Looking for your input! Topics for 'Buyer FAQ'

[tyler@ebay]

Howdy everyone - 

I'm looking to create a 'Buyer FAQ' page that would have topics we could use to help folks quickly get the answers to their questions. 

To that end, I'm wondering what kind of things you see frequently from buyers here on the boards. They could be questions you see frequently, situations you think need a detailed breakdown/step by step or just 'I wish buyers knew X' type of thing. 

Leave your suggestions below!

[pjcdn2005]

Return labels for nad international returns.  The ebay information given isn't that clear and many buyers think that they have to buy a label and that they will get reimbursed.  And what to do if the money for a label isn't sent.

What to do if not all of the order was delivered.  If a buyer orders 3 items and only receives 2, it isn't obvious to them that they should open a return request because they don't necessarily want to return the ones they received.

[reallynicestamps]

Why is there a charge on my Paypal account from Pitney Bowes?

Where does the money paid to the Global Shipping Program go?

My item was shipped via GSP and arrived damaged/ incomplete/ not as described. What do I do now?

The arrival date for my purchase is two months/weeks/days away. Can I open a Item Not Received dispute?

The seller will not send me a tracking number. Can I open a Item Not Received dispute?

I purchased two months/weeks /days ago? Can I open an Item Not Received Dispute?

I missed the eBay deadline for Dispute? What can I do now?

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Why sellers in the USA use the GSP program and how it works?

-Lotz

[around_again_records]

How to make multiple purchases, and not pay until you get an invoice with the corrected shipping cost. 

Sometimes it seems to work fine for people and other times I get customers paying for each item separately and then I refund the extra shipping. 

The system might be working, but for some reason some people don't seem to get it, so there need to be better instructions. 

[femmefan1946]

Why does this seller have 100% feedback but have 573 negative and 249 neutral feedback?

How can I talk to an eBay employee?

What is the CEO's personal cellphone number? Why can't I have it?

I bought a car/motorboat/ RV/Lear Jet through AutoTrader and they told me the financing would be handled by eBay. Now what?

[vintagenorth]

How do I repay for an item that was refunded and now It has finally arrived? I would like to pay my seller for the item now. (Okay, this doesn’t happen very often, but we do see this question occasionally.)

[cumos55]

FAQ

(1)  Q. Asking if a discount in the price will be considered

      A. Only if the price is in the range of $50 to $75 and higher

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(2)  Q. Is it possible to have a local pickup?

       A. A local pickup can be arranged.  Payment will be in cash, Canadian dollars when the purchase is picked up.

It was many years ago that a potential buyer got very mad because a local pickup cannot be arranged unless the item is bought on eBay

Then recently a buyer wanted to pay with Paypal…..  eBay's rule is that the method of payment is the seller’s choice.  Transaction was cancelled

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(3)  Q.  Is combined shipping an option?

       A. Yes….. already indicated in the listing.

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(4) Q.  Confirmation of condition with photos requested.

      A. Photos sent as requested.

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(5)  Q.  Is there a lower cost shipping option?

       A. Postage includes insurance and tracking….. No lower price option available

It was over 10 years ago that my answer was to have the buyer check the cost of postage on Canada Post’s website.  Buyer was surprised about the actual cost of postage.  

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(6)  Q,  Buyer requests shipping to an address other than the one presented on Paypal

       A. Payment is refunded and an invoice with the new address is forwarded using Paypal.

The last time this happened …..  Buyer appeared to be not too happy with my action.

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(7)    Q. There was once a US buyer looking for a discount on several books buyer wanted to purchase

         A. Buyer  gets a discount on postage for a multiple purchase…..  many items were purchased

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Questions have been few and far between, except for the local pickup. 

As the cost of postage went up,  this request  for a local pickup has become more common.

However,  Many local buyers will have it mailed to them …  will not waste time doing a local pickup … especially if it is lettermail

Did once make a local pickup connection at the Legislative Building in downtown Winnipeg… arranged at the noon hour

Also made a delivery  to an address in Winnipeg…. Over 10 years ago

[piperscorner1924]

For any Buyer please read:

eBay can not Guarantee Canada Post will Deliver your mail the Guess-estimate shown is a approximate date around it should arrive without any Technical Problems arises from Mail Deliver. EG: Weather, Mail Strikes, Theft. Unforeseen Circumstances beyond one's control is very real once a item is mailed to the Buyer. It takes about 5 to 11 Business Days just across Canada from BC to Ontario not including weekends or Holidays.

[musicyouneed]

Mine is really basic as many of my buyers have only 0 to 10 feedback.

1)  Why do I get charged so much for shipping?  The stamp shows they only paid $2.95 and I was charged $3.75.  

Answer:  Although the stamp shows $2.95, the seller had to pay GST on the total cost so that brings it up to $3.10.  Although you were charged $3.75, the seller only received 3.37 (less ebay fees).  The $.27 difference could be for the shipping materials.

2)  Why do some sellers offer free shipping and others charge me for shipping?  

Answer:  The sellers that offer free shipping build in the shipping cost into the cost of the item.  Sellers do not get free shipping from the PO. 

3)  Why is there such a range of prices for the one item?   The same item can be $2.00 from one seller and $10 from another.

Answer:  Each seller sets up the selling price by taking into consideration, how much they originally paid for the item, condition, scarcity, demand and just how much they want to get rid of the item.

4)  What is the difference between buying on Amazon or buying on ebay?

Answer:  Many of the sellers sell on both Amazon and on ebay.  Ebay tends to have a lot more unique items, vintage, hard to come by items sold by small sellers.   While amazon primarily sells new items from large businesses.  

5)  A few of the sellers have hundreds of negative feedback and yet show they are at a 98% feedback.  It scares me to buy from ebay when I see so many buyers have a negative experience.

Answer:  I agree. 

6)  Why do we have so many sellers from China, I don't want to buy from them.  Can I screen them out.

Answer: 

There is more, but that's all I have for now.

[reallynicestamps]

@musicyouneed 

6) Why do we have so many sellers from China, I don't want to buy from them. Can I screen them out.

Answer:

Many of the items you buy from North American sellers were made in China.

Look at Place of Manufacture in the Item Specifics to see where an item was made.

Many overseas sellers warehouse their items in North America for faster shipping.

The shipping location below the listing title tells you where the item will ship from.

@musicyouneed 

Both those points need to be more strongly enforced by eBay.

[kawartha-ephemera]

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@around_again_records wrote:

How to make multiple purchases, and not pay until you get an invoice with the corrected shipping cost. 

Sometimes it seems to work fine for people and other times I get customers paying for each item separately and then I refund the extra shipping. 

The system might be working, but for some reason some people don't seem to get it, so there need to be better instructions. 

---

I share some of the same frustrations. Even though I have flat rate combined shipping discount rules in place that function flawlessly there are still some buyers that purchase items one by one thus bypassing the discount rule.

Even after coaching a few regular customers on how to get their discounts next time around they still don't "get it". Some customers seem to have the idea they must request an adjusted invoice to get their combined discount. This situation wouldn't be the end of the world if the "request invoice" feature could bbe relied on but many times buyers report the feature does not work resulting in one at a time purchases.

Somehow ebay needs to do a much better job of communicating to buyers why it is in their best interest to always use their carts when purchasing multiple items from a seller. They are not going to be rewarded with whatever discounts they qualify for unless they use the cart, some buyers do not seem to understand this ebay quirk. 

RE; Sellers with combined discount rules setup.

The alert currently shown to shoppers on an item's Shipping and payments tab might show an alert something along the lines of " $0.00 shipping for each additional eligible item you buy from sellers_id_here.

This blurb tells the buyer what discounts are available but no mention is made how to go about actually obtaining them. Maybe a link could be added to the end of the blurb above to some sort of FAQs page or popup to give buyers a few tips regarding how to obtain relevant seller discounts, promotions etc. 

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Not sure if this is still the case but from my understanding situations like this work differently on dot com vs dot ca. A buyer trying to buy multiple items would get specific error messages or instructions as what to do if they did anything wrong trying to combine a purchase. This does not seem to happen in any way shape or form. When I have had a US customer buy mulitiple items its always ended up with having to refund a portion for postage even when I asked them to let me send a revised invoice when they are done their shopping or with multiple unit purchases.

-Lotz

[around_again_records]

Question: When giving feedback to a seller, why do you ask me to rate the shipping time and then ask me if the item arrived by xx/xx/xx. I've already give 5 stars for shipping, why do you ask the silly question? I don't look at the calendar when my mail comes in

Answer: Although the star rating system is helpful to sellers, eBay really doesn't pay much attention to your feedback in this regard. If however you answer that your item has not arrived by the stated date, we will assume the seller is very lazy and dishonest and did not ship your parcel on time, and the seller will get a strike against them, and could lose status as an eBay seller. 

[reallynicestamps]

@around_again_records 

EBay doesn't pay any attention to feedback or to Detailed Seller Ratings. I suspect removing these, particularly the DSRs, would mess up some other, possibly more useful coding.

I agree that any question about delivery time is useless to eBay since it deals with the shipping service not the seller's service.

[kraftdinnersalad]

Its always awesome to have buyers like yourself offer up some honesty and virtue. Try contacting seller to relist item and buy it now. Another way is to send seller money through paypal but make sure you contact seller first in both suggestions.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Why don't buyers and or sellers respond when I send them a message?

-Lotz

[retroman_studios]

Should definitely have a section on common scams like refund scams, getting people to close eBay cases before refunds.

Also should warn about scams that have products at far below market value and folks buy it then complain where is the new 50" TV I bought for $100 with free shipping?

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Sorry, this discussion is making me depressed, so on a lighter note...

How much wood, could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

-Lots

[cumos55]

Success with selling on eBay is knowing,,,   What NOT to do ...

If you sell the right item....and ... Describe it in the absolute.... in a most correct manner

..... These many questions will not bother you.... and should never be your headache 

One can learn a lot from unhappy buyers, and unhappy sellers...  that we read about on this discussion board... on eBay.ca  and eBay.com.  It was my approach to read and learn.  Learn how to deal with those... possible problems.

There will always be easy questions... but others may show up

Develop a protocol for selling......and work it... over and over , and over again... and... and ... then always   ....