Hello all, I was wondering if anyone else here sells on ebay.com and can help me with a question?

 

WhenI list an item for sale I am asked to fill in the box "Cost" under the "Give buyers shipping details" section. The box contains a maximum value I can enter. The problem being that this value is calculated as if I am shipping from within the US, so is far less than my actual shipping costs.

 

So although I clearly state in my listing both my location and shipping costs to various locations, buyers in the US using the automatic checkout system are paying the incorrect shipping (too low). Is there anyway around this problem? Can I somehow prevent auto invoicing?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is costing me dearly (some items I'm selling at a loss once I've paid the P&P!).

 

TIA

Hi , I am a newish ebay seller so i can't personally answer your question...but i have contacted eBay with my own queries via their customer services (It's like a skype thing) and they help you immediately if they can. Hope this helps

Thanks for the reply, I can't find a customer services option other than telephoning the states! Do you have a page link? TIA

 

OK, I've found it, its not available now until (out of hours)

Edited March 9, 201312 yr by phillyDaveG

I will get back to you in 5-10 mins with the details.

You could sell on ebay.co.uk...

Ok ...If you click on CUSTOMER SUPPORT(Top Right  of main page screen)...then highlight your problem (e.g fees/billing)...you will see on the Right of your screen 'CHAT WITH US' click on that then you can speak to them live...24/7 service.

Good Luck

You could sell on ebay.co.uk...

 

Yes John, however that vastly limits the available buyers. You can get UK listings to show on the ebay.com site, but they don't come up on the listings, only in search results, and then only if there are less than 10 "hits" on ebay.com.

I didn't realise you were selling on US eBay....but surely you can still use UK eBay to answer you question .

I didn't realise you were selling on US eBay....but surely you can still use UK eBay to answer you question .

 

It's a question specific to the US site, so I think I need to try to contact them. Tx for your help.

Yes John, however that vastly limits the available buyers. You can get UK listings to show on the ebay.com site, but they don't come up on the listings, only in search results, and then only if there are less than 10 "hits" on ebay.com.

 

I've never understood that - I sell on ebay.co.uk, I have loads of non-UK buyers - especially from the US, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Mexico (and all over Europe of course).

 

Depends what you sell, I suppose. I just sell rare records, don't bother with anything else really.

Edited March 9, 201312 yr by john s

I think I used to get round it by just using the description box to give postage costs after describing 45 for sale.

 

ROD

I think I used to get round it by just using the description box to give postage costs after describing 45 for sale.

 

ROD

 

 Yes Rod, I'm doing that. The problem being. EBay automatically sends an invoice at the end of the auction, and many people click the "Pay Now" button on this invoice and pay with the incorrect shipping. It's not very good customer relations to then send them an email telling them they haven't paid enough because Ebay wont let me put in the correct shipping details!  I can't see a way of turning off this auto checkout invoice when using Paypal.

I didn't seem to get that problem Dave but it is a while since I sold on there.

 

I guess you could add in BIG LETTERS dont pay by auto checkout. Wait till I contact you.

 

ROD

Hi Dave, you could change the postage option to 'heavy and bulky items', which on the UK site anyway leaves the postage cost blank, just list the postage costs into the item description, it means you will have to manually send an invoice for each sold item tho'...

THIS MIGHT HELP

KEV

 

Edited March 9, 201312 yr by kevinsoulman

Thanks Kev, seems like a common problem without a proper solution thus far. I tried Ebay customer service, about as much use as a fart in a wind tunnel.

 

They basically said that there is no way to enter the correct shipping amount and no way to stop buyers paying this wrong amount (this was after US customer services said contact the UK, then when I did that, the UK CS told me to contact the US customer service lol)

Edited March 9, 201312 yr by phillyDaveG

Yes John, however that vastly limits the available buyers. You can get UK listings to show on the ebay.com site, but they don't come up on the listings, only in search results, and then only if there are less than 10 "hits" on ebay.com.

The biggest problem listing on UK eBay is having to trawl thru mountains of boots and so called re-issues .

The trick when using USA or .com ,is to ensure you choose the right wording when listing .. Northern soul ..45 etc at the front of your sale

..it is a glorified search engine and unless people are searching for a particular item ,the majority are searching by using words like northern soul / soul / funk / records / 45 etc etc .

You can sell on UK and select worldwide listing option ,so correctly listing should increase your chances of being seen .

But back to your original question ,you could use the drop down box in postal costs and choose one of the higher options ?

I set mine at $10 but its not really sufficient if a overseas bidder wins

Oddly USA sellers are putting $50+ for usps express which is extreme IMHO

That said ,if you get a quote from a UK courier outfit for sending express to Europe ,you'll get a shock !

when you write a description of your record ( or anything else )

put the right postage in big red letters £s & $s on the first line and tell people  to always wait for an invoice,

most people who buy 45s know the score about postage anyway,

i've hardly never had any trouble. just the odd one,

joe.

seems to me like if ebay wanted to solve this problem they could just make you use your country of origin site, something which I always worried about being introduced when i sold a lot on there.

 

one thing ive never got tho - if you sell from the UK via US ebay and use a UK trackable postal service, if there is a problem such as the buyer lies about receiving the record, does the UK trackable service still hold the same credence as i the US one for paypal claims? 

 

never had this happen but again always feared it might come up one day and i lose £400 or something due to a technicality 

seems to me like if ebay wanted to solve this problem they could just make you use your country of origin site,

 

Seems to me if Ebay REALLY wanted to solve this problem, they'd just let you enter the correct shipping amount!

Things are going from bad to worse. I sent out a number of  invoices,  (for shipping dicounts) . Some of these went to UK buyers, and for some unknown reason, one of them went was received in French and another in German! Beginning to think this is all too much like hard work.

There are different ways to deal with this, but no really good solutions. What I do is: 1) under shipping i choose "Freight: large items over 150 lbs." 2) and then check the box below "Other freight service". When buyers check the shipping costs, they will be asked to read the item description, and then you just make sure to put all info in the item description.