have. They view the solution and decide to use that information ASSUMING it is correct and the way to handle thing. Only to find out they cost themselves more in fees or self inflicted damage to their Service Metrics or some other thing stated that wasn't accurate in the solution.
See post 72. Anyway the solution marked on a thread can be more important than you may originally think it is. It is important to keep in mind new or less experienced members coming her to get help.
You get the new address when they pay the PayPal invoice. You just remind the buyer to make sure they give you the proper address when they pay for the additional shipping. And you make sure you do the shipping label from the PayPal payment.
DO NOT print the shipping label from the original transaction in Ebay. I explained this all upthread in my first post which was # 72. And in post 81 I did a test just today that worked and I posted exactly what my message said.
Why would you eat the shipping. That makes no sense nor does blocking the buyer. If you don't want to reship the item to the buyer for whatever reason you have and if you have separately stated shipping, you simply refund the buyer less original shipping.
There is NO NEED for a seller to eat some costs on a transaction like this unless they simply choose to.
I think everyone that is making a joke out of which post is being selected as the solution simply do not get why it can be important and are only concentrating on who is actually getting the solution. The two things are simply NOT the same nor was it why it was brought up on the thread. The solution actually being an accurate solution is the POINT. Nothing more like some want to make it and for some actually seeking answers it is not a joke either.
