Business policies -- eBay apparently changed my shipping policy when I sent an offer - a bug??

[adamcartwright]

I use Business Policies, and my Shipping Policy includes a $1 handling charge to at least partially defray the cost of the box and bubble wrap, etc.

I have noticed that when I send offers to people watching my listings, eBay  moves those "Pending Offers" listings into a temporary Shipping Policy that they create.

(I don't know why, because the the offer is on the price, while the shipping cost remains the same.)

I made a sale this evening, when someone accepted an offer I sent.

In purchasing postage, I discovered that the buyer had not paid the $1 handling charge.

In trying to figure out happened, I discovered that eBay has removed my handling charge from the temporary Shipping Policy they moved this "Pending offer" listing into.

I just got off the phone with eBay. The very helpful CSR said she recognized what was going on and would refer it to Tech Support.

It looks like manually adding the handling charge into this temporary shipping policy might be confusing. I'm kind of afraid to mess with it, as I get a red warning.

The CSR suggested that I could change my shipping rates from the eBay discounted rates back to the USPS rates, in order to give myself a cushion on shipping. I hesitate to do that, because I've found my sales are better when I pass on that eBay shipping discount.

Has anyone else noticed this happening?  (I hope I've explained it well.)

[slippinjimmy]

Can't help you on the missing handling charge related to offers (I don't send or accept them).

I can't see what you are shipping but what difference is it between retail vs discounted plus $1. If you are shipping heavy/large packages maybe the the difference is substantial items.

Regardless, there is another option, add the handling amount to the item price and continue with the discounted shipping charges that look good to buyers.

[wastingtime101]

Sending offers should not be duplicating your policies. There are a few factors that can cause duplicate policies (one has to do with a recent international change), but it's impossible to say without seeing any of the listings in question. If you want to PM me a couple item numbers I can check for any flags that sometimes cause biz policy issues.

[adamcartwright]

@slippinjimmy 

Thanks --

Yes, that would be a solution  -- to add $1 to the prices.
But I can't really do that with items on which I have pending offers.

I use BIN for everything, but I do send offers to watchers.

The difference between eBay shipping rates and USPS rates is quite substantial for larger/heavier items.

For most of my past sales before I switched to eBay shipping, the difference ranged from about $1.50 to over $10.

The question is -- why is eBay removing my handling charge on these pending offer listings?

[adamcartwright]

@wastingtime101 

Thanks -- I'll do that.

[zrminid]

Packaging and handling costs need to be worked into the purchase price. Separate costs are viewed poorly by most buyers and some view it as shady or dishonest regardless of your actual intentions.

Ideally you should offer free ground shipping with an option to the buyer to choose expedited shipping for an extra amount. This keeps things simple for the buyer and for you.

[adamcartwright]

@zrminid 

Seller preferences aside, the point here is that eBay has unilaterally changed the Shipping Policy on many of my listings.

[wastingtime101]

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@adamcartwright wrote:

@wastingtime101 

Thanks -- I'll do that.

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I've been out of pocket all day. Give me some time to catch up and I'll dig in to your listings - look out for a PM where I'll probably ask a bunch of questions and for some screenshots of different settings. 🙂

[adamcartwright]

@wastingtime101 

Thank you so much!

No rush -- you're helping me out of the kindness of your heart, so please don't inconvience yourself.

Feel free to PM my selling account

[zrminid]

That could be because of the changes they're making to the site software, which have been causing quite a number of problems to all aspects of the user experience. They're not doing it deliberately, they're just not doing enough testing before deployment(surprise, surprise).

However, if you wish to avoid this problem, the advice I've given will bypass it entirely. One price, shipping included keeps it simple and easy for the buyer, for you and for the Ebay system software.

[wastingtime101]

To close out this discussion, below is what I worked on with @adamcartwright and they just sent me a message to confirm it resolved the issue. Adding the info here in case others with the same question find this discussion in search.

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Something that was buggy back when eIS first launched: if you had a no returns policy, eBay would duplicate shipping policies randomly and I don't know why, but it appeared to be an issue with returns. With eIS, certain countries require returns. On top of that, eBay generally offers a 30 day returns policy with eIS.

This is how I helped sellers during that time:

I told them to change their return policy: keep whatever policy they want for domestic, but for international change it to 30 days buyer paid returns.

Since you do not ship direct internationally this will not affect you. You offer eIS exclusively so it's not going to matter if you change your international returns policy since eIS handles all returns.

Do that. Save changes. Report back to confirm if that fixes the problem.

Keep in mind any listings with open offers or auctions with bids can't be edited, so if you have any listings like that it's going to create a duplicate return policy. Once the offers expire and auctions end you can apply the revised return policy to those listings and delete the dupes.

[adamcartwright]

A public shout-out to let everyone know how amazing @wastingtime101 is  - not only the brain power demontrated, but also the willingness to spend so much time helping a total stranger.

Just an A+ human. Thank you again and again. 👏