eBay

dutchman48 · ‎10-19-2017

Sale price $3.95 with free shipping sent other lettermail at a cost of $1.80 postage.

Came back with address crossed out and Moves Sticker from Canada Post.

Contacted buyer, says address is correct and please resend.

Told him I can't due to having to pay shipping again.

What would you do?

esclyons · ‎10-19-2017

i had that exact thing happen, a buyer bought 2 small items, a day a part, i sent them both separate, one came back, with a postal yellow sticker on it, no one at address. i wrote the seller- confirmed address, and i reshipped. i ate the shipping, it wasn't the buyers fault it was the post office's fault.. it is up to the seller to get it to the buyer. take it outta cookie jar..

ricarmic · ‎10-19-2017

Yep I do the same thing, it is pretty rare and comes out of the cookie jar...

dutchman48 · ‎10-19-2017

I have 4 on my desk right now.

Has any one ever tried to get the money back from CP?

dutchman48 · ‎10-19-2017

@ricarmic wrote:
Yep I do the same thing, it is pretty rare and comes out of the cookie jar...

I just called Canada Post and was told to send it with tracking as they will do nothing about it period

Anonymous · ‎10-19-2017

Canada Post could have add tacking number to all mail service like USPS.

dutchman48 · ‎10-19-2017

Unfortunately tracking does not always mean delivery either.

reallynicestamps · ‎10-19-2017

I take it the $1.80 was your cost and you used Free Shipping?

You should know that Free Shipping means the cost of shipping should be included in the $3.95 you charged the buyer.

So your actual selling price was $2.15.

Less 10% for eBay fees= $1.93

Less 30 cents + 2.9% for eBay fees= $1.57.

Less your time and your procurement costs and your packaging.

I had a similar problem last week, but my markup and Cookie Jar Insurance allowed me to reship for free ($22.47 in shipping costs). The buyer had apologized for his mistake since he was out of town on a family emergency. (Amazing how buying on eBay will kill your dog, crash your truck and make your wife run away. Worse than a country song.)

Since you can't prove delivery on an untracked item, if the buyer got grumpy and made an Item Not Received dispute, you would lose and get a defect if you didn't

refund in full OR
resend the purchase with tracking ($$$$$)

I'd go for attaching a picture of the returned envelope and asking if he wants a refund instead. If he doesn't , take a look at your Seller Dashboard and see where you are in terms of Defects, etc. Then decide if it is worth another $1.80 to reship.

A small coffee at Tim's is $1.54.

lady.stark · ‎10-20-2017

@reallynicestamps wrote:
I take it the $1.80 was your cost and you used Free Shipping?

You should know that Free Shipping means the cost of shipping should be included in the $3.95 you charged the buyer.
So your actual selling price was $2.15.
Less 10% for eBay fees= $1.93
Less 30 cents + 2.9% for eBay fees= $1.57.

Less your time and your procurement costs and your packaging.

Since eBay fees are also on the shipping cost, the total at the end less all the fees is about $1.34 less taxes depending on where the seller lives.

dutchman48 · ‎10-20-2017

@reallynicestamps wrote:
I take it the $1.80 was your cost and you used Free Shipping?

You should know that Free Shipping means the cost of shipping should be included in the $3.95 you charged the buyer.
So your actual selling price was $2.15.
Less 10% for eBay fees= $1.93
Less 30 cents + 2.9% for eBay fees= $1.57.

Less your time and your procurement costs and your packaging.

I had a similar problem last week, but my markup and Cookie Jar Insurance allowed me to reship for free ($22.47 in shipping costs). The buyer had apologized for his mistake since he was out of town on a family emergency. (Amazing how buying on eBay will kill your dog, crash your truck and make your wife run away. Worse than a country song.)

Since you can't prove delivery on an untracked item, if the buyer got grumpy and made an Item Not Received dispute, you would lose and get a defect if you didn't
refund in full OR
resend the purchase with tracking ($$$$$)
I'd go for attaching a picture of the returned envelope and asking if he wants a refund instead. If he doesn't , take a look at your Seller Dashboard and see where you are in terms of Defects, etc. Then decide if it is worth another $1.80 to reship.

A small coffee at Tim's is $1.54.

I don't buy coffee at Tims and never have.

I fully realize the costs of selling a 3.95 item with free shipping.

I am selling stuff I have collected over the last 30 years as I no longer collect it.

I also understand the risk in sending untracked mail and what I may end up doing.

Buyer lives in a house that is over a million bucks so it is unlikely he moved with no forwarding address. Canada Post screwed up and should be paying to reship.

I am still dealing with them and if I have to refund if a claim is opened I will do so.

I do not reship at my cost when the first one came back moved. If it comes back moved again for what ever reason, I will be out even more.

a52split · ‎10-22-2017

I would peel off the yellow return label then stick the envelope back in the red box as is.

dutchman48 · ‎10-22-2017

Can't, has RTS written on envelope and circled, the address crossed, out and stamps are cancelled, as well as the yellow sticker.

rose-dee · ‎10-22-2017

Well, I don't know, for $1.80 in postage on an inexpensive item (or even for 4 of them), I think I'd just send it back and use my Cookie Jar rather than spending time doing battle with Canada Post. I doubt they'd relent in this instance anyway.

In the end, I think it depends on how valuable you consider your time in relation to the potential gain. I figure my time at a minimum of $15/hour, but then I'm a designer as well as a seller. Every hour I spend entangled in eBay messes is an hour I'm not being productive, so I have a different equation. Most of the time I consider anything under about $20 a nuisance problem to be disposed of as quickly and effectively as possible with the least need for time and effort on my part, although fortunately those occurrences are fairly rare.

ricarmic · ‎10-22-2017

Aside from the time vs reward aspect, personally I don't think this is a battle worth waging from a "getting marked" perspective.

CP will never admit this, but I have enough experience in the customer service world to know that there is most likely a way that "problem customers" are marked. Getting oneself marked for $1.80 might come back to bite one when a $45.00 claim comes through the next time.....

dutchman48 · ‎10-22-2017

I never insure through CP. Way too expensive and problematic with what I sell.

rose-dee · ‎10-23-2017

@dutchman48 wrote:
I never insure through CP. Way too expensive and problematic with what I sell.

I do think 'ricarmic' has a valid point. Getting oneself flagged as an unreasonably demanding and/or problem customer through even a non-insurance complaint (i.e. concerning delivery or CP service generally) could affect how future wholly justified complaints are handled by CP. I always feel it's best to save my customer credibility for the important fights.

We don't really know what digital facilities CP has for keeping track of which of us is considered a problem customer. I imagine they must have some sort of system to record which customers use up the most service time in relation to the monetary value of the complaint.

I agree with you that this was poor service on CP's part. It's possible it may have been an honest (or perhaps negligent) mistake on the part of the letter-carrier. While I might lodge a reasonable (one time) complaint with CP over the service, I don't think I'd want to use up my good faith bank by insisting on having a few $1.80 charges refunded.

This could be a winnable battle if you were to take it high enough and make enough of a stink, but there might be a cost to that victory the next time you need CP's cooperation over a really significant issue. There is even a term for it: Pyrrhic victory. Sometimes I think it just makes sense to minimize further losses (including waste of time) and carry on.