eBay

raphael@ebay.com · ‎09-08-2015

Welcome to the 2015 Fall Seller Update discussion thread. Myself and other eBay staff will read all your comments and do our best to respond as our schedules permit.

Thanks!

momcqueen · ‎11-25-2015

That is very odd.

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-25-2015

It is odd. I'm giving partial refunds and there was no problem with the buyer leaving feedback.

rainbow71113 · ‎11-26-2015

have you seen a feedback recently? maybe they changed it? I haven't seen feedback from anyone recently that I've partially refunded- although my ebay.com isn't showing the transactions that have been partially refunded the way it's supposed to. In the month of November I did at least 10 and only one is showing a half dollar sign. I looked back at October and September and they aren't showing that half sign either, I wonder if it's because of the split between paypal and ebay but that doesn't answer why one transaction is showing it. Does anyone else have half dollar signs in recently history?

momcqueen · ‎11-26-2015

I don't have a way to look, I haven't issued any refunds lately but I do understand the half-dollar sign icon of which you speak.

izzame · ‎11-26-2015

RE: rainbow71113 reply

Thanks for the reg. mail idea. Tried that before getting tracked packet quote, as per CP rules, reg. can only be used if it is literally "Paper" documents in the package. I even tried, so what about documents on CD format ..... has to be paper.

Also see my vent on I am a ghost thread ....... my sales have dropped over 3000.00 in 3 mths

Sorry, but I honestly feel ebay is further manipulating the servers against the small seller that got them on the map initially, in favour of the bigger, corp. new item seller i.e. Peoples Jewellers at the small sellers expense, like my self. It's almost like certain times of the day or days it's "my turn" so to say. Which also coincides with their "new business direction" as outlined in the article that I quoted. If this is the case so be it. I'd just like to be fully informed on what REALLY is going on (not being a ghost) then I'd know what I'm working with, and can change accordingly. Tired of daily feeling like I'm chasing my tail.

pierrelebel · ‎11-26-2015

"my sales have dropped over 3000.00 in 3 mths"

Please allow me to be candid. The problem is clearly your shipping charge for a single CD where you either charge Cdn$4 or Cdn$12 for something that cost less than Cdn$ 3.00 in postage within Canada by lettermail.

So you do not get "tracking" protection. So what?

Folks have been selling by mail for hundreds of years. There will always be a few losses but you simply include their overall cost as a "cost of doing business".

If you sell your items for $5 (for example) and your loss experience in the mail is 1%, you add $0.05 to the price of every $5 item to cover your losses in the mail and keep offering a low and competitive shipping rate. (If you charge $12 shipping when your competitors charge $3, of course you will lose business).

"has to be paper."

No such thing. Lettermail within Canada can be anything you want as long as the measurements (no more than 20mm thick) and weights (no more than 500g) are respected.

For shipping to the USA, you can use Light Packet (same maximum weight and measurements requirements). For a 150 gram package or envelope (under 20mm thick), the cost is about Cdn$4. The listings I checked has the correct service (light packet) to the USA.

Next time you go to the Post Office, get a rate brochure.

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-26-2015

@rainbow71113 wrote:
have you seen a feedback recently? maybe they changed it? I haven't seen feedback from anyone recently that I've partially refunded- although my ebay.com isn't showing the transactions that have been partially refunded the way it's supposed to. In the month of November I did at least 10 and only one is showing a half dollar sign. I looked back at October and September and they aren't showing that half sign either, I wonder if it's because of the split between paypal and ebay but that doesn't answer why one transaction is showing it. Does anyone else have half dollar signs in recently history?

I haven't given any partial refunds in the last month or so so I can't check either but it doesn't make sense as to why they would change that.(of course not everything ebay does makes sense to me)

I do know that very few people leave feedback now so that 'might' explain the lack of feedback from other partial refund buyers.

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-26-2015

my last reply posted twice. 😞

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-26-2015

Are you aware that 11 of your listings ship to Canada only? That would only account for a couple of possible missed sales but thought that I would mention it in case you are not aware of it.

pocomocomputing · ‎11-26-2015

@pierrelebel wrote:
"my sales have dropped over 3000.00 in 3 mths"

Please allow me to be candid. The problem is clearly your shipping charge for a single CD where you either charge Cdn$4 or Cdn$12 for something that cost less than Cdn$ 3.00 in postage within Canada by lettermail.

So you do not get "tracking" protection. So what?

Folks have been selling by mail for hundreds of years. There will always be a few losses but you simply include their overall cost as a "cost of doing business".

If you sell your items for $5 (for example) and your loss experience in the mail is 1%, you add $0.05 to the price of every $5 item to cover your losses in the mail and keep offering a low and competitive shipping rate. (If you charge $12 shipping when your competitors charge $3, of course you will lose business).

"has to be paper."

No such thing. Lettermail within Canada can be anything you want as long as the measurements (no more than 20mm thick) and weights (no more than 500g) are respected.

For shipping to the USA, you can use Light Packet (same maximum weight and measurements requirements). For a 150 gram package or envelope (under 20mm thick), the cost is about Cdn$4. The listings I checked has the correct service (light packet) to the USA.

Next time you go to the Post Office, get a rate brochure.

Old rates from 2014. New rates effective Jan 2015 are $5 for 200 gram Light Packet USA, $7 for 300 grams. Both price and weight class changed.

izzame · ‎11-26-2015

Thank you for your input. I am in the process of trying different shipping ideas. Free shipping etc. I'm going to use next month as basically a test for different ideas I have and hopefully get a formula that works going into the new year but keeping in mind that it is always a changing work in progress. Again thanks for your input

rainbow71113 · ‎11-27-2015

what works for me is catering to the US market, I put inches in my listings and if it's a word like colour I use the US version color. Little things like that seem to attract a mostly US market for me. I would say 85% of my sales are US

rainbow71113 · ‎11-27-2015

I've got an issue right now...the ebay shipping calculator is seriously undercharging. I had a $10 book purchased by an Australian, the calculator charged her $31.88 and shipping from Canada Post through paypal was $40.44. I've been trying to get the $8.64 back from ebay but am getting the run around (no surprise there). They said it was not approved after I phoned because they "couldn't find the documentation" after I spent an hour and half talking a rep through to the transaction, paypal payment and shipping paid. So copied and pasted everything into an email and got 5 responses last night.....one rep said it was a paypal issue, another said ebay does not get shipping info from paypal, and the last one actually gave me instructions on how to phone ebay...seriously!!! I have over 300 items using the calculator and they are ALL showing the same amounts for Australia. Does anyone know who is responsible for the amounts determined in the shipping calculator and what type of recourse we have when we lose money?

Another issue that just happened, I had a buyer in Quebec leave positive feedback with 1 for item not as described, so after many emails she finally admitted she made a mistake, ebay rep said they will remove defect but hasn't cleared out yet. Same buyer bought another item from me and 2 days ago left positive feedback and you guessed it...ANOTHER defect!! AND an email this morning saying that she is VERY satisfied with her items and can't wait to buy more. So called ebay and apparently the second one doesn't affect me yet, but will as soon as the first one clears out...so I have to wait and then call yet again....I think the buyer thinks 1 is positive in the ratings...but I've blocked her because I'm not going through this again. I'm losing a customer and ebay didn't think it was important enough for them to contact the buyer and give her info as to the correct way to leave feedback. After someone pays you can't report the buyer anymore which is what I would like to do- she's probably doing it to all her sellers. Just more fun and games on ebay!!

rainbow71113 · ‎11-27-2015

as I said in an earlier post, I sent guitar picks to the UK as a registered envelope. If it is lettermail you don't have to write on the outside what is in it and if you put the cd into cardboard and then an envelope, how would they know?

pocomocomputing · ‎11-27-2015

@rainbow71113 wrote:
I've got an issue right now...the ebay shipping calculator is seriously undercharging. I had a $10 book purchased by an Australian, the calculator charged her $31.88 and shipping from Canada Post through paypal was $40.44. I've been trying to get the $8.64 back from ebay but am getting the run around (no surprise there). They said it was not approved after I phoned because they "couldn't find the documentation" after I spent an hour and half talking a rep through to the transaction, paypal payment and shipping paid. So copied and pasted everything into an email and got 5 responses last night.....one rep said it was a paypal issue, another said ebay does not get shipping info from paypal, and the last one actually gave me instructions on how to phone ebay...seriously!!! I have over 300 items using the calculator and they are ALL showing the same amounts for Australia. Does anyone know who is responsible for the amounts determined in the shipping calculator and what type of recourse we have when we lose money?

The eBay shipping calculator is almost always correct and most issues are user errors or misunderstanding.

Give the listing number of the sold listing and what dimensions and weight that were in the listing and I or someone else will most likely give you the reason for the discrepancy.

The Canada Post $40.44 Can is the rate for Small Packet Air International 501 grams to 1.0 kg for Australia. The $31.88 is not a rate for Small packet Air or Light Packet since they have fixed rates and weight classes and it does not match any known flat rate in the CP table.

If I look at your listings like 150982091605 which is in US$ I see $31.92 as the shipping cost to Australia. The listing in US $. What are the dimensions and weight of the the listing? Is it 501 grams to 1 kg? That would be $40.44 C$.

From XE rates site for today

Live mid-market rates as of 2015.11.27 21:48:00 UTC.
40.44 CAD
Canada Dollars = 30.2521 USD
United States Dollars
1 CAD = 0.748075 USD 1 USD = 1.33676 CAD

I suspect that the $31.88 you mentioned is in US $ since the calculator above is very close to your number. I do not know what eBay uses as their exchange rate. Are you mixing up your C$ and US $?

rainbow71113 · ‎11-27-2015

Hello,

no, when I list lettermail to Canada or US it shows in US dollars even though I ship it in Canadian, so you are seeing that the calculator is showing $31.92 that is almost $10 short of the actual shipping and yes, I do understand that it's in US so depending on the rate you don't lose as much when the US rate is higher but if, big IF, the rates are ever equal I would get $31.92 for the shipping and have to pay out the $40.44. This is not an error on my part, I am listing items that are between 500 grams and 1 kilo and the dimensions don't really matter because they are going small packet or expedited anyway. For the item number you quoted the dimensions are 25x18x5 cm with a weight of 850 grams. Both Us and International are marked small packet and Canadian is expedited. As you can see that the shipping calculator is undercharging and in fact not charging any Canada Post shipping rate. So I would say it isn't correct, and in my 8 years experience I have yet to see it being correct. I just wish I had the time to go into 300 listings and fix all the photo issues to change all of them. I did get 5 done tonight.

rainbow71113 · ‎11-27-2015

that second defect is now counting against my account even though they said when defects were being rolled out that you couldn't get more that one defect from a single buyer. Back when they did that defect update they gave us a webpage that showed the item numbers that generated the defects, does anyone know that webpage?

rainbow71113 · ‎11-27-2015

I was thinking about your answer, so what you are saying is that the charges for calculated are technically "live" at market rates they don't follow the same rules as static shipping rates which show in US dollars. I didn't think about it that way. Thanks

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-28-2015

You can only get on defect per transaction. Since this was two transactions, each defect will count. I wonder if the buyer is using a mobile app as some sellers have said that it is easy for buyer to accidentally give a 1 instead of a 5 when using the app.

To see the item numbers, go to your dashboard and first close the new popup dashboard. Then click on your defect percentage and underneath the cancelled transactions area you will see a link for the transaction defect report.