General shipping questions, tips and answers

[Lego Lass]

5 minutes ago, keymomachine said:

I've never used FedEx to ship on eBay, but the time has come to try to sell the 10273 Haunted House I bought. I recall reading a couple things about dim wt and issues with that. It appears that the eBay shipping calculator works to show the retail price (price to customer) correctly, but the eBay discounted price is different if I enter the Dim Wt vs the Actual Wt. Not a huge difference to me, I'll probably just go with the Dim Wt to be safe, but I'm curious what the right thing to do actually is.

I read this quickly and thought you were referring to issues with "dimwit" buyers.

[keymomachine]

6 minutes ago, keymomachine said:

It appears that the eBay shipping calculator works to show the retail price (price to customer) correctly

 

Actually, now that I've listed it I'm looking at some shipping costs to different destinations and it's coming up with the eBay Rate as the customer rate, so I guess I'm wrong about this.

1 minute ago, Lego Lass said:

I read this quickly and thought you were referring to issues with "dimwit" buyers.

Then I'd be posting in the wrong thread for sure.

[Phil B]

20 minutes ago, keymomachine said:

I've never used FedEx to ship on eBay, but the time has come to try to sell the 10273 Haunted House I bought. I recall reading a couple things about dim wt and issues with that. It appears that the eBay shipping calculator works to show the retail price (price to customer) correctly, but the eBay discounted price is different if I enter the Dim Wt vs the Actual Wt. Not a huge difference to me, I'll probably just go with the Dim Wt to be safe, but I'm curious what the right thing to do actually is.

According to my conversations with FedEx on this, you need to report actual weight when you pack and ship. So the (complicated!) procedure is:

1. Buy on Ebay based on actual weight

2. Calculate the Ebay rate for Dimensional Weight

3. In your cost administration, record the Dimensional Weight price

4. When the monthly EBay invoice comes, check if what rate you were charged, and adjust where necessary.

 

All this could be soooo much easier if EBay just calculated Dim Weight in their shipping tool

Edited June 19, 2020 by Phil B

[trstnkn]

I have been doing home pick-up with USPS since March - partially due to Covid as well as my closest PO closing.  Have not had any issues until now.  Scheduled a p/u on June 22 for 3 items.  Since then, the tracking has not been updated at all.  One of the buyers is upset and wanting answers because it was a gift.  I initiated a case with each item.  Anything else I should do?  And at what point do you refund them?  How long before you hear something back on a case?

My postal worker is great.  Once she was running early and called me to get my items (I typically place them out later in the day since she usually stops by around 6pm).  So I can only assume they were all picked up and there is an issue with my DC?

FWIW I also shipped an item on 6/19.  Did not start tracking until 6/23 and took 8 days to get up the east coast.  My upset buyer did not seem to care about this example

As always, appreciate your help.  Would rather not eat $180 in revenue.

Edited June 28, 2020 by trstnkn

[SLL]

1 hour ago, trstnkn said:

I have been doing home pick-up with USPS since March - partially due to Covid as well as my closest PO closing.  Have not had any issues until now.  Scheduled a p/u on June 22 for 3 items.  Since then, the tracking has not been updated at all.  One of the buyers is upset and wanting answers because it was a gift.  I initiated a case with each item.  Anything else I should do?  And at what point do you refund them?  How long before you hear something back on a case?

My postal worker is great.  Once she was running early and called me to get my items (I typically place them out later in the day since she usually stops by around 6pm).  So I can only assume they were all picked up and there is an issue with my DC?

FWIW I also shipped an item on 6/19.  Did not start tracking until 6/23 and took 8 days to get up the east coast.  My upset buyer did not seem to care about this example

As always, appreciate your help.  Would rather not eat $180 in revenue.

nothing more you can do at this point other than initiating an inquiry. For domestic, it will probably take 2~3 biz days for usps to reply.

meanwhile, talk to your customers and keep them patient. If you issue a refund right now, what if the packages finally arrive? If you do want to issue a refund, you still have to follow ebay's procedure so you can get your fee back, which means buyer has to open a case, and then clock starts to ticking and you have 3 days to find a solution.

I think ebay will remove any neg feedback against you during this pandemic if the complaint is merely late delivery. So to me the most important thing is get usps to scan in the update.

 

[gmpirate]

I know this doesn't help you and is probably not an option, but this is one of the biggest reasons I switched to FBA.  Some people are very obsessed with tracking their deliveries and it can be very stressful and time consuming constantly communicating with them and pleading to be patient.  If the original driver does not scan your items into the system, they can NOT show up in tracking until they are actually delivered.  If you try and hand a package to a UPS driver on the street they will tell you it may not get scanned into the system for a while, if at all.  I imagine its the same with USPS but I would think since its a pickup it should be.  Obviously it sounds like they didn't however.

All you can do is assure them that it was shipped and that it was just not scanned into the system.  You've been doing this for many years and although frustrating, it happens sometimes.  Tell them to look at your feedback to assure them you are a responsible seller.  It actually happens a lot more than you know, it's just when you come across someone who keeps watching the tracking that you notice . . .

USPS can be the only cheaper option, but try and use UPS or FEDex as much as you can.  Despite your local postal worker being "great", the organization as a whole really doesn't care and really will not be helpful.  Consider also taking the packages directly to the post office in the future.  I know its a hassle and costs you time, but imo its not worth the hassle of dealing with one of these situations.  

[landphieran]

I had my second Target account banned after changing the address to include an apt number. It appears target is standardizing the address in the background and associated with my previously flagged account.

I'm guessing anything that standardizes to my current address is off limits at this point. I reached out to customer support and they essentially said "too bad". 

Has anyone had any success setting up a P.O. Box through USPS and having the mail forwarded to a residential address or creating a postal box at UPS and picking everything up? I purchase a fairly high volume of sets and wasn't sure how USPS or UPS would treat a high volume of orders. 

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[cladner]

27 minutes ago, landphieran said:

I had my second Target account banned after changing the address to include an apt number. It appears target is standardizing the address in the background and associated with my previously flagged account.

I'm guessing anything that standardizes to my current address is off limits at this point. I reached out to customer support and they essentially said "too bad". 

Has anyone had any success setting up a P.O. Box through USPS and having the mail forwarded to a residential address or creating a postal box at UPS and picking everything up? I purchase a fairly high volume of sets and wasn't sure how USPS or UPS would treat a high volume of orders. 

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

are you ordering through the app on your phone or through the website?

any order i place through the app on iphone is instantly cancelled.

same order placed over their web portal will make it through.

i do many small orders scattered throughout the day.  very rarely is an order over $300 unless its a larger set.

i spent almost $20K on lego last month at target without issues other than smashed damaged boxes which i hardly ever return.

USPS handles my high volume of orders by having the postal clerk scream at me when i come back from a 5 day trip and half their small town office is filled up with my target boxes.

[landphieran]

2 hours ago, cladner said:

are you ordering through the app on your phone or through the website?

any order i place through the app on iphone is instantly cancelled.

same order placed over their web portal will make it through.

i do many small orders scattered throughout the day.  very rarely is an order over $300 unless its a larger set.

i spent almost $20K on lego last month at target without issues other than smashed damaged boxes which i hardly ever return.

USPS handles my high volume of orders by having the postal clerk scream at me when i come back from a 5 day trip and half their small town office is filled up with my target boxes.

These are orders placed through the web portal on my computer. I was having some intermittent issues for a while and switch to private browsing which fixed the issue. That has since stopped working. I have tried different browsers as well and that didn't work. I will try through my phone and see how that goes.

I'm guessing I need a new address to mail stuff too. I was following a similar process (not as small of orders as you are following) and everything was working great until I noticed my address had been auto updated by target removing my "fake" apt number.

[cladner]

Just now, landphieran said:

These are orders placed through the web portal on my computer. I was having some intermittent issues for a while and switch to private browsing which fixed the issue. That has since stopped working. I have tried different browsers as well and that didn't work. I will try through my phone and see how that goes.

I'm guessing I need a new address to mail stuff too. I was following a similar process (not as small of orders as you are following) and everything was working great until I noticed my address had been auto updated by target removing my "fake" apt number.

one other trick i used was to order 1 household item for instore pickup paired with a lego set that you are having shipped to you in the same order.  when i was banned in the past i could get things going again by ordering some dishwasher pods for instore pickup and then a lego set to be shipped to my house.  after 3 days, the instore part of the order is cancelled when you don't pick it up and by that time the lego part has shipped.

[landphieran]

16 minutes ago, cladner said:

one other trick i used was to order 1 household item for instore pickup paired with a lego set that you are having shipped to you in the same order.  when i was banned in the past i could get things going again by ordering some dishwasher pods for instore pickup and then a lego set to be shipped to my house.  after 3 days, the instore part of the order is cancelled when you don't pick it up and by that time the lego part has shipped.

I tried to do in-store pickup and it appears any order through the account is an instant cancellation. Hate when this happens 🙄

[cladner]

4 minutes ago, landphieran said:

I tried to do in-store pickup and it appears any order through the account is an instant cancellation. Hate when this happens 🙄

yikes.  i have been out of town for a week and haven't ordered anything in the last 7 days.  now i'm afraid to even try.

 

[landphieran]

14 minutes ago, cladner said:

yikes.  i have been out of town for a week and haven't ordered anything in the last 7 days.  now i'm afraid to even try.

 

I'm going through and filing requests to have all my account information deleted. We will see if i'm able to reset it this way.

[fuzzy_bricks]

Anyone had USPS manage to scan a package as delivered when they picked it up?  I put something in the mail today and it should have had the acceptance scan, but instead it looks like they scanned it as delivered.  Buyer sent a message and I thought they were just confused, but nope package shows as delivered.  Kind of curious if it will continue to make it's way through the system.

[joch29]

thats odd... I've had packages show as delivered a day or two earlier , but nothing like your situation.  Was it sold to buyer in the same state as you?

[fuzzy_bricks]

11 minutes ago, joch29 said:

thats odd... I've had packages show as delivered a day or two earlier , but nothing like your situation.  Was it sold to buyer in the same state as you?

No, about half the country away.  It shows as delivered about the same time that they normally pick up the mail.  Tracking shows label printed then delivered and nothing in between.  I assume this will continue to work it's way through the system, but I'll know a little more tonight when it should pass through the nearest distribution facility. 

[SLL]

1 hour ago, fuzzy_bricks said:

No, about half the country away.  It shows as delivered about the same time that they normally pick up the mail.  Tracking shows label printed then delivered and nothing in between.  I assume this will continue to work it's way through the system, but I'll know a little more tonight when it should pass through the nearest distribution facility. 

Give it 24 hrs. Once it starts to move and is scanned at the next regional center, hopefully it will get corrected.

[exracer327]

3 hours ago, fuzzy_bricks said:

Anyone had USPS manage to scan a package as delivered when they picked it up?  I put something in the mail today and it should have had the acceptance scan, but instead it looks like they scanned it as delivered.  Buyer sent a message and I thought they were just confused, but nope package shows as delivered.  Kind of curious if it will continue to make it's way through the system.

I would call the pick-up PO right away.  Hard to say what that weird scan might do, if anything at all.  Like you said, it could just go on its way.  Then again, if someone sees it is flagged as "delivered" and decides to pull it, then it becomes lost.  I don't have inside knowledge but I know how computers work and all it takes is one drone employee not reading the destination address and your shipment becomes derailed.

[joch29]

2 hours ago, exracer327 said:

I would call the pick-up PO right away.  Hard to say what that weird scan might do, if anything at all.  Like you said, it could just go on its way.  Then again, if someone sees it is flagged as "delivered" and decides to pull it, then it becomes lost.  I don't have inside knowledge but I know how computers work and all it takes is one drone employee not reading the destination address and your shipment becomes derailed.

I had a package that showed delivered.  Customer said they never got it.  I agreed. My claim was quickly denied because it showed delivered.  In my appeal, I had to point out that it shows that it was delivered BUT to the WRONG State!  Still waiting on a response to my appeal.  It's been about a month. I have no clue how that happened.

Edited June 30, 2020 by joch29

[exracer327]

49 minutes ago, joch29 said:

I had a package that showed delivered.  Customer said they never got it.  I agreed. My claim was quickly denied because it showed delivered.  In my appeal, I had to point out that it shows that it was delivered BUT to the WRONG State!  Still waiting on a response to my appeal.  It's been about a month. I have no clue how that happened.

I would be calling every 2-3 days until it was resolved.  Pain in the butt I know, but squeaky wheel gets the oil.   

This is why I got into the habit of getting a receipt from the PO when I dropped off my packages.  I had a package never get scanned into the originating PO and the buyer was asking why I hadn't mailed it yet.  It arrived within three days, but it wasn't scanned into a PO until just before the buyer received it.  Quite nerve-racking to have tracking on a package and no one could find it because it was never scanned by the various Post Offices it passed through until the destination PO received it.

[Alpinemaps]

On 6/28/2020 at 1:42 PM, cladner said:

USPS handles my high volume of orders by having the postal clerk scream at me when i come back from a 5 day trip and half their small town office is filled up with my target boxes.

Mine screams at me because my zip code doesn't match my nearest zip code PO, so it's not the "origination" PO, and "they don't get credit for it."

I have to drive through that zip code to get to my zip code's PO.  I'm not driving an extra 20 minutes round trip, when I can just drop off at my nearest PO.

[joch29]

8 hours ago, exracer327 said:

I would be calling every 2-3 days until it was resolved.  Pain in the butt I know, but squeaky wheel gets the oil.   

This is why I got into the habit of getting a receipt from the PO when I dropped off my packages.  I had a package never get scanned into the originating PO and the buyer was asking why I hadn't mailed it yet.  It arrived within three days, but it wasn't scanned into a PO until just before the buyer received it.  Quite nerve-racking to have tracking on a package and no one could find it because it was never scanned by the various Post Offices it passed through until the destination PO received it.

not  every 2-3 days.. because its hard to reach someone during these times with COVID (not sure how it was prior)..but I'm in regular contact with them on tracking an international order.  

[fuzzy_bricks]

Just to follow up, the package progressed through the regional distribution center with the appropriate scans that I would have expected.  The initial scan still shows as "delivered", but the overall tracking package has changed back to the blue "in transit" color rater than the green "delivered" message.

[stackables]

So in general, if we are talking larger items over 5lbs, what is the best shipping option.  I don't recall shipping any large items in the past and I have primarily used usps.  I am looking at shipping a package this size 5lbs 3 oz 24x12x9.  I think I have read fedex for larger items but when I select "shipping to a residence"  it jacks the price up several dollars.  Does fedex also include insurance?  I checked the rate for a package  that I have to send and didn't see any insurance options.

[SLL]

2 minutes ago, stackables said:

So in general, if we are talking larger items over 5lbs, what is the best shipping option.  I don't recall shipping any large items in the past and I have primarily used usps.  I am looking at shipping a package this size 5lbs 3 oz 24x12x9.  I think I have read fedex for larger items but when I select "shipping to a residence"  it jacks the price up several dollars.  Does fedex also include insurance?  I checked the rate for a package  that I have to send and didn't see any insurance options.

you will pay through the nose using usps to ship a big dimension package. Typically, fedex and ups are the right way to go. 

and yes, Fedex will have a surcharge for shipping to a residence versus businese address, there is nothing you can do about it.

For shipments without a declared value, FedEx's maximum liability is $100 for damages or losses at no cost.