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

[thelovemachine]

36 minutes ago, exracer327 said:

Wow, it actually doubles the price of shipping.  What a crock!  Thank you so much for sharing this with me.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Shipping-Returns/how-to-see-actual-shipping-fed-ex-charges-on-ebay-accout/td-p/24363587

[capsa77]

One thing I'd like to add when shipping items... Be sure to be as accurate as possible when listing the box dimensions and weight and always round up to whole numbers so you aren't hit at an unexpected higher rate. For example, if you have a box you use that says its a 24x20x4 sized box, don't punch in those same numbers for the dimensions. It is almost always 25x21x5. If the measurement comes out to exactly 24 inches and a single hair, you still need to enter 25. I think I heard someone else mention on here before that Fedex uses a laser or something to measure boxes, so you aren't going to sneak anything by them. Now USPS, you actually do have a chance of sneaking something by. Not saying you should try, just saying that getting charged upfront is a benefit to you there. I've had a postal worker pull out the ruler on my package before. The side was exactly on the dot, but the top rose up a little and, as we all know, boxes aren't perfect. I had to smash the thing down right in front of him, but he still gave me an awkward look and told me to be careful next time as he reluctantly accepted it. And I'm not exactly sure how it works with the Ebay discount and how you get charged by Fedex, but I wouldn't want to run the risk that either the entire charge or the up charge by Fedex isn't discounted by Ebay anymore.

[brickology101]

I use USPS mostly but what I do is that I check what one more inch on a box dimensions does to the shipping cost and I keep clicking on the UPDATE button in shipping. Often, I see no difference however the height is where I do see an impact on shipping cost from time to time. I don’t know if it is because those LEGO shipping boxes are flat most of the time, like pizza boxes, so to speak. Anyhow, when I see such a price jump for a one inch gain on the box height this is where I am very careful to round a decimal value height to the next higher whole number height.

[stuco191]

Sold a Town Hall on Ebay via buy it now (funds are already in my paypal account) and I shipped the item yesterday via UPS then got this message today:

We had to cancel bids for the buyer, qhdk-24, because they aren't registered on eBay:
133397639981 - LEGO 10224 Creator Town Hall 10224, Brand New & Sealed


We've also made it easy to relist your item if it was removed. Although the item is no longer available in search listings, you will find it in the Sold section of My eBay. For more information, please visit:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/relist.html

To help you avoid this situation in the future, consider setting a Buy It Now price and requiring buyers to make an immediate payment. For more information on immediate payments, visit:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/pay/require-immediate-payment.html

We recommend you take the following actions if this buyer won the item:
- If you haven't received payment, don't complete the sale or send the item to the buyer.
- Don't communicate with the buyer directly.
- Verify any payments you've been notified of by logging into your payment account (or other online payment service).
- If the buyer requests a refund or additional payments, don't send any money without contacting eBay first.
- If you've already sent the item, try contacting the shipping carrier to find out if you can stop shipment.

In these types of situations, we may, at our sole discretion, decide whether to credit the fees for removed listings.

• We have credited all associated fees except for payments processing fees and the final value fee for your listing(s).

If you have any concerns or questions, click "Help & Contact" at the top of most eBay pages.

We're sorry for this inconvenience, and thanks for continuing to work with us.

 

Thanks,

eBay

 

1. I am trying to intercept the package now

2. Is there a way for this person to get their money back and the item if the money is already in my paypal account. 

Thanks in Advance

Edited April 30, 2020 by stuco191

[jaisonline]

@stuco191 call eBay support ASAP.  See what they say if you don’t get the set back.  Your selling price seems too good for you.  Maybe the buyer was a scammer?

[firstofminifigs]

Sold a Town Hall on Ebay via buy it now (funds are already in my paypal account) and I shipped the item yesterday via UPS then got this message today:

We had to cancel bids for the buyer, qhdk-24, because they aren't registered on eBay:
133397639981 - LEGO 10224 Creator Town Hall 10224, Brand New & Sealed


We've also made it easy to relist your item if it was removed. Although the item is no longer available in search listings, you will find it in the Sold section of My eBay. For more information, please visit:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/relist.html

To help you avoid this situation in the future, consider setting a Buy It Now price and requiring buyers to make an immediate payment. For more information on immediate payments, visit:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/pay/require-immediate-payment.html

We recommend you take the following actions if this buyer won the item:
- If you haven't received payment, don't complete the sale or send the item to the buyer.
- Don't communicate with the buyer directly.
- Verify any payments you've been notified of by logging into your payment account (or other online payment service).
- If the buyer requests a refund or additional payments, don't send any money without contacting eBay first.
- If you've already sent the item, try contacting the shipping carrier to find out if you can stop shipment.

In these types of situations, we may, at our sole discretion, decide whether to credit the fees for removed listings.

• We have credited all associated fees except for payments processing fees and the final value fee for your listing(s).

If you have any concerns or questions, click "Help & Contact" at the top of most eBay pages.

We're sorry for this inconvenience, and thanks for continuing to work with us.

 

Thanks,

eBay

 

1. I am trying to intercept the package now

2. Is there a way for this person to get their money back and the item if the money is already in my paypal account. 

Thanks in Advance

I recently had the same message from eBay selling a wall-e. Fortunately I hadn't shipped it yet so I just cancelled the shipping label. I did as eBay recommended and didn't contact the buyer or issue a refund even though the money was in my account. Eventually the buyer messaged me on PayPal saying "where's the goods?" and opened a claim for item not delivered. I escalated to PayPal to maintain eBay's recommendation to not contact or refund. Didn't hear anything so the day before the deadline for action on my part I messaged using the chat support. They didn't really know what to do either but they ended up issuing a refund manually so I wouldn't have to and assured me that it would not be double refunded. Good news is that the wall-e set went up in price $30 since that time. Hopefully you can get your set back!

[c4dreams]

I thought about putting this in the toycentric thread, but this is just odd to me:

I ordered a $55 switch game on ebay from hunph0.  I got the package yesterday and there were two copies of the same game.  I contacted the seller and let him know his error (I figured he'd ask me to ship it back, which I would do) and he says, "keep another one as my gift! maybe it's my staff mistake! thank you."  The seller is from Vietnam and only sold about 30 items and no longer has anything for sale.  The packaging says it's from BestBuy.com.  I guess this was a combination of a dropshipper and a bestbuy mistake?

[Bold-Arrow]

1 minute ago, c4dreams said:

I thought about putting this in the toycentric thread, but this is just odd to me:

I ordered a $55 switch game on ebay from hunph0.  I got the package yesterday and there were two copies of the same game.  I contacted the seller and let him know his error (I figured he'd ask me to ship it back, which I would do) and he says, "keep another one as my gift! maybe it's my staff mistake! thank you."  The seller is from Vietnam and only sold about 30 items and no longer has anything for sale.  The packaging says it's from BestBuy.com.  I guess this was a combination of a dropshipper and a bestbuy mistake?

Or CC fraud 

[stuco191]

15 hours ago, jaisonline said:

@stuco191 call eBay support ASAP.  See what they say if you don’t get the set back.  Your selling price seems too good for you.  Maybe the buyer was a scammer?

It was brain surgery to get through to someone on the phone but I got it. Thanks! I think we have some next steps towards resolution. 

[KShine]

Wow, the sellers market has really gotten strong.

Someone just emailed me, wanting me to know that they are interested in my listing -  they wanted me to get in touch with them, to let them know if it was ok for them to buy it.

[terrymc4677]

Wow, the sellers market has really gotten strong.
Someone just emailed me, wanting me to know that they are interested in my listing -  they wanted me to get in touch with them, to let them know if it was ok for them to buy it.

It sounds like somebody has been sniffing their hand sanitizer.

[$20 on joe vs dan]

Anyone else seeing an uptick of first time buyers?

I'm always a bit weary, and ofcourse for me they are all $300+ sets. I am just fingers crossed and hope for the best...

[exracer327]

20 hours ago, KShine said:

Wow, the sellers market has really gotten strong.

Someone just emailed me, wanting me to know that they are interested in my listing -  they wanted me to get in touch with them, to let them know if it was ok for them to buy it.

I'm seeing a lot of newbie ebayers too.  Some of them aren't really getting the timeliness of paying.  *sigh*

[exracer327]

3 minutes ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

Anyone else seeing an uptick of first time buyers?

I'm always a bit weary, and of course for me they are all $300+ sets. I am just fingers crossed and hope for the best...

Yeah, same here. About 25% of my sets are going to newbies.  So far everyone has paid on a timely manner except two.

The one that has me most concerned is my used Dropship & AT-OT Walker won by a guy with zero feedback and is new since Apr 25.  I've been sending him messages even before the auction ended to determine if he was legit or a scammer, but I haven't heard anything from him.  If I don't hear anything by tonight (48 hrs after auction ending) I'm sending a second chance offer to the next highest bidder.  I already contacted ebay and have their blessing to do so.  At least I'm getting communications from the #2 guy (50+ feedback) and he's still interested in the set.  The irony is, with the lack of communication my suspicion of this guy being a scammer has gone down... a bit.

[exracer327]

New one for me....

"I'm 79 years old and just won 10232 and paid by PayPal. I thought I was bidding on an Assembly Square. If you have an Assembly Square I'd like that as I already have a Palace Cinema. I don't know what I will do with another palace cinema. My wife thinks I am crazy already. Maybe we can work out something."

The guy paid instantly $305 + shipping.   Here is the title: "LEGO Creator Palace Cinema 10232 MODULAR SET New, Sealed Bags, open box".  79 or not, idk how you make that mistake.  And why would I sell him an Assm. Sq for that price?! 

I refunded him and instantly did a second chance to the next guy.  Haven't heard back.

[enotoga]

I'm taking a breather.  Organizing my inventory, and plan to use the remainder of the pandemic bull market to blow out some of my mistakes - like those 2 beautiful Pirates Chess sets - I must have been drunk when I bought those.  

Interestingly, I've completed 230 sales on Ebay since November 2019, ranging from modulars to minifigs - I haven't had a single loss.  No lost packages, no damaged boxes in transit, and no scams.

I did have a couple close calls.  Ebay unregistered a buyer after I had shipped a modular but I got the set back - reversed the Fedex shipping.  And I got lucky with a few Toycentric encounters that didn't unwind.  It's only a matter of time though, before all of us cross paths with a lunatic.  They're out there, but they're even worse in the brick & mortar world.  What makes me the most nervous is shipping to people in China with low feedback, through those Oregon freight forward shippers.  They open the boxes and inspect the merchandise - anything can happen, and this seems to be increasing.

I'll bet the average rate of loss on Ebay transactions overall is about 1%, which is pretty amazing to me. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by enotoga

[Darth_Raichu]

It looks like the sweet sweet low Fedex Ground / Home rates are no longer offered on eBay.   They all are back to slightly above USPS Priority rates for me.  They may still be lower for coast to coast shipping but not anywhere close to what they had before

RIP.  It was fun while it lasted.

[Brystheguy]

9 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

It looks like the sweet sweet low Fedex Ground / Home rates are no longer offered on eBay.   They all are back to slightly above USPS Priority rates for me.  They may still be lower for coast to coast shipping but not anywhere close to what they had before

RIP.  It was fun while it lasted.

Think that happened today? Yesterday, my Y-Wing was over $20 cheaper using FedEx.

[Darth_Raichu]

Just now, Brystheguy said:

Think that happened today? Yesterday, my Y-Wing was over $20 cheaper using FedEx.

Maybe they updated dimensional weight calculation.  The $100 MSRP sets to one of the coasts is about $15-17 via USPS.  It was around $12 with Fedex discount, but now Fedex is around $18

[zaphoid]

there was a while there that about 80% of my stuff was going FedEx, it seems to have dropped to less than 50% now in the last week.

[Shortbus311]

I'm assuming everyone else got the email from Ebay about their new payment system changes? No more going through PayPal. Should save the 3% PayPal fees now and Ebay says it will just charge a flat $0.30 transaction fee. Seems like a good deal on paper... We shall see how it turns out.

[thelovemachine]

Has anyone already used it since it's been available for a while?

[BillyBricks]

1 hour ago, Shortbus311 said:

I'm assuming everyone else got the email from Ebay about their new payment system changes? No more going through PayPal. Should save the 3% PayPal fees now and Ebay says it will just charge a flat $0.30 transaction fee. Seems like a good deal on paper... We shall see how it turns out.

You have to be invited, and I haven't gotten the email yet. I tried to sign up and it told me I couldn't. This would have been a great difference in fees for my Detective's Office that just went for over $400...

[Shortbus311]

My only question is will the 1099 tax rules be the same for Ebay Managed Payments as they were for PayPal...

[Datoyman]

2 hours ago, Shortbus311 said:

I'm assuming everyone else got the email from Ebay about their new payment system changes? No more going through PayPal. Should save the 3% PayPal fees now and Ebay says it will just charge a flat $0.30 transaction fee. Seems like a good deal on paper... We shall see how it turns out.

From what I am seeing the fees went from 10 % eBay fees plus 3% PayPal fees to 12.5 % eBay fees. Both have .30 transaction fee and both will be charging the fee on the total amount including the sales tax portion.