eBay

dbfolks166mt · ‎10-25-2020

A number of people have posted about eBay currently defaulting the shipping to USPS priority mail regardless of how the seller indicated the shipping in the posting. I had notice it but not given it much thought until a potential buyer located in Utah contacted me about an item I had posted and the eBay estimated postage cost and shipping method.

I had a $10 item posted with USPS calculated first class package as the designated shipping method. The package was a small padded 4" x 8" envelope about 1" thick and a weight of 12 ounces. I also charge $1.00 handling to cover materials and such. When he was considering bidding on the item eBay estimated postage cost was $10.60. I put 2 and 2 together and assumed eBay was presenting him with an estimated shipping cost based on a priority mail package. I have had first class package shipping estimates that were off by +/- than a dollar but hardly is it ever excessive. He provided me with his zip code and I checked Pirate Ship for actual cost to send the first class package from Virginia to Utah. The difference was $4 and change.

The buyer said he was aware of the priority mail shipping issue with eBay and had contacted several sellers about the postage and some had responded and some had not. I told him that if he purchased the item once I actually shipped it I would refund any overage back to his paypal account. He wound up purchasing the item and after the label was purchased and printed I refunded $4.39 back to him. He mentioned several other sellers had offered to, and done, the same. The sellers he had not heard back from he wound up not purchasing the item.

A number of people have mentioned the slow down in sales and while there are already enough issues contributing to this, most as a result of the current COVID situation, we don't need another one. I have subsequently changed most of my postings over to free shipping after factoring in an average shipping cost based on Pirate Ship calculations which are pretty close to eBay rates. I had to adjust pricing to account for the free shipping and will probably be OK in some cases but may take a minor loss on others. Hopefully it averages out. Just food for thought.

lamber9347 · ‎10-25-2020

I haven't purchased anything myself in over two weeks so I haven't run into that, but if I do it will be a factor for me. I never purchase anything that is shipped priority. I don't require any of my purchases to be overnight and I factor the shipping costs into what I'm willing to pay for an item. So I only purchase items that offer first class or free shipping for that reason.

If I place things in my cart then see the shipping changes to priority, I will just delete that item. Either that or I will find the exact item on Amazon where I never have to pay for shipping. I always go to eBay first when I'm looking for an item but I have been pushed to Amazon and/or Etsy more and more these days....

dbfolks166mt · ‎10-25-2020

Part of the issue is the buyer still sees the postage as being first class package but I believe eBay is calculating and showing the potential buyer a priority rate. I only assume that since the item I had posted I could have shipped anywhere in the U.S. for considerably less than the $10.60 estimated cost he was seeing from eBay.

Heck I can get a small flat rate box, flat rate envelope, padded flat rate envelope or in some cases a regional box anywhere in the US for less than the $10.60 he was being shown.

needitlikea0inthehead · ‎10-25-2020

The default shipping to Priority Mail was always there. I just unclick the bullet and click on the cheapest way. I brought the default up with a town meeting at the beginning as I thought sellers who were not paying attention would not notice and change the shipping method. Ebay did not fix it of course but it is no problem changing the setting every time you print the label.

dbfolks166mt · ‎10-26-2020

It has not always been there and a number of people have noticed the recent change and commented about it on this board. I am aware that you can change it at the time you print the label that is not the issue. What I was trying to point out is the fact that the inflated shipping estimate presented to a potential buyer prior to the item ending or being purchased may be dissuading buyers from purchasing items. This is especially true for items that would ship first class package.

toysaver · ‎10-26-2020

You think Priority default is bad for a First Class listing... When listed as Priority Shipping mine are defaulting to FedEx Overnight. Most of my sales are under $50 and ship at about $10. FedEx overnight can be as high as $75. That's were this catastrophy could cost sellers millions and conversely make millions for the shippers and whoever did the programming.

At the bottom of the page after you buy the label is the opportunity to give a star rating and send feedback. Please do so, for every label until this is corrected.

dbfolks166mt · ‎10-26-2020

That's even worse. I have seen some of the nightmare add on charge after the fact postings that have been on this board. At least it can be changed when you actually go to print out the label but that does nothing to fix the problem with the estimated shipping costs potential buyers are seeing when they look at the items before they actually purchase, which a lot of them are not following through with due to those costs. To get around this I have basically added the estimated cost of the shipping based on information I can calculate from Pirate Ship into the price of the item and changed over to free shipping. Not the best alternative but only work around I could come up with until this fix this quagmire.

I am well aware of the shipping feedback and trust me I have been leaving ratings for every item I ship. Unfortunately you can't select 0 stars.