i sell on ebay.ca. Buyers keep cancelling Help

[femmefan1946 · Accepted solution]

Since buyers can't cancel without asking you*, what reasons are they giving?

Is it shipping cost?

That was my first thought wen I looked at your current listings.

Which is cheapest?

A $3 item with $12.50 shipping?

A $12.50 item with $3.00 shipping?

A $15.50 item with Free Shipping?

Free Shipping means the cost of shipping is included in hte asking price. This is tricky when you are sending parcels, because cost will vary with destination, but it is well worth while to spend some time playing with the canadapost.ca parcel rate cards. Use the Business one not the Personal.

Have you looked at your listings on a mobile device?

It's usually a shock to see how different your listing looks, and yet eBay claims that about 50% of buyers use a mobile at some point in their eBay experience.

Are you being charged for the cancelled listings?

In the older system, the seller could give the buyer a Request for Mutual Cancellation. If the buyer agreed (or ignored it) the transaction ended and both parties could leave feedback.

Alternatively, the seller could open an Unpaid Item Dispute against a slow payer. If the customer paid, no problem. If he didn't, he got a Strike which would make it harder to bid on eBay in future. No feedback could be left.

In both cases, the seller got her Final Value Fees back.

Go to your Seller Preferences and add an automatic Block against bidders with Unpaid Item Strikes. It really helps.

*Actually this may have changed recently, but go with me on this.

[diceladym54]

Thank you for the views its just that it has happened quite a few times now and is getting frustrating would you recommend I charge a higher price and include shipping, no buyer has asked shipping costs prior to bidding and postal rates are high sending from Canada to the USA. I have spoke to buyers and have agreed to cancel rather than go through the hassles of resolution, bad feedback etc. Appreciate your views.

[femmefan1946]

You commented:

 would you recommend I charge a higher price and include shipping,

I think you should consider it.

Look at your items on a mobile and see if shipping is easy to calculate. If it takes more than one click it is too much for the 'mobile' buyer, who in my opinion, is .....impulsive.

It's not a higher price-- it's the same total price, just arranged differently. And in my opinion again, the customer who will pay a reasonable price is easier to deal with than the fanatic bargain hunter who leaps on the $3 magazine bundle, without checking what shipping will cost.

You also get some benefits as a seller, since you would have automatic 5Star Ratings for shipping cost and you would not be charged shipping FVF on any S&H fee you may charge (for example on International Sales, when you start doing those). The FVF you pay on products is lower than shipping FVF.

no buyer has asked shipping costs prior to bidding and postal rates are high sending from Canada to the USA.

An important part of the consideration is that your items are bulky and must be shipped by parcel post.

Parcel post is sensitive to destination and dimensions. You should run the numbers before using Free Shipping on parcel shipments.

My own items are easy to ship by LetterPost/Light Packet, and those are close to flat rate services. YMMV.

[femmefan1946]

You commented:

[femmefan1946]

 would you recommend I charge a higher price and include shipping,

[femmefan1946]

I think you should consider it.

[femmefan1946]

Look at your items on a mobile and see if shipping is easy to calculate. If it takes more than one click it is too much for the 'mobile' buyer, who in my opinion, is .....impulsive.

[femmefan1946]

It's not a higher price-- it's the same total price, just arranged differently. And in my opinion again, the customer who will pay a reasonable price is easier to deal with than the fanatic bargain hunter who leaps on the $3 magazine bundle, without checking what shipping will cost.

[femmefan1946]

You also get some benefits as a seller, since you would have automatic 5Star Ratings for shipping cost and you would not be charged shipping FVF on any S&H fee you may charge (for example on International Sales, when you start doing those). The FVF you pay on products is lower than shipping FVF.

[femmefan1946]

no buyer has asked shipping costs prior to bidding and postal rates are high sending from Canada to the USA.

[femmefan1946]

An important part of the consideration is that your items are bulky and must be shipped by parcel post.

[femmefan1946]

Parcel post is sensitive to destination and dimensions. You should run the numbers before using Free Shipping on parcel shipments.

[femmefan1946]

My own items are easy to ship by LetterPost/Light Packet, and those are close to flat rate services. YMMV.