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

[zaphoid]

18 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

FYI, be careful when purchasing shipping label on eBay.  eBay automatically defaults to the quickest USPS option (Priority Express) regardless shipping option your buyer selected.  Just double check before printing as you do not want to pay $32 instead of $4 for shipping that small box. 

I've noticed on mine they've been defaulting to Priority Mail with a note that says "Buyer Selected" even thought I provide free shipping and don't allow them to choose shipping options.

[Serejai]

Also something to look at with shipping; not sure if this is something targeted to my account, or some kind of deal eBay has made with FedEx in general... but lately I'm getting about a 90% discount on 2-day FedEx shipping, which ends up costing me much less than basic Priority Mail and often gets delivered two or three times as fast.

[thelovemachine]

So, I tried to cancel an order as the buyer opened a paypal case.  I got this message.

 

Unfortunately, we can't cancel your order. You can't cancel this order right now because there's a PayPal case open for it.

I haven't shipped.  Do I cancel it on paypal now?

[minicoopers11]

42 minutes ago, Serejai said:

Also something to look at with shipping; not sure if this is something targeted to my account, or some kind of deal eBay has made with FedEx in general... but lately I'm getting about a 90% discount on 2-day FedEx shipping, which ends up costing me much less than basic Priority Mail and often gets delivered two or three times as fast.

I briefly read something about a new deal ebay made with ups or FedEx recently. Guess it’s FedEx and time to figure this out!

[Serejai]

16 minutes ago, minicoopers11 said:

I briefly read something about a new deal ebay made with ups or FedEx recently. Guess it’s FedEx and time to figure this out!

Yeah. I first noticed this about three days ago. Priority Mail delivery estimate from coast to coast is sitting around 4-9 days for me. FedEx 2-day (which isn't actually guaranteed two-day delivery) is coming in at 2-5 days for the same trip, and usually 10-20% cheaper as well. I personally dislike FedEx but if they can get my packages to the customer for cheaper and on time without me having to worry about everything going on with USPS right now... I guess it's worth using for the time being.

[Tom J]

I've been pretty lucky til now. Just had a case opened as buyer claiming the original seals are 'loose' so have been tampered with. Now I have quite a few sets and numerous have loose seals, some sets worse than others. This was bought directly from LEGO Shop at Home so no reason to believe it's been tampered with. Anyone else had this issue?

[thelovemachine]

10 minutes ago, Tom J said:

I've been pretty lucky til now. Just had a case opened as buyer claiming the original seals are 'loose' so have been tampered with. Now I have quite a few sets and numerous have loose seals, some sets worse than others. This was bought directly from LEGO Shop at Home so no reason to believe it's been tampered with. Anyone else had this issue?

Especially the heavy sets, the seals which are cheap to begin with loose and altogether come off.  Unfortunately, noobie buyers don't know or don't care.  If they were not planning on opening the set, they would never know if it's tampered internally.

 

The original batcave sets I bought, all the seals have come off because it's just ridiculously heavy.

[Tom J]

3 hours ago, thelovemachine said:

Especially the heavy sets, the seals which are cheap to begin with loose and altogether come off.  Unfortunately, noobie buyers don't know or don't care.  If they were not planning on opening the set, they would never know if it's tampered internally.

 

The original batcave sets I bought, all the seals have come off because it's just ridiculously heavy.

Buyer now alleging damage to the box. Sent zoomed in photo of the box with heavy crush damage. I asked for pictures of shipping box and a tiny crease mark. She's pressuring me into sending a return label for 'item defective' rather than damage in transit. Don't know what she's trying to pull but won't send me full photographic evidence for me to commence a claim with the mail carrier. 

[Saruman]

Is there a thread where we have Happy stories to share about customers on eBay?

I recently sold a LEGO 71042 Silent Mary Brand New for $350 Free shipping($50). I removed my old email address for eBay payments and also removed it from Paypal. Apparently eBay added it automatically back and set it as primary so when the buyer pays he sends it to an email address not associated with my Paypal. Buyer was SUPER nice and called eBay TWICE to try to resolve issue. After I call twice, I finally get the funds albeit on hold. This whole time while I am messaging with buyer, (super nice cause we both respond SUPER fast, we literally each sent 6 messages to each other in ONE day) trying to figure out what the problem is because we hadn't yet figured it out, the buyer keeps saying to add more shipping padding to keep the set intact. I shrink wrapped the set and added corner protectors. Taped down side protectors with packing paper and then packed the whole thing with more packing paper. 2 days later the set arrives, and earlier I told the buyer to send me pics because I was genuinely curious how my packages arrive. While the set had no damage to corners, the sides had gotten crushed. 

The buyer asks for $40 refund so he can buy a replacement box because he is a MINTY guy, and I know that LEGO boxes DO cost that much. He also offers a full refund where I pay return shipping. Obviously, I give him the refund, instead of paying $50 to get set back and probably even more damaged. Normally I don't like handing out refunds, but the buyer was patient and respectful through the WHOLE process. The buying was $160 from Amazon, but the ACTUAL copy of the set might be the one I got from lego.com. I had around $97.00 in profit so after $40.00 refund I am down to $57.00. Not amazing, but it felt right. Well, there's my story!

[BillyBricks]

15 hours ago, Saruman said:

Is there a thread where we have Happy stories to share about customers on eBay?

I recently sold a LEGO 71042 Silent Mary Brand New for $350 Free shipping($50). I removed my old email address for eBay payments and also removed it from Paypal. Apparently eBay added it automatically back and set it as primary so when the buyer pays he sends it to an email address not associated with my Paypal. Buyer was SUPER nice and called eBay TWICE to try to resolve issue. After I call twice, I finally get the funds albeit on hold. This whole time while I am messaging with buyer, (super nice cause we both respond SUPER fast, we literally each sent 6 messages to each other in ONE day) trying to figure out what the problem is because we hadn't yet figured it out, the buyer keeps saying to add more shipping padding to keep the set intact. I shrink wrapped the set and added corner protectors. Taped down side protectors with packing paper and then packed the whole thing with more packing paper. 2 days later the set arrives, and earlier I told the buyer to send me pics because I was genuinely curious how my packages arrive. While the set had no damage to corners, the sides had gotten crushed. 

The buyer asks for $40 refund so he can buy a replacement box because he is a MINTY guy, and I know that LEGO boxes DO cost that much. He also offers a full refund where I pay return shipping. Obviously, I give him the refund, instead of paying $50 to get set back and probably even more damaged. Normally I don't like handing out refunds, but the buyer was patient and respectful through the WHOLE process. The buying was $160 from Amazon, but the ACTUAL copy of the set might be the one I got from lego.com. I had around $97.00 in profit so after $40.00 refund I am down to $57.00. Not amazing, but it felt right. Well, there's my story!

 

Honestly, this story makes me want to know the buyer's username so I can block him. You did a lot to make sure that set got to him in good shape and still got dinged for $40. 

[KvHulk]

1 hour ago, BillyBricks said:

Honestly, this story makes me want to know the buyer's username so I can block him. You did a lot to make sure that set got to him in good shape and still got dinged for $40. 

That was the first thing I thought as well. The guy is a fruitcake.

[KShine]

Buyer requests that I cancel a transaction (which I immediately do, without issue, as always) - a week later I get a negative stating "i did not purchase this product".

[Saruman]

2 hours ago, KvHulk said:

That was the first thing I thought as well. The guy is a fruitcake.

And I totally agree with you. He was fine at first but then slowly turned fruitcake. On my last message to him, I even told him that I would not like to do business with him again since I do not want the pressure of making sure everything arrived in mint condition. It was either the refund or a return.

I'm not super experienced, so maybe I could have tried to get money from USPS. The package also wasn't insured. If it was, by all means I would have filed a claim. I didn't want him filing an item damaged claim because if he had already called eBay twice to help me solve a problem, I can be sure he will call eBay to make sure he gets a refund.

Perhaps I should start insuring items over $200.00 or box size. Because I have sold some little sets for over quite a bit. Where would y'all draw the line? Insure over $200.00 or insure over box size?

[thelovemachine]

Was it shipped priority mail?  Otherwise it's really cost of doing business.... block him so you wont have to deal with him again..

we shold make a community block list of worst offenders...

Edited September 13, 2020 by thelovemachine

[KShine]

2 hours ago, KShine said:

Buyer requests that I cancel a transaction (which I immediately do, without issue, as always) - a week later I get a negative stating "i did not purchase this product".

To follow-up, this was a fairly quick & easy feedback removal request.

[fuzzy_bricks]

I don't know that I would classify this guy as a fruitcake.  He's really not doing anything that people here don't do on a daily basis.  Sets get returned to retailers all the time for box damage, people talk about getting partial refunds and that's on sets that aren't retired.  If he tried to clear up a payment issue on your end, that's also not a fruitcake move in my opinion.  I'm not saying the situation doesn't suck, or that mint condition buyers aren't a pain, but it doesn't seem like he was a fruitcake. 

[exracer327]

3 hours ago, KShine said:

Buyer requests that I cancel a transaction (which I immediately do, without issue, as always) - a week later I get a negative stating "i did not purchase this product".

Where is the *facepalm* emoji when you need one.  wow

[Darth_Raichu]

4 hours ago, KShine said:

Buyer requests that I cancel a transaction (which I immediately do, without issue, as always) - a week later I get a negative stating "i did not purchase this product".

This was probably partly eBay's fault.  Even though the transaction was cancelled, eBay more than likely sent out automatic email asking for feedback for this transaction.  Buyer thought the email was from you and gave a neg in response

[Saruman]

On 9/13/2020 at 10:16 AM, thelovemachine said:

Was it shipped priority mail?  Otherwise it's really cost of doing business.... block him so you wont have to deal with him again..

we shold make a community block list of worst offenders...

It was shipped Priority Mail but not Priority Mail Express. Since Priority mail is like $.30 more expensive than Parcel Select. I NEVER ship parcel select, because I save $.30 and then the buyer waits another week to receive package.

 

I have always read discussion on blocking buyers. How do you actually BLOCK a buyer. Is there a link someone can shoot me?

[KvHulk]

30 minutes ago, Saruman said:

I have always read discussion on blocking buyers. How do you actually BLOCK a buyer. Is there a link someone can shoot me?

https://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?bidderblocklogin

[KShine]

30 minutes ago, Saruman said:

I have always read discussion on blocking buyers. How do you actually BLOCK a buyer. Is there a link someone can shoot me?

https://pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/biddermanagement.html

[fuzzy_bricks]

35 minutes ago, Saruman said:

I have always read discussion on blocking buyers. How do you actually BLOCK a buyer. Is there a link someone can shoot me?

Take a stroll through the Toycentric/Drop Shipping eBay thread and you'll find some other buyers you may want to block depending on your comfort with drop shippers using you as a fulfillment source.

[Saruman]

Glad that I have been met with a plethora of help regarding blocking people! Thanks! Already added some buyer id's!

[DarknessSpreads]

If you have a set in mint condition the safest thing to do is to double box it.  If double boxed and packaged properly then it will arrive in top shape. 

Put the LEGO set a slightly larger box and reinforce around the sides of the set with firm packaging material like cardboard.  This is very important so the LEGO box itself cannot expand sideways.  If there is empty space on the face of the LEGO set then add some very loose packing paper or bubble wrap.  The box needs room to collapse if it is squeezed.  Then put that box in a bigger box with air bags or packing paper around the sides to absorb energy if it is dropped on its side or on a corner.  On the face of the box, again, add in some packing paper or bubble wrap very loosely so the box has room to collapse.

People make the mistake of wrapping the LEGO sets in several layers of bubble wrap thinking it is helping but it actually makes things worse.  If a heavy box is placed on top of a single boxed LEGO set and there is no free space in the box because it is full of bubble wrap then of course the LEGO set is going to get crushed.  The entire weight of that heavy box is being supported by the LEGO set.  If you leave empty space on the face of the LEGO set to account for the box collapsing then the chance of crushing the set is much lower.  If you double box, leaving room for both boxes to collapse, then almost guaranteed for it to arrive in mint shape.

I am one of the those "minty" box guys.  If I pay top dollar on eBay for a retired set then I expect to receive a mint set.  If I wanted creases then I would bid and buy accordingly.  And if the second box is just a bit bigger than the interior box, the cost of shipping may not be more expensive or just slightly higher.

Just my two bits gained from plenty of experience receiving damaged sets...

[iahawks550]

Great advice. But doesn't help with he multitude of scammers on Ebay that lie about the condition after they receive it.