Got CHARGED to PRINT a shippinglabel

[cprn44]

Has anyone else had this issue with ebay?   I pulled ALL my listings as they have messed up shipping fees 4 times now.  I just got charged to PRINT a UPS shipping label.  The buyer PAID for the shipping and then I get CHARGED to print it?   I spoke with customer service and he was LESS than helpful--just kept saying there's a charge to print the label.

NO THERE IS NOT!!!

I don't know WHO to turn to now.  I am BEYOND frustrated.

[yuzuha]

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@veronicabooksandart wrote:

The consensus here is that FedEx sucks, a strong opinion not shared by buyers in general biting on best price.  Listing FX Smartpost and notifying the buyer in the item description you reserve the right to upgrade shipping is the only coherent approach short of eBay revisiting shipping systems and policy.

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Around here, FedEx likes to pull ding-and-dash and leave notices claiming they tried to deliver but no one was home-- a blatant lie, as my mother is retired and my father works from home and thus there is always at least one person in the house at any given point in time. For this reason, I will not buy from any seller that uses FedEx because I do not want to have to deal with the hassle of either waiting for them to redeliver or going to pick it up. USPS and UPS leave packages on the porch, no problem.

If a buyer listed FedEx as the shipping method when they were actually planning to use something else, well, they'd lose my business because I wouldn't even consider purchasing from them if I saw FedEx.

[veronicabooksandart]

I see no option for economy shipping; only "-" at the top which would seem to serve that purpose.

I want to minimize expense. Period. End stop. That entails locking final value fees at the FX Smartpost retail rate upon payment, leveraging calculated rates, and shopping for the lowest carrier price to ship.

I cannot lock USPS Parcel Select rates then change to another service without incurring the wrath demonstrated here. Nor do I want the buyer to pay any more than the FX Smartpost retail rate for shipping.

I don't set the rates. It's counter-intuitive that better service options than FX Smartpost are offering the seller lower rates to ship. The delta would amount not only to needless expense passed on to the carrier but saddling the buyer with FX Smartpost when faster service is less expensive.

It is what it is.
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Facts are stubborn things.

[veronicabooksandart]

Yes.
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[myangelandmyprincess]

Except doing that way costs you good buyers as well.  I don't blame a seller for something delayed in shipping through no fault of their own but I won't buy if it's fed ex smart post. You're making your shipping way more complicated than it needs to be 

[veronicabooksandart]

Granted; only that, the ability to list a singular service, and shop for best rate with a view to delivery time, is as simple, robust, and rewarding as it gets.
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I don't know the key to success. But the key to failure is trying to please everyone.

[veronicabooksandart]

I get it.  The constraint for the seller, however, can be the difference between making a few bucks vs. paying the buyer to take the item. But that's not what bugs me.  It's the idea of leaving money on the table....

At least you're a seller.
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Posts show what you believe.  Listings show you know something about selling.  Sarcasm shows I'm being a smartass.

[lja440]

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@yuzuha wrote:

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@veronicabooksandart wrote:

The consensus here is that FedEx sucks, a strong opinion not shared by buyers in general biting on best price.  Listing FX Smartpost and notifying the buyer in the item description you reserve the right to upgrade shipping is the only coherent approach short of eBay revisiting shipping systems and policy.

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Around here, FedEx likes to pull ding-and-dash and leave notices claiming they tried to deliver but no one was home-- a blatant lie, as my mother is retired and my father works from home and thus there is always at least one person in the house at any given point in time. For this reason, I will not buy from any seller that uses FedEx because I do not want to have to deal with the hassle of either waiting for them to redeliver or going to pick it up. USPS and UPS leave packages on the porch, no problem.

If a buyer listed FedEx as the shipping method when they were actually planning to use something else, well, they'd lose my business because I wouldn't even consider purchasing from them if I saw FedEx.

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We used to get FedEx door tags on the front of our mailbox all the time. Once my daughter was outside washing her car, mind this is only around 30 feet up from the mailbox though you need to drive about another 50 feet to turn up into the driveway. He reached out and slapped the tag on the mailbox, turned around at the end of the drive and drove off.

Another time I followed him up our narrow dead end road in my Jeep. He reached out, slapped on the tag, turned around and came nose to nose with me. I confronted him and he actually tried to tell me he knocked and no one came to the door. I told him it is a jumbo mailbox but we live in the HOUSE, not the mailbox. Not only did you just slap on the door tag but also you didn't even check for traffic when you stopped. 

After 49 years of driving and 21 years delivering mail it is so ingrained in me that I check my mirrors and I use my blinker turning into my driveway, I live literally at the end of a dead end single lane dirt road.

[lja440]

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@veronicabooksandart wrote:

Yes. That is the rub; only, for some reason I sleep better at night knowing the buyer is easy. And I like the freedom to choose to keep needless expense between me and the buyer and not have to gift wrap it and send it off to the carrier and eBay.
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Thank you, Sir. Can I have another?

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And I as a buyer want to know how my items will be arriving. 

The last straw with me was I had some important papers coming (non eBay) the company sent them FedEx Express. My daughter was home and they refused  to let her sign for them as she wasn't 21. I asked the company why they put on this restriction. They said that they did not even request a signature at all.  I could not get up to the terminal a hour past my house and my house is 40 minutes further to work. The packet was returned to the company. I requested that they reship using USPS, they said they only use FedEx but they would resend it specifying  leave if no answer. 

The same thing happened, FedEx came, daugher wasn't allowed to sign, rinse and repreat.  I contacted the company and TOLD them plain and simple, resend these using USPS or forget it the deal would be off. They shipped it in a Legal Flat Rate Envelope and it arrived in my mailbox without a hitch at all. 

[lja440]

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@veronicabooksandart wrote:

Or why shopping for best service post sale is sine qua non. If the listing steps on a rural trap door - with FedEx ostensibly obviating the eBay calculator - the package must go USPS.
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Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

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Sorry I don't understand this post at all.

[lja440]

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@veronicabooksandart wrote:

We're not in Kansas anymore.

FedEx wants to get out from under FX Smartpost and move that business to its ground service. FX Home Delivery is, in most cases, more expensive for the buyer; and much cheaper for the seller than it's own economy service. So much cheaper that USPS can no longer compete in the marketplace. Add to this eBay doesn't want grief this holiday season and wants to move you to faster delivery times. The options are now FX Home Delivery, FX Ground, UPS Ground and USPS Priority Mail. Listing FX Smartpost protects the buyer from inflated shipping and the seller from inflated final values fees on shipping. But it's a non-starter, in most cases, when it comes time to ship. So, eBay shipping policy, taken a face value, is no longer coherent or serves anyone's interest save eBay and the carrier.
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Follow the yellow-brick road.

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As a mail carrier in a rural area we deliver not only USPS packages  but also FedEx Smartpost, UPS Sure Post and Mail Innovations, but also Amazon. 

On occasion (read daily), we get miss delivered mail and packages, it happens. Within USPS we have a system to get these back in the mail stream. With the other carriers each has their own system. UPS we call and whatever truck is closest is told to swing by and pick it up, usually within an hour or two, Amazon we hand back to the driver when he delivers the next morning. FedEx we call and they  schedual a "recovery truck". We can not give it back to the contracted driver when he delivers the pallet the next day. We have had packages waiting sitting in the office for up to and sometimes over a week waiting for the "recovery truck". 

We also have found that FedEx is very slap dash with their bills of lading often there are packages not included on the bill and packages on it that were not on the pallet. This causes distress, confusion and anger in their customers which we take the brunt of because we are there and FedEx is 2 hours away.

[lja440]

I do want to also point out to you that though with heavy volume of mail and packages at work I haven't been listing much on eBay.  I have been rehabbing old school desks for the B&M and making jewlery with my run off and extra epoxy. 

BUT!!!

When selling here and with my confirmed stated S/H method. I consistantly have a over 80% first round sell through. 

I start my auctions with at least 30% profit built in and 3-5% built in self insurance.  I pack very well and have had 0 packages lost and 0 packages damaged in my 17 years on eBay.  I do not fall for marketing tricks like starting my auctions at 99 cents or claims of huge shipping discounts. 

Over the years I have sold enough here (under my selling ID's) to have enough surpluses in my "risk fund" to all but pay for my first Right Hand Drive Jeep (bought here on eBay for $5000), marching band trips with my youngest daughter to Chicago and to Disney ($700x2 and $900x2 respectively), and probably a dozen or so rock concerts with my oldest daughter. And still had plenty to cover any returns I might have encountered.

I may not look like much from checking this ID (posting and buying ID), but I kinda do know what I am talking about.

[lja440]

With all your protest on this thread I was curious about what your listings looked like. 

One you have very minimal discriptions on some. I do like that you have dimensions in some of the cigar boxes. It does concern me that you are listing other things with an ID that you are selling tobacco related items with. I like the boots and they are my size.  BUT strike one, FedEx shipping, Strike two, I would fear that they would reak of cigar smoke. 

This is kinda one of the reasons I work under a few selling ID's, and I don't smoke. But then I don't list used horse tack along side clothing even though in my listings I do state that my home is smoke free but pet friendly with dogs, cats, horses and birds (for those with allergies) and I also state that most of my items come from local auctions and estate sales.

[veronicabooksandart]

eBay shipping calculator quotes NYC, Chicago and LA. I'm only interested in the worst possible destination/discount rate which yields the least I can make on the item. But if the buyer has a rural delivery address that can jack up FX shipping, the package needs to go USPS.
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USPS during deer season (I hate explaining my jokes).

[veronicabooksandart]

I rescue the boxes from a smoke-filled environment and bring them to a smoke-free one. I would never smoke around them. They've already been through so much (especially the slow movers).

I keep the listing minimal as possible. I overload the item description with missing data elements (# of watchers and intent to upgrade shipping service).

I don't believe you should "sell" the item. I want a buyer who really wants the item and is willing to pay top dollar.
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SURGEON GENERAL WARNING: Cigar Smoking Can Cause Lung Cancer and Heart Disease.

[lja440]

FedEx to my address would net you home delivery surcharges, rural delivery surcharge, fuel surcharge, possably some sort of redelivery charge  (why else would they come up my road and just slap a doortag on my mailbox), what about if they decide to slap a over 21 signature needed on a package willy nilly like they did with my paperwork. What if they deliver like they did with one package by dropping it in the bed of my pick-up (the 1978 F250 4x4 with a spray in bed liner that HOLDS WATER and that I haddn't moved in 2 rainy weeks.  

It was a sweet vintage 8 ball 8track player. I actually bit the bullet on this BECAUSE though it said FedEx it was FedEx SmartPost so I thought it would be safely delivered by my mail carrier. NOPE it was delivered "Upgraded" to Fed Ex Express at 1:20 pm and I arrived home to find it sitting in about 8 inches of water (after a 30 minute search) around 4:30 pm, in the bed of my Pick-up. Mind you the truck is never locked and they could have put it in the cab. Or the open garage. Or ANYWHERE else.