scammed twice in a month

[rainbow*rob]

well 2019 has went very well so far , get a email from paypal last week , buyer has not received item , no tracking ( way to much in Canada ) out $ 42.00 , buyer has feedback of 1 in the last 6 months / get another email today from paypal  (Saturday) another buyer has not received item , would like refund , buyer has feedback of 1 , hasn't purchased anything in the last six months , out $ 40.00 , should a seller not sell anything to a buyer who has such low feedback ? ,  it's just too bad that getting a tracking number in Canada is so expensive , would save use sellers a lot of money from the scammers out there.        have a nice day

[reallynicestamps]

it's just too bad that getting a tracking number in Canada is so expensive , would save use sellers a lot of money from the scammers out there.

Yes, tracking is very expensive through Canada Post.

Probably we'd lose even more if we tracked everything.

Because we would lose sales and because the tracking cost goes to Canada Post without any benefit to us in 99% of transactions.

There are some possible protections you can use.

Are you able to use chitchatexpress or one of the other forwarding services?

For a very small fee, these services take your parcels and envelopes across the border and ship them with cheap USPS tracking to US addresses.

Third party insurance, like shipinsurance, will insure you against many problems, and will do one-offs.

Again fees are reasonable, but you have to do your own research about what they offer.  Several sellers here use them and have been very happy with the service.

Cookie Jar Insurance is self -insurance, adding a small amount as a premium to your asking price and putting those virtual pennies and dimes in a virtual Cookie Jar against the day that something goes wrong.

And that 'something' may be something that is entirely your fault, like sending a packet of Bazooka Gum instead of OPeeChee gum and cards. 

I also use a third party insurer who specializes in collectibles, Hugh Wood International, but they are a different beast, used by dealers and collectors who are keeping a lot of value around.  They specialize in collectibles (they are the insurers for the American Philatelic Society and their members) and can be very easy to work with if you are doing shows or have a b&m business. But they do annual contracts and may not be the right fit.

If your annual losses (number or value) are less than one per cent of your sales, you're about normal. Many eBay sellers have gone years with no disputes or losses, then have a run of them, then nothing again for years. 

If you were having constant losses, you have to look at your business plan and practices as well as at the disputes themselves.

But $80 in a month is painful. Ugh.

[ricarmic]

When you refund you may want to try using some of this wording, it has worked for me over the years, I've had a number of folks repay me later when it does arrive....

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/RICARMICs-INR-where-is-my-package-updated-2016-form-lette...

[momcqueen]

What are of the county are you shipping from and where were the items destined?

[15westcoast]

Hi,  I don't find the postal charges for Tracking to the USA or within Canada that expensive.

I guess it depends on the size and weight of the item you are sending.  I post to mostly the

USA and Canada and will not post without tracking, as I have been scammed before as well.

I will ship overseas only if the buyer is willing to pay for tracking and in most cases (Australia) it

is too expensive, but I give them the option and I will get a quote for them from the Post Office.

[rainbow*rob]

SHIPPING WAS FROM MANITOBA

DESTINATION  : BOTH ITEMS WERE SHIPPED TO SOUTHERN , ONTARIO

SHIPPED IN EARLY JAN / 2018

BOTH BUYERS HAD FEEDBACK OF 1

ONE BUYER OPENED A ACCOUNT IN LATE NOV. / 2018

PURCHASED ITEM FROM ME IN LATE DEC .

THE OTHER BUYER DIDN'T PURCHASE ANY ITEM OF EBAY 

FOR THE LAST 6 MONTHS / PURCHASED ITEM IN LATE DEC .

EASY WAY TO MAKE MONEY / DID'T RECEIVE ITEM

EBAY BUYER 1  /  EBAY SELLER 0    FINAL SCORE

[momcqueen]

Please don’t shout.

Where, in Manitoba, to where in Ontario? You may want to call the 1-800-number and speak to Canada Post about a suspected systematic delivery problem. I ship 15 per cent of my inventory without tracking (small, thin, lower-cost) and I get maybe one INR every four years.

[retroman_studios]

During the strike of Canada Post I was doing mostly sales to the USA, and I used Small Packet Air. Had one go "missing". That one cost me $55. So from that point, I used tracked for everything. Except for low cost goods that I am clearing out and if a few go missing it's won't hurt as much. But those tend to go letter mail or FirstClass Untracked (I use ChitChats).

I've had too many questions from buyers wanting "free" upgrades to tracked services or "where is my tracking number?", so at this point I have tracking for 90% of my items. 

[rainbow*rob]

MOMCQUEEN SAYS SHE HAS ONLY HAD ONE INR IN FOUR YEARS , YOUR LUCKY ,  BUT DOES MOMCQUEEN SELL 200 -300 ITEMS A MONTH 

DOSN'T MATTER WHERE IN MANITOBA / TO WHERE IN ONTARIO

ITEMS WHERE SHIPPED 

SCAMMERS ARE THERE , MOMCQUEEN

[kh-leslie]

Hello everyone,

This thread is getting a bit heated.  Please remember that it’s fine to disagree with others, but discussion should always remain courteous and respectful.

Thank you for your cooperation.

[momcqueen]

Again, there’s no need to shout.

My point, should you choose to take it, is that your situation is just as likely to be caused by a problem with delivering the mail as a problem with alleged thieves.

Being angry with the people here who seek to assist you won’t gain you better assistance.

If you’re selling 300 items a month and shipping all 300 items without tracking, you’d be wise to add self-insurance to your postage and/or item cost and consider these two INRs per month as the cost of doing business.

Good luck as you move forward. Goodbye.

[reallynicestamps]

Going only by your feedback, most of your items are under $5, but you sell a fair number of multiples.

I also notice that you charge shipping on each item, and that the shipping tends to be higher than the asking price for the cards.

That may be part of the problem.

I'll assume that for those multiples you combine and discount shipping.

But which is cheaper ?

A $1.44 card with $3 shipping?

A $2.50 card with $1.94 shipping?

A $4.44 card with Free Shipping?

There is no one answer, but most buyers dislike paying more for shipping than for the item. It feels like lost money.

This is emotional not thoughtful.

But you have to set a point that is your comfort zone. I mostly ship without tracking, because my customer demographics are almost unnaturally honest folks, but there is a little self-insurance built in to cover the (very very occasional) claim of non-delivery. (I had two during the strike, one of which turned up later and she refunded her refund.)

You can track and still use Free Shipping.

If the value of a sale is high enough (even if it were a multiple sale of $10 items each of which I would not normally track)  I dip into my self-insurance Cookie Jar to cover the $10 or $15 difference between my normal service and a higher priced tracked service.

.

[ichopshop · Accepted solution]

You seem to do a fair number of transactions.  Clearly your business model relies on inexpensive shipping for most of your items.  This seems smart given the value of many of the items you sell.  If eating a $40 transaction is beyond your pain threshold, you should ship those tracked.  However, as I'm sure you've considered given the extra cost per transaction, you'll need 1 in 4 of those transactions to be a prevented problem just to break even on the extra shipping costs (assuming you can't pass them on to the buyer).

You're also assuming the buyers were scamming you.  I've seen packages take more than 2 weeks within Ontario's 401 corridor.  It's more than possible that the packages you sent to these buyers were very late or just lost by the shipper.  

I don't think I've ever had a "scammer" in over 6k sales.  A few idiots, sure, but most people just want the item they paid for in a reasonable time frame.  I don't think I've had even 50 refunds lifetime on ebay for all reasons and probably less than 10 lost packages.