Ship a sold item before getting paid?

[oberrkerr]

I’m a novice on selling on Ebay - my item just sold on auction $1500. How do I know when to ship?  I don’t want to ship before getting paid…. Also, Creating an invoice now but don’t know how much to charge for insuring the item on top of the shipping charge. Does USPS have an insurance chart anywhere online?

[wrong66]

Ok, you "shouldn't" charge the buyer for insurance. Why should the buyer pay for "your" insurance?

[fab_finds4u]

Your handling time begins when eBay says "awaiting shipment."

Your payment will be held up to 30 days.

 Write down the model and serial number in case you need to file a police report

[retro_entertainment_collectibles]

Was gonna say same and often even if insured be ready for a fight especially with the Postal Service.

I was part of a brick & morter some years back and we'd an order from a US Embassy via the US State Dept, big order.  Told us ship everything Priority, Registered Signature Required, Insured and thats what we did. With that process at least back then every person handling the cartons require to sign. Since they were shipping to a foreign embassy all the USPS had to do was ferry it all to an Air Force base where they'd take charge...

So all gets delivered and somewhere along the path cartons were rifled, product counts off.  So instantly we sent out whatever was missing, not an issue.  Embassy tells us file the insurance claims, so we do that. The US Postal Service refuses to pay up, over and over and over and over.  They refused to even give the routing/signatures of receipt to the Embassy and mind you we're dealing with the local Postmaster General and it's being escalated to DC Postmasters offices.

Postal service is not supposed to open parcels what-so-ever, they're US Government procured so what business do they have knowing what's shipping to a MAIN US Embassy towards a Federal Initiative right?

I mean like if you were in the path of the parcels and you open some you can see where they are going, whats inside em' and make a pretty damned fair assessment of what's going on right? 

This went on for nearly eleven months, USPS refusing pay up on insurance, refusing yield any data about who's hands were on packages.  Air Force even supplied photo's of every parcel showing seals on parcels broken upon receipt to them about six months in to this.  Finally we get a call from the local postmaster all **bleep** off telling us come to the main post office and collect our checks.

LITERALLY The US State Dept's adjunct to The Secretary of State himself jumped into the fray that very day and rolled some heads.   About four months later we received another order, even more important than the initial one.  We were told FedEx it to DC direct and they'd take it from there getting it to Air Force Base to be flown to the Embassy direct.  At that time & the conversations we'd learned that the Postal Service refuses to create a "Secure Parcel System."

Moral of the story is don't just assume that its an end consumer attempting rip someone off when it may be happening at a processing plant.  Amazon has created its own fulfillment system for more than just Prime and the ever increasing expense of USPS/UPS/FedEx.  In fact, all Priority goes through FedEx unless its interstate or close, all ground freight goes UPS rail unless interstate or close.  USPS keeps raising rates not based on FedEx or UPS costing.  Amazon and FBA are also a response to courier thefts. 

This is a reason I've suggested to eBay to change metrics.  Vendors should be able to see a base metric of buyers.  That is to say transactions w/o issue, transactions w/ issue.  If a consumer has 15 purchases and three of them show issues, dont need know the issues, just a metric so as the vendor can determine as to if they want accept a purchase aka: Reserving right to do business. 

[monster-deals]

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@wrong66 wrote:

Ok, you "shouldn't" charge the buyer for insurance. Why should the buyer pay for "your" insurance?

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Why shouldn't they?

Every time you print a Priority label they pay for your insurance...kinda standard really.

[dq3141]

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@wrong66 wrote:

Ok, you "shouldn't" charge the buyer for insurance. Why should the buyer pay for "your" insurance?

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Why should the buyer pay for "your" eBay fees?

Why should the buyer pay for "your" gas?

Why should the buyer pay for "your" COGS?

Is this a serious question? Are you a business or a charity?

[taoli-9091]

I have sold and shipped all purchases, and I still haven't been compensated... I've  been waiting 2 months. I have tried repeatedly to reach someone in MANAGEMENT that could resolve my issues. I  have lost a lot of time on the phone with them and going through the same process over and over again. I'm more than a little upset at this point primarily because of all the lies I've been told. I am a disabled veteran trying to supplement my disability funds and I am utterly shocked by the treatment I've been given..

[simply-the-best-for-you]

Not trying to be harsh, but you're in way over your head.  All your insurance, shipping charges & any other decisions (like what countries to sell to) must be made when you LIST, not when you sell.   I would suggest not listing anything else until you search Ebay seller school & learn the basics.   There are also many youtubes & books out there you can learn from, though the YTer's vary in quality.   You have a lot of learning to do.  

Oh & you absolutely CAN charge the buyer insurance!  It just must be wrapped into either your handling charge or your total charge for the item.    What you can't do is have a separate charge for insurance.  But you 100% CAN charge the buyer insurance.  Once again though, you would have taken that into account PRIOR to listing the item.  

Also, be advised that canceling transactions usually counts against you & if you do it enough (especially as a new seller) it will limit your ability to sell at all.  You can't just cancel tx's because you didn't do your homework.  In this case, I think it's a wise choice, but don't list anymore until you have learned how to sell US only (to start with), how to know if you've been paid, how to figure out shipping costs BEFORE you list, etc.  

[ragenterprise]

I used to sell on EBay a lot. I just sold a Barbie doll and paid for priority shipping just to discover that the funds paid for the doll are on hold until December 17th. I’m out of pocket approximately $16 plus the price of the doll and wasted my time packing, shipping and printing the label. This was never the case before when I sold a lot of items. I just canceled my other listing and won’t be selling through eBay again.

[brightlightbookseller]

No, you did it correctly and you shouldn't be quitting eBay because of it, though you may have other reasons that are up to you.  Your funds are on hold because you're a returning seller, not because you won't receive them.  That's standard policy and you do not wait until the funds are in your account to pack and ship items.  Perhaps it's just as well you're leaving if you don't want to be bothered to understand the basics, I suppose.

Also, this is an ancient thread and will be closed by the mods soon.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@ragenterprise wrote:

I used to sell on EBay a lot. I just sold a Barbie doll and paid for priority shipping just to discover that the funds paid for the doll are on hold until December 17th. I’m out of pocket approximately $16 plus the price of the doll and wasted my time packing, shipping and printing the label. This was never the case before when I sold a lot of items. I just canceled my other listing and won’t be selling through eBay again.

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Why would you cancel the sale? You can use part of the funds to purchase the shipping label and you WILL get the rest of the balance (after fees) on the 17th! 

Cancelling the order is the wrong thing to do. You should be shipping. 

[fern*wood]

The holds are temporary since your a newly back to selling.  This will end as soon as you reestablish yourself.  I had them too when I opened a second selling account, but it only lasted a few weeks.  Many things have changed if it's been a while since you sold. 

[kh-adrian]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.