Need some EBay selling advice?

[Guest TabbyBoy]

5 minutes ago, Gonkalin said:

I've sold 2 haunted houses in the past week to 2 different people and then within an hour I got a email from Paypal and Ebay saying not to ship the item. That the item's purchase wasn't authorized. Luckily I had not shipped them yet. Paypal refunded everything but very suspicious behavior. This has only happened on Haunted Houses.

It also happened to me with 2 Red 5 X-Wings to different address on the same day. Luckily, Yodel hadn't yet collected the parcel form the Collect+ shop so I simply picked them back, cancelled the shipping and got the postage refunded. PayPal, in their wisdom, kept 1 case open for weeks but, eventually paid me for that item - sweet!

1 of the sets was initially sent to an address within 5 miles of where one of my friends lives, who happens to be a rather large 130KG bailiff covered in tattoos! All I had to do was tell him the address and he simply went round on my behalf to tell the theiving arsehoIe to his face that he's not getting a LEGO set but, "something else that he didn't order". Whether anything physical happened or not, no comment ;-)

This is the main reason why I now wait 24hrs before posting any valuable sets. I also politely ask buyers of expensive items to phone me in order to verify their identity and that their phone number and address matches with eBay/PayPal. Of course, your covered if you have proof of postage and followed the rules.

I have since sold those 2 R5s to lucky BP members without a problem - thanks guys!

[ravenb99]

PayPal will side with customer as it is not delivered.  eBay has nothing to do with this one as it was a PayPal opened case.   You can wait it out with PayPal and it will not affect you like if it was on eBay with a defect.  Luckily sounds like you will get the product back eventually.   Just could take a bit.  Once the payment has been reversed / refunded you can cancel the transaction on the eBay side though and use problem with sellers address option.  

There is a ton of unauthorized user payments going on right now.  As long as they see delivered to the addresses on file and match both eBay side and PayPal side you will win them all though.  That is why we pay fees.  For them to verify the customers for us.  Had 6 in a row , 1 per day during a stretch last month.  All were delivered to what was listed as confirmed so all were covered under seller protection.  

Just always verify zip code of delivered scan matches the addresses that were used on the PayPal payment and the eBay shipped address.  Only one I ever lost was the delivered zip didn't match.  They do look at that.

[ascedt]

Thanks Raven

[Phil B]

Gents, buyer contacts me right after placing a GSP order (shipping to Canada) that his EBay address is wrong and asks me to send to his correct address. I replied telling him to take this up with eBay as I only ship to Erlanger, KY. Urged him to do so immediately as I have 1 business day shipping in my terms.

What do I do if he doesn't come back to me by tomorrow? Ship regardless? I cannot see his address in the order as this goes to the GSP center, or is there a place where I can doublecheck?

Thanks in advance!

[fuzzy_bricks]

3 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Gents, buyer contacts me right after placing a GSP order (shipping to Canada) that his EBay address is wrong and asks me to send to his correct address. I replied telling him to take this up with eBay as I only ship to Erlanger, KY. Urged him to do so immediately as I have 1 business day shipping in my terms.

What do I do if he doesn't come back to me by tomorrow? Ship regardless? I cannot see his address in the order as this goes to the GSP center, or is there a place where I can doublecheck?

Thanks in advance!

On the print shipping label page, if you print a packing slip it should show his address.

Maybe ask him to cancel if he can't get it sorted, although that still requires his input.  Otherwise you may have to cancel or just hold on the shipping.  I'm not sure if he can change his address after the fact, so a cancel/rebuy may be the only way.

[minicoopers11]

6 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Gents, buyer contacts me right after placing a GSP order (shipping to Canada) that his EBay address is wrong and asks me to send to his correct address. I replied telling him to take this up with eBay as I only ship to Erlanger, KY. Urged him to do so immediately as I have 1 business day shipping in my terms.

What do I do if he doesn't come back to me by tomorrow? Ship regardless? I cannot see his address in the order as this goes to the GSP center, or is there a place where I can doublecheck?

Thanks in advance!

I would cancel if you get no response..

[Phil B]

6 minutes ago, fuzzy_bricks said:

On the print shipping label page, if you print a packing slip it should show his address.

Maybe ask him to cancel if he can't get it sorted, although that still requires his input.  Otherwise you may have to cancel or just hold on the shipping.  I'm not sure if he can change his address after the fact, so a cancel/rebuy may be the only way.

I went to Order Details and "Additional Buyer Information" and it shows his old address. So I guess I need to wait for his reply and cancel tomorrow if I don't hear back from him ....

[ISO8T0]

You can request that the buyer cancel the order, fix his address and then reorder the item.

Ebay has a very handy call back feature. Thats what I would do given that its GSP. See what they suggest.

[Phil B]

19 minutes ago, pstebbing said:

You can request that the buyer cancel the order, fix his address and then reorder the item.

Ebay has a very handy call back feature. Thats what I would do given that its GSP. See what they suggest.

Sorry, confused with your response. Are you telling me to tell him to use the support line call back feature to cancel their order/change their address with GSP?

This is a low feedback buyer, and I have my concerns on whether he is going to even respond to my original email. I've cancelled orders before when addresses were wrong, with the message that they need to reorder after correcting the address. Think I'll do that tomorrow should I have no response. I have my email and his address change email to back me up, plus EBay has an order cancellation reason called "Issue with buyer's address" so they consider this a valid reason

Edited December 16, 2016 by Phil B

[ISO8T0]

4 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Sorry, confused with your response. Are you telling me to tell him to use the support line call back feature to cancel their order/change their address with GSP?

 

Sorry for the confusion. Since you've contacted the buyer and haven't heard back you can use ebay's support feature where they call you back. It's a handy feature to use so that you aren't on hold and can do other things.

Then you can get their opinion on how to handle the situation. the order being GSP complicates matters.

 

Edited December 16, 2016 by pstebbing

[cladner]

12 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Sorry, confused with your response. Are you telling me to tell him to use the support line call back feature to cancel their order/change their address with GSP?

 

do not send.  i have had this happen before.  wait for the reply.  you will not be covered if you send to the "correct" address that doesn't match paypal.  i have been asked to do this before, jumped through the hoop telling the buyer to cancel the order.  get his paypal address straightened out then you can relist it at and start over again.  never heard from the buyer-scammer again.  the scammers are out in full force and i'm closing up shop for until the end of December in order to not have to deal with all the ridiculous expectations of the last minute shoppers who by their very nature of waiting to the last minute have proven that they only care about themselves and will screw you.

Edited December 16, 2016 by cladner

[Phil B]

1 minute ago, cladner said:

do not send.  i have had this happen before.  wait for the reply.  you will not be covered if you send to the "correct" address that doesn't match paypal.  i have been asked to do this before, jumped through the hoop telling the buyer to cancel the order.  get his paypal address straightened out then you can relist it at and start over again.  never heard from the buyer-scammer again.  the scammers are out in full force and i'm closing up shop for the year in order to not have to deal with all the ridiculous expectations of the last minute shoppers who by their very nature of waiting to the last minute have proven that they only care about themselves and will screw you.

Since this is GSP, I would do my job by sending the item to the GSP, and do not have to worry about scams. The buyer would be in trouble because I think the GSP would ship to his old address (same town in Alberta, Canada, just different address), see it being delivered, and he would have to fight the GSP.

I actually have no way to change his address, as the address I have is in Erlanger, KY. The question I was asking came down to "send regardless and cause buyer issues" or "cancel tomorrow if no response". I'm going to do the latter.

[Darth_Raichu]

43 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Since this is GSP, I would do my job by sending the item to the GSP, and do not have to worry about scams. The buyer would be in trouble because I think the GSP would ship to his old address (same town in Alberta, Canada, just different address), see it being delivered, and he would have to fight the GSP.

I actually have no way to change his address, as the address I have is in Erlanger, KY. The question I was asking came down to "send regardless and cause buyer issues" or "cancel tomorrow if no response". I'm going to do the latter.

Just cancel the order and tell him to change address and then re-order.  Win-win

[trstnkn]

I have a first class package of multiple Lego baubles that has been racking up some miles.  It went out for delivery in VA on day 4.  Then by day 6 came back to MA where I am.  Now it is back in VA, but is not going out for delivery.  The buyer has been very patient and opened a case locally with USPS.  PO has already closed the case but offers no explanation as to what is going on.

I'm thinking now (day 11) I should just refund the buyer's money.  If it eventually arrives to her, they can either be honest and reissue payment or I can be out buy-in plus shipping.

Any other tips on dealing with a package that seems to be traveling everywhere but not getting delivered?  

[Gonkalin]

25 minutes ago, trstnkn said:

I have a first class package of multiple Lego baubles that has been racking up some miles.  It went out for delivery in VA on day 4.  Then by day 6 came back to MA where I am.  Now it is back in VA, but is not going out for delivery.  The buyer has been very patient and opened a case locally with USPS.  PO has already closed the case but offers no explanation as to what is going on.

I'm thinking now (day 11) I should just refund the buyer's money.  If it eventually arrives to her, they can either be honest and reissue payment or I can be out buy-in plus shipping.

Any other tips on dealing with a package that seems to be traveling everywhere but not getting delivered?  

I had a package last year that was "lost" for over 2 weeks. This was during a time when there were severe winter storms in parts of the North East US. There have been some pretty bad snow storms recently. It's possible it's sitting in a trailer somewhere waiting to be delivered. Eventually my package got delivered. I would wait a bit longer but be sure to communicate regularly with the buyer. This forms trust. And I guess worst case scenario you can do what you said and offer a refund and hope for the best. Just my 2 cents...

[Tom J]

50 minutes ago, trstnkn said:

I have a first class package of multiple Lego baubles that has been racking up some miles.  It went out for delivery in VA on day 4.  Then by day 6 came back to MA where I am.  Now it is back in VA, but is not going out for delivery.  The buyer has been very patient and opened a case locally with USPS.  PO has already closed the case but offers no explanation as to what is going on.

I'm thinking now (day 11) I should just refund the buyer's money.  If it eventually arrives to her, they can either be honest and reissue payment or I can be out buy-in plus shipping.

Any other tips on dealing with a package that seems to be traveling everywhere but not getting delivered?  

Personally I'd give it a bit longer and sent a sweetener through the post afterwards as a free gift to keep the buyer onside and keep regular contact, apologise etc

[Guest TabbyBoy]

If the item was posted with full tracking and signature, eBay will often be on your side and remove any negative feedback. Even though their fees are extortionate, they do use these funds to reimburse the buyer without affecting the seller. However, being honest with your buyer is the best policy and any decent buyer will understand.

I once sent a buyer a 79008 LOTR ship by mistake instead of a 10226 Sopwith Camel. However, the buyer was very patient so I shipped the 10226 immediately and told him to keep the 79008 (which only cost me £20 anyway) as an extra "present". I still cleared £15 on the sale. My aim is to ALWAYS provide amazing customer service unlike a certain large toy shop that deserves to go ****-up.

Edited December 16, 2016 by TabbyBoy

[GhostDad]

7 hours ago, Gonkalin said:

I had a package last year that was "lost" for over 2 weeks. This was during a time when there were severe winter storms in parts of the North East US. There have been some pretty bad snow storms recently. It's possible it's sitting in a trailer somewhere waiting to be delivered. Eventually my package got delivered. I would wait a bit longer but be sure to communicate regularly with the buyer. This forms trust. And I guess worst case scenario you can do what you said and offer a refund and hope for the best. Just my 2 cents...

For Priority Mail packages, simply opening up an insurance claim online (since they're automatically insured for $50 - $100) works wonders for getting them moving again.  Sometimes the postal service just needs a little extra incentive.  No idea if that works for 1st class or parcel select, if you haven't separately insured it.  I've only had one 1st class or parcel select package lost in the past 10 years though.  Seriously.  People like to hate on the post office, but in my experience it delivers 99.999% of the time, and handles packages more gently than the private carriers.

[ISO8T0]

For Priority Mail packages, simply opening up an insurance claim online (since they're automatically insured for $50 - $100) works wonders for getting them moving again.  Sometimes the postal service just needs a little extra incentive.  No idea if that works for 1st class or parcel select, if you haven't separately insured it.  I've only had one 1st class or parcel select package lost in the past 10 years though.  Seriously.  People like to hate on the post office, but in my experience it delivers 99.999% of the time, and handles packages more gently than the private carriers.

My experience as well and couldn't agree more. My shipping preference is usps, FedEx and then if I have to ups.

[Darth_Raichu]

1 hour ago, GhostDad said:

People like to hate on the post office, but in my experience it delivers 99.999% of the time, and handles packages more gently than the private carriers.

This depends greatly on location

[gobuffs98]

Is there a way for ebay to automatically combine shipping costs if someone orders more than one item?  I'm looking to sell a few cmf and want to encourage people to buy more by offering to ship multiple listings.  Shipping 2 to 5 minifigs does not really change the shipping cost much.  Just trying to clear out a few of my extras from the last few series of cmf.

[Phil B]

Is there a way for ebay to automatically combine shipping costs if someone orders more than one item?  I'm looking to sell a few cmf and want to encourage people to buy more by offering to ship multiple listings.  Shipping 2 to 5 minifigs does not really change the shipping cost much.  Just trying to clear out a few of my extras from the last few series of cmf.

You can create shipping discounts, or, if you use flat rate shipping, Ebay allows you to specify the shipping cost for additional items.

[Cozei]

Is there a way for ebay to automatically combine shipping costs if someone orders more than one item?

As PhilB says, a couple ways to approach it.

Go to Account Settings>Site Preferences>Shipping Preferences.

Play around with "combined payments and shipping" and "promotional shipping discounts". How you set it up will partly be dictated on how you do shipping to start, calculated or flat.

You apply either of these rules to individual listings as checkboxes in shipping section of listing creation.

[Lego Templar]

So I'm still newer to selling stuff on eBay. I've had an account for 10 years but rarely sold stuff. I've sold about 70 things in the last 2 weeks and this is the first time I'm getting this (see picture below) now the last time I was sent this it was a scam to ship something from a Craigslist sale. Is this something to be concerned about? Let it clear? Definitely a scam?

The person who sent it has been on eBay over 5 years and has 22 feedback. No feedback in over a year. Figured I'd ask you guys for input. Thanks!!

[Phil B]

eCheck is a valid form of payment - it just takes a while to clear. Don't ship anything until it clears and payment is officially recorded as received.