Getting frustrated here with eBay.

[sunnysnails]

I sold a pair of speakers to a guy in South Korea for a lot of money.  I shipped them from Pennsylvania to Delaware, he used a freight forwarding company in DE.  I charged him $250 (they were extremely large and heavy), and I paid a total of $360 to ship them.  I spent the extra money out of my pocket to have UPS package them safely and they did.  Clearly they made it to the freight forwarding company unharmed because they then sent them to South Korea.  The guy ends up complaining that they were damaged to me, I ask him if he opted for insurance with the freight forwarding company.  He ignores that message and leaves me bad feedback.

I call eBay on Oct. 3rd and the gentleman I spoke to agreed with me that the feedback should be removed because I did what I was supposed to do and what happens after they are delivered is not my responsibility.  He told me to hang on and I will hear something in 48 - 72 hours.  That was 14 days ago.  I called back about 5-6 days ago and spoke to a woman who again agreed with me and said she will take care of it and I will hear something in 48 - 72 hours.  

I am a top rated seller, I handle virtually everything by myself and rarely ask eBay anything, I make eBay a lot of money (I have sold over $25,000 in the past week alone), I but a lot of stuff on eBay, I am exactly what a company like eBay would want to have as a user.  Why are they treating me like this?  Are they trying to get me to move my business (vinyl records primarily) to another site?  If someone from eBay is reading this, please let me know what is going on?

[inhawaii]

A comment and a question.

Comment: I would have NEVER went through with that sale, a expensive, heavy item going through a freight forwarder to another country. It's got red flags all over it. 

Question: Did the buyer file a "damaged" or "not as described" case with ebay or did he only message you about it?

[nuclearomen]

i agree, would have canceled the order. I sell/ship inside USA only, I do get orders from buyers in order countries that use ship forward and I always fulfill the order, but for the item in question, because of the cost of item and the weight, would cancel and strictly only sell to US resident address with no ship forwarding. Ebay has become uncontrollable with this kind of orders and you cannot control if buyer outside US purchases. You can try local pickup listing but may not prevent it either. A lot of sellers I know/knew have removed all kinds of listings for expensive and heavy items and sell them strictly on other platforms where they can control that. In any case, hope all works out and keeps us updated to what happens with the outcome. 

[stuff4divas]

Did you insure such an expensive item?

Sellers are not responsible for freight forward company shipments (third party involvement)

You can contact eBay via social media with a private message:

https://Facebook.com/ebay

AND-OR

https://Twitter.com/askebay

great customer service reps on these sites

[katzrul15]

I am confused why the shipping was so high?  Why did you pay shipping out of pocket?

[nuclearomen]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

I am confused why the shipping was so high?  Why did you pay shipping out of pocket?

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i believe the reason was because the buyer paid for the shipping (he said he charged $250, but he paid UPS to package the items out of his pocket...something seller didn't have to do but did because wanted to ensure they were packaged well)

[nuclearomen]

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@stuff4divas wrote:

Did you insure such an expensive item?

Sellers are not responsible for freight forward company shipments (third party involvement)

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doesn't matter, UPS won't refund because the items delivered to the ship forwarder without damage, they won't honor insurance after that. True sellers aren't responsible once item reaches ship forwarder yet ebay did just recently update their policy on this, and not sure if it's the same as always was. 

[katzrul15]

I have shipped a lot thru UPS (my account) and if these were oversized/heavy - there are much better options to ship.

Never mind that some items are not well suited to sell online.

[erkosuniverse]

There is probably a lot of difficulty with the buyer responding to e-bay voicing their fact of the matter,gripes,etc.

Anyway this is always a trouble-spot,shipping that far away to those countries

A number of things can go wrong with a sale out of country

Not always but i have heard too much bad about shipping outside of our own domain

I do hope you get better resolve for yourself and it just turns out it was a long wait for you to prevail in this

[nuclearomen]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

I have shipped a lot thru UPS (my account) and if these were oversized/heavy - there are much better options to ship.

Never mind that some items are not well suited to sell online.

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I agree, there are other options, but none are really going to save anyone money...the rates for large/heavy items can be pretty hefty as we know. Sadly not a lot can do, either local pickup only, or ship for expensive cost, or i guess, don't sell those items...which I personally feel is sad because no one wants to sell those items (on ebay anyways) and then buyers also loose - even the good ones. 

[coolections]

$360 to ship a pair of sneakers. Wow... they could not have been that heavy. I would have cancelled and/or never paid you as a buyer.

[textile_rescue]

"I would have cancelled and/or never paid you as a buyer.-"

you must not ship internationally. It is costly. and they pay the price. doesn't make sense to me but I am happy to ship it to them. 

[katzrul15]

Speakers.......not sneakers

[sunnysnails]

To answer some questions:

It was an auction, so I couldn't vet the buyer beforehand.

The buyer only messaged me.  He didn't file anything with eBay presumably because he knows since he used a freight forwarding co. he is in the wrong. 

Shipping was so high because they were two 65lb. speakers.

I paid the extra $110 to ensure they arrived safely.

I don't expect UPS to pay for the insurance I paid for, they didn't do anything wrong (the freight forwarding company messed up).

[erkosuniverse]

That is a bit of a hang-up,the freight forwarding company has their hands in this

I never experienced or heard of this kind of matter before,

I just hope it works out for you

Take Care and Wishing You The Best