eBay

rose-dee · ‎01-12-2018

I'm wondering whether any other sellers have experienced long delays in letter mail shipments within Canada since Christmas.

I sent a vintage clothing item via letter mail (in a bubble envelope) to Dauphin, Manitoba on December 18th and the buyer tells me it still hasn't arrived as of today. He has been courteous and patient so far, I have no reason to doubt his word. The item fit easily under the 2cm thickness limit, and the edges of the #5 bubble envelope were taped to fit under the 27cm width restriction. There was actually more postage than necessary on the package (I had nothing but a bunch of "P" stamps on hand, so I ended up overpaying required postage).

This is so far a full 4 weeks from my location in Nova Scotia to Dauphin, MB, and apparently it's still not there. The item was under $50, and I didn't insure it (no tracking of course for letter mail).

Since I have never -- ever -- had a parcel actually become lost in all the years I've been selling, I'm hoping this is a case of backlog at Canada Post, having let go all those extra seasonal part-time employees hired before Christmas. Still, by the end of this coming week I'm going to feel obliged to refund my poor buyer if the item hasn't shown up. I'm a bit disgusted with CPC at this point.

Has anyone else seen month-long delays in letter mail parcels that were sent just prior to Christmas?

tobyshitzu · ‎01-12-2018

refunded for 4 items mailed in dec (so far!), which is an absurdly high loss rate for me. 3 in Canada, 1 to USA.

rose-dee · ‎01-12-2018

@toby**bleep**zu wrote:
refunded for 4 items mailed in dec (so far!), which is an absurdly high loss rate for me. 3 in Canada, 1 to USA.

Any idea what is/was going on with Canada Post this year? Honestly, 4 weeks and counting from here to Manitoba is beyond outrageous.

I've submitted a Ticket on the CPC website. Of course because this was letter mail, I'll probably get no response, but I figured I'd at least add my own two cents to anyone else who has complained to them about these delays.

rose-dee · ‎01-12-2018

@toby**bleep**zu wrote:
refunded for 4 items mailed in dec (so far!), which is an absurdly high loss rate for me. 3 in Canada, 1 to USA.

BTW, for a Canadian refund, in terms of defects, is it better to just provide a refund directly, or to have the buyer open an INR case, then refund? I honestly can't recall now, and don't relish having to slog through eBay's help pages to find out.

I've only had 1 other refund situation in all the years I've been selling, that was quite some time ago, and I know the policies have changed.

ricarmic · ‎01-12-2018

As far as I know, if you send the refund via PAYPAL directly, eBay doesn't know and you do not get dinged.

However I don't know what happens if the buyer subsequently puts an INR in the eBay system subsequently, you might get dinged a couple times in that situation because again eBay doesn't know you refunded the ebay transaction.

My situation the buyer initiated the INR via PAYPAL instead of via eBay. I refunded and no dings were had. Now that was a few months ago so who knows now.

edubb101 · ‎01-12-2018

Everything has been ok for myself. Is it possible that the size of the letter mail you sent was larger than your customers mail/post office box? Perhaps a notice card was left. Have your customer check to see if there is a parcel at their local postal outlet.

This can occur with some lettermail. I have magazines sent to my self with a request to not bend on them therefore they will not fit in my post box. Provided im not home a notice card is left.

Just a suggestion. I hope it turns up.

momcqueen · ‎01-12-2018

Sending domestic lettermail from Winnipeg to various locations in North America, I've not seen any delays.

esclyons · ‎01-12-2018

yes i have 3 letter mail items, that should have been received in 5-7 days, going on 12 days now, so there is definitely a delay ..

rose-dee · ‎01-12-2018

@ricarmic wrote:
As far as I know, if you send the refund via PAYPAL directly, eBay doesn't know and you do not get dinged.
However I don't know what happens if the buyer subsequently puts an INR in the eBay system subsequently, you might get dinged a couple times in that situation because again eBay doesn't know you refunded the ebay transaction.
My situation the buyer initiated the INR via PAYPAL instead of via eBay. I refunded and no dings were had. Now that was a few months ago so who knows now.

My buyer is being extremely patient and courteous, so I think he'll do whatever I request in terms of the refund. I thought that with the new seller punishment system, a refund on an eBay INR no longer generates a defect, as long as the seller refunds in full within the required time in order to close the case, but my memory may be lacking on that point as I've never had to test it. I'd really prefer not to leave the buyer to initiate a Paypal INR.

momcqueen · ‎01-12-2018

There is no defect associated with issuing a refund for an Item Not Received case.

That is, unless the seller tries to stall past the deadline given to them to do so by ebay, or fights it and loses.

The refund is issued, the case closes. That's how it ends. I don't recall if the final value fees are automatically refunded, or whether that requires action on the part of the seller after the fact.

momcqueen · ‎01-12-2018

Also, it would be my advice to funnel all Item Not Received cases through ebay.

If you refund for INR without a case for INR being opened, then you as the seller would have to manually Cancel the transaction to recoup your FVFs and then that may trigger a defect as a sneaky suspicion of maybe-out-of-stock-instead.

Plus, if it goes through the Resolution Centre as it should, ebay has record of it and it's easier for them to identify chronic INR-case-opening buyers thus protecting us all from potential fraud.

The days are gone when INR cases being opened warranted automatic defects or marks against a seller's performance. All that changed the last time ebay revamped seller performance standards.

pjcdn2005 · ‎01-12-2018

You have a greater chance of getting a defect if you refund through PP without a case being opened up. I have refunded through PP and not gotten a defect but apparently that isn't always the way it works. Also, if you refund through PP without a case being opened.you will have to phone to get fvf refunded.

I would request the buyer to open an inr and then you can refund them though the case and be credited fvf automatically.

rose-dee · ‎01-13-2018

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
You have a greater chance of getting a defect if you refund through PP without a case being opened up. I have refunded through PP and not gotten a defect but apparently that isn't always the way it works. Also, if you refund through PP without a case being opened.you will have to phone to get fvf refunded.
I would request the buyer to open an inr and then you can refund them though the case and be credited fvf automatically.

Yes, thank you, that was my vague recall of the process. Since I haven't had an INR in years, things have changed. How I long for the days when, as a seller, I could deal simply and directly with my buyer.

I'm probably going to have to walk him through the INR process, as he's relatively new to eBay and I doubt he's had to open a case before. Yecch.

ricarmic · ‎01-13-2018

I was remiss in not mentioning that I don't ask folks to send INRs through PAYPAL to avoid the ebay process, but I have experienced a buyer doing it on their own.

Normally I would also suggest the buyer does everything through the ebay system so things are recorded there...

PS when the INR is processed through the ebay system, the FVF etc are all automagically refunded, which would not happen in the PAYPAL only scenario.

momcqueen · ‎01-13-2018

@ricarmic wrote:
.... PS when the INR is processed through the ebay system, the FVF etc are all automagically refunded, which would not happen in the PAYPAL only scenario.

Thank you, that's the point I could not quite recall. I thought so but wasn't positive.

lady.stark · ‎01-13-2018

@mjwl2006momcqueen wrote:
There is no defect associated with issuing a refund for an Item Not Received case.

That is, unless the seller tries to stall past the deadline given to them to do so by ebay, or fights it and loses.

The refund is issued, the case closes. That's how it ends. I don't recall if the final value fees are automatically refunded, or whether that requires action on the part of the seller after the fact.

Yes, the FVF are automatically refunded. That's what happend to me before Christmas.

pjcdn2005 · ‎01-13-2018

I'm fairly sure (but not 100%) that if a case is opened in PP and you refund, you will be credited fvf.

When I mentioned that fvf wouldn't be automatically refunded I was referring to when a case wasn't opened at all.

ricarmic · ‎01-13-2018

Hmm that is interesting, I never checked when the Paypal only one happened. Nothing shows in ebayland that it was refunded, so I assumed I never got anything back from ebay....

pjcdn2005 · ‎01-13-2018

Nothing shows in ebayland that it was refunded,

It's been ages since I've done a full refund outside of eBay but when I do a partial shipping refund on PP, eBay does indicate that there was a change with payment. It tells me to check my payal account so I would think that a full refund in paypal would also be indicated on eBay.

If a buyer opens a case in eBay and then the following day opens a case for the same item in PP, ebay will close the case here...perhaps not immediately but they will close it so they know when a case has been opened.

ricarmic · ‎01-13-2018

Hmmm one learns something every day here!

Nothing in ebay actually meant I didn't get any emails or ebay messages. I didn't go looking.

I recently refunded a fellows shipping from PAYPAL (he purchased a couple times so I refunded one of the shippings). So I looked into it.

The shipping was automagically removed* back in ebay. This is interesting because in PAYPAL I simply refunded the $5.50 amount. Interesting that eBay noticed it was the same amount as the shipping and automagically negated the shipping amount. (*It put it in the discount row).

Unfortunately because I'm a "free shipping" kinda guy, and they counted the refund as being shipping (this is an international lot, free domestic so I pay no FVF on the international shipping) I didn't get a FVF refund because there was no FVF on the shipping originally.

If I ever do a partial refund higher than the shipping via PAYPAL directly, I'll have to check the fees. I strongly suspect that the fees would be refunded based on how closely linked it is......