Are fruitcakes running rampant on eBay lately? Selling, buying, listing, feedback, etc...

[Mrbigz8657]

There were so many things I wanted to say but instead of becoming a hulk. I kindly explained that he should try to spin the head around   Haven’t gotten a reply yet

[brickvoyeur]

So my post office was the fruitcake this time. Years of being a top rated seller, new postal worker started during the summer. I pack up things nightly and leave it, and they have always picked up and scanned promptly.

Since the start of the year the new postal worker starts leaving packages in her vehicle overnight according to the post office (she's been "disciplined" according to the manager), and I suddenly have a flood of late shipments. Went from 0% late shipments to having an insurmountable number.

Called eBay and talked to one of their seller help specialists. Amazingly enough the lady on the phone told me "It sucks when you get an incompetent postal worker, we can see you print your labels the same day. We don't usually do this, but I'm going to remove all the late shipments from your account". So I'll be dropping packages off daily at the post office from now on. Lucked out on this one for sure.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

This is why I ALWAYS take my items personally to my local post office and wait in line. This is also why I've given up on several couriers as they are so unreliable and often damage even well-packed double-walled boxes (I'm talking to you, Hermes and UPS!) by dropping or leaving outside in heavy rain. At least eBay are good if you can show a history of reliability and prove that you always post on time or before. My posting time is 2-days, but I often post within hours of a sale. Basically, if I have the time to walk to my post office immediately, I will.

[Huskers1236]

1 hour ago, brickvoyeur said:

So my post office was the fruitcake this time. Years of being a top rated seller, new postal worker started during the summer. I pack up things nightly and leave it, and they have always picked up and scanned promptly.

Since the start of the year the new postal worker starts leaving packages in her vehicle overnight according to the post office (she's been "disciplined" according to the manager), and I suddenly have a flood of late shipments. Went from 0% late shipments to having an insurmountable number.

Called eBay and talked to one of their seller help specialists. Amazingly enough the lady on the phone told me "It sucks when you get an incompetent postal worker, we can see you print your labels the same day. We don't usually do this, but I'm going to remove all the late shipments from your account". So I'll be dropping packages off daily at the post office from now on. Lucked out on this one for sure.

Bbbbbbbut, my local post office told me to just drop them off and leave them at the counter, they "scan 99.9% of all packages".  Yeah right.  My local carrier can barely get the correct mail in my slot, let alone be trusted with picking up boxes from my porch.

[Cheese]

Any BP in U.K. have any Elves Queen Dragon sets have a new eBay buyer with 0 feedback buy a set and claims that needs this urgently shipped for her daughters birthday. Address is not confirmed by PayPal as well. My spider sense is tingling and will probably cancel transaction citing can’t guarantee delivery in time and also issue with address

 

[Fenix_2k1]

5 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Any BP in U.K. have any Elves Queen Dragon sets have a new eBay buyer with 0 feedback buy a set and claims that needs this urgently shipped for her daughters birthday. Address is not confirmed by PayPal as well. My spider sense is tingling and will probably cancel transaction citing can’t guarantee delivery in time and also issue with address

 

No confirmed address, no send. No problem with zero rated buyers wanting things urgently but without PayPal Seller protection I wouldn't send something out. 

[Cheese]

No confirmed address, no send. No problem with zero rated buyers wanting things urgently but without PayPal Seller protection I wouldn't send something out. 

The no confirmed address was the red flag but the additional sob story of needing this urgently was a bit ott and sounded to me like a way to make me believe it was genuine. Order has been cancelled now. Be interesting to see if there is a response.

[Sandwraith]

I always wait for my packages to be scanned in, too many times has it not been scanned when they tell me "don't worry we'll scan it! just leave it at the counter". Had too many items not get scanned, and then have no tracking updates until delivery, makes customers a bit upset, and rightfully so.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

I contact all buyers if there's an unconfirmed address and/or no seller protection. If they can't provide a council tax bill or other as proof of address, I cancel the sale and block the buyer. Of course, there are instances where they want me to ship to a work address or have just moved house. Supplying proof won't be a problem for a genuine buyer. I've often got negative feedback, but eBay remove when I open a chat session with them. I'm happy to say that problems are very rare with low value items.

[BrickLegacy]

5 hours ago, Huskers1236 said:

Bbbbbbbut, my local post office told me to just drop them off and leave them at the counter, they "scan 99.9% of all packages".  Yeah right.  My local carrier can barely get the correct mail in my slot, let alone be trusted with picking up boxes from my porch.

I've had issues since the beginning of the year with packages not being scanned at a particular location.  Normally I just drop them in the bin or set them on the counter.  They were usually scanned within 24 hours.  Recently they haven't been scanning them and they will show up in tracking up to a week later.  This can introduce issues with top rated seller metrics on eBay.

So anyways ... today I decided to ask them about this and I took the packages to the counter.  The clerk, who isn't the most customer service oriented person to begin with (shocker, I know!), said "we can't guarantee a scan if you drop them off.  You have to hand them to us if you want them scanned." 

Is anyone aware of a policy that indicates how this should be handled?  Is there a way to escalate these types of issues?

[Huskers1236]

2 minutes ago, BrickLegacy said:

I've had issues since the beginning of the year with packages not being scanned at a particular location.  Normally I just drop them in the bin or set them on the counter.  They were usually scanned within 24 hours.  Recently they haven't been scanning them and they will show up in tracking up to a week later.  This can introduce issues with top rated seller metrics on eBay.

So anyways ... today I decided to ask them about this and I took the packages to the counter.  The clerk, who isn't the most customer service oriented person to begin with (shocker, I know!), said "we can't guarantee a scan if you drop them off.  You have to hand them to us if you want them scanned." 

Is anyone aware of a policy that indicates how this should be handled?  Is there a way to escalate these types of issues?

I only bring this up because I brought some in to be scanned and waited in line a few days ago.  When I got the the desk he told me I should have just dropped them in the bin and I told him I wanted to see them scanned where he told me that "99.9% " of all items dropped off will get scanned and he got a huge eye roll and I told him of my past experiences of items not getting scanned and I was told things are better now.  Yeah right.

[BrickLegacy]

3 minutes ago, Huskers1236 said:

I only bring this up because I brought some in to be scanned and waited in line a few days ago.  When I got the the desk he told me I should have just dropped them in the bin and I told him I wanted to see them scanned where he told me that "99.9% " of all items dropped off will get scanned and he got a huge eye roll and I told him of my past experiences of items not getting scanned and I was told things are better now.  Yeah right.

It sucks when you are limited by carrier or post office location.  A lot of people complained about SmartPost but at least those packages were scanned immediately when I dropped them off.  With the price changes on 1/22 I don't have that option anymore.

Easy money.

[JoshB]

On 1/24/2018 at 8:53 PM, BrickLegacy said:

I ran into this a few days ago.  I don't think it's a glitch.  Apparently FedEx changed their SmartPost pricing to use dimensional weight similar to FedExGround.  In other words, shipping those SmartPost packages coast to coast has doubled. 

"Potentially one of the most impactful changes comes with the announcement that FedEx will begin applying a dimensional weight (DIM) factor of 139 to all SmartPost packages effective Jan. 22.  The change will align SmartPost dimensional weight pricing with that of FedEx Express and FedEx Ground.  It also more closely aligns FedEx SmartPost DIM pricing with that of UPS SurePost, although UPS still has a higher DIM factor for packages measuring less than 1 cubic foot. As of this writing, UPS has not announced its 2018 rate changes."

http://multichannelmerchant.com/blog/analysis-of-fedex-gri-dim-charge-for-smartpost-in-2018/

Ebay's calculator must not be taking this change into account yet if I understand this change correctly since I dont include free shipping and input the dimensions and weight when i create the listing. This has happened with a couple of orders where the shipping cost is quite a bit more than what the customer paid.

[BrickLegacy]

Ebay's calculator must not be taking this change into account yet if I understand this change correctly since I dont include free shipping and input the dimensions and weight when i create the listing. This has happened with a couple of orders where the shipping cost is quite a bit more than what the customer paid.

Yes, it’s still an issue. The calculation for the buyer isn’t accurate right now. They are working on a fix but with the new pricing SmartPost is basically useless going forward.

[ravenb99]

5 hours ago, BrickLegacy said:

I've had issues since the beginning of the year with packages not being scanned at a particular location.  Normally I just drop them in the bin or set them on the counter.  They were usually scanned within 24 hours.  Recently they haven't been scanning them and they will show up in tracking up to a week later.  This can introduce issues with top rated seller metrics on eBay.

So anyways ... today I decided to ask them about this and I took the packages to the counter.  The clerk, who isn't the most customer service oriented person to begin with (shocker, I know!), said "we can't guarantee a scan if you drop them off.  You have to hand them to us if you want them scanned." 

Is anyone aware of a policy that indicates how this should be handled?  Is there a way to escalate these types of issues?

supposedly they are doing away with scans again and are telling drivers they can only do 5 / get credit for 5.  They went people to use an end of day / batch type scan which isn't always feasible unless you do it all through ship station.  The drivers feel they are doing this to knock mail count down which determines the routes level and drivers pay / days off.   It also goes against everything they preached in house for the last few years was to scan scan scan because it helped numbers and now they are going completely opposite.  Also goes against there whole big promotion of advertising saying how great priority is and more detailed destination scans like the other shippers. 

We had a snow / ice day few weeks ago and no drivers ran so I actually dropped off the mail as they said they would be open and would help out.  The first class got scanned at 3am that night.  The priority got scanned about 10 a day for the next 4 days. Some didn't get scanned until the destination post office and yes our scores took a hit too.  Luckily we never have them and have so many it wasn't critical but it is concerning going forward.   So yeah dropping off is never ideal unless someone will do it in front of you.   

Had multiple drivers now say the 5 scan rule but they still do for me for now.  My carrier on daily pickup said she will continue to do it but she cannot guarantee what the subs will do.  

That goes to the problem that there is no real policy that the whole USPS adheres to.  Every district / region seems to handle things different and nothing is uniform.   They have always pretty much stated reduced rate mail doesn't have to be scanned as they are allocating worker hours to do that when you got a reduced online rate.   When it gets to the larger hub it is conveyor scanned and it still credits back the acceptance to the local post office even if it wasn't scanned their the origin will say "accepted at and your location" because it is the first scan they did.

If they push the issue I will integrate it all through ship station but it actually will slow us down as we have many platforms and shipping methods for each type of transaction we do.

As far as escalating if your local Postmaster isn't helpful you can always contact the regional / district one which handles all of the local ones.  That would be the next step.  

[exciter1]

I guess I'll have to start selling shipping services.

[BrickLegacy]

I guess I'll have to start selling shipping services.

That’s what all the cool kids are doing. I noticed a lot less free shipping listings this past week...sellers are catching on.

[ravenb99]

32 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

I guess I'll have to start selling shipping services.

Seems like that's where all the big money is at

[stackables]

 

 

I accidentally posted this in another thread and don't know where it went..anyway

 

I have a "payment being processed" message on an item I bought from ebay.  I contacted the seller and he said he will look into it.  3 days later the payment is still being processed.  I messaged him the other day and he said he would send today. If my payment is pending, does the seller have my address still?  He marked the item sent and it looks like it has a actually tracking number.  Did this guy just send me a free item?

[gregpj]

17 minutes ago, stackables said:

 

 

I accidentally posted this in another thread and don't know where it went..anyway

 

I have a "payment being processed" message on an item I bought from ebay.  I contacted the seller and he said he will look into it.  3 days later the payment is still being processed.  I messaged him the other day and he said he would send today. If my payment is pending, does the seller have my address still?  He marked the item sent and it looks like it has a actually tracking number.  Did this guy just send me a free item?

You posted it here.. should we delete it or mark as the answer.

 

[stackables]

38 minutes ago, gregpj said:

You posted it here.. should we delete it or mark as the answer.

 

Delete that one please

[Feanor]

3 hours ago, stackables said:

 

 

I accidentally posted this in another thread and don't know where it went..anyway

 

I have a "payment being processed" message on an item I bought from ebay.  I contacted the seller and he said he will look into it.  3 days later the payment is still being processed.  I messaged him the other day and he said he would send today. If my payment is pending, does the seller have my address still?  He marked the item sent and it looks like it has a actually tracking number.  Did this guy just send me a free item?

I've been on the other side of this twice this month.
The buyer initiated a payment via PayPal but it was not completed immediately and stayed in payment pending for about 8 days.
The mail from PayPal notifying me explicitly said NOT to send the package before the payment was completed, so I sent the buyer a message explaining the delay in shipping and waited till the payment cleared.

So yes, I guess the seller should not have sent it yet but yes he has your adress information as he normally would have.

Edited January 30, 2018 by Feanor
Added screenshot

[stackables]

6 hours ago, Feanor said:

I've been on the other side of this twice this month.
The buyer initiated a payment via PayPal but it was not completed immediately and stayed in payment pending for about 8 days.
The mail from PayPal notifying me explicitly said NOT to send the package before the payment was completed, so I sent the buyer a message explaining the delay in shipping and waited till the payment cleared.

So yes, I guess the seller should not have sent it yet but yes he has your adress information as he normally would have.

 

Did you ever find what the issue was?  The seller looks to be new to selling as in I can't find any feedback as a seller.  I doubt it is anything on my end since an hour later I bought another item and that went through fine. 

[Feanor]

3 minutes ago, stackables said:

Did you ever find what the issue was?  The seller looks to be new to selling as in I can't find any feedback as a seller.  I doubt it is anything on my end since an hour later I bought another item and that went through fine. 

No, I didn't hear anything from the buyer, it just went through 8 days after the initial payment. I can't imagine it being anything on my side either, between the two cases I also had multiple payments go through without a hitch.

The second case is currently 5 days pending, haven't heard anything from him either. But that buyers seems to be rather casual, only 12 feedback in 8 years, but adresses match in ebay and paypal and correspond to "independent googling" of his name, so all seems fine with his account.

Maybe just a randomized PayPal-security check or something.

[stackables]

3 minutes ago, Feanor said:

No, I didn't hear anything from the buyer, it just went through 8 days after the initial payment. I can't imagine it being anything on my side either, between the two cases I also had multiple payments go through without a hitch.

The second case is currently 5 days pending, haven't heard anything from him either. But that buyers seems to be rather casual, only 12 feedback in 8 years, but adresses match in ebay and paypal and correspond to "independent googling" of his name, so all seems fine with his account.

Maybe just a randomized PayPal-security check or something.

You would assume that the buyer/seller would contact paypal. In my case, it doesn't sound like he did.