Buyer selects a shipping option I did not provide

[bkwrm003]

I offered the buyer "Expedited Shipping (Priority Mail)".  The goods are a box (12 x 16 x 6) of wine corks. When I went to print a shipping label, it showed that the customer selected "Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope". The goods will not fit in a priority mail flat rate envelope. I ended up eating the additional cost to send the box by USPS Priority Mail. This is not the first time this has happened. Why? and How do I ensure that the shipping option I want the customer to select is what they actually select and pay for? Thanks.

[rfmtm]

Just select the proper label yourself, as long as it is Priority.

[justafemster]

Shipping options are up to you, you input something wrong.  Unless you were trying to use USPS ground, ebay no longer offers that service and auto-changes to priority if over 1 lb. 

I just mark the smallest flat rate package the item (s) will fit in.  Then again, I could probably fit that amount of corks into a flat rate bubble envie!  Grins!

[mtgraves7984]

It sounds as if the listing wasn't set up properly. (The customer can't select a method that you don't offer in the listing.) Had the size and weight been there, the buyer would have been charged as you would have wanted them to be. Hang in there... it's a problem you usually only have the one time.

[kensgiftshop]

@bkwrm003 

USPS Parcel Select Ground was an option on that listing.

Ebay does not offer that option anymore, so if a buyer chooses it, when you go to buy a shipping label, it'll default to another service.

You can still offer it, you just can't buy the shipping label here.

[orangehound]

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@bkwrm003 wrote:

I ended up eating the additional cost to send the box by USPS Priority Mail. This is not the first time this has happened. Why? and How do I ensure that the shipping option I want the customer to select is what they actually select and pay for? Thanks.

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I'm guessing when you created the listing, you put in the weight of 7 pounds without any dimensions ... the buyer selected "Priority Mail" at checkout, and since you don't have any dimensions then eBay presented you with the Cheapest Priority Mail option:  the Priority Mail Envelope.

But, the buyer still paid for regular Priority Mail, so you did not "eat the additional cost". 

(To avoid confusion in the future, you might want to get in the habit of specifying package dimensions at listing creation).

[nobody*s_perfect · Accepted solution]

Your listing for wine corks offered both Priority Mail and Parcel Select Ground.

Apparently your buyer chose and paid for Parcel Select Ground.  Unfortunately, eBay has decided to phase out access to Parcel Select Ground labels, even though USPS has made no changes in their services or policies, and it's offered by all other online postage sellers including PayPal, endicia, stamps.com, etc. When it's not offered, the shipping label page usually defaults to the first option on the list which is flat rate envelope, this doesn't mean that's what your buyer paid for. You can purchase Parcel Select Ground postage through PayPal at

www.PayPal.com/shipnow

The cost difference between Parcel Select Ground and the online rate for Priority Mail is usually quite small, but the difference is exaggerated in the listing because it defaults to show the retail rate for Priority Mail. That's why buyers choose (and pay for) Parcel Select.

IMHO Parcel Select ground should only be offered when necessary such as for hazmat or Oversize packages (i.e., length-plus-girth above the Priority limit of 108 inches).