| Author |
 Replies: 14 / Views: 1,893 |
|
|
Valued Member
United States
118 Posts |
I just had a bunch of auctions end last night and most everyone paid right away so I packed them up and shipped them off as parcels this morning. As I was adding tracking numbers I was checking which went where and noticed I was offering expedited shipping, meaning priority mail to the tune of $5.85! I looked at the rest of my sold listings and they all said it! I always ship as parcels unless it's something large or expensive. It was 2.07 but must've just went up to 2.32. There must've been a carry over from an old listing I was offering priority shipping on that got added to this batch of auctions which were pretty much bullion related silver coins that sold at my starting price which was for slightly over melt plus enough to ship them as parcels. The typical auction was 4 low end mint state 1960's Washington quarter for 18.00 A rookie mistake I guess, even though I've been buying and selling on ebay for over 10 years. I've been doing damage control all morning, contacting all my buyers and explaining what happened and hoping they don't crucify me when it comes to feedback and DSR's I've already heard back from one buyer, he said no problem so maybe my butt kissing technique will satisfy the rest of them, I hope so :) What would you do under these circumstances, I'm thinking most of the buyers didn't even notice the shipping was supposed to be priority, I didn't! Would you let the seller off the hook or crucify him? |
|
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
Since you are offering free shipping, there should not be any problem with buyers since they did not directly pay for a specific shipment method. You tend to run into problems when you charge the buyer for one shipping service but ship with a cheaper method, essentially hitting the buyer with a hidden handling fee.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
2124 Posts |
If the shipping was free, as a buyer I won't complain if the shipping method is not expedited.
As a seller, I think I would have sent the packages as a parcels (cheaper) without contacting every buyer because maybe some buyer will find an excuse to leave a negative feedback or open a case.
Good luck!
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
4618 Posts |
I did the same thing with a group of listings a few months ago. I sent the coins as they were listed even though I lost money. I always ship the way the listing reads. If even one of the customers thinks you didn't ship correctly they can give you a negative and you're stuck with it. Depending on the number of coins you sold, if enough of your buyers give you a negative, ebay can suspend your account. The problem is that ebay is trying to make things "easy" for the seller by giving you a default shipping and return policy. I clicked on it to see what it would do for me and didn't like the way it worked. What I didn't realize was that once I had clicked the selection, all of my sales listed after that used the new policy. I had to go back in and cancel the selection to return to my regular shipping and returns. It's up to you, but once the auction ends ebay requires you to honor the listing details on shipping and some buyers are more than happy to report a seller if they feel they got less than the listing offered. As for me, I wouldn't and haven't given anyone a negative on ebay. I have always worked with buyers and sellers in case of a problem to make sure that I keep my 100% Feedback rating and I don't want to hurt someone else that makes an honest mistake. That said, if I felt that a seller tried to put something over on me or didn't follow the listed shipping method, I would report it to ebay and let them handle what happens with the sale. Ben ANA ID: 3203813 - CONECA ID: N-5637 Clean a coin that may be worth collecting? Please DON'T! When in doubt, leave it dirty!! 
|
|
Valued Member
 United States
118 Posts |
I did send them all as parcels before I realized the listing said I was shipping priority. I've heard back from 2 buyers now saying no problem so maybe I'll get out of this with my 100% positive feedback intact but I've dealt with some unique individuals on the bay, you just never know.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1130 Posts |
As a buyer, I wouldn't care. Hopefully it will work out.
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
I wouldnt care as a buyer for stuff like that. If it was a couple hundred dollar coin I might be a little annoyed but not worth ruining someones discount over. Shipping them out immediately can make up for some of the time too which they may not notice. Also depending where they live the shipping speed is almost identical if theyre by a major hub and they dont get bumped off a truck for priority or express packages.
For whatever reason now when you make listings whatever your settings were for the last listing you made the new one will start with that as a default that you have change every time if you dont want it to be the same. Sometimes its nice other times its annoying after making a unique listing to set it back as before.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
I feel your pain. The wife is too busy to handle ebay sales for me now so I'm having to start from scratch. The first few listings I did ebay "helped" me by carrying over information from my 1st listing. Took a while to get things right. Almost everything I list is a unique item so it would be a lot easier if I could start from scratch instead of having to remember to change certain parts of the listing. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1130 Posts |
 That is annoying to me too. |
|
Valued Member
Australia
491 Posts |
I have found if you are open and honest and talking to your buyer or buyers that something has gone wrong they seem to come back and buy more items.
Buyers love to hear a seller talking honesty!
|
|
Moderator
United States
15564 Posts |
My view is that you should be just fine by contacting the buyers and honestly explaining what happened.
Hopeful it works out for you.
David
Take a look at my other hobby ... http://www.jk-dk.art |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
Yeah, most, if not all your buyers shouldn't have a problem with it. Common sense goes a long way. Reasonable shipping costs for smaller purchases makes sense.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
337 Posts |
I had the opposite problem. I sold a coin to Australia and missed the weight, charged $7. When I went to the post office it was much lower, so I refunded money. The buyer had no problem getting money back.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2077 Posts |
As a buyer I wouldn't mind. From my experience, first class mail usually takes the same amount of time as priority. When it doesn't, it's usually just an extra day.
I can't speak for everyone, but I doubt that for coins anyone is making a buying decision based on shipping speed. For other items, maybe.
I'd ship first class and hope that everything gets there in 2 or 3 days. If they do, no one will even pay attention to the method.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2077 Posts |
Also, I wouldn't ask the buyers in advance. Half of them won't answer right away. Then what do you do, hold the shipments for their answer?
|
| |
Replies: 14 / Views: 1,893 |
|
Posted 03/03/2014 2:42 pm
