eBay

figgythrift · ‎06-03-2024

Hi everyone,

I have had two recent international overseas sales with tracking issues. I purchase all of my shipping labels through ebay and the tracking numbers are invalid for both orders. One item was never received and ebay seems unwilling to help with this issue. They keep telling me I should have updated the tracking information.

I've spoken to three agents about this and my appeals have been denied. I don't understand the perks of buying labels through ebay (other than the discount) if there isn't any support.

Has anyone had this issues before? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎06-03-2024

@figgythrift wrote:
Hi everyone,
I have had two recent international overseas sales with tracking issues. I purchase all of my shipping labels through ebay and the tracking numbers are invalid for both orders. One item was never received and ebay seems unwilling to help with this issue. They keep telling me I should have updated the tracking information.
I've spoken to three agents about this and my appeals have been denied. I don't understand the perks of buying labels through ebay (other than the discount) if there isn't any support.
Has anyone had this issues before? Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks!

@figgythrift

Did your shipments happen to go out with Intl Small Packet Air by chance. The service is officially untracked. It does work in a limited number of countries but only on the local postal websites. If it went out tracked you can try the local postal services. Link attached.

https://www.upu.int/en/Universal-Postal-Union/About-UPU/Member-Countries

-Lotzofuniquegoodies

pjcdn2005 · ‎06-03-2024

The 'perks' of buying labels through ebay if that they are often less expensive than buying them elsewhere and your tracking number gets uploaded automatically IF the service you are using has tracking. Small packet air does not have tracking. Is that what you used? It is confusing as when there is no tracking on a service, ebay still puts a transaction number in the tracking field. But if you click on that number you will see that there is no tracking. The small packet labels do have a UR number in small print at the top. That number may work on some sites as @lotzofuniquegoodies mentioned but I'm guessing that you don't have a record of that number.

It is always the responsibility of the seller that the buyer receives the package in the condition described by the last estimated deliver date. If tracking does not show that they received it and they open a claim saying that they did not receive it, it is up to the seller to refund the buyer as per the ebay Money Back Guarantee. If there is tracking showing that it has been delivered then you would not have to refund but appealing when there is no tracking is not a good idea. You will lose and because you are forcing ebay to make a decision rather than handling the problem yourself, ebay keeps the selling fees. If you refund on your own, you do get your fees credited.

Some Canadians do ship lower cost items without tracking and many times, there isn't a problem. But when there is a problem, it is up to the seller to refund.

You definitely to need to fix your international shipping costs but I'll post about that in another post.

pjcdn2005 · ‎06-03-2024

In your listings you are shipping worldwide and your rates are for Tracked Packet USA. But Tracket Packet US ships only to the US and those rates you are using are only for the US, not for other countries.

If you are shipping to other countries you would have to use small packet international, tracked packet international and/or xpresspost. If you want tracking, keep in mind that some countries do not have Tracket Packet and that Xpresspost is very expensive. I do think that it would be a good idea to either just ship to the US and Canada at first or just ship to a few specific countries overseas such as the UK, Australia and one or two other countries. Until you have more ebay selling experience it probably best to stick to North America. Some of the countries that you are currently shipping to do not have very good mail service.

In the international section of the listing page, you can specify a destination so you would need to check off US and then choose a service for the US. Then add other international option and for destinations, check off the countries that you want to ship to and choose the method you want to ship. I'm sort of simplying it but if you need more help you can ask.

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎06-04-2024

Regardless of where you buy the label, you still need to ensure you use a tracked service with a reasonable chance of arriving on time. Buying the label on eBay or elsewhere is irrelevant to the type of shipping service you purchased.

Where people sometimes have issues with international shipping is that they offer surface shipping, or economy shipping methods that have a lot of variance in how long they can take. You have to consider that all eBay cares about is that your item is delivered before the expected delivery date (or before an item not received request is opened). Otherwise, you have to provide a refund.

There are also issues with some countries where their mail systems are unreliable in terms of tracking or meeting delivery estimates. So international shipping can come with a higher risk of a buyer opening up an INR request.

Unless you sell a substantial amount of items internationally, for the size of your store, my advice would be to stick with Canada and USA. If you do decide to continue offering international shipping, research the shipping methods available and try to stay away from things like surface shipping.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎06-04-2024

@figgythrift wrote:
Hi everyone,
I have had two recent international overseas sales with tracking issues. I purchase all of my shipping labels through ebay and the tracking numbers are invalid for both orders. One item was never received and ebay seems unwilling to help with this issue. They keep telling me I should have updated the tracking information.
I've spoken to three agents about this and my appeals have been denied. I don't understand the perks of buying labels through ebay (other than the discount) if there isn't any support.
Has anyone had this issues before? Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks!

@figgythrift

After going back and checking a few random listings it appears the OP has used flat rate and tracked USA. They might be better off and more accurate shipping costs by using calculated shipping and confirm they have chosen Intl Tracked for foreign countries. USA tracked as noted by @pjcdn2005 for USA ONLY. Tool attached to show or not show discounted rates attached.

https://www.ebay.ca/ship/prf/carrier

-Lotz

Disclaimer: The eBay choices for shipping options are poorly arranged/organized by default. Makes it super easy to choose incorrectly. Most systems are by Carrier vs by mixing and matching by speed.

femmefan1946 · ‎06-04-2024

Are you phoning eBay?
Don't.

The phone reps have a terrible reputation for getting you off the phone as soon as possible even if that means giving you the advice you want to hear instead of the advice you need to have.

Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service. Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is. Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message. It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.

 https://www.facebook.com/ebay— Message button in upper right on landing page.

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

 https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851 -> Automated Assistant, type AGENT -> enter. You will then get more options.  
The social media Chat accounts are covered by trained eBay employees with some authority.
And you get a transcript so you can compare what you heard with what you were told.

pjcdn2005 · ‎06-04-2024

If they aleady lost an appeal I would guess that either there is no tracking or the item just hasn't arrived. Contacting customer service a different way is unlikely to get a different result in this case.