eBay

barbsplace66 · ‎03-07-2015

I had a buyer email me last week to buy 5 post cards and requested combined shipping, I am familiar with the cart disconnect issue ebay has on the Canadian side , so I sent a message to customer providing him with two or three different options, option #1. if he purchased the cards individually I would provide any partial refund on the shipping, or option 2, if you provide me with the transactions I will set up a new ebay listing to include price of all the items and combined shipping, my third option would of been to pull the cards and list then on the United states side, later that night he emailed me saying he called ebay and that my listings were not set up to combine well I am one of those unlucky sellers that has to deal with this cart disconnect issue, and I have called Ebay on many occasions and all I hear is there is no date when it will get fixed. this only effects a few buyers a week as I do business daily with US buyers,

Couple of days later buyer messages me back saying it would be a hassle and that he would pass, yesturday I received another message that he really want these cards and that If I guaranteed Air Mail buyer would follow through with purchase, I had to email him back to let him know that Air Mail would cost more then the items you are purchasing however buyer returned message he would pay the extra money, I then sent him the price of shipping and price of cards etc, did not hear from buyer til yesturday and so buyer then sends me all the transactions, thought things were running smoothly now, I then removed the cards so no one else would buy them and prepared a new Ebay listing at my expense to include the price of cards and air mail shipping cost, sent buyer a confirmation ebay message that here is a transaction number and that will be your new invoice to pay on ebay, I also confirmed everything in the email that this invoice was for 5 cards and price of air mail at buyers request, , now tonight buyer sends me another message that he wants to make sure he is protected, All buyers are protected but now I am seeing a red flag would you follow through or block this buyer

femmefan1946 · ‎03-07-2015

As a postcard seller, I am confused about your belief that Air Mail would cost more than the cards.

Do you mean ExpressPost or some other rapid service? A lot of LetterPost and LightPacket mail actually travels by air.Perhaps most.

I don't think I would block him.

I probably would set up a new listing with the cards described and the appropriate shipping service and price.

I'd use Fixed Price and probably Good Til Cancelled.

And I'd put his name as the title. This is easier for him to find than a transaction number.

Then I'd let him know what I had done, and give him a deadline, probably four days since he is so scatty.

If he doesn't bid in that time, then he goes on the Blocked Bidder List and the title changes to something more saleable.

The guy has been indecisive enough that any need for speed is pointless. If he had bought when you first started discussions, he would have the cards by now, even by regular old lettermail. But if he really is willing to pay for the faster and tracked service, it's his money.

At worst, since the closed listings are in your Unsolds, it will take seconds to relist them if he doesn't go for the combined lot. The cost is your time* and maybe $1.50 tops in fees for the closed listings, probably less. Will your profit be enough to cover that?

*The ON minimum wage is 18 cents a minute. If you want to grasp of what 'time is money' really means.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-07-2015

Your buyer could have also signed into .ca, used the cart here and then requested an invoice.

The buyer does sound a little wishy washy and those buyers are sometimes a problem later one but I would probably still follow through.

You said you were charging more for postage so you must be using tracked packet or expedited? If so, then you will have delivery confirmation so in that respect you are also 'protected'.

barbsplace66 · ‎03-07-2015

Hi, I have the listing set up for light packet air, and had told the customer that the package would go air even if he did not want to pay for air mail service because the total of cards is $6.00 and the shipping is higher than the price of cards but that is s not the problem as that is the service he requested, at first I thought this is why he wanted air mail so that he would get his cards faster but he keeps stalling as it now has been 7 days,

barbsplace66 · ‎03-07-2015

Hi pjcdn2005, having customers sign into the Canadian side does not work for most buyers, this is what ebay use to tell me back in 2013 to advise my customers back when the card disconnect issue first started, most customers want a fast easy transaction so I have had to work around this issue for quite some time, and I have also tried listing cards on the states side but stopped doing it as it created more trouble in the shipping area as most buyers do not read full descriptions and realize I am in Canada and of course it would take longer for items to get to there location, many US buyers are not aware of this glitch, and when a customer contacts ebay they are never informed that this is an ebay glitch instead they are told that my combined shipping is not set up, every time a customer mentions this I am on the phone to ebay and every time they review the listing in question they confirm that I have it set up to combine, I even try to assure my customers by having them view the wednesday weekly board sessions as this topic comes up weekly,

maggiebvintage2010 · ‎03-07-2015

Hi barbsplace66, I am interested in your comment that signing in on .ca doesn't work for most buyers. Can you elaborate on why that does not work? Is it because the buyers don't want to bother, or is there some weird site issue that prevents users not located in Canada from using the .ca cart?

barbsplace66 · ‎03-07-2015

Hi, I have had some buyers try this option to go on the Canada side and see if they can add the items to their cart and then send a request to combine, it either says the item is not available or they have to pay individually or it also says I do not offer combined shipping which is not the case as I have had many listings checked by ebay and indeed I had my listings set up to combine and that it was a glitch with the shopping cart with no time frame of when it would be fixed, this does not happen to every US buyer as I do sell daily to the United States with combined shipping and no problems, however over the last year I have had many customers pass on the sale as it really is a big inconvenience or they feel it is a hassle. some customers are so understanding that they take the time to send me a message with all the transactions and I then revise with a new invoice for them which will be combined for all their items and those transactions run very smoothly with no issues,

mr.elmwood · ‎03-07-2015

I don't understand why these would have to go Light Packet. Can't they go in an envelope that will fit through the 20mm slot?

Maggie, I would guess that Americans would not generally log into another site as they view it as a scam. Americans are quite isolationist.

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rose-dee · ‎03-07-2015

@barbsplace66 wrote:
Hi, I have had some buyers try this option to go on the Canada side and see if they can add the items to their cart and then send a request to combine, it either says the item is not available or they have to pay individually or it also says I do not offer combined shipping which is not the case as I have had many listings checked by ebay and indeed I had my listings set up to combine and that it was a glitch with the shopping cart with no time frame of when it would be fixed

Oh yes, the "cart disconnect" issue is a mess in my opinion too. I've been banging my head against a brick wall at the Wed. board sessions on this issue, and you're right -- there is no ETA yet for a fix, after months of "disconnect". The eBay.ca staffers say the problem started when "Immediate Payment" became obligatory, which may be true, but why that was introduced before they knew everything would work together properly is beyond me. The EBay people say it's the U.S. cart that is also the problem.

However, to be honest, although the eBay.ca staffers say otherwise, I'm not convinced that even the Canadian cart is functioning perfectly.

I offer "buy 5, get free shipping on the whole order" as a discount shipping rule. Just today I did a test: I logged onto eBay.ca using my other ID, put 5 items from my store into the cart (which should, according to my combined shipping discount give free shipping for the whole order), and guess what? It didn't work. I checked every single item in the cart to make sure they were showing my shipping discount, and they were (individually). Yet the total still showed the accumulated shipping charge. I even tried the next step -- "Proceed to Checkout" -- and got the same result.

If anybody can point to something I'm doing wrong, I'd be happy to know, but there seems no reason why those 5 items shouldn't produce free shipping. Since I've now put up a notice in my store directing U.S. buyers to log onto eBay.ca to complete their multi-item purchases, I'm concerned, like you, that many will try, fail, and just go away, never to return!

Here are the two screen shots from my test. The first shows the 5 items in my .ca cart, with an $11.65 shipping cost total. The second shows what I see when checking each single item under the "Shipping" tab -- the promo appears, but seems to disappear when it comes to the cart.

Really, this is getting beyond just a glitch! EBay.ca says it affects very, very few Cdn sellers -- I'm not so sure. What it will do once word gets around is turn U.S. buyers off from purchasing from Canadian eBay sellers.

(Same thing showing for each of the items above when I checked them):

barbsplace66 · ‎03-07-2015

Hi Mr. Elmwood, your absolutely right this was for a standard size letter mail envelope which would fit through the slot no problem and I am aware that most items going to California from my location would be air mail and was first listed for just $1.35 US for standard letter mail of 5 paper post cards, this customer sent me back an email saying he would follow through with the purchase if I sent these cards by Air Mail so I provided him with this new rate at his request., Well now he has paid for the item but sends me another message and changes his tune again this is basically what he said "I have paid for my items, send the cards out today now he insists on a tracking number, totally different price expensiive shipping cost, and my post office is closed, this is after at least 5 messages confirming his instructions on delivery, so now I have emailed this customer very calmly this afternoon that the shipping you rare now requesting dies not include a tracking number just a signiture only and that If he felt unsure with this transaction I would gladly refund his money immediately as that would cost alot more to have a tracking number,may I note this customer has been on the site longer them me not that this matters but my feedbacks provide enough to show I am not a scammer but will go out of my way to assist any customer, Now I may be looking at my first defect when all I was trying to do is make this easy and smooth for my customer as I do for every buyer I have, Mr. elmwood your absolutely right with buyers who are asked to go to the Canada side to purchase their items quite often feel it is a scam transaction this is a perfect example of a customer who is feeling scammed for absolutely no reason after all he called Ebay twice with this transaction.

barbsplace66 · ‎03-07-2015

Hi Rose Dee, I too have run those tests, I know exactly what you are going through, I have spent countless hours working around these issues for well over a year, I had an earlier thread started on the discussion boards back when it first started to happen in 2013, I was given countless reasons from ebay but never a date when it would be fixed, I receive regular messages from my buyers monthly with every aspect of your detailed message,

femmefan1946 · ‎03-07-2015

but sends me another message and changes his tune again this is basically what he said "I have paid for my items, send the cards out today now he insists on a tracking number,

Light Packet has a number when printed through Paypal.

It's not a tracking number, just an internal Canada Post tracking thing, but sometimes that satisfies the customer.

In this case, either he is a little loopy or he is trying to scam you.

Given the usual price on your cards, that's a pretty low level scam. Maybe he knows something you don't?

Put him on your Blocked Bidder List in either case. Too high-maintenance.

rose-dee · ‎03-07-2015

Thanks so much for that, you don't know how important it is to me to know that I'm not out there alone in coping with this.

I feel I've been profiled now as some kind of special (nut) case by the eBay.ca staffers for complaining about the cart issue constantly. Raphael has minimized the issue by insisting it affects so few Canadian sellers and has said it is "my problem" to fix, by using the 'workaround' of listing my items on the U.S. site (which I think is just short of ludicrous). I don't think it's my problem -- I think eBay created this problem, and eBay should have fixed it long ago.

Meanwhile, my multi-item orders to U.S. buyers have dried up, and I think you have a point when you say that U.S. buyers may smell a scam if we suggest they log onto eBay.ca to complete their purchase. It's a no-win situation all around.

barbsplace66 · ‎03-07-2015

Mr. Rose Dee. I have had the same things said to me by Ebay and 100 percent agree with you that it also has effected some Canadian buyers of mine, I use to keep a record of every issue etc in hopes of resolving it myself, and I even set up special listings on the states side now these were color coded back grounds so that I knew immediately if they were listed on the states side, had one of my regular buyers try and purchase on of the cards that were listed on the states side nope would not let him, called ebay stayed on the phone while they checked my side of the listing while we were both on the computer it was concluded that my listing were indeed set up to combine, yet that regular buyer can no longer buy any of my cards whether he is on the Canadian site or the States side, at that point ebay said there was nothing they could do to fix it, I can guarantee also that many buyers go looking into these items try to purchase them and have problems and hit the back button, I have encountered this well over a year.

rose-dee · ‎03-07-2015

By the way, I agree with 'femmefan' regarding your vacillating buyer -- if he hasn't paid already, I would just take the special listing down, then block him, and put the items back up later.

You'll be losing a (potential/possible) sale and the (minor) cost of re-listing, but you may avoid a defect and a case, which in my estimation are worse outcomes for a smaller seller.

Thanks for all your input on the "cart disconnect" problem. I think the reason the eBay.ca staff isn't hearing from more Canadian sellers on this issue is because they've probably all given up in frustration and are tired of getting the same useless responses.

(EDIT: Oh dear, I'm sorry, I just noticed the post above, saying he's paid and you've already mailed the items. All you can do now is keep your fingers crossed and keep sending him very friendly emails. Best of luck!)

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-07-2015

I have had some buyers try this option to go on the Canada side and see if they can add the items to their cart and then send a request to combine, it either says the item is not available or they have to pay individually or it also says I do not offer combined shipping which is not the case as I have had many listings checked by ebay and indeed I had my listings set up to combine and that it was a glitch with the shopping cart

If it says item not available I am sure that they are still signed into .com and using that cart. They have to sign into .ca and then use the cart from this site.

When I add 6 of your items to my cart on .ca there is no shipping discount showing but I can use the link in the cart to ask for you a total. According to your listings the only shipping discount mentioned is that you give free shipping for 15 or more items and when I add 15 items and then click on checkout, the shipping was free. Unless you have some other shipping promo that I can't see, it looks as if the cart is working fine on .ca.

I know that there are some glitches on the U.S. cart even when the items are listed on .com so I'm sure there are glitches on the cart here too but in this case, it seems to work fine.

I agree though that it is an inconvenience for buyers to have to go to .ca to use a cart and most U.S. buyers are probably not going to contact you at all so that you can tell them that. I am guessing that you get a lot of buyers who do purchase more than 1 postcard. You do use flat rate shipping rather than calculated shipping so If I were you, I would slowly start relisting my items on .com. It will probably take a while to get it done but then buyers on both .com and .ca could use the cart. It's not an ideal solution but you might want to consider it as it could take a long time before ebay sets up the .com cart to work for .ca items.

barbsplace66 · ‎03-07-2015

Hi Femmefan1946, the cards he purchased are ones that I have sold many duplicates, just basic 1960 chromes, only one card was earlier and it was a scenic view of park trees, I was stumped for a day or so as I wondered why he would want to pay more for the shipping then the cards and can not block him now as I have received payment so I will ship the way the invoice was set up and confirmed in a handful of messages and prey I don't get a defect all due to a cart disconnect issue,

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-07-2015

@rose-dee wrote:

Oh yes, the "cart disconnect" issue is a mess in my opinion too. I've been banging my head against a brick wall at the Wed. board sessions on this issue, and you're right -- there is no ETA yet for a fix, after months of "disconnect". The eBay.ca staffers say the problem started when "Immediate Payment" became obligatory, which may be true, but why that was introduced before they knew everything would work together properly is beyond me. The EBay people say it's the U.S. cart that is also the problem.
However, to be honest, although the eBay.ca staffers say otherwise, I'm not convinced that even the Canadian cart is functioning perfectly.
I offer "buy 5, get free shipping on the whole order" as a discount shipping rule. Just today I did a test: I logged onto eBay.ca using my other ID, put 5 items from my store into the cart (which should, according to my combined shipping discount give free shipping for the whole order), and guess what? It didn't work. I checked every single item in the cart to make sure they were showing my shipping discount, and they were (individually). Yet the total still showed the accumulated shipping charge. I even tried the next step -- "Proceed to Checkout" -- and got the same result.
If anybody can point to something I'm doing wrong, I'd be happy to know, but there seems no reason why those 5 items shouldn't produce free shipping. Since I've now put up a notice in my store directing U.S. buyers to log onto eBay.ca to complete their multi-item purchases, I'm concerned, like you, that many will try, fail, and just go away, never to return!
Here are the two screen shots from my test. The first shows the 5 items in my .ca cart, with an $11.65 shipping cost total. The second shows what I see when checking each single item under the "Shipping" tab -- the promo appears, but seems to disappear when it comes to the cart.
Really, this is getting beyond just a glitch! EBay.ca says it affects very, very few Cdn sellers -- I'm not so sure. What it will do once word gets around is turn U.S. buyers off from purchasing from Canadian eBay sellers.
(Same thing showing for each of the items above when I checked them):

As I mentioned before, that rule will only work if you put 5 items into the cart that do not already have free shipping. I tested that again today with the .ca cart and added 5 of your items which normally do have a shipping charge. After I added the 5th item, it showed free shipping for all of the items.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-07-2015

Hi Mr. Elmwood, your absolutely right this was for a standard size letter mail envelope which would fit through the slot no problem and I am aware that most items going to California from my location would be air mail and was first listed for just $1.35 US for standard letter mail of 5 paper post cards, this customer sent me back an email saying he would follow through with the purchase if I sent these cards by Air Mail so I provided him with this new rate at his request.

Lettermail and light packet air are sent exactly the same way so charging more for light packet wouldn't benefit the buyer in any way.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-07-2015

@barbsplace66 wrote:
Mr. Rose Dee. I have had the same things said to me by Ebay and 100 percent agree with you that it also has effected some Canadian buyers of mine, I use to keep a record of every issue etc in hopes of resolving it myself, and I even set up special listings on the states side now these were color coded back grounds so that I knew immediately if they were listed on the states side, had one of my regular buyers try and purchase on of the cards that were listed on the states side nope would not let him, called ebay stayed on the phone while they checked my side of the listing while we were both on the computer it was concluded that my listing were indeed set up to combine, yet that regular buyer can no longer buy any of my cards whether he is on the Canadian site or the States side, at that point ebay said there was nothing they could do to fix it, I can guarantee also that many buyers go looking into these items try to purchase them and have problems and hit the back button, I have encountered this well over a year.

I didn't see this post when I wrote my first post to you so didn't realize that you already tried to list on .com. I do list on both sites and my listings on .com can be put into the .com cart. I don't have combined shipping set up but buyers can send a request to me through the cart to ask for an invoice. As I said earlier, there are some glitches with the U.S. cart but I still do think it would work better for you to list there. Perhaps the problem that you, the customer and the rep saw is now fixed.