eBay

thebarterersdog · ‎03-23-2016

I wish to point out the things I found annoying in my recent buying spree that sellers should take note and fix. I just spent $500 US on collectibles and other items I found interesting from an array of sellers from both the US and Canada. Upon receipt of my goods, I encountered the following:

1. My biggest complaint: POOR PACKAGING! Several of my collectibles arrived damaged. If all else fails, use empty toilet paper rolls, plastic bags, newspaper... something to keep the items from bouncing around in the box and destroying each other. Don't think for one moment that the Postal System gives a **bleep** about treating your packages with care even if you write "fragile" on the box.

2. Second Biggest Complaint: NO PACKING SLIP. If you are able to print off a shipping label, you sure as heck can print off a packing slip. I get in many packages throughout the day and not just from eBay. It is nice (US Sellers) to receive a packing slip in with my goods so that I can check things off quickly and process the items quickly to our clients waiting on them.

3. Third Biggest Complaint: HUGE BOX FOR TEENY TINY ITEM. Seriously? Who are you kidding? No wonder my shipping cost over $30 for a two ounce item 2" x 2".... can we say rip off? It came in a 10" x 10" x 6" box. I appreciate the thought you didn't want to crush it, but wouldn't it have been wise to at least put SOME packing with it???

Shipping costs jacked up to accommodate any low bidding results has got to stop. It's obvious as to who does this just scan through the listings.

For all the years I've been buying on eBay, these issues have remained a constant pain in the backside no matter how much I've complained.

Janet and Paul

femmefan1946 · ‎03-23-2016

treating your packages with care even if you write "fragile" on the box.

Good point.

Most users of the postal system seem to think there are a lot of people involved.

Hah!

Not since at least the arrival of the zipcode and postal codes back in the '60s.

A package will be traveling from conveyor to conveyor with electric eyes* reading those barcodes and directing the parcel from the sender's terminal to the recipient's terminal.

No the staff don't play football with 'fragile' parcels.

They drop up to two feet from one belt to another, again and again. And the parcel landing on top of that fragile package could weigh up to 50 pounds.

Football would be gentler.

Pack accordingly.

*I'm a technodolt and very very old, bear with me on not knowing the jargon.

the_d_consortium · ‎03-24-2016

Back in the 70's I had an acquaintance who worked at the PO.

Her joking was not very funny but if they had a package with fragile written on it they would make sure the one with car parts landed on top of it.

Writing the word fragile on any parcel is like waving a red flag at a bull. Don't do it.

If you really want good packing, you should buy from me.

I'm overly careful. If I hear a rattle I open it up again and add more peanuts etc. Something do get trashed, but generally it's during the winter months when the trucks have been out skidding around in the snow and visiting the closest ditch.

I do not send packing slips, computer ink is more expensive than Channel #5 and you already have a list sent to you by Paypal of the items you purchased. It is also in your ebay won list.

May I suggest you save a tree and make a folder in your email account to accommodate your online invoices?

I call mine, "Print This." I stopped printing them out years ago, it all goes into an Open Office spread sheet with a note where to find the invoice.

Easy enough to check items off upon arrival by forwarding the invoice to your self and backspacing them. If there is a problem add a note to the title, hit send and you have everything you need at your fingertips.

zee-chan-jpn-books · ‎03-24-2016

I never send packing slips because
1. toner is expensive
2. why kill more trees than necessary
3. sometimes that extra sheet of paper is what pushes the weight to the next shipping cost bracket - I especially hate it when this happens when I buy from other sellers / retailers who charged more for shipping because it ended up being a few grams over... because of a stupid piece of packing slip!

I'm also the only person at work who bothers to cut up documents that are no longer needed and doesn't contain confidential info (or I cut out the part that does contain said info and throw that bit into the confidentiality recycling) into smaller piece of papers for memo. My colleagues just throw their documents into recycle bin.

pocomocomputing · ‎03-24-2016

@zee-chan-jpn-books wrote:
I never send packing slips because
1. toner is expensive
2. why kill more trees than necessary
3. sometimes that extra sheet of paper is what pushes the weight to the next shipping cost bracket - I especially hate it when this happens when I buy from other sellers / retailers who charged more for shipping because it ended up being a few grams over... because of a stupid piece of packing slip!

I'm also the only person at work who bothers to cut up documents that are no longer needed and doesn't contain confidential info (or I cut out the part that does contain said info and throw that bit into the confidentiality recycling) into smaller piece of papers for memo. My colleagues just throw their documents into recycle bin.

I always send a packing slip because buyers need to know what the package is for when buying from multiple sellers a lot.

1) Buy generic toner to lower toner costs.

2) Since you reuse paper, go through the full sheets of scrap paper, take out all sheets where the sheet is blank on both sides for at least a half page, keep the half blank sheets, use PayPal shipping to print packing lists which will fit on 1/2 page of paper, use the half sheets to print on and include packing list half sheet in packages, cut off bottom half and recycle. No paper cost, buyer happy, planet still safe!

3) A page of paper is 4-5 grams. A half page is 2-3 grams. Canada Post will not stop a package for being 2 grams overweight as long as you do not go to the counter and have them weigh it.

I also reuse leftover paper scraps and make my own small paper pads with glue ends like real paper pads. So much paper waste. I reuse clean shipping boxes and packing materials, make my own 2 cm paper boxes for Lettermail/Light Packet with reused thin cardboard to avoid using bubble envelopes with plastic inside, make my own paper tape with cut strips from brown Kraft grocery bags and glue with white school glue, use packing paper instead of plastic peanuts. And more I can't think of. Costs me time but saves the planet a little bit at a time.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

I try to Reduce and Reuse as much as possible before doing the Recycle. Not just for ebay but in as much as I can in my daily life. Sounds crazy but a little effort helps the environment.

tobyshitzu · ‎03-24-2016

even places like best buy dont send packing slips anymore

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-24-2016

I also always include a packing slip too and usually write a personal note on it. I think that is is more professional to include one and it gives me one more chance to remind the buyer of my eBay id/store. As you mentioned, there are times when a buyer really does need the slip to figure out which seller send them a specific item.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-24-2016

@toby**bleep**zu wrote:
even places like best buy dont send packing slips anymore

Any businesses that I deal with..Staples, Canada Post, RCM etc do enclose packing slips and/or an invoice.

When you purchase from Best Buy it is quite obvious who the package came from and who you need to contact if there is a problem. If you made a few different purchases on Ebay and one of them is an item which you didn't order, you shouldn't have to sit and figure out through elimination which seller sent you the wrong item. The return label on the package usually isn't helpful as most sellers don't put their eBay ID on the package.

lady.stark · ‎03-24-2016

@zee-chan-jpn-books wrote:
I never send packing slips because
1. toner is expensive
2. why kill more trees than necessary
3. sometimes that extra sheet of paper is what pushes the weight to the next shipping cost bracket - I especially hate it when this happens when I buy from other sellers / retailers who charged more for shipping because it ended up being a few grams over... because of a stupid piece of packing slip!

Totally agree. As a buyer (and I buy a LOT), I hate it when there is a packing slip. Such a waste of paper and ink. And sometimes, this is what increase the shipping cost as you say.

As a seller, I never include one for the same reasons as you. But I do pack my items very carefully.

pierrelebel · ‎03-24-2016

" I hate it when there is a packing slip. "

You understand that - by law - Canadian sellers registered with GST/HST MUST include a receipt or invoice with the goods.

From the Canadian government: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tpcs/gst-tps/bspsbch/itc-cti/nvc-eng.html

tobyshitzu · ‎03-24-2016

bestbuy includes nothing, and their name doesnt appear anywhere on their shipping label (just something like "eastern shipping depot"). Now that they also ship directly from their stores, a single order of multiple things may result in different packages on different days from different places. If you want any paperwork you can log on and print it out yourself

dark_phoenix9273 · ‎03-24-2016

As a seller I always wrap my items in protective bubble wrap and insure they are properly placed as to not incur damage.

If you want to complain about shipping. Complain to Ebay, because sellers aren't protected, we have to use expensive features such as tracking numbers and signature required to cover ourselves as much as we can and that increases the shipping costs.

As a seller I wish all I had to worry about was the type of package a person used. I'm sorry but buyers enjoy very nice protections and should be appreciative of how easy it is on their end.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-24-2016

The OP is quite aware of how the system works as they also sell here.

lady.stark · ‎03-24-2016

@pierrelebel wrote:
" I hate it when there is a packing slip. "

You understand that - by law - Canadian sellers registered with GST/HST MUST include a receipt or invoice with the goods.

From the Canadian government: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tpcs/gst-tps/bspsbch/itc-cti/nvc-eng.html

Yeah, I know. I should have specified "when buying from other countries", because 99% of my purchases come from the US. 😉

zee-chan-jpn-books · ‎03-25-2016

@lady.stark wrote:

Totally agree. As a buyer (and I buy a LOT), I hate it when there is a packing slip. Such a waste of paper and ink. And sometimes, this is what increase the shipping cost as you say.

As a seller, I never include one for the same reasons as you. But I do pack my items very carefully.

Same, especially when I'm buying from Japan (where I do a lot of my shopping) there is a certain retailer who includes like, FIVE COPIES of the packing slip for customs or something because they are put inside the resealable labolope outside the package, and then there is one MORE packing slip inside the darn package. I don't understand why because only this particular retailer does the FIVE copies thing (the other Japanese retailer I buy from only does one copy), and to make things worse they only ship EMS soooo that extra stack of packing slip almost always pushes the shipping cost to the next bracket, which is like $4-5 more. These different sellers/retailers all package their goods differently and bottom line is they all arrive to my house without issues (some retailers, all they put on top of the package is a CN22 form that says "comic books x 10, XXXXyen" ) and they arrive without problem too, so I really wonder where that five copies of packing slip idea came from. And since every copy of it has my address on it so I can't really reuse that paper either except as scrap on the back, grrrr.