eBay

lamber9347 · ‎10-16-2020

Last night I sold two 45 records which I had listed as shipping with media mail for $3.75. When I went to print out the label on eBay, the label had changed to priority mail for $8.17. I couldn't change it back to media mail as it was grayed out. I kept backing out and going back in to the same results.

I then clicked on first class and it changed to FedEx, also for $8.17. It seemed I was stuck with losing money on my sale as I was being given no other options. Buyer only paid $3.75 and there were no messages from the buyer asking me to change to priority.

Just as I was about to give up and cancel the order completely, as I wasn't about to lose money on this sale, I tried one last time and it finally changed to first class shipping. Still wasn't the shipping I had listed it as but the price was only a slight difference higher. So I did get my label printed and item shipping but wondering what went wrong to cause this.

Has eBay altered all media mail shippings?

I missed any notifications on that....

nobody*s_perfect · ‎10-16-2020

Were they listed in the records category? eBay has been blocking MM labels for eligible items when they were listed in a category that's basically ineligible such as a book about collectibles that was listed in Collectibles rather than in the Books category.

View Best Answer in original post

comics-scifi-collectibles · ‎10-16-2020

@lamber9347. I know that others have reported that the shipping option that is selected on the label page is not what the buyer selected or sometimes not even an option on the listing.

As for your issue was the order automatically combined? If so that could be why it jumped to priority

There is no reason though to cancel the sale all you need to do is buy a media mail label on Paypal or usps click and ship as the price is the same. Just be sure to upload the tracking

Comics-scifi_collectibles Volunteer Community Mentor
Member since 2003

tsme35 · ‎10-16-2020

Still going on with one of my accounts, I've called in 3 times and they still haven't fixed it

lamber9347 · ‎10-16-2020

@comics-scifi-collectibles - Thank you, I should have noted the sale was for two 45's in one sale. It wasn't a combined order, I had them listed together, same artist. Yes you are correct I could have printed the media mail label via PP, I was getting frustrated and was reacting but it worked out in the end.

lamber9347 · ‎10-16-2020

Thank you for letting me know this isn't an isolated issue. One tends to think they did something wrong so it helps when you hear others had the same experience....

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎10-16-2020

@lamber9347

If this problem is hopefully intermittent would you be able to ship the old fashioned way at a post office to get your charged rate. And just update when you get home? I think this been going on for awhile. I believe I saw a post suggesting this over-ride was USPS not accepting some items as being considered media mail. We have a similar issue in Canada where we can only mail using letter rates when it is paper matter. A DVD a smidge over 2 cm's and they say no way Jose. No exceptions.

-Lotz

lamber9347 · ‎10-16-2020

@lotzofuniquegoodies - Thank you. In the states media mail has many restrictions but it is allowed for all media types such as recordings, videos, movies, records, and books. These were just two records weighing 7oz so they met all the criteria. I sell many old 45's and never had any issues prior to this, also why I was thrown by the sudden change this morning.

I suspect this is another glitch from eBay. If USPS was not using media mail it would/should override to first class based on the weight. I don't see why it would jump to priority for such a low weight item. I'll try to catch an eBay rep on the community next week and submit it as a question....

nobody*s_perfect · ‎10-16-2020

Were they listed in the records category? eBay has been blocking MM labels for eligible items when they were listed in a category that's basically ineligible such as a book about collectibles that was listed in Collectibles rather than in the Books category.

lamber9347 · ‎10-16-2020

@nobody*s_perfect By Jove I think you've got it. I had this listed under collectibles because what I was actually selling was the album cover in which Jayne Mansfield was the model. The records were secondary, the listing was all about Ms. Mansfield. The buyer was a Jayne Mansfield collector as this is a rare album cover. That's why I listed it under collectibles, it wouldn't have been found under records.

So now eBay will allow a seller to list an item as being shipped under MM, an item that fits the restrictions for MM, allows the buyer to pay for MM, but comes in at the last moment and refuses to allow MM to be used. Instead they want to force the seller to use priority shipping instead? Hmmmm....

I'll have to read the TOS again to look for any updates on this. Thank you for your ideas.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎10-16-2020

eBay's shipping tweaks usually don't appear in the TOS. Just be prepared to print your legitimate MM label elsewhere if you list in a non-media category. I'd use www.PayPal.com/shipnow

readabouthorses · ‎10-17-2020

@nobody*s_perfect wrote:
Were they listed in the records category? eBay has been blocking MM labels for eligible items when they were listed in a category that's basically ineligible such as a book about collectibles that was listed in Collectibles rather than in the Books category.

Is this eBay's way of trying to stop all the Media Mail abuse? Good luck with that because they would allow it in the Books category which has these sub-cats which would NOT qualify for MM: Accessories, Catalogs, Magazines.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎10-17-2020

Yes, it does seem to be eBay's way of blocking MM abuse. I don't know whether they block MM in non-eligible subcategories within Books.

lamber9347 · ‎10-17-2020

@readabouthorses wrote:
@nobody*s_perfect wrote:
Were they listed in the records category? eBay has been blocking MM labels for eligible items when they were listed in a category that's basically ineligible such as a book about collectibles that was listed in Collectibles rather than in the Books category.
Is this eBay's way of trying to stop all the Media Mail abuse? Good luck with that because they would allow it in the Books category which has these sub-cats which would NOT qualify for MM: Accessories, Catalogs, Magazines.

@readabouthorses - I'm going to bring this up as a question next week to eBay. I'm curious if they will say this was a one time glitch, as they seem to blame for everything these days, or if they acknowledge there was something else going on here.

Any media mail abuse really has nothing to do with eBay, that's a USPS issue. If eBay were so concerned about sellers abusing shipping prices or practices then they would stop sellers from over charging on shipping first class. They should work on sellers who list as expedited shipping, charge for it, then use first class standard shipping and pocket the rest....

dbfolks166mt · ‎10-17-2020

I have had this happen a couple of times because of, as others mentioned, the category it was listed in. I simply do it the old way at the post office, input the shipping information manually and mark the item as shipped.