eBay

rocketscollectibles · ‎11-17-2021

Just a dilem i have when i have a combined order of multiple items that are $60-75+ cause i'm basically charging and shipping with lettermail. I don't wanna take the risk to have an INR claim over a certain price, but at the same time taking a $15-20 lost for tracking is as well very high in percentage and does not makes sense too. I can't charge buyers for tracking cause i would not be competitive and would not sell those items

Just wondering what do you think about splitting the order and ships lettermail in two packages?

Do you think it could be badly perceived by a buyer?

Do you think it could make sense as risk/reward and that false INR cases are less likely to happen if a buyer receive two packages, might not take a shot to claim two in a row

Also i guess that if i drop two packages with same address at the same time in a mail box, in theory they should reach destination at the same time together?

rocketscollectibles · ‎11-20-2021

premature INR conversations

Thing is that i set my listings with standard shipping, so my shipping time is 1-12 business days. Lettermail is 4 business days so i'm very safe. The worst would be that they do not arrive together because one is delayed and buyer think i forgot half the order, and message me about it. But yeah thinking about it this could bring me negatives i might should contact them

marnotom! · ‎11-20-2021

@rocketscollectibles wrote:

Just because Amazon does it that way doesn't mean you have to

Amazon was just used as an exemple that it's not something as uncommon we could think

My advice still stands. It's not always the wisest move to follow what your competition is doing, particularly if they're doing it for a different reason than you are. Amazon has about four dozen warehouses in Canada. If you order several items from them, they may end up shipping out of different warehouses. You only have the one warehouse.

rocketscollectibles · ‎11-20-2021

I don't really understand your point. You basically only saying i should not do what others do, but i'm not doing it because others doing it, as you said yourself i'm doing it for my own reasons. All i said quoting amazon is that it's not something as uncommon we could think, i never said i'm doing it because amazon doing it

marnotom! · ‎11-20-2021

Yes, you have your reasons for wanting to handle your shipping this way, but then you use your competition as justification for it.

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎11-20-2021

I only ship two packages lettermail if the size of the order necessitates it. For example, let's say it's a lot of 4 DVDs. They can be shipped in two packages with 2 DVDs side by side for 3.19 each, along with another .25 cents for the extra bubble mailer. That means the cost is $6.63 for lettermail.

Generally to ship them all together, in a worst case scenario, I'd be looking at at 15+ dollars for tracked shipping to Western Canada. More if it is rural. That is even with my Canada Post discount. Which means that bumping those orders up to tracked shipping isn't viable. That is why sometimes it is justifiable to ship in two packages. The buyer gets their item made available to them with a cheaper overall cost than if I only did tracked shipping in one package.

I do include a note in my listings that orders shipped Economy may go in two different packages. Additionally, I also be sure to let the buyer know when I send them their shipping confirmation message. I also include a polite note in each package letting them know that their order was split across two packages because of size limitations, and that they may arrive on different days. Some people do not view eBay messages. That way, they don't think I forgot part of their order.

As far as splitting packages to combat INR cases, it makes no sense to me. If a scammer is going to scam you, they are going to do it whether or not you send it in one or two packages. They will just make two INRs. Add in the fact that it is more likely that they are not a scammer, and you risk needlessly inconveniencing a customer to do something that doesn't actually protect you from INRs.

If you're worried enough to spend the extra 2-4 dollars to ship in two packages, you should probably just spend whatever the marginal difference is for tracked shipping. If tracking is $15, and you're otherwise going to spend $7 on two lettermail packages, since you were going to spend $7 anyways, the marginal cost of tracked shipping is $8, not $15. At that point, is it worth $8 for self-insurance?

Another thing you can do is check the feedback profile of a buyer. If you view both their feedback as a buyer AND their feedback left for others, you will sometimes get an indication that they are a problem buyer. Looking at the feedback left for others is important. If you see a high ratio of feedback left for others (compared to feedback received) that has an issue, like their item never arrived, it might make the buyer appear more high risk - and you might opt to pay the extra for tracking when you otherwise would not have.

Generally, at one point you're going to either get scammed, or lose packages to genuine INRs. It's a cost of doing business. There isn't much you can do to protect yourself from it other than using tracked shipping when you are selling an item for an amount (or to a buyer whose profile) that makes you uncomfortable with the risk. Your entire approach with INRs is just managing risk to make yourself the greatest amount of profit. You have to accept that the risk is there and packages will go missing (both genuine and not genuine).

kawartha-ephemera · ‎11-20-2021

@ilikehockeyjerseyscomment beginning to end has nailed it for you @rocketscollectibles . The only circumstance that warrants splitting shipments is that outlined above by hockeyjerseys. In my experience that situation doesn't come up much anyway but when it does I always consult with the buyer first before splitting a shipment.

rocketscollectibles · ‎11-21-2021

Yes, you have your reasons for wanting to handle your shipping this way, but then you use your competition as justification for it

I don't. This is not a justification, i just quoted amazon to say it's not something that uncommon. I wonder if you will make me write it a 4th time at this point

If you're worried enough to spend the extra 2-4 dollars to ship in two packages, you should probably just spend whatever the marginal difference is for tracked shipping. If tracking is $15, and you're otherwise going to spend $7 on two lettermail packages, since you were going to spend $7 anyways, the marginal cost of tracked shipping is $8, not $15. At that point, is it worth $8 for self-insurance?

As said i do not have to spend any extra to split the package. Those orders cost me between $1.50-$3.00 depending of how i package. Two packages cost me 2x $1.50 pretty flat. Tracking is around $15 and was around $18 for this specific order, without even count the packaging, so was more around a 15%+ loss

As far as splitting packages to combat INR cases, it makes no sense to me. If a scammer is going to scam you, they are going to do it whether or not you send it in one or two packages. They will just make two INRs

This is something i don't understand. Many saying this like it's 100% sure and confirmed, while it seems to be something debatable and probably no one have any concrete idea of it. It makes sense to me that some would simply not want to claim both to avoid to look suspicious. That's my opinion. But anyone really have shipped lettermail into two packages and got scammed in this scenario enough to know that when there's one INR, both are? Cause everyone answers looks like it

Anyway i'm sorry i'm a bit tilted from this thread. I repeat the same things over and over and some also just throwing me random arrows. Thank you all for your answers and time, actually i'm just gonna do my own experimentation and have my own conclusions. I have 0% INR in close to 100 sales in a supposely high fraud category, i guess my anti-scams methods are not that dumb. If i see a INR raise from those $50-100 orders i may start considering tracking

ricarmic · ‎11-21-2021

As a note, I have had multiple INRs from one buyer, it was a buyer in Russia, all were lettermail sent within a short timeframe. They accomplished this because they bought them couple days apart and my long time policy of blocking all INR buyers (except repeat customers) hadn't been tripped yet because all were on their way before the first INR was received. I very much believe that was a scammer.

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎11-21-2021

There is nothing in eBay's system to stop a scammer from opening an INR when they were sent multiple packages. I don't understand how sending in two packages stops that. It just seems more expensive, inconvenient for a buyer who statistically is more likely not to be a scammer.

If there is no tracking, INR=refund regardless of the amount of packages sent, or amount of individual transactions. A buyer can blanket you with multiple INRs and without tracking, you will be forced to refund to resolve each case. There is nothing stopping this, other than maybe shame, which someone scamming you already is unlikely to be worried about.

eBay does nerf the accounts of INR scammers from time to time, but it seems to take a very high ratio of INRs, and MULTIPLE sellers reporting the buyer. Multiple packages won't really play into this.

I am not calling your methods dumb, but there is such a thing as confirmation bias. If you send a buyer two packages and you don't get scammed, it doesn't mean you didn't get scammed because you sent two packages. It's unlikely the buyer would have scammed you in the first place.

As far as my other comment, I agree with you that from a business POV, tracking does not make much sense because it works out to being a very expensive form of insurance for the seller, nothing more. What I am saying is, if you are worried enough about a transaction to be splitting the package because you think that might combat INRs, at that point you might just consider purchasing tracking. I am not advocating tracking overall, because it's cheaper to lose packages to INRs than it is to pay for tracking.

reallynicestamps · ‎11-23-2021

more about if you guys tought it was acceptable to ship lettermail two packages for one order. And also as anti-scam purposes (cause to me someone could claim one INR, but less likely both, to avoid to look suspicious)

The value makes a huge difference here.

If these were $1.00 cards, a scammer would be unlikely to make two disputes.

If these wear $100.00 cards, the scammer would be just as likely to make two disputes as one.

But it depends on the mindset of the scammer.

Is he in it for the money- planning to resell?

Is he in it for the thrill of cheating and winning?

Is he in it to hurt the seller- personally?

There's probaby a doctoral thesis in there somewhere.

zee-chan-jpn-books · ‎11-24-2021

@rocketscollectibles wrote:

Just wondering what do you think about splitting the order and ships lettermail in two packages?

Simple. Add a note to each package letting the buyer know that the other half will be arriving in a separate package, as they might arrive in the same day at the same time. I also send them an eBay message advising that after I shipped. I have done something similar for like a 500g + 100g package, which is a few dollars cheaper than shipping 1000g.

It's ultimately up to your own loss / risk tolerance.