Question for eBay sellers

Laurie

Hi - this question is for Fabbers who are experienced eBay sellers. I go through fits and spurts on eBay selling clothes, bags, and shoes. Recently we've been getting rid of household/electronic stuff - e.g. HVAC thermostats for a furnace we recently replaced, Microsoft keyboard, etc. I'm amazed how quickly some of these items sell! They're in the $50-$100 range, plus shipping. With the travesty of the USPS lately, packages have been taking forever to be delivered in some cases, so one buyer requested a refund. He was within his rights as indicated by eBay - within the number of days after something is supposed to arrive, but does not, you can request a full refund. I could see in the USPS tracking that the package had made it a few hops, but then was just stuck at a processing center. For three weeks! So, I refunded him (plus shipping!). I filed a missing package report with USPS who was like, sorry, yeah, thanks for letting us know so we can do better in the future...

This morning I was alerted that the package has reached its destination and will be delivered today! I cannot find anything on the eBay website about what to do in this situation. I have contacted the buyer, asking him to reinstate the payment, but haven't heard back and doubt I will.
Anyone had a similar experience? Any trick on actually getting to a human at eBay for help?
I've never had any problems shipping before December 2020. I have my eye on another shipped item that has been in limbo now for over 2 weeks.. fortunately, the buyer hasn't complained yet.

4 years ago

Off Topic

12 replies

Latest reply was from Janet

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Oh yikes. I have not had this happen, but I have been selling some things on Poshmark and eBay lately. I wish I had some good insight for you but I don't -- only commiseration. I am anxiously tracking a large print I sent to a customer over a week ago, that was supposed to be on a two-day priority schedule. Fortunately she seems to be understanding. I feel sorry for the postal workers -- I know they are stretched to the limit and can only do so much. (My local office is extremely short-staffed, I was chatting with my favorite cashier there and he hasn't had a vacation in two years, he's dying for one!)

4 years ago

SarahD8

Veteran

Oh, that's frustrating Laurie! I both buy and sell on Ebay and I have had that package hangup happen in both directions (an item I bought, and an item I sold) in the last few months. In both cases it eventually sorted out. In the future, if a buyer requested a refund I think I would use whatever Ebay process there is to try to stall in hopes that the package showed up before you were required to issue the refund. In the current case, I'm not sure what to do. There are Ebay seller forums, right? You can't be the only seller to have faced this problem recently. I wonder if anyone else has written about it.

4 years ago

Eva

Active Member

I am not an experienced Ebay seller (only buyer) and also not in the US, but I think I've read that all Ebay payment in the US is via PayPal?
So if both the payment and the refund were PayPal transactions, you could probably contact PayPal directly and ask them to refund the refund.

Sorry if I'm way off here... anyway I hope you can get your money back!

4 years ago

Laurie

Veteran

Thanks so much for the commiseration. So - I finally found a place to have a live chat (they realllllly make you work for that) on eBay, and they suggested trying to resend an invoice thru PayPal, and gave me a link with instructions. Hopefully the buyer will be a stand up guy and pay me once he receives the item.

Janet - both stalled packages got stuck at "southern Maryland distribution center". I didn't have a lot of luck actually determining exactly where that is, or how to reach them, and the responses to my filed complaints were perfunctory, however I was able to sign up for text alerts on the tracking number. I hope your print has no trouble arriving. I mean, the good news is that after going into a black hole for three weeks the package started moving again.

I will definitely ask the buyer for patience if this happens again, and promise to refund if after a couple of weeks there is no movement.

4 years ago

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I hope the buyer cooperates!

Funny aside: the weirdest experience I ever had with eBay was years back when I sold a Desigual skirt. After the winning bidder paid and I shipped it out, the buyer messaged me and said it didn't fit (even though I provided measurements), and they wanted to return it for a refund (even though my listing clearly stated "no returns"). I pointed out the "no returns" on the listing and expressed my sympathy for them that it didn't work out, but remained firm that the terms of the sale had been met.

Lo and behold, a week later the skirt showed up back at my house! I looked all through eBay's policies and couldn't find anything at all that would indicate I was obligated to give them a refund...so I didn't. I ended up donating the skirt. Oh well!

4 years ago

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

I have sold on Ebay and the shipping is the most stressful part. I suggest you contact ebay and see if they have any suggestions but I have to say I haven't found them incredibly helpful to the seller. Lots of commiseration for your frustration though!

4 years ago

MsMary

Veteran

I would suggest re-invoicing and perhaps waiving the shipping fee (or giving a discount if shipping was included). It might make him more likely to pay.

4 years ago

Kate

Veteran

I’ve sold a fair amount on ebay, but nothing during the holiday season. As a buyer I did experience a month-long delay in receiving an item I’d ordered as a Christmas gift. I’d ordered early, so I didn’t contact my seller until my package was about 10 days beyond it’s promised arrival date. He tracked it on his end and apologized for the delay. It finally arrived in early January. You get plenty of commiseration from me!

If it happens again, try to stall. Fingers crossed your buyer will be an upstanding sort and pay up.

4 years ago

Anonymous

As an EBay buyer I have gotten used clothes that sometimes have been altered sometime along the way and this was not mentioned it is very possible that the seller did not know it was shortened or taken in or whatever. I just stopped shopping on EBay and donated most to a young mother who is just scraping by with two disabled little boys and a husband with adult ADD.

4 years ago

Mary Beth (formerly LBD)

(website)

Veteran

After ten years, I'm easing out of eBay. In the last couple of years, they started changing the algorithm to boost and favor sellers who are offering free, same-day shipping, and free returns, to compete with Amazon. Other sellers were complaining about this, and the back half of 2019, I saw my sales drop drastically. I don't sell on Etsy, but I've heard similar things from the long-time, very popular sellers there.

The general attitude of both platforms seems to be, "just raise your price to cover the shipping", but if I do that, the platform is basically taking an extra cut of shipping money.

These days, I'm all about Poshmark, and I'm hearing good-ish things about Depop. Has anyone tried them?

On another note, I had a similar eBay experience as Joy - but on the seller side. I listed an XS Victoria's Secret beach caftan dress, with all of the measurements, including shoulder width, and hips (noting how far down from the waist the hip measurement was taken). I listed the dress at $35, but took an offer of $20, figuring it's a pandemic, and people are being careful with their money.

I got this very hostile claim filed against me that the dress had obviously shrunk and how I concealed it, etc. Y'all. I would NEVER do that. I list every detail of every item I sell. And the dress was an accurate XS, for the brand. I wore Victoria Secret clothing from the late 1990s until they stopped making it after the recession in 2009/2010. I wore this dress when I was a size 2, and it fit me. (Those days are loooong gone).

I was dying to come back with a snide remark about vanity sizing, and about being realistic about one's measurements... but I did not. And the cherry on the sundae was, I tried to refund the money immediately, and kept getting a website error. So I had to track down someone at eBay to help me (which is probably not unlike getting the Vatican to pick up). I finally got a real person, and talked to him to make sure my feedback wouldn't take a hit, and got the person's money refunded - once she sent my dress back (I paid for that shipping). I was still getting automated nastygrams from eBay, then it seemed to sort itself out.

But seriously, that was the most stressful $20 I have ever attempted to make, and the entire experience has really done me for eBay.

4 years ago

Laurie

Veteran

So many stories!
I rarely purchase on eBay, mainly I sell. And not much. I go in spurts after I pile some things up. It's such a pain to photograph stuff, research and list, etc.. But it is fun to get rid of things! Nothing more satisfying than packing up and shipping out.It's been particularly satisfying to sell these household things.
Happy to report that the Microsoft keyboard arrived to its destination exactly one month from the day it was sent Priority 2-Day, I managed to have a livechat session with someone from eBay who pointed me to the PayPal invoice instructions which were very easy, and the buyer paid me within minutes of receiving the new invoice. Excellent outcome, and I really appreciate that buyer being so prompt.

4 years ago

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I think I’m done selling clothes on eBay — Poshmark seems so much easier! But eBay is still doing well for me for non-clothing items like vintage collectibles. I recently sold a Sprite can I found in my old attic for $52! And a dinky little magnetic wheelie toy from my childhood called a Wheel-o sold for $16. But it’s a crapshoot — other items I would think would be more useful keep getting relisted because they didn’t sell. At some point I’ll give up and donate them.

4 years ago

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