shipping adjustment from UPS

[bukbuk1]

eBay sent me an email that UPS was assigning additional shipping charges due to my package being overweight. When I dropped my package off at a UPS store, they gave me a receipt showing that I had indeed purchased all needed shipping for the weight. UPS said I need to co-ordinate with eBay on getting a refund. How do I do this?

[joshuacbraun]

This just happened to me. I sell golf clubs and use standard 48” boxes to ship them in. I shipped one the other week and paid around $12 for shipping. Yesterday I got a message from eBay stating UPS initiated a shipping charge adjustment for an additional $19. When I viewed the shipment details they listed my box as 49” instead of 48”. This really gets me because I ordered 25 of these 48” boxes and they are true to size. Even if they weren’t should ups have the audacity to measure my box and assess a charge for $19 extra due to the extra inch? What is even more frustrating is that these boxes have printing on the bottom listing the 48” x 6” x 6” size. I did everything right when packaging and assigned the correct size and weight then drove it to the UPS store where they gave me a receipt.

After this happened I was curious and viewed my eBay shipping charges for the last year and found this was the third instance of and extra charge for the box size being 49” vs 48”. I’ve physically measured the boxes and they are 48”, so this seems like a scheme used by ups to charge extra after the package is already delivered. Prior to the last year this never occurred so it must be a new UPS business practice.

[bukbuk1]

I ended up snail mailing a letter to eBay, but never heard back. Hope you can find the right department to address the issue.

[bburasco]

I sell golf clubs year-round as well. In the past couple months I have been receiving several UPS cost adjustments after delivery. More than I have gotten in the last 5 years of selling clubs. All the adjustment reads is “Weight on label: 2lbs” “Billable Weight: 32 Oz”. No other explanation on the adjustment. I’ve since stopped buying labels on eBay and have been purchasing them on PirateShip. I haven’t gotten any additional charges since I’ve switched. If I do they have a much easier process of disputing it than eBay does. 

[thesneakerconnect34]

I just had the same thing happen twice with golf club shipments. I'm 100% sure I used a 48" box but they said it was 49". I ship tons of clubs and use the same exact type of box every time, this has never happened before but suddenly has happened twice this month.

[quailtom]

I ship golf clubs as well and this has been going on with me for about 3 months. I have even taken to listing the clubs as 1 pound heavier than they are and the boxes (either the 48" or USPS boxes that are 38") at 1" larger all around than they are. I just got one of their extra services charges for a box from Illinois to Arkansas to a home address on a major street and 5 minutes away from a UPS store. Ebay says that they are going to file a dispute but it stops with the talking heads at the customer service line. I am so fed up with this I am going to go through all of my 150+ listing for clubs and change to FEDEX. This will cost the customer more, but, Ebay doesn't care about that, only what they get paid.

[mrfindit · Accepted solution]

I just experienced this for the first time, it is a SCAM by UPS and E-Bay seems to willingly participate.  

First, I am an engineer.  I precisely measure things all day long, every day, for the past 30 years.

I shipped a metal sign via UPS as a 29x19x3 box.  The actual packaging was 29.375" x 18.5" x 3.25" (I have 20 more of this same box at home).  Per UPS's policy, if the package is X.0 to X.499, you round down.  X.5-X.999, you round up.  So the entered dimensions on E-Bay should have been 29x19x3.

So UPS delivered the package and then TWO WEEKS after the package had been delivered, I get a notice of a UPS shipping adjust.  It states my package is 30x18x4 and instead of weighing 4 pounds, is now 13 pounds because of dimensional weight, which doubled the cost of the label.   They did the exact opposite with every dimension, than what their rule states!

And of course, the person who received the item TWO WEEKS ago, no longer has the box.  There is no easy way to dispute this with E-Bay.  And even if I did, it will just be denied, because my only proof is to show them a different box other than the one actually used to ship.  I can't produce the original box with label, which I am told I will have to provide to UPS as proof.

This is all a SCAM.  UPS is such a crappy company after changes over the past several years, that I hope they go bankrupt and close.  Boo on E-Bay for just rolling over to them!

I only offered UPS shipping for my buyer, because with correct dimensions, the cost was about half of USPS, so I was trying to help them out and added it even though I don't normally use it.  The actuality is that because UPS is incompetent, the price was the same as USPS and I just had to eat the additional amount.

This will be the last time I offer UPS shipping for any reason.  I spent about $10,000 last year in postage, and UPS has just guaranteed they will get ZERO dollars of any future postage purchases by me.  This was their chance to get their foot in the door, and they blew it with this whole SCAM.  And if I buy something and have a choice, I certainly won't be selecting UPS to ship me a package either.

UPS is either completely incompetent to take measurements, at best, or outright crooks at worst!

[kmb-golf]

I just received a shipping adjustment charge that I am going to dispute as I entered everything correctly.  One thing I don't understand is what you stated about UPS's policy on rounding down.  When I enter the dimensions into ebay for the shipping label, it specifically reads to always round up if it is fractionally over any measurement.  If it is 29.1 inches, you need to enter 30 inches, never round down.  That is maybe where they got you.  

I'll have to research the UPS policy to see if there is something out there.  

I don't know where the blame is here......is UPS underestimating their shipments to drive more business (they are a lot less than USPS and Fedex) and then making up for it with these adjustments!!  It does read that UPS and Fedex are just estimates for their shipping but I don't think it is fair they can make so many adjustments after the fact.  Get better at estimating or else I wouldn't use you to begin with if your actual shipping cost turns out to be the highest.  

Or is their auditing software not taking into account a misshapen box from shipment if it gets crushed a little and now looks larger in one dimension than it was originally.  I'm sure these are just digital photos taken as the box is going on a conveyer belt vs. a person grabbing a box and physically measuring it.  

[tools*]

Just stop using eBay shipping, for crying out loud! I've never received an "adjustment" through an independent shipper.

[jelly511]

I just got hit with similar from FedEx for the first time ever (that I know of). Cost over doubled for alleged 2 lbs over weight. Paid for 20 lbs I have a receipt that says 20.15 lbs. I wasn't stopped or alerted of the fact at the store, but fine.

Assuming I was overweight according to their scale, one or even two pounds doesn't change it from $18 to $38+ charge. If I bought an additional label right now the difference between 20 and 21 pounds to the same address is $0.06 on the label cost through eBay. My bad for not overpaying for more weight originally, but what the hell?

This is just a new scam for carriers' stock prices that we have no chance to prove otherwise.

The only option might be to not buy through eBay, as others have mentioned.

[joshuacbraun]

This has happened to me numerous times when dropping an ebay sold item at the UPS store.  Glad you mentioned it. The UPS store clerk will take the package and set it on the scale and then print the receipt. The receipt will often show 0 LB / 0 Oz as if they never activated the scale itself. Most often, UPS customers are in a rush to leave and never check the receipt, combined with having a line of impatient customers behind them waiting to have their own packages processed.  The receipt does include a tracking number, which is the most important thing. To ensure UPS doesn't rip me off, I am now willing to pay a bit extra and ship via USPS Ground Advantage. 

[honey_b429]

Did you ever have any luck getting a refund? I’m dealing with the same thing right now. The package I shipped weighed 2 lbs and UPS came back and said it weighs 147 lbs so I got charged an extra $190 for something that cost me $9 to ship originally. The item sold for $100 so now I’m in the red $100 on the sale. eBay customer service has been useless and all they will do is file a dispute with UPS that will probably take months to get a response, if ever. And talking to human at UPS has not been any easier.

[bukbuk1]

At least you got a reply from eBay customer service. No, I never got anything back, and no response.

[joeysstuff999]

Has happened to me 3 times.  Sounds like a class action lawsuit to me.

[joeysstuff999]

Has anybody had bad experiences with UPS shipping adjustments? I shipped a 4 pound item.  After delivery UPS said it weighed 13 pounds and billed me $7.32.  UPS would not fix as the account is with eBay.  EBAy would not fix because less than $10.  

It has happened 3 times.

[honey_b429]

Update, I just got a message that they are crediting me back for the adjustment. I called them 5 times over the last 2 weeks.