eBay

block36 · ‎07-17-2014

On July 4th I got a long and detailed message from US buyer asking if I consider to give him a good deal if he purchases 29 children books from me. He has attached the list - most were soft covered, 4 hard covered... He resides in Oregon.

I wrote to him

Thank you for your interest and detailed list.
If you buy these 29 books, I will ship the parcel for free - to Oregon the cost of this size parcel is between $33 and $60.

I think it was very fair. May be even too much?

A little later he wrote that he has altered his list and now he wants only 13 books, all soft covered... He said they are not heavy and I should not be under big expense.

I was not smart enough to say anything then.

During 3 days he has purchased 11 books only and now he sent me email asking for the total incl. free shipping.

The total comes as $86.89 and the weight before packing is 992 grams! Therefore I have to use the EXPEDITED SHIPPING to Oregon and it is $26.48

I do not think that I have to stand behind my offer for free shipping and thought I can offer him something different... the 50% cost of shipping?

All my correspondence with him and his original promise to purchase more item is on the record... How do I stand by eBay's measurements?

PLEASE express your opinions on this situation.

Thank you!

amethyst1415 · ‎07-17-2014

Send him the same message If you buy these 29 books, I will ship the parcel for free - to Oregon the cost of this size parcel is between $33 and $60.

Tell him he is more than welcome to cancel the transaction otherwise.

amethyst1415 · ‎07-17-2014

Wait, I don't understand. Most of your books are free shipping.

block36 · ‎07-17-2014

They are FREE SHIPPING to residents of Canada

mdf_jersey · ‎07-17-2014

I have had a very similar experience. Just stay polite and professional and tell him," as we discussed in an earlier mail, it was free shipping on the 29 books. We never agreed to a lesser purchase amount."

Most of the time they will agree to your shipping request. I think he or she is just trying to see if they can still get you to send it for free. Cant hurt them for trying.

amethyst1415 · ‎07-18-2014

When you look at your listings it's as though you are giving free shipping to everyone. If your buyers do not click on shipping (which why would they when it says free) then they will not know that it is a charge for everywhere but Canada.

rockp5233 · ‎07-18-2014

I think shipping cost will appear with ebayer from others countries than Canada... !!!

pierrelebel · ‎07-18-2014

That is a problem. A listing (311010871660) shows two different shipping services and rates to the same country (USA in this case). That should not be. When a seller wants to charge a rate to one country and a different rate to other countries, the listing should reflect that reality.

In this case, the "Canada Post USA Letter-post" should only be used when shipping to the USA and the "Canada Post International Letter-post" should NOT be listed as an option for the USA. It should only be used for all other countries but the USA.

Yes, it takes a bit more time to set up listings correctly but... well worth it on the long run.:

US $2.50	United States	Canada Post USA Letter-post
US $4.00	United States	Canada Post International Letter-post

pierrelebel · ‎07-18-2014

"PLEASE express your opinions on this situation."

Absorb the extra shipping costs and move on.

mr.elmwood · ‎07-18-2014

@spendmoneyhere2014 wrote:
When you look at your listings it's as though you are giving free shipping to everyone. If your buyers do not click on shipping (which why would they when it says free) then they will not know that it is a charge for everywhere but Canada.

Spend, that is a glitch that has been around for a long time. I just went and looked at the OP's listings, I looked from Malaysia. Same glitch.

I have searched, on other occasions, for free shipping to Canada. I get a whole list of free shipping, until I click on the listing. Shipping is no longer free.

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rose-dee · ‎07-18-2014

My opinion may be different than others here.

In this situation, you could send a very polite message to the buyer thanking him for his purchases, but saying that the original quote of free shipping was based on a purchase of 29 items. I'd be inclined to tell him that I would reduce shipping on a pro rata basis for fewer items on a multiple purchase.

So, for example, if the actual shipping is $26.48, the reduction would be 11/29 x $26.48 = $10.04, for a shipping cost of $16.44. You could round it off to a flat $15.00 if you wished. His "new" purchase amounts to just over 35% of his original intention.

Naturally, you have to balance this situation against the possibility he could leave neutral/neg FB. Low DSRs for shipping cost are no longer counted toward seller performance evaluation, but neutral/neg FB will be a defect.

It is unfair of the buyer to twist your arm like this, but ultimately you have to decide whether the multiple sale is worth trading for the price of the shipping and good FB. Doubtless this guy will be very pleased if he gets free shipping out of you after all, so you can guess his FB (if he leaves any) will be positive.

block36 · ‎07-18-2014

Pierre,

A while ago I have addressed the question about these two lines of shipping cost to CSR from eBay and was told that US buyers will understand the difference and will chose the proper option when paying.

To the best of my recollection it was so except once and then I immediately refunded the difference to the buyer.

The buyers other than US are getting the only option.

I think that this another case when IT people did not program the site to reflect the Canadian situation properly...

But my question about this Oregon's buyer is: I think he tried to manipulate me...

I have issued the invoice earlier today with the COMBINED shipping cost of $25.38 (taking into consideration the $$ exchange) and advised him: Thank you, XXXXX, for your purchases. The shipping cost is COMBINED. We did not have the agreement on free shipping for the purchase of 11 books, you have indicated that you will buy 29 books and then it would apply. Please note that Canadian postal form for the package of this size (over 1 kg) requires the proper phone number of the recipient, therefore please provide it in your payment note.

The request for proper phone number comes not from my curiosity or because of the postal requirement - his phone # displayed by eBay is shown as (area code)111-1111...

The number does not exist, the address is PO Box ...

All these things together leave very unpleasant feeling while I tried to be generous and acted honestly/

block36 · ‎07-18-2014

Thank you, Rose, for your recommendation.

I just sent my last note indicating my reply and other issues related to this case.

So far I did not get his reply or payment.

rose-dee · ‎07-18-2014

@mr.elmwood wrote:
@spendmoneyhere2014 wrote:
When you look at your listings it's as though you are giving free shipping to everyone. If your buyers do not click on shipping (which why would they when it says free) then they will not know that it is a charge for everywhere but Canada.
Spend, that is a glitch that has been around for a long time. I just went and looked at the OP's listings, I looked from Malaysia. Same glitch.

I have searched, on other occasions, for free shipping to Canada. I get a whole list of free shipping, until I click on the listing. Shipping is no longer free.

Mr. Elmwood, do you mean that an item listed with free shipping to Canada will also appear as "free shipping" to ebayers looking at the listing from other countries (until they actually enter their country under the "Shipping" information tab)?

I always thought that eBay could recognize the viewer's location, as opposed to what site the viewer logged into, which would in turn generate the proper view of shipping.

Am I wrong? If so, this is worrying, because it means that my U.S. buyers will see free shipping on all the items I've listed with free shipping to Canada only.

For example, if I log into the U.S. site and look at my item # 161356646305, I see "free shipping", but I'm wondering if my buyers located in the U.S., will see that on eBay.com? That's a pretty nasty glitch, if so. It will seem rather sneaky to a buyer to lure him/her with free shipping, but once the purchase is made, have a total owing plus the applicable shipping.

pierrelebel · ‎07-18-2014

Rose-Dee.

When looking at http://www.ebay.com/itm/311010871660?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_sacat%3D0%26_fro... from Brazil for example, you will see "FREE SHIPPING" in the image at left. That is what viewers see.

If I move to the USA, I will see:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/311010871660?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_sacat%3D0%26_fro...

This is not a new problem.

pierrelebel · ‎07-18-2014

I should have added when viewed on eBay.com

mr.elmwood · ‎07-18-2014

@rose-dee wrote:
@mr.elmwood wrote:
@spendmoneyhere2014 wrote:
When you look at your listings it's as though you are giving free shipping to everyone. If your buyers do not click on shipping (which why would they when it says free) then they will not know that it is a charge for everywhere but Canada.
Spend, that is a glitch that has been around for a long time. I just went and looked at the OP's listings, I looked from Malaysia. Same glitch.

I have searched, on other occasions, for free shipping to Canada. I get a whole list of free shipping, until I click on the listing. Shipping is no longer free.
Mr. Elmwood, do you mean that an item listed with free shipping to Canada will also appear as "free shipping" to ebayers looking at the listing from other countries (until they actually enter their country under the "Shipping" information tab)?
I always thought that eBay could recognize the viewer's location, as opposed to what site the viewer logged into, which would in turn generate the proper view of shipping.

Am I wrong? If so, this is worrying, because it means that my U.S. buyers will see free shipping on all the items I've listed with free shipping to Canada only.

For example, if I log into the U.S. site and look at my item # 161356646305, I see "free shipping", but I'm wondering if my buyers located in the U.S., will see that on eBay.com? That's a pretty nasty glitch, if so. It will seem rather sneaky to a buyer to lure him/her with free shipping, but once the purchase is made, have a total owing plus the applicable shipping.

That is what I am saying.

I opened a different browser. I was not signed in. I went into the Malaysia site. I searched by seller for Block. Block's listings, came up, not all, as free shipping. I clicked on the "FREE shipping" listing and then the $4 to Malaysia appeared.

I first became aware of this when I went into .ca, selected "ships to Canada", then I selected "free shipping". Dot ca brought up the appropriate products, ship to Canada, FREE. Then, when I clicked on the listing, the free went away and was replaced with everything up to inflated GSP.

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pjcdn2005 · ‎07-18-2014

@pierrelebel wrote:
That is a problem. A listing (311010871660) shows two different shipping services and rates to the same country (USA in this case). That should not be. When a seller wants to charge a rate to one country and a different rate to other countries, the listing should reflect that reality.
In this case, the "Canada Post USA Letter-post" should only be used when shipping to the USA and the "Canada Post International Letter-post" should NOT be listed as an option for the USA. It should only be used for all other countries but the USA.

Yes, it takes a bit more time to set up listings correctly but... well worth it on the long run.:

US $2.50
United States
Canada Post USA Letter-post

US $4.00
United States
Canada Post International Letter-post

Pierre, I don't think that it is possible to change that when using 'worldwide' and when using specific services and I don't think that in most cases it causes a problem as the buyer is only going to see the first price...which is usually the least expensive...unless they click into the shipping tab.

I'm aware of a couple of ways to get rid of that extra U.S option. I choose the worldwide option but use generic terms such as standard intl shipping and because the U.S. and other international countries have stated the same method of shipping (but different prices) only the proper price shows up. If specific terms such as U.S. letter mail, International letter post are used..then both prices will show to the U.S.

Or..

Instead of choosing worldwide, the seller can check off the various countries/continents such as Europe, U.S. Japan etc...That way, the U.S. isn't considered part of the 'worldwide' option. But then some countries such as New Zealand do not show up.

I'm referring to listing on .ca of course. Perhaps someone else knows of a different way to do it.

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-18-2014

I think that we are talking about a number of different things here.

I'm going to guess that spend is not changing their location when looking at block's listings or may not be refreshing the page because when I look block's listing as a U.S. buyer and put in a zip code, I see the current shipping price.

I just tried what you were referring to and it does seem to happen on some sites if the buyer is not signed in. I also think that the same or a similar thing will happen on .com and .ca if their is no postal or zip code entered. I just quickly looked at it though and I didn't always get the same results.