I have sold and shipped several items recently, and am having some problems. I'm not sure how to do this to avoid problems in the future.

All of the products are books, and I shipped them media mail. This was a mistake, and I won't do it again. It takes too long, there is no insurance, and it simply does not meet buyer's expectations. Out of 15 packages, only 4 arrived (in a timely manner). The rest are in transit, and past their expected arrivals by a week or more.

But my problems are a combination of Ebay policies, USPS policies, and buyer problems.

Problem #1- Buyer received product, but it wasn;t what I shipped. He purchased 4 Ford shop manuals, which I packaged and sent. He received a damaged package with 2 of the books in it I sent, but 2 were missing and had been replaced with several books about midwifery. Weird huh? Anyway, of course he'd like his money back, and I am out both the money and the product. But who should be handling the damage claim with USPS? I don't see how I can follow through when he has the evidence. Plus, he received 2 in good condition.

Problem #2- Customer lost patience and cancelled the order while in transit. Media Mail takes time, and he's frustrated. I get it. But Ebay refunded his money without any input from me- tracking shows it still in transit (10 days past expected arrival date). So, he gets his money (and will probably get my product eventually), and I get money taken out of my PayPal, and Ebay closed the case 3 hours after they opened it without my response (because I did not provide evidence package had been delivered). How can I avoid this in the future?

Problem #3- USPS can't give me any further information than I can find online about location of packages, won't start a trace, and can't start a claim (no insurance with Media Mail). How can I avoid this in the future?

So, my plan is: Never ship Media Mail again, buy insurance. This may give me better handling and the ability to file a claim when necessary. But it doesn't fix the fact that a buyer can cancel an order when they loose patience, get Ebay to credit them from my account, and leave me bad feedback for a problem I have no control over. Then when the package arrives, they get it for free, and I get screwed. Plus to add insult to injury, Ebay will not refund listing fees in situations like this.

Ebay seems to have no protections for sellers, and no method to give feedback or resolve a problem once they have decided to close the case (3 hours after it opened). I have shipped promptly, responded to questions quickly, and still feel out of control. Managing the problems has taken 5 times the effort of listing and shipping the products.

What am I missing? How can I do this in a manner that makes more sense for me as a seller?

In my experience, the seller handles the claim. Especially since the buyer already got their money back.

I usually offer a few different shipping options (media mail/first class and priority, usually) although sometimes UPS for bigger stuff.

This is the reason a lot of people stopped using Ebay, because it seems comically biased against sellers.

What about problem #1 (seller received damaged goods). He has requested a refund, but I have not yet issued it.

Oh- I forgot another problem:

Problem #4- Ebay miscalculates the shipping cost when printing a shipping label. When I deliver it to the PO, they refuse because insufficient postage. I have to buy a 2nd shipping label, which generates a new tracking number. This 2nd tracking number is not in Ebay's system, so they think I have failed to ship the product. If I avoid buying postage through Ebay, the postage will be right (though higher), but their Ebay's system will not have a tracking number in it (which means I never sent it, in Ebay's opinion). If the buyer claims against me, they immediately pull money from my account. Again, not griping, just asking how I can avoid this problem in the future.

SVreX wrote: just asking how I can avoid this problem in the future.

A few years ago (around 2004) I sold a bunch (probably 200) of service manuals on eBay. Shipped them either UPS or USPS priority mail. Had 0 problems. Got out of the eBay thing for a while. Sold a few things on there a couple years ago...nothing but a headache. The USPS is horrible with their tracking. I'm still waiting for a wiring harness to show up that was shipped 3 years ago... According to the tracking it's hanging out in Ohio? For 3 years?

1 is a weird one, but I think you still would have to issue a refund and then deal with USPS.

4 hasn't happened to me so not sure about that one. But you can add tracking info manually through "My Ebay"

OK, wtf is that??

In reply to slowride:

You found the magic formatting.

Back OT, partial refund then go after USPS?

I'm probably screwed in terms of actually getting anything from USPS, because Media Mail does not have insurance on it.

But that's not really important. I'm trying to figure out the right way to treat the customer.

I've been selling on eBay since 2001. The answer is ship everything Priority Mail. Everything. Automatically insured and tracked, and actually handled by FedEx up until the actual drop. You do not have to purchase postage through eBay, you can manually enter tracking information on every auction. Unfortunately, on all of your issues, you are pretty much boned. Ebay is heavily tilted to the buyer and you have basically no recourse. I sold a collectible NIB slot car to somebody, they opened it and it didn't work so they filed an eBay claim. They kept the expensive car, and got their money back. I was out the item, the money, and the listing and final value fees, plus the PayPal fees, plus had a negative feedback. All of which happened in about 6 hours despite me listing the item accurately, shipping the day following the end of the auction, using Priority Mail, and having a delivery confirmation. You can do everything right and still get burned. I think you are going to end up out the products and money on all counts this time...

The easy button is to not sell on eBay. I sold a lot of stuff recently by posting it in forums that are centered around the items I'm trying to sell.

Issue the first: refund the buyer for the cost of the two books. Ask him to provide photographic proof first though. You take photos to USPS, then fill out their claim form and wait forever to get reimbursed.

For the second issue: you are most likely screwed on this one. For the future: if it fits, ship flat rate priority mail. Comes with tracking. Charge the increase to your customers. They get it in 2-3 days and you can throw the tracking number at ebay if they cancel the order in transit. That should be good enough for them to not auto refund the buyer.

Problem 3: don't ship media mail. Make your customers pay for the added security and speed of priority mail.

For the last one: Flat rate priority shipping. Or buy postage at post office and add tracking number under your sold listings tab. You have to add it to each one individually, but that is cheaper than using ebay's horrible shipping calculator.

ebay has been evolving very anti seller policies over the past few years. My best advice is not to use it at all, but I understand the ease and ability it offers. My best advice, is anything that fits in flat rate priority boxes should use those. Quick, insured, tracked.

After getting burned so many times by not being able to charge realistic shipping prices, or getting entirely wrong items and getting no response or care from ebay or sellers, I won't even search or buy on ebay anymore. It's so cute that "this charge, that is entirely realistic, doesn't match the companies offering free shipping, so you're trying to rip the buyer off" seems to be a favorite message that I see. Apparently, I should be spending money to sell people things. I didn't know that's how buying and selling worked, seems like all these places are ripping me off if I look at it from ebays point of view.

only ship priority mail with tracking and insurance or another service.

i've been selling little bits here and there that i know ebay is the biggest audience for. i weigh them and figure out the shipping to the farthest point away from me in the lower 48(i put in san diego, i assume you'd put in seattle or something similar) and base it on that. or i list it for what i want plus the shipping cost and then just say free shipping. i had a hitch that sells for $439 with free shipping from everyone on ebay, so i listed it for $435 and it was sold within a week.

Like Pat, I factored all my shipping to Beverly Hills 90120 because I could remember that zip from the dam show.

I always "sold" the shipping with the sentence:
Wrapped, packed and insured with tacking numbers to any Continental US address for $XX. XX

Figure the price to Beverly Hills and round to the nearest $5 to cover tape and time

slowride wrote: This is the reason a lot of people stopped using Ebay, because it seems comically biased against sellers.

Is there a viable alternative to flee-bay? ( something national, not local, like the list of Craigs)

ebay is just not worth the time to sell on anymore.. unless you are a huge seller in china

mad_machine wrote: ebay is just not worth the time to sell on anymore.. unless you are a huge seller in china

I still use it occasionally for large items like cars and motorcycles. It can be a hassle, but the size of the audience is hard to ignore. A lot of times, even if the auction doesn't meet reserve, you still have the exposure and contacts to make a deal outside of eBay.

Only 20% of the US population lives in rural areas. For those of us who do, selling oddball things locally (like foreign car parts) is not a option.

Like it or not, EBay appears to be the only option, even if it's joy factor rivals that of a sharp stick in the eye.

slowride wrote: OK, wtf is that??

You led your statement with a "hashtag"

At least in this forum the hashtag indicates the beginning of a title. i.e. bold, color, and a larger font.

slowride wrote: OK, wtf is that??

You led your statement with a "hashtag"

At least in this forum the hashtag indicates the beginning of a title. i.e. bold, color, and a larger font.

I hate hearing all these negative stories about eBay since I'm about to attempt to sell off some gear there.

I suppose it's a trade-off. Deal with eBay and losing 10% of your sale price and possibly the full amount, or deal with the difficulty of Craigslist and possibly accept a lower price.

You're not locked into ebays shipping estimates.

Ship insured, always. It's your insurance, you are the one to invoke it and start the claim.

Get and keep the shipping receipt.

If you took paypal as payment, make sure you meet their requirements for protection.

Expect to loose, regardless of what protective steps you take.

In reply to IndyJoe:

Not really, at least not that I'm aware of. I've been using the LetGo app and Bookoo.com recently, but those are both local for the most part, and I'm not sure I shouldn't just be using Craigslist.

Everything you want to sell has a forum with a trading/for sale section.

It might take a little bit of leg work on your part to find them and meet their selling requirements, but that time maybe less than eating the loss on your merchandise and ebay's fees.

Or it may not. Depends on you and what you have for sale.

I sell a lot of video games on eBay and ship exclusively in flat rate boxes. Pricing is always accurate because of the flat rate, tracking and insurance are included. Solves your problems 2, 3 and 4. Knock on wood, but somehow I've never been burned as a seller on eBay in the 100+ sales I've done. I'm sure my luck will run out eventually though.