Problem report on eBay or PayPal, Shipping charges are not loaded.

[turmelm]

Hello,

Problem report.

There seems to be a problem on eBay or PayPal.

Shipping charges are not loaded.

Since 10:30 AM this morning,

I noticed that all my buyers that selected the shipping: (Canada Post Light Packet - USA) succeeds to pay the invoice via PayPal with $ 0.00 shipping charge.

Since this morning, I issued three refund and send the invoice to the members.

The items numbers are:

Item # 170759261408

Item # 170783144836

Item # 170617280043

[artofadornment]

EEEK!!  People, please, if you are reading my replies and then going to my store to make a purchase, PLEASE don't send payment right away! Just wait for my invoice!

SInce I've been posting here my sales have increased (which is wonderful, thank you!) but so have my problems.

Every sale is an email to tell the customer about the glitch, a trip to PayPal to convert funds to $USD, send refund, convert refunded fees back to $CAD, then back to Ebay to re-invoice the item, and then enter the sale, refund, and fees in my spreadsheet. That's almost 30mins per order.

I think I can speak for everyone here: for the time being, no matter who you buy from, please wait for an invoice before you pay!

[rainbow71113]

why are sellers refunding anything.  Just send a money request for the difference in shipping charges, then you don't get paypal fees twice, also you can always refund later if they don't pay or if they want to cancel.  I had over 30 transactions with this issue and not one customer refused to pay the correct shipping!!

they see how much the shipping is when they look at the purchase page....

[rainbow71113]

Hello Artofadornment

if you want to save a step, open another window with this website

http://www.xe.com/ucc/ it's a currency conversion and then you don't have to log into paypal each time you need to do this.  and like I said, don't refund the partial payment, just invoice for the shipping.  That cancels out 2 steps for you...and you don' t need to invoice through ebay just send a money request/invoice from paypal for shipping with a description.  Since you don't have to log a refund, that saves another step...

[rainbow71113]

Hi again artof...

okay had to admit I was curious so I checked out your store....WOW you have gorgeous stuff!!  I will be purchasing something down the road as well...LOL...I'll wait until the issue is resolved first though..

[pjcdn2005]

why are sellers refunding anything.  Just send a money request for the difference in shipping charges, then you don't get paypal fees twice

I agree that it makes sense to send a request through paypal rather than refund. But,wouldn't you still pay the .30 to paypal when you received the shipping payment?

I'm a bit confused about the currency conversion, maybe I'm just having a mind block lol.

artofadornment, it looks like your listings are in $U.S. Are they automatically converted to Canadian dollars when they go into your account?  I honestly can't remember if that's how it worked when I started selling....but now the payment goes into my account in the same currency that the listing was done in. So if someone has paid in $US, I receive it in that currency and would refund it in that currency. If I am understanding your post correctly, you might want to think about changing your paypal to receive funds in that way.

[desertrosesdesigns1]

Shipping charges are not even being loaded, its comming up with free shipping, this is going to cost me

[orphanitems]

I have had the same issue, phoned Ebay this morning. They at first acted like they knew NOTHING. Then they admited they have a problem. I threatened to pull all my listings, if they did NOT notify each customer that there is a problem.

I am NOT going to refund until they fix the issue, since Paypal apparently charges a fee to refund.

Ebay did send my buyers a note, admitting they have a problem, but no time frame as to when it will be fixed.

I fear the customers will leave negative feedback thinking I am just trying to get more money out of them, and or cancel the orders!

I encourage you to phone ebay to get them to send your buyers a note, and ask if you should be refunding?

Hope this helps - I could feel steam coming out of my ears earlier today, but I think it will work out...

[turmelm]

Hints for sellers encounter this problem;

I discovered, that all of my parts listing in currency (CAD) is not affected and the shipping calculate correctly for Small Packet - USA Air Mail for the US buyers, only the parts listing in currency (USD) are affected.

You can change the currency, If nothing item was sold on your listing, the system allow to change the currency to (CAD) instead off (USD).

[artofadornment]

Good questions!

Why am I refunding?

You get charged an additional $0.30 fee whether you send the buyer a PayPal invoice just for the shipping cost, or whether you give a full refund. I have chosen to refund for two reasons:

- Buyers are ignoring my Paypal invoices (or maybe they're getting filtered as spam). One buyer claimed he was getting an error message and *couldn't* pay it (sent me a copy of the error text, and it's legit).

- If the customer gets choked about not getting free shipping and wants to cancel, all I have to do is open an agreement to cancel. The refund's already done.

- Some buyers (especially new users) might find the PayPal invoice kinda sketchy (as in, there is no Ebay record for the extra payment) and be hesitant to pay.

[artofadornment]

Er, make that *three* reasons. I can actually count, promise!

[artofadornment]

it looks like your listings are in $U.S. Are they automatically converted to Canadian dollars when they go into your account?

Yes. My PayPal account is set to $CAD by default. By doing this, as a Canadian seller getting sales in $CAD I qualify for a merchant discount on PP fees if gross sales remain at least $3000 a month. Therefore any currencies I receive that aren't $CAD are automatically converted to $CAD for me by PayPal. This way too, for each sale I get to the see exchange rate for the purchase and for the fee, making recordkeeping a snap.

BUT... when I have to do a refund, in $USD for example, I have no $USD balance to refund people from, because all payments to me are converted to $CAD automatically. To refund a US buyer I must first make a $USD balance by exchanging funds.

[gts_family]

Spain order was 72100290307

I have 2 more today #220992374149  & #320897308602

[pjcdn2005]

By doing this, as a Canadian seller getting sales in $CAD I qualify for a merchant discount on PP fees if gross sales remain at least $3000 a month.

That discount is available to anyone who applies for it if the amount going through paypal is $3000+. It doesn't matter which currency you use.

If Canadian works for you, that's great, I'm not saying that the way I do it is better. I only mentioned it as it would save you from converting the money for refunds..

[pjcdn2005]

Spain order was 72100290307

Thanks gts but I think that there is a number missing in the item number. It isn't  important that I know it  though. I was just curious as it seems that the majority of problems are with U.S. buyers so I wondering if there was something different about the shipping in that particular listing.

[rainbow71113]

aren't paypal fees based on the dollar amounts just like ebay. know a payment of $29.97 charged me $1.44 so if I were to refund that payment they would only credit a portion of the fees from paypal itself, and then if I got paid again it would be another $1.44 so isn't it cheaper just to pay fees on the shipping amount (which you normally would anyway)

[artofadornment]

It doesn't really matter isis. Let's say your buyer paid you $30 for the order (with no shipping charge included).

$1.17 fee charged on order that didn't have shipping included. When that order is refunded:

$1.17  original fee paid

$0.30- PayPal keeps from refund
=====

$0.87 back in your pocket.

You've refunded the order and sent a new invoice for $35.

$1.32  new fee on order with shipping included.

$0.30+ fee kept by Paypal from refund

=====

$1.62 total fees paid to Paypal

The other way:

$1.17 fee charged on order without shipping included

$0.45 - fee on PP invoice for shipping charge only

=====

$1.62 total fees paid to PayPal

[artofadornment]

Can anyone verify if this has been fixed yet? Haven't had any sales today that didn't ask for an invoice first.

[gts_family]

I too would like to know... set store on vacation & have 32 listing ending today kinda like to sell but still very gun shy! My buyers some anyway are not repaying the new invoices.

Big waste of time!

[pierrelebel]

Hi Isis

"so isn't it cheaper just to pay fees on the shipping amount (which you normally would anyway)"

You are correct.

If the shipping charge has not been paid by the buyer in the original payment (whatever the reason), it is much preferable to invoice the shipping charge separately than to refund and re-invoice.

While the actual fees paid by the seller to PayPal remain the same, the transactions are much less confusing, easier to track and account for, and reduce the risks of the buyer changing his/her mind and not paying the new invoice after having received the refund if the amount of the original payment is refunded.

In addition, one must look at it from the buyer's perspective.  The buyer is not at fault here. There is a possibility that the buyer may lose money on the foreign currency conversion from and to a different currency.  For example, we all know that Canadian credit card issuers charge a 5% spread (2.5% each way buying/selling) when crediting/debiting a transaction in foreign currency.  This also applies to amounts refunded. Why take a risk that the buyer may lose money?

KISS.

[rainbow71113]

Hello,

I also think that the buyer might change their mind and decide they don't want it afterall.  Let's be honest, lots of purchasing on ebay is impulse buying...LOL  If they only have to pay the small shipping charge then it isn't such an ordeal.  I know that I have gone through checkouts at the grocery store and if I forgot something I will just say, oh next time rather than go through the whole checkout again.

I hadn't thought of the conversion rates, yes that too is a big factor especially for Europeans, they seem to have a big difference on the Euro.  I know my sales go up when the Euro is a better rate.