Lots of people lying about recieving cards

[jonos_cards]

Hey everyone

I appologize in advance if this isnt the right section for me to post this in.

I wanna know how many sellers like myself have run into problems with buyers who've said they never received an item.

So before covid started everything was going great , I've been buying and selling on ebay for about 5 years now with 100% feedback in sales.

Now covid comes along and I got about 10 people who bought hockey cards from me stating they never recieved there items.

Understandable but Canada post is delayed and shipping is taking awhile longer.

They ask for a refund and I try to stall it cause I wanna see if they get there card .

Anyways long story short

I had refined all 10 customers there money because Ebay would've went in the favour of them anyhow.

I asked all 10 if you get the card or cards can you please do the right thing and let me know so I can either get partial payment back or full payment

Outta the 10 people who got the money back 0 of them contacted me.

I'm very disappointed that I'm now out 700$ Canadian because of these ppl taking advantage of covid.

Ebay should be ashamed of themselves aswell for going in favour of the buyer during this time.

I'm so upset about it but here I am for round 2 trying to make extra money for my family in these hard times.

I think I learned a lesson though. I always provide video proof of my shipment now so they cant go back and say I never send it to them.

It's my proof for Ebay if it escalades further.

I just wish that Ebay would compensate me a little bit of the money I lost as I am now out hundreds.

If anyone can explain to me a way to get help with this I'd be very appreciative.

Sorry for my rant

A concerned Ebay seller

[ypdc_dennis]

For expensive sale protection:

In Canada ship as registered mail ($9.75 extra) which has delivery tracking for Canada.

For the USA use Small Packet Air and manually enter the number for the order as "tracking" in ebay.  Although not tracked on the Canada Post and USPS websites, ebay does have access to any scans the USPS makes.

...

My last 3 purchases (sent by Canada Post lettermail), one arrived on last day of ebay's delivery estimate and the others were 1 and 3 days past the estimate.

You could also add some days to your ship time to extend the item-not-received deadline.

-..-

[jonos_cards]

Thanks for the response . I offer free shipping with the option to split tracking 5 each.

Most cards sold are between 10-100$ sometimes higher end ones but I do track the higher ends and only ship canada wide

[esclyons]

for what it's worth , video taping, will do absolutely nothing to protect you, from an item not received claim.. only tracking will protect you.

[jonos_cards]

Even if written in description

That shipping may be delayed by the world pandemic ?

Only protection is tracking ?

I hate how Ebay goes in favor of buyer always

[reallynicestamps · Accepted solution]

Free Shipping is NOT free.

It means the seller is including the cost of shipping in the asking price.

Which is cheaper a $10 item with $5 shipping?

Or a $15 item with Free Shipping?

And which will sell faster?

There is no right answer to the question. Some buyers like the lower asking price some love "free" anything.

If you lost $700 on 10 missing items, it's time to think about using tracked shipping- and including the cost in your asking price.

You get a small discount on Tracked Packet USA and on Expedited Canada when you ship with a label from Shippo, Paypal or SnapShip(Canada Post).  The discounts are about the same and you will need a SfSB number from Canada Post.*

I probably should mention that you can also buy discounted postage stamps here on eBay *cough* which cost even less. You can then take your stamps envelopes to the PO and add the barcoded label.

This is a little unusual because I was using a postal stationery envelope and added postage.

You should also look into increasing the Handling time on your Terms of Sale. Even if you ship daily, extending your Handling time to five days or even 30 will push eBay's bots into giving your customers a later delivery date.

And there is also Cookie Jar Insurance, which just means raising your selling price by a small amount to cover the occasional loss to a Claim valid or not.

By the way, you are asking your unhappy customers to open Disputes on these late shipments? Because if someone is scamming (and probably with the current state of the postal system most are not) he really doesn't want to be on record with a lot of Claims, while so long as your respond/refund promptly to a Dispute, your account remains clean.

*You may already know this, but these Boards are also read by many who missed some of the points raised.

[jonos_cards]

Thanks for the detailed info
I have been doing this for years without problems only shipping to Canada

Since covid has happened everything went downhill

I guess I should just track every shipment like one person said its 9.75 registered mail

I also do have small business with Canada post .

Where.would I buy stamps ? What's the discounts I get and how.do I get them ??
Thanks so much everyone for the help

I hope everything works out

[reallynicestamps]

Even if written in description...That shipping may be delayed by the world pandemic ?

Nope, it is our responsibility to get the purchase to the buyer securely and promptly. Even if that means upgrading the shipping at our own expense.

Only protection is tracking ?

Yes.  Although that can be cheaper than the PO counter price.

If you tape packing something, how is anyone to know that you didn't finish the tape then unpack the box and repack it with a brick inside?

Or never put it in the mail at all?

But equally, you are not required to refund a customer who does not return an unwanted item nor if the item shows that it was delivered, even if it was immediately snatched by porch pirates.

[reallynicestamps]

Even if written in description...That shipping may be delayed by the world pandemic ?

[reallynicestamps]

Nope, it is our responsibility to get the purchase to the buyer securely and promptly. Even if that means upgrading the shipping at our own expense.

Only protection is tracking ?

[reallynicestamps]

Yes.  Although that can be cheaper than the PO counter price.

[reallynicestamps]

If you tape packing something, how is anyone to know that you didn't finish the tape then unpack the box and repack it with a brick inside?

[reallynicestamps]

Or never put it in the mail at all?

[reallynicestamps]

But equally, you are not required to refund a customer who does not return an unwanted item nor if the item shows that it was delivered, even if it was immediately snatched by porch pirates.

[jonos_cards]

Proof of shipment I mean is of me putting the bubble mailer in the post box and closing it and opening it with the card gone into the bin ...

[marnotom!]

And what does “proof of delivery” mean to you?

Your buyers are not claiming that you haven’t shipped out their cards; they’re claiming that they haven’t received their cards.

If you cannot provide evidence suitable to eBay that the buyers’ claims are bogus, they will find in the buyers’ favour.

I’m not sure what’s “shameful” about that. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[silverpinups]

"Outta the 10 people who got the money back 0 of them contacted me.

I'm very disappointed that I'm now out 700$ Canadian because of these ppl taking advantage of covid".

700.00 divided by 10 is 70.00 each. I believe with a average selling price of 70.00 that it's probably worth sending your cards with a tracking number and insurance.

It's probably best taking extra precautions now, especially when the mail is moving much slower then normal because of Covid-19.

Don't you? 

[jonos_cards]

Thanks for everyone's input
Im dealing with Ebay now about this via twitter DM

I'm gonna close up the comments but from now in its tracked (saves my butt if anything like this happens again)

Thanks once again and happy ebaying

[foppa21]

Thats unfortunate to hear. If you dont mind can you post the users who have done this? I want to block them so this doesnt happen to me. $700 in cards. Are you sending these with tracking? General rule of thumb for me is that any order over $50 needs tracking.

[loulottshobbytoy]

The only answer is Track items or take the loss.. There is not other solution.. Period.. Believe me I have been selling for many years... A lot of buyers know that and take advantage of it.. The first thing to do is check there feedback then you will know what to do..
Lou

[jonos_cards]

Thanks lou I appreciate that

[ricarmic]

This is the form letter that I use all or portions of for the messages and/or the INR claim messages to the buyer.

I'm in a different category than you (stamps), but I do have a decent % of people who pay afterward...

Hi! Thank you for your note! Your stamps were shipped as advised on Monday March 15th. Unfortunately COVID-19 related delays are affecting a lot of shipments. Some items move at normal speed or even more quickly, some like yours are slowed down significantly. A lot depends on which sorting centers are affected and for how long they are impacted. I am not sure how the postal distribution network is affected in your state/ local area (I am in Canada). 99% of the time parcels just take longer than they should to arrive, especially now. I would really appreciate it if you can wait another couple weeks or so before we decide the package is lost and I refund your money, but I will be ok whenever you decide. If it gets to the point that you think it has been long enough, please just open an item not received case and I will refund your money out of my own funds. Assuming the parcel does arrive after that, let me know and I’ll send another invoice so you can pay again (this is my full time job, small parcels like this are not insured so I am out 100% if they do not arrive). Thank you in advance for your continued patience and have a great day! RICARMIC (Ron)

[travis7s]

Also if you want, Instead of putting down "Canada Post Letter Mail", just choose "Economy Shipping. This extends the delivery time up to 19 business days, but if you have an impatient or dishonest buyer you may still be out of luck.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

Delays have gone up with letter mail because of COVID-19. The most annoying part is that it is very inconsistent, so it makes it difficult to confidently serve customers. Some orders seem to arrive within a few days, while others don't show up after 20-30 days. 

If you haven't previously faced consistent issues with items not arriving, it is unlikely that people are becoming more dishonest. It is more likely that items are being delayed because of the high volume in the postal system.

I sell DVDs, and in my experience people are very honest. Prior to COVID-19, I've had minimal items reported as not arrived. 1 in 100 might be generous. The way I see it, this is just the cost of doing business. I've confidently shipped some very expensive items untracked because my logic is that if tracking costs an additional 10 dollars, I'd have to lose at least 1 in 5 $50 items for it to make sense. That just doesn't happen. Maybe I'm just very lucky with the category I sell in, but if anything I'm grateful for how honest most buyers are that it allows me to run a small side business selling untracked items online. 

As others have said, you can make sure to use "Economy Shipping" to give buyers a more realistic time frame, and also increase the time required for cases to be opened. You can also ship Small Packet Air to the USA and manually copy the tracking code from Shippo to the eBay order. There is no acceptance scan in Canada, but once the item is handed over to USPS, there is tracking. I usually make sure to mention this to customers so that they don't get upset if their tracking code doesn't update for a few days. I've only recently learned about Small Packet Air tracking thanks to reading this forum....maybe I should have read it sooner.

Communication is very important. I send out a stock message with each item letting buyers know the item has shipped, and that if there is an issue, I'm here to try to fix it. I also offer to send them a dated photo of their letter mail item if necessary. My usual strategy before COVID-19 was to have the post office stamp each letter mail package with the date, so that I can take a photograph. This wasn't mean to help me in eBay cases, you have no protection without tracking, but if I can show a buyer that I absolutely mailed their item on the date I said that I did, they are usually more understanding about waiting through shipping delays.

Once COVID-19 hit, and I was no longer able to go to the post office, I'd include a photo of their package at the mail box. I get it is a bit much, but it at least proves to the buyer that I didn't just click "mark as shipped" and sit on their package for a week before dropping it off. 

Here is the thing about shipping from a business perspective. People will tell you to go with tracked shipping, but it isn't that simple. All shipping is, is seller insurance. That's it. If an item is worth a high of $50, you can only charge $50 for it. So, if you advertise it as shipped letter mail, and you can get it to the buyer for 2.19, that's an additional 9+ dollars that you are creating as a margin. If you do 100 orders a month, for tracked shipping to make sense, you have to be losing $900 to claims that items are not arriving. That's obviously a really simplified version, and there are more factors involved - but it shows how tracked shipping to a seller is basically insurance, and you have to do the math to figure out what your risk tolerance strategy is going to be. 

I've decided to temporarily require tracking with each order, but I know this is the wrong choice from a business perspective. It has made my items too expensive in Canada, so sales have tanked. The huge uptick I've seen in orders due to people being at home would more than cover any refunds I have to give out, but I just don't like the idea of entering into a "contract" to send something to someone when I know there's a reasonable chance they won't get it in a reasonable time frame. If I see minimal issues with my later April/early May letter mail orders, I'll try to go back to letter mail shipping. I understand that not everybody is in a position to make that same choice if their eBay store supports their family, and isn't just a side business. 

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

Just for clarification, I mean if something is worth $50, you can only sell it for:

A-$50+"Free" shipping (That actually costs you $2)

B-$48+$2 Letter Mail

C-$39+$11 Regular Parcel 

All equal $50, because that is what the item is worth, so it is what someone will pay you for it.

You can't sell it for $50+$11 Regular Parcel, because then it would be $61, and it won't sell.

If you are paying $11 each time in fear of losing the item instead of $2, you are paying an extra $9 in what basically is "item not received" insurance. So you have to decide if you lose enough in items to make it worth it to lower your margins by listing your item advertised with a tracked service. 

[zee.trades]

delays are 4-5 days max, the only way to be safe is to always ship with tracking this way the buyers can't lie or make false claims and at least you have proof which eBay tracks once you add in the # in real-time and the estimated times are precise even with delays it will re-adjust to show exactly where the package is, the only downside is tracked parcels cost more, so maybe look into a business plan with Canada post shipping, I hope this helps.