eBay

scottlmusic · ‎08-26-2017

OK, just a brief summary, I had a non-paying bidder followed by a flake sending me emails (in hard to read english) trying to low ball the price. I block this buyer, relist as a BIN with IPR and it finally sold and is paid for. Now here's the kicker, after all the previous weirdness, get this, it's being shipped to Houston, Texas, yup right where the storm is right now where they are predicting 24 inches of rain over the next several days

So I hope the guy is safe and has no damage to his home and belonings but I guess this will be a delayed shipment. Course not being able to ship within three days having recently started selling with this account will screw up my rating on ebay, affect how fast the money will be released, (provided the buyer will be able to go through with the sale) and it looks like it affects seller protection through PayPal.

All I can say is it's been interesting so far. Think I might take a break in ebay selling for a short while after this one.

a_c_green · ‎08-30-2017

@scottlmusic wrote:
I also found out that the sale through ebay does not automatically show the value of $599 and had I not caught this the item would have only been covered for $100, Again, what good is calculate shipping if it doesn't do what you need it to? So, shipping instead of the estimated $23 is instead $46. I thought the caculated shipping would be more attractive to buyers close by and also save me money if my fixed shipping price was not high enough. Didn't work that way. Ha, and I was going to ship it fixed price at $39.

Calculated shipping will give the correct costs if given the correct data. If you could give your package specifics here (package dimensions, package weight, origin ZIP, destination ZIP), someone can doublecheck your numbers.

Regarding insurance, that's not an expense billed to the buyer; it's an optional expense paid by the seller if he wants to insure the shipment, thus getting reimbursed if he has to refund the buyer for shipping damage. The carrier may offer $50 or $100 of free coverage; the seller pays the rest if he chooses.

kattinsanity · ‎08-30-2017

Also, ebay announcements say that they will protect buyers and sellers IN TX. affected by the storm~~sellers for late shipment & item damages due to flooding, etc. and buyers for late payment. Ebay does not say they will protect sellers NOT directly affected by the storm against late shipment. You will still have to ship within your stated handling time to be protected against a INR case being filed. If a buyer files an INR and you were late in shipping the item ebay isn't going to protect you against anything.

scottlmusic · ‎08-30-2017

@kattinsanity

Thank you and all that have tried to assist me the best you know how. I did contact ebay again.

Due to the storm I have been advised (and this is on record at ebay with a SR#) that I should wait to ship following the advice from UPS and also from ebay. In a case like this where the customer has not responded to several emails and a couple phone calls it was agreed that I wait until UPS says they are again delivering to this area and until I get confirmation from the buyer that they are there to accept shipment. It sounds like I will get an automatic defect, that thats the way their system automatically works, but I will need to contact the appeal dept with the SR# and also they can read all what I said in my emails and under circumstances like this the defect will be removed.

kattinsanity · ‎08-30-2017

All I've ever read from other posters for a LONG time is even if they are found to be right defects are not removable. Once they are entered they are there to stay no matter what the circumstances are. You NEVER believe what ebay CS tells you~~they just want to get you off the phone & tell you what you want to hear. Since you have no proof of what UPS may have told you they don't even count in ebay decisions. Have you tried to contact the buyer more than once by phone? I'm sure glad people call me back when I'm not home to answer the phone or they would probably think I was dead if I didn't answer their 1st call~~just as you "think" the buyer evacuated because he didn't answer his phone.

vintageista · ‎08-30-2017

I have a sister and 2 other relatives who live in Houston and none of them were affected by the flooding...the news makes it look like the entire city is under water...but that is not the case...Houston is a HUGE sprawling metro area, much like LA, the mail might be delayed for a short time and eBay is aware of that & offering protections. I would just mail the pkg and see what happens!

muttlymob · ‎08-30-2017

Calculated shipping will give the correct costs if given the correct data.

Not necessarily for UPS.

centexcompsvcs · ‎08-30-2017

Smart move on your part. I would never send a high value item into such a chaotic situation. This storm per the National Weather Service, is "unprecedented" and I really don't think that many of the folks in Houston knew exactly the extent of Harvey's destruction and consequent flooding. The fact that your buyer has yet to respond, certainly indicates a disruption in his life. I would do as the eBay CS rep. suggested, hang onto it and send later on when it is safe.

You may also consider refunding his payment and cancelling the sale due to "a problem with buyer's address". Perhaps relist for him later on, when things settle down.

scottlmusic · ‎08-30-2017

@a_c_green

@muttlymob

It was listed as UPS Ground from 32571 to 77072. Value $599, 47x17x8 22 lbs. His caculated shipping was $23.33 and shipping before my add ons was $36.xx. I asked UPS about it and they said the $36 was correct. What good is this feature if it's that far off with all necessary data given?

scottlmusic · ‎08-30-2017

@centexcompsvcs wrote:
Smart move on your part. I would never send a high value item into such a chaotic situation. This storm per the National Weather Service, is "unprecedented" and I really don't think that many of the folks in Houston knew exactly the extent of Harvey's destruction and consequent flooding. The fact that your buyer has yet to respond, certainly indicates a disruption in his life. I would do as the eBay CS rep. suggested, hang onto it and send later on when it is safe.

You may also consider refunding his payment and cancelling the sale due to "a problem with buyer's address". Perhaps relist for him later on, when things settle down.

I couldn't agree with you more. This is no $20 item with a cost of a few bucks where it makes no difference really if it gets lost, damaged or whatever. If the CS guy is wrong I will take care of this. I have all the info I need. UPS screenshots showing the zip code is one of the affected ones, they can see all the emails where I discussed what I already said here and no response. To send this under these circumstances would be absloute foolishness.

centexcompsvcs · ‎08-30-2017

Here is the message eBay put out ( Bold is mine):

Due to the severity of Hurricane Harvey, many sellers may be impacted. eBay will automatically apply Seller Protection to all impacted sellers, including:

You will not receive defects for stockouts or unresolved cases with buyers
Your late shipment rate will not be impacted

If your merchandise has been damaged or you will not be able to access it, we recommend:

Ending any auctions/taking down any Buy It Now listings before they result in a sale. We will not charge a fee for ending a listing early.
If you are an eBay Stores subscriber, place your store in vacation mode and extend your handling time on all items to when you can get back to business.

If you need customer service, please call us at 1 (866) 540-3229.

No where in this statement does it specifically state or even imply that the "impacted sellers" are only those sellers who live in the affected areas. I understood it to mean "all impacted sellers"..those who live there as well as those who are required to ship items to that area. This disaster affects/ "impacts" sellers in both scenarios.

scottlmusic · ‎08-31-2017

Thanks for everyones input. I don't claim to know everything but I didn't just get off the boat. I was in music retail for 30 years many of those years I owned a full line music store so it's not like I don't know about buying, selling shipping and receiving etc. And this included instruments up to $100K+. I can tell you for a fact that when you have a high ticket item you want it to be shipped directly to the buyer asap. The longer it is in transit or stored the greater the likelyhood of damage. Not to mention the extreme conditions involved in this case.

UPS verbally and on their site has said this address is in the affected area and to wait to ship. I have a screenshot of this along with it stating to please confirm with your receiver whether their location is impacted by the flooding before shipping to them.

I messaged the buyer at least four times and left voice mails twice with no response. I don't think I should buck both what UPS is telling me and ebay customer service besides my own experience.

I have the name of the ebay rep I talked to. It was all entered in my record of this sale along with a SR#.

Really, how many people would actually still ship a $600 fragile electronic musical instrument under these circumstances?

kattinsanity · ‎08-31-2017

Maybe trinton@ebay could clarify who they consider "affected by the storm buyers & sellers"? That would solve the whole mystery of whether sellers should ship or not and if defects will be given or defects will be removed.

muttlymob · ‎08-31-2017

@scottlmusic wrote:
@a_c_green
@muttlymob

It was listed as UPS Ground from 32571 to 77072. Value $599, 47x17x8 22 lbs. His caculated shipping was $23.33 and shipping before my add ons was $36.xx. I asked UPS about it and they said the $36 was correct. What good is this feature if it's that far off with all necessary data given?

eBay's calculator works for USPS. For UPS and FedEx, not so much. Because these carriers have surcharges that are not accurately accounted for in the calculator - things like rural vs. urban, business vs. residential deliveries. USPS doesn't add these surcharges separately they are all part of the cost based on physical properties of the mailpiece and origin/destination.

muttlymob · ‎08-31-2017

@kattinsanity wrote:
Maybe trinton@ebay could clarify who they consider "affected by the storm buyers & sellers"? That would solve the whole mystery of whether sellers should ship or not and if defects will be given or defects will be removed.

1) Trinton doesn't have final say over who gets defects or not, so how much would really be clarified?

2) If the shipping company says don't ship now, seems like the whole mystery of whether to ship or not is solved.

It is up to every seller to weigh his risk of shipping against the shipping company's advice or taking the chance of a defect from eBay.

Evaluate the actual risk instead of blindly taking action solely to avoid a single eBay defect.

centexcompsvcs · ‎08-31-2017

I reached out to trinton @ebay.com on this question.

New message to: trinton@ebay

Here is the message eBay put out:
Due to the severity of Hurricane Harvey, many sellers may be impacted. eBay will automatically apply Seller Protection to all impacted sellers, including:
• You will not receive defects for stockouts or unresolved cases with buyers
• Your late shipment rate will not be impacted....etc

No where in this statement does it specifically state or even imply that the "impacted sellers" are only those sellers who live in the affected areas. I understood it to mean "all impacted sellers"..those who live there as well as those who are required to ship items to that area. This disaster affects/ "impacts" sellers in both scenarios.

Can you provide some clarification on who are "impacted sellers? Thanks, PJ

Hopefully, he will address this issue.