Longtime member, Horrible eBay experience selling

[carl*navarro]

I have been a longtime Ebayer so I thought I'd try my hand at selling in a serious way.  I listed my items, sold some, and sent 6 packages out on the same day.  Three were broken by the USPS!  Ebay's response was that I had to wait for claims, even though the buyers notified me immediately.  Now, I try to find the transaction detail and I find that the shipping purchase PIP data is wiped off the label. 

This is the stupidest interface for customer service, and now I have to use Ebay to continue making sales.....

I think I'm going to go another route.

[kensgiftshop]

@carl*navarro 

If the items were damaged by USPS, get a few pictures from the buyer and refund them.

Have them hang on to the items and packages so they can be inspected, then you file a claim on USPS, if the packages were insured.

[a_c_green]

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@carl*navarro wrote:

I have been a longtime Ebayer so I thought I'd try my hand at selling in a serious way.  I listed my items, sold some, and sent 6 packages out on the same day.  Three were broken by the USPS! 

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Holy cow... you're selling some high-value fragile ceramics, and some are heavy too. You're going to need to pack the bejeezus out of each one: individual bubblewrap around each item, double-box the heavyweight ones, and insure them for the trip, at least until you can be confident that your future packing will stand up to abuse. (Ship via Priority and you will have at least $50 insurance included, though your average sale price seems to be usually higher than that.) I see you're also offering Local Pickup on the items I looked at, which is a good idea for these.

I hate to say this, but when you're experiencing that much breakage, you probably need to beef up your packing. If you're not willing to push your own package down a flight of stairs, you'll want to add more protection. The standard approach is to pack the individually wrapped items into a good-fitting box, then enclose that box in bubblewrap and place it in an outer box. (Styrofoam peanuts or similar can be used, but avoid crushed newspaper, as it's both heavy for its volume and not resilient enough to cushion the contents.) Good luck...

[postingid7659]

Your blame is misplaced, eBay is not responsible for breaking these items.

When I was younger I applied for a position in a FedEx terminal here.  As part of the process you got a short tour of the facility, because they wanted you to see what you'd be doing so anyone who felt they couldn't hack it would wash out before being hired and not after. 

Conveyors in the terminal rise up and down to reach each truck dock going as high as 18 feet off a concrete floor.  If packages jam a pole is used to unblock them and if necessary knock off a package to get things moving again.  Employees are hired with no special skills, the same as would be hired by fast food or other minimum wage jobs. 

I doubt the USPS is much different other than adding more capacity for letters and traditional mail into the mix.  

So you need to pack your items such that they will survive being beat around and potentially dropped 18 feet to a concrete floor, transported on trucks and planes that will shake them around and constantly vibrate.  With fragile items breakage is almost guaranteed, they need solid packing in one box that is then soft packed in a second box to allow it some motion so hard shocks are dissipated to a degree.   I used to pack vintage radios this way.  I stopped selling them because it's too much hassle.