So ebay just decides to stop you from using Media Mail for shipping?

[johneezstore]

So I tried to ship a car manual and it wouldn't let me use Media Mail which is what the buyer paid for.  Feebay tells me I have to go pay for it at the Post Office and if it's more expensive they will refund the difference.  What the heck?  I think if there was a competitor with ebay that even had half the traffic, 75% of private sellers would be gone.  LIke a lot of you, waiting for the day.  Between making ebay complicated, fees have risen, always taking the buyers side and many more things, they took all the fun out of this.  I started doing ebay over 20 years ago.  It used to be fun.

[nobody*s_perfect]

eBay's approach to reducing the misuse of Media Mail is crudely based on listing category, so it often blocks shipping of eligible materials.  

In addition to purchasing MM postage at the Post Office, you could also purchase a label through PayPal at www.PayPal.com/shipnow .  The cost will be the same regardless of where purchased.

[stacy_pme]

Ummm Weird because I have used media mail recently....

[chapeau-noir]

It's category dependent.

[pikabo-icu]

Was the item listed in a category eligible for media mail? 

[2013grotz]

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@pikabo-icu wrote:

Was the item listed in a category eligible for media mail? 

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This whole thing is probably pointing to the huge problem with Item Specifics and pushing everything to one specific category.  There's regular books and then there's specialized stuff like the repair manual of the OP.  Most people aren't going to go looking in books for that kind of thing, but are going to be browsing groups specific to the item in question.  Especially true since the Ebay Motors thing exists here.  Sure it could be listed in "Books", but is anyone going to really find it that's going to actually be interested in buying it?  Not really.

[dbfolks166mt]

     If the original listing allowed you to set Media Mail as the shipping option then it should have been OK and that is the cost that the buyer should have seen when he/she purchased the item. I just shipped a bunch of packages media mail last week. If you cannot create the label through eBay shipping you can always create it from PayPal or USPS click and ship. 

     Not sure what kind of **bleep** feebay gave you but good luck getting eBay to pay you back for any excess shipping cost you have to pay for. You have better odds buying a Lottery ticket or two. 

[slippinjimmy]

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@2013grotz wrote:

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@pikabo-icu wrote:

Was the item listed in a category eligible for media mail? 

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This whole thing is probably pointing to the huge problem with Item Specifics and pushing everything to one specific category.  There's regular books and then there's specialized stuff like the repair manual of the OP.  Most people aren't going to go looking in books for that kind of thing, but are going to be browsing groups specific to the item in question.  Especially true since the Ebay Motors thing exists here.  Sure it could be listed in "Books", but is anyone going to really find it that's going to actually be interested in buying it?  Not really.

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Sorry but the whole thing is the result of massive abuse of Media Mail (which is a big money loser for USPS).

eBay isn't the only postage provider that has put heavy restrictions on the use of Media Mail. Although I have no evidence to support it clearly USPS have told postage providers if they can't police the misuse of Media Mail postage purchased through their platforms that their NSA (negotiated service agreements) are at risk.

[katzrul15]

We purchased media mail today for 2 items due to overall weight.  How heavy is the car manual?  

If there is some huge delta between media and 1st class - go to USPS.com or Paypal and purchase the media mail label.  We only used Media on really heavy items - otherwise the savings does not out-weigh the additional time it takes for the item to arrive.  

[readabouthorses]

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@dbfolks166mt wrote:

     If the original listing allowed you to set Media Mail as the shipping option then it should have been OK and that is the cost that the buyer should have seen when he/she purchased the item. I just shipped a bunch of packages media mail last week. If you cannot create the label through eBay shipping you can always create it from PayPal or USPS click and ship. 

     Not sure what kind of **bleep** feebay gave you but good luck getting eBay to pay you back for any excess shipping cost you have to pay for. You have better odds buying a Lottery ticket or two. 

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If you shipped those magazines that you sold by Media Mail then you are part of the problem and not part of the solution.

[meme6253]

Hate to say it, But you will never see that refund!, Nothing But Frustration & Aggravation!!

[2013grotz]

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@slippinjimmy wrote:

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eBay isn't the only postage provider that has put heavy restrictions on the use of Media Mail. 

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 All of which was completely irrelevant to what I was saying.  The Item Specifics mess is forcing everything to specific groups, which they happen to be tagging with "Media Mail allowed".  I simply pointed out that Ebay's answer in their glorious wisdom (sarcasm tags there) is for the item to be listed in "Books".  OP's buyers will likely not find the manual on the site because in that world the manual is as much a "car part" as a distributor cap (and iirc from my childhood when my dad did those kind of things, you'd find manuals listed in car parts catalogs right along side those parts).  This will be the case with a large other selection of items that are Media Mail eligible, like the piano rolls mentioned in another thread on here.  These items will either be shoe-horned, unrightfully, into other inappropriate groups or left to be in the current group, assuming the seller wants to go to the hassle of handling the shipping manually.

Ultimately in the end, the only thing that's going to be accomplished, as with many things on this site, is to cause the seller more hassle (all ebay ever does with all these roll-outs like Managed Payments and Item Specifics) by buying postage off-site.

[2013grotz]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

We purchased media mail today for 2 items due to overall weight.  How heavy is the car manual?

OP would have to answer for what they have, but most Chilton's manuals range around 1-2lbs for paperback and around 4-6lbs for hardback.

[forward-motion]

I think if there was a competitor with ebay that even had half the traffic, 75% of private sellers would be gone. 

[go-bad-chicken]

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@johneezstore wrote:

So I tried to ship a car manual and it wouldn't let me use Media Mail which is what the buyer paid for.  Feebay tells me I have to go pay for it at the Post Office and if it's more expensive they will refund the difference.  What the heck?  I think if there was a competitor with ebay that even had half the traffic, 75% of private sellers would be gone.  LIke a lot of you, waiting for the day.  Between making ebay complicated, fees have risen, always taking the buyers side and many more things, they took all the fun out of this.  I started doing ebay over 20 years ago.  It used to be fun.

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@johneezstore 

FYI unlike other USPS shipping products with USPS Media Mail there is no difference in cost between online rates vs the counter rates. So nothing lost there accept for a drive to the post office.

You can also purchase USPS Media Mail postage online from either PayPal or from Stamps.com. With Stamps, the last time I checked, still offers free accounts to eBay sellers.