Shipping Policy Glitch
Summary: ct-v reported a problem with eBay's shipping policies, where European buyers were charged incorrect shipping rates, equivalent to U.S. rates, despite proper policy settings. They initially contacted eBay's customer service, which couldn't resolve the issue. Other participants, including marnotom! and pjcdn2005, shared similar experiences and suggested possible causes and checks, like verifying exclusions and monitoring listings with a U.S.-based view. However, it seems the problem persists intermittently, affecting sales and causing confusion. dinomitesales and cartridge-family also experienced related issues, indicating it might be a broader problem on eBay's platform.
Last week I sold an item to a European buyer. However the buyer was able to complete the payment with the shipping service that I had set up for the US. Now I just sold 2 items within 10 minutes to UK buyers who were also able to pay as though they were in the US. I checked the shipping policy of each item after the sales and everything was the way it should be (with the shipping cost to the UK and Europe being 3-4 times more expensive than the US). However when I click on the listings for the sold items, I see that the shipping cost for the US and Europe are reversed but this seems to only affect the items that were sold. When I click on some of my other listings with the same shipping policies, the shipping cost are correctly displayed.
Last week I contacted Ebay's customer service about the situation and they were totally clueless.
I'm wondering if some of you have experienced the same glitches as me.
cartridge-family
·2 years agoI've been having this exact same problem now for weeks. Random listings. The worst part is that it *also* shows the higher Tracked Packet International (non-US) rate for US buyers, effectively turning them away from every purchasing.
Similarly, when offering multiple shipping speeds within Canada, the most expensive one will be the only one Canadians are allowed to pick. I discovered this over the course of several months after buyers inexplicably paid for XpressPost for items they were (after speaking to them) in no urgency to get. I only realized this was happening when searching for my listing on eBay and see the charge displayed in the search results. It explains why listings that were selling regularly suddenly halted for months on end. Extremely frustrating.
intimewithmusic
·2 years agoHi @cartridge-family I just thought I'd let you know that this thread and original post is from last May. The issue has likelybeen resolved and the OP probably has moved on.
Something similar happened to me a couple of times. One occasion was when telephone reps were available. Someone from Puerto rico was able to purchase a large item. the CSR told me to simply cancel the sale due to an issue with the buyers address.
Another one was a mistake I made in one of my shipping policies. I've been known to have a lot of eBay pages open at the same time. I start pulling out my hair and then remember I haven't refreshed the eBay page in an hour and the numbers were unprocessed. I've also created duplicates of a task on 2 different open pages and then saved the wrong incompleted version. My bad...;>{
One thing you could do is close your browser and open one in Incognito to look at the shipping charges/options as seen by someone who isn't using your account. Another suggestion would be to contact the original poster via the forums's direct messaging and ask how he solved the issue.
Best of luck!
PS Love the (tv like) name and look of your store!
ct-v
OP1 year agoI'm the original poster and no, the issue has not been resolved. Some of my listings still have the random glitch that switches the shipping service. I have to check my listings regularly with my location set to the US to correct the glitchy ones.
Unfortunately I doubt that Ebay cares enough to fix issues like that anymore...
byto253
·1 year agoIs your exclusion list also updated to only allow the countries you ship to? I had some stuff like that go, then realized that selecting the countries in the shipping info is not enough to block other countries from buying. It has to be done on the exclusion list.
dinomitesales
·2 years agoI can confirm the existence of some sort of intermittent shipping policy glitch. Happened to me a couple months back. It was small beans monetarily so I didn't really worry about it too much.
Sold an item that had an attached flat-rate shipping policy of $1.50 to the USA and $4.50 internationally. Buyer was in Chile but only paid $1.50 (the USA rate). Buyer's shipping address and country of registration were Chile. The shipping policy on the listing hadn't been updated in years. I couldn't explain it. Chatted with a rep on eBay for Business on Facebook and she confirmed that it was odd - I sent her links to many other listings that sold with the exact same shipping policy and she was able to see on her end that there weren't any changes to the shipping policy but she couldn't explain why the buyer paid the wrong rate. She did escalate it, and I could tell that someone was looking into it because "behind the scenes" I had new drafts being created using the listing in question as well as some of my previously sold ones I linked them too. Every week I had a couple new drafts showing, so someone from eBay was tinkering/testing something.
Never heard anything about it again, and it never happened again, so I assume it was just a one-off glitch.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·2 years ago@ct-v
Unable to confirm the listing that recently sold with the issue. You may want to do a check on the block of listings in question (a date period created) to confirm the services you applied. In looking at a number of your listings they are showing flat rate international shipping. I do know with calculated the default for international countries is USA tracked. You have to make sure international tracked or small packet air are checked off or your rates could be way out. Another way to check, if you can beat buyer to the click is to attempt sending an invoice before buyer pays. Then you will see what buyer sees when they go to pay. (you have to be quick.) Because of variation in shipping costs with international shipping your best bet would be to use calculated over flat rate but that's just my personal perspective kicking in.
-Lotz
Addendum:
In checking one of my recently created listings it appears ebay has removed Small packet air to the USA. Was unable to update to add. The order that the shipping options are arranged are bizzare. The default for USA services to International options is beyond that.
marnotom!
·2 years agoct-v
OP2 years agoGermany.
Only Germany, France and the UK are supposed to have a shipping quote. For the other European countries I don't have a specific shipping cost. I send an invoice if I have an interested buyer.
I do have at least one glitchy listing right now:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/256515916492
pjcdn2005
·2 years agoYou're using a flat rate and I would be very surprised if it was an eBay problem though anything is possible. The Violence Blu-ray is the only one sold yesterday that seems to be affected. Could you post a screen shot of that shipping policy as well as the policy for the Grave listing. Sometimes another set of eyes helps.
Customer service is rarely helpful for shipping issues so it is always a good idea to ask on the forums first for those type of problems.
ct-v
OP2 years agopjcdn2005
·2 years agoIf that is the same policy, this seems to come under the 'anything is possible' scenario. It's very bizarre and I have no idea what is going on
There are a couple of posts on the US boards that I just skimmed over about eBay changing some seller's shipping policies but it seems to relate to them making some changes to the one shipping service on the listing form on .com.
Since we have different options, it can't be the same problem. Also, the change was just made just yesterday on .com and you were having problems last week.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Report-eBay-Technical-Issues/Shipping-Policies-Changing-On-Their-Own/m-p/34472573#M126869
pjcdn2005
·2 years ago@lotzofuniquegoodies
Were you saying that you just noticed small packet USA was taken off of your listings? I still see it on the listing form so did a test and was able to add it to one of my listings. I realize that it was removed from the label page a while ago.
@ct-v
Did your policies have small packet USA on them?
lotzofuniquegoodies
·2 years agoPolicies do not work for me. Good if you set them up from the get go. Otherwise have corrupted everything each time I have tried to appy.
I tried a test on 1 current listing and when I tried to re-order the options to move tracked first it would not let me re-add small packet air. For older listings if small packet air USA stays available. From recent times when I've checked after buyer has paid it (small packet air USA) is missing as an option when you use eBay labels.. Default becomes automatically USA tracked. Problem being not every seller uses ebay labels. They still may or may not be shipping with small packet air if that is their go to.
ct-v
OP2 years agoNo, it had Canada Post Tracked Packet - USA