Wow - an eBay first (rant)

[marcdelpercio]

I have received two items that I purchased from eBay within the past week that had postage due. In both cases, it was just a few cents. Both items were from very reputable sellers with excellent feedback. I wonder if the recent USPS price increases were possibly not accounted for if somebody had a postage meter or software app set to the old amounts? Both items had prepaid eBay/Paypal shipping labels.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by marcdelpercio

I have received two items that I purchased from eBay within the past week that had postage due. In both cases, it was just a few cents. Both items were from very reputable sellers with excellent feedback. I wonder if the recent USPS price increases were possibly not accounted for if somebody had a postage meter or software app set to the old amounts? Both items had prepaid eBay/Paypal shipping labels.

My local USPS office, where I take my packages to ship, is getting more strict on everything. The other day they told me to quit using tape on the boxes or envelopes that are flat rate.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Leon

My local USPS office, where I take my packages to ship, is getting more strict on everything. The other day they told me to quit using tape on the boxes or envelopes that are flat rate.

That's weird - mine told me the other day that I "don't need to use tape" on the flat rate boxes. I do anyway, but I stick them in a bin, so they have no way of verbally abusing me

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by Leon

The other day they told me to quit using tape on the boxes or envelopes that are flat rate.

I'll quit doing that when their boxes start staying sealed. I've had too many incidents of packing a box, setting it to the side while I do something else, and when I go to pick it up again, the flap is sticking up. No reason to think the same thing wouldn't happen en route. I've never been one to hand over a package and "hope for the best."

[TistaT202]

sold something on eBay. packed it up, weighed it three times. even rounded the weight up and just got an email from buyer that $0.71 due. Bubble mailer that clearly met the required specs...oh well. refunded buyer $1, apologized a couple of times for the inconvenience and await their response, which I hope is positive.

I will say that I sent plenty of stuff (many in bubble mailers like the one I had a problem with) just prior to the postal rate change with no problem.

life goes on...

Mike

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by TistaT202

sold something on eBay. packed it up, weighed it three times. even rounded the weight up and just got an email from buyer that $0.71 due. Bubble mailer that clearly met the required specs...oh well. refunded buyer $1, apologized a couple of times for the inconvenience and await their response, which I hope is positive.

I will say that I sent plenty of stuff (many in bubble mailers like the one I had a problem with) just prior to the postal rate change with no problem.

life goes on...

Mike

Hope it works out and seller realizes it was not your fault. I have not sold on ebay for a while and have paypal but try to never use it. My question is when you refunded the buyer do they still get charged the $.35 and 3% transaction fee on the refund? Just curious.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Hope it works out and seller realizes it was not your fault. I have not sold on ebay for a while and have paypal but try to never use it. My question is when you refunded the buyer do they still get charged the $.35 and 3% transaction fee on the refund? Just curious.

No, not if you refund it directly from the transaction page.

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Hope it works out and seller realizes it was not your fault. I have not sold on ebay for a while and have paypal but try to never use it. My question is when you refunded the buyer do they still get charged the $.35 and 3% transaction fee on the refund? Just curious.

If you do an actual refund of a portion of the original payment, Paypal will tell you what portion of that refund is coming out of your account balance and what portion is refunded from the original fees they charged you. They refund the portion of the fees that applied to the amount you are refunding.

I'm not sure how eBay handles refunds these days though. It used to be that you got charged Final Value Fees on whatever amount the buyer paid, but when you refunded, there was no pro-rated refund of the FVF's. The reasoning was that eBay didn't know if you were refunding a portion of the item price or a portion of the shipping cost (this was before they charged FVF's on both item price and shipping). I'm not sure if it's still that way or not though now that they charge FVF's on everything. I haven't taken the time to dig through my invoice to determine.

[slidekellyslide]

I just got one back in the mail yesterday and I also got a letter from the post office that sent it back...the letter clearly states it must be 3/4" OR in a rigid mailer...which it was in!!!!! My brother called the post office that sent it back and they said it's not a "Rigid mailer" if they can bend it 2 inches...I checked the mailer and sure enough they bent the damn thing in half when it has a "Do Not Bend" sticker right on the package. The place I order these 6 x 8 envelopes from calls them "Rigid mailers".

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

I'll quit doing that when their boxes start staying sealed. I've had too many incidents of packing a box, setting it to the side while I do something else, and when I go to pick it up again, the flap is sticking up. No reason to think the same thing wouldn't happen en route. I've never been one to hand over a package and "hope for the best."

Yeah, that seems like a ridiculous request to demand. I tape over the seals on every Priority Box & Envelope that I send out. No reason I should make it easier for somebody else to rifle through the package.