eBay

massiveswordandcards · ‎05-22-2023

Has anyone experienced this or know what's going on? I'll provide as much detail and examples as I can while staying succinct. Please let me know if you need more details.

eBay keeps undercharging my customers for shipping. As in, the price for calculated shipping is far lower than the actual price of the label I have to buy. Here is one of my active listings (https://www.ebay.com/itm/314551303337?shqty=1&isGTR=1#shId). Check the estimated price for Domestic USPS First Class mail. Use the zip code 07102. The estimated price is only $1.67. This is way below the commercial rates for First Class Packages, which start at $3.59.

It's actually pretty close to the average cost for First Class Flats; however, eBay doesn't offer a label for that, and there is no way to dictate the package type or even enter a package thickness within the acceptable dimensions of flats. I believe eBay is erroneously pulling the flats price for my customers. I've now had 2 orders where people purchased items using calculated shipping and only paid half of the price of the label I had to buy. Ofcourse, it would be great to have more shipping options on ebay! However, even if it was possible to buy a Flats label, I wouldn't want to - the whole point of offering First Class, for me, is as an upgrade from an envelope. I mostly sell trading cards, so First Class represents an upgrade to add Tracking and rigid protections.

I have called and chatted with eBay reps for a total of over 20 hours now and they always hang up on me. They absolutely refuse to help. Sometimes they say a tech team member will take care of it, but nothing happens. This has been a problem for a month now and I've had FOURTEEN ebay reps all waste hours of my life doing nothing. I can concede there might be a problem on my end - some bizarre combination of options I've selected that results in this. But after trying all sorts of troubleshooting and having all these eyes on my account, nothing has helped and no one has been able to identify what is wrong. In fact, they've repeatedly told me that $1.67 is correct and I should be able to buy a label for this price. No, you can't.

mikhirs · ‎05-23-2023

Through the new EIS, I recently sold a t-shirt to someone in UK, and the tracking mentions DHL.

massiveswordandcards · ‎05-23-2023

It seems you didn't read my entire post. Thanks for trying.

massiveswordandcards · ‎05-23-2023

I'll give the bulk edit to local pickup a try and report back. Thanks for the suggestion!

I really hope I don't have to create all my listings again. I have hundreds and am not doing that.

massiveswordandcards · ‎05-23-2023

As I said in my post, I am selecting First Class package AND letter. I want to offer both. Even eBay customer service acknowledged that the shipping method I selected is not showing in the listing. Indeed, I quite literally have "First Class Package" in ym shipping selections, but it does not appear on most of my listings even so. Yes, my size and weight is well within the limits (1oz, 6x4x1in).

massiveswordandcards · ‎05-23-2023

Not to mention if you want to offer international, manually pricing it is a minefield.

wastingtime101 · ‎05-23-2023

@massiveswordandcards wrote:
I'll give the bulk edit to local pickup a try and report back. Thanks for the suggestion!

I really hope I don't have to create all my listings again. I have hundreds and am not doing that.

If switching to/from local pickup doesn't work you can:

1. Leave listings as they are and deal with it - if someone chooses FC either ship untracked flats or upgrade to package on your dime.

2. Remove FC entirely. Most will choose ESE anyway. Add FC to new listings go forward.

Come back to let us know if the local pickup thing works.

GLORIOUS!

massiveswordandcards · ‎05-23-2023

My most recent EIS was supposed to be handed to DHL. However, DHL claims they never got it. I tried to file a claim with EIS and they told me it wasn't an EIS label. Even though it is. It even shows on the tracking information that it was sent by "eBay Intl Delivery". The tracking also shows that the package was scanned at a DHL location, but they are telling me that it wasn't and it's an error in their system. So they're both lying to me and just leaving me to languish. Shipping service providers seem to really relish their ability to be useless.

https://parcelsapp.com/en/tracking/ESUS137150573

wastingtime101 · ‎05-23-2023

That's not an EIS (eBay International Shipping) package @massiveswordandcards . That was shipped EISD (eBay International Standard Delivery). Totally different service.

With EISD you're responsible for refunding if the package doesn't arrive, but it comes insured up to $100 so you can file a claim here: https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/ebay-international-standar...

EISD is being discontinued "by July 1st" however some reported the option has already disappeared for them.

The new EIS is a different service and if the package vanished after being accepted at the consolidation center, eBay would take care of refunding the buyer if a claim was filed.

GLORIOUS!

massiveswordandcards · ‎05-23-2023

Well, I looked all over and can't find any way to change to local pickup. It seems this has to be done when creating a new listing and can't be altered afterward. There's no such option in the bulk editor for me, no option in the revise listing form, and no option in any of the shipping preferences or policies.

massiveswordandcards · ‎05-23-2023

Ah ok, I may not have had the terminology correct. But the point still stands that I used eBay's service and they are claiming I didn't and refusing to even look at my claim. I already filed it there. They sent me an email asking for "legal documentation to prove my case"... whatever that means. The only documentation I have is my purchase of the label, which is already in eBay's system.

wastingtime101 · ‎05-23-2023

@massiveswordandcards wrote:
Well, I looked all over and can't find any way to change to local pickup. It seems this has to be done when creating a new listing and can't be altered afterward. There's no such option in the bulk editor for me, no option in the revise listing form, and no option in any of the shipping preferences or policies.

If you use business policies then you need to create a local pickup policy before you can bulk edit @massiveswordandcards .

You can create that policy on this page.

Once created, bulk edit and switch to the local pickup policy. Publish changes.

Go back into the bulk editor and switch back to the original shipping policy. Publish changes.

GLORIOUS!

wastingtime101 · ‎05-23-2023

@massiveswordandcards wrote:
Ah ok, I may not have had the terminology correct. But the point still stands that I used eBay's service and they are claiming I didn't and refusing to even look at my claim. I already filed it there. They sent me an email asking for "legal documentation to prove my case"... whatever that means. The only documentation I have is my purchase of the label, which is already in eBay's system.

That doesn't sound right. Sellers file claims for EISD all the time. Did the buyer file an item not received claim? If they did then PIP insurance may need a screenshot of the buyer's claim.

They have customer service contact points. I suggest getting on the phone with them to see what exactly they need:

To check the status of a filed claim, contact PIP (Parcel Insurance Plan) at:

Phone: 1 800 325 7390
Email: claims@pipinsure.com
Chat: select the chat button on www.pipinsure.com

GLORIOUS!

monica-sells · ‎05-23-2023

unless you are on a different program, the bulk editor offers this option:

under DELIVERY options in the drop down)

massiveswordandcards · ‎05-23-2023

Never in my life would I have thought that "local pickup" would be buried at the bottom of the "shipping services" dropdown list... eBay has a truly alien concept of organization.

Anyway, I found the option and it worked!

Before:

During:

After:

This is awesomely stupid. So, the timeline is... eBay makes nonsensical changes that create backend data validation errors > ebay users get screwed up shipping options and prices as a result > ebay pretends nothing is happening, going as far as wasting their own CS time by not documenting the problem and resolution > forum users save the day.

I tried the workaround with some other listings as well! It fixed the incorrectly calculated prices AND fixed the missing First Class service option. Thank you so much!