No More Name and Address on "Sold" e-Mail

[jt-libra]

Whenever I saw the e-mail that I had sold something, the first thing I would look at was whether the buyer was in Canada or the U.S.

The last couple of days, the e-mails I've received simply state "Congratulations, your item sold and it's been paid for."  It shows the item, the price, the buyer's User I.D. and a link to Shippo (which platform isn't mandatory of course).  I knew I would eventually have to use Shippo but was postponing it -- thanks to ypdc-dennis for the updated rate comparison.  Shippo has the best rate for Small Packet which is only a little higher than for the former Light Packet and you don't have to fill out custom slips.

Since all my items are IPR, I don't know what the "sold" e-mail looks like when payment has not yet been made.

This isn't a big issue but I'm curious to know why eBay introduced this change and who it benefits, if anyone.  Anyone venture a guess?

[reallynicestamps]

It may be designed to encourage sellers to sign up for and use Shippo!

I would imagine that the company was chosen in part because eBay gets a small fee when an eBayer uses it.

And on a less conspiracy-minded note, I seem to recall that eBay used to direct sellers to Paypal for shipping labels until a few weeks ago.

(I use stamps for most of my shipments, so my knowledge of shipping labels is limited.)

This would be a good point to bring up at the Weekly Chat tomorrow as a request that the buyer's address be returned to the email.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@jt-libra wrote:
Since all my items are IPR, I don't know what the "sold" e-mail looks like when payment has not yet been made.

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My last one (2 days ago) was:

Congratulations, your item sold—get ready to ship!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Hi ypdc_dennis,
You did it! Your item sold. Please ship this item to the buyer after your
buyer pays. As soon as your buyer pays, print your --postage link--

Followed by listing details, selling price and buyers contact email and address.

...

Removing name and address could serve 2 purposes:  protection against fake emails and privacy protection (email is not very secure).

...

The A-river removed buyer details from emails about 8 years ago. Sellers were getting scammed by shipping without checking first to see if it was a legit sale.

Another A-river reason for removal was to make it easier for the A-river to own the buyer (since the only way left to contact the buyer was through the A-river mail system).  eBay has not reached that point yet.

-..-

[hlmacdon]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

It may be designed to encourage sellers to sign up for and use Shippo!

I would imagine that the company was chosen in part because eBay gets a small fee when an eBayer uses it.

And on a less conspiracy-minded note, I seem to recall that eBay used to direct sellers to Paypal for shipping labels until a few weeks ago. 

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The Canada Post account that was used for paypal shipping in the past was an Ebay account/contract, so they have always made margin on shipping. Paypal and ebay have parted ways on the shipping front, and with that, eBay's contract rates are no longer available via paypal, hence it makes little sense for them to direct customers there since any negotiated rates/services are exclusive to their Canada Post contract. Based on examples of rates provided by ypdc_dennis, they continue to make healthy margins on shipping so the status quo is otherwise maintained. Shippo would either be getting a small fee per transaction or they are receiving a blanket amount to provide services, the same as paypal.

[dutchman48]

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@jt-libra wrote:

Whenever I saw the e-mail that I had sold something, the first thing I would look at was whether the buyer was in Canada or the U.S.

The last couple of days, the e-mails I've received simply state "Congratulations, your item sold and it's been paid for."  It shows the item, the price, the buyer's User I.D. and a link to Shippo (which platform isn't mandatory of course).  I knew I would eventually have to use Shippo but was postponing it -- thanks to ypdc-dennis for the updated rate comparison.  Shippo has the best rate for Small Packet which is only a little higher than for the former Light Packet and you don't have to fill out custom slips.

Since all my items are IPR, I don't know what the "sold" e-mail looks like when payment has not yet been made.

This isn't a big issue but I'm curious to know why eBay introduced this change and who it benefits, if anyone.  Anyone venture a guess?

---

Light packet and small packet both require a customs form. If shippo does not include it, it needs to be done manually on the white CN22 forms.

And shippo needs to be notified if they are not including it.

[jt-libra]

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@dutchman48 wrote:

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@jt-libra wrote:

Whenever I saw the e-mail that I had sold something, the first thing I would look at was whether the buyer was in Canada or the U.S.

The last couple of days, the e-mails I've received simply state "Congratulations, your item sold and it's been paid for."  It shows the item, the price, the buyer's User I.D. and a link to Shippo (which platform isn't mandatory of course).  I knew I would eventually have to use Shippo but was postponing it -- thanks to ypdc-dennis for the updated rate comparison.  Shippo has the best rate for Small Packet which is only a little higher than for the former Light Packet and you don't have to fill out custom slips.

Since all my items are IPR, I don't know what the "sold" e-mail looks like when payment has not yet been made.

This isn't a big issue but I'm curious to know why eBay introduced this change and who it benefits, if anyone.  Anyone venture a guess?

---

Light packet does require a customs form. If shippo does not include it, it needs to be done manually on the white CN22 forms.

And shippo needs to be notified if they are not including it.

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I realize that.  I guess I didn't phrase my comment properly.  What I meant was I could use Small Packet instead of Light Packet which is no longer available on-line and, thus, not have to complete a customs form (with Small Packet).

[ricarmic]

My email notifications (remember I sell on .COM) do not include any contact information (aside from their ebay id), instead it contains buttons to push to "contact buyer", "Send invoice" etc......

I went back to May 1st and it has been that way since then.....

[jt-libra]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

It may be designed to encourage sellers to sign up for and use Shippo!

I would imagine that the company was chosen in part because eBay gets a small fee when an eBayer uses it.

And on a less conspiracy-minded note, I seem to recall that eBay used to direct sellers to Paypal for shipping labels until a few weeks ago.

(I use stamps for most of my shipments, so my knowledge of shipping labels is limited.)

This would be a good point to bring up at the Weekly Chat tomorrow as a request that the buyer's address be returned to the email.

---

That makes sense.  However, eBay has to know that sellers will use any shipping method they please .... unless new sellers will think they have to use Shippo.

ypdc_dennis raised the issue of privacy.  That could be .... although for any one transaction on eBay, there are numerous places the buyer's information is included.

Thanks for posting this on my behalf in tomorrow's chat.  Ever since Raphael left, I keep forgetting that there is one every Wednesday.  By the time I remember, it's long ended.

[jt-libra]

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@ricarmic wrote:

My email notifications (remember I sell on .COM) do not include any contact information (aside from their ebay id), instead it contains buttons to push to "contact buyer", "Send invoice" etc......

I went back to May 1st and it has been that way since then.....

---

My sales were from .com as well but I only started getting this new type of e-mail yesterday.  I guess they're phasing it in.  Of course, the information is on the payment e-mail from PayPal.  I noticed the buttons as well but I'm in the habit of going to the Awaiting Shipment screen on My eBay to "Contact Buyer", "Leave Feedback", etc.

[reallynicestamps]

.... unless new sellers will think they have to use Shippo.

EBay  encourages new sellers to do a lot of things. Most of them are reasonable, but some.... we all commiserate with newbies who open 99 cent auctions.

I sometimes wonder if new sellers realize that eBay is mostly a Fixed Price site, for example. Most seem to start with auctions.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@dutchman48 wrote:

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@jt-libra wrote:
... Shippo has the best rate for Small Packet which is only a little higher than for the former Light Packet and you don't have to fill out custom slips.

---

Light packet and small packet both require a customs form. If shippo does not include it, it needs to be done manually on the white CN22 forms.

And shippo needs to be notified if they are not including it.

---

Shippo has never done Light Packet.

Small Packet label through Shippo includes the customs information (so no need for a separate CN22).

-..-

[ypdc_dennis]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

.... unless new sellers will think they have to use Shippo.

EBay  encourages new sellers to do a lot of things. Most of them are reasonable, but some.... we all commiserate with newbies who open 99 cent auctions.

I sometimes wonder if new sellers realize that eBay is mostly a Fixed Price site, for example. Most seem to start with auctions.

---

Thinking way back to the dawn of time, I started with auctions since I had no clue what my items were worth (plus the eBay listing fees strongly encouraged doing that). Of course it was also the time when many auctions had 4 or more bidders and there was good chance of getting market value.

I think I need to go sit in a rocking chair and reminisce ...

[dutchman48]

This is what I got on the bottom of my email prior to payment. No personal information at all.

While you wait for payment:

Contact your buyer Send an invoice Sell another item

When you receive payment:

Print a shipping label Mark your item as shipped Upload tracking information Leave feedback

[ypdc_dennis]

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@dutchman48 wrote:

This is what I got on the bottom of my email prior to payment. No personal information at all.

While you wait for payment:

Contact your buyer Send an invoice Sell another item

When you receive payment:

Print a shipping label Mark your item as shipped Upload tracking information Leave feedback

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I have text selected as my message default for my email notifications. So that may be a difference.

[dutchman48]

I have always got normal totally different messages than the ones today.

Maybe Ebay changed something again, running a Beta, or is totally useless.

Another this is what you get whether you want it or not as I changed absolutely nothing on my end.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@dutchman48 wrote:

I have always got normal totally different messages than the ones today.

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Got my first sold email this month and it matches the format you showed.

So sometime in the last 48 hours eBay switched styles (and now ignores my text only setting).

...

Can't say I'm very impressed with a decision making that ignores basic email security -- which is do not click on links in an email -- and instead provides lots of links. The scammers must be rubbing their hands with glee at this opportunity.

-..-

[dutchman48]

Will seriously have to take a hard look at Ebay when my store expires. Reports on the US boards shows Ebay accepting best offers on the sellers behalf.

It will get to the point in the future where we just list and Ebay does everything else but ship. No other contact between sellers and buyers allowed.

The micromanaging along with all the changes, unwritten policies, and increased costs for the privilege are becoming very tiring.

It also appears .com gets everything way before we do and then it gets dumped on us when we are a totally separate country and it does not work here.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@dutchman48 wrote:

... Reports on the US boards shows Ebay accepting best offers on the sellers behalf.

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How different from what we currently have on eBay?

If you allow an offer on a listing, you can set a value where anything higher than that amount is automatically accepted (as well as setting a value below which everything is automatically rejected).

-..-

[reallynicestamps]

I usually check Paypal for sales first, then go back to eBay to match pictures.

Those screenshots don't look at all familiar.

Oh -- I just looked at my first sale today and there they are.

The Print Shipping Label one tells me I cannot print through Canada Post from eBay and directs me to Shippo!

So I guess I'll give them a try for only the second time.

[dutchman48]

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@ypdc_dennis wrote:

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@dutchman48 wrote:

... Reports on the US boards shows Ebay accepting best offers on the sellers behalf.

---

How different from what we currently have on eBay?

If you allow an offer on a listing, you can set a value where anything higher than that amount is automatically accepted (as well as setting a value below which everything is automatically rejected).

-..-

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It is Ebay adding best offer to listings that then seller doe not want best offer on. Therefore, there is no accept or deny amount specified.

Then if there is an offer, Ebay decided to accept it for the seller.