Expected shipping times and payment times

berryblondeboys

berryblondeboys

Member
Sep 30, 2007
2,743
0
#1
I'm fairly new to selling, but I feel that people's expectations are WAY out of line sometimes, but maybe it's me? I had 80 plus auctions in a 10 day span... That's a LOT of packaging and such. At the bottom of my earlier auctions I stated that I can only ship once a week, so please be sure to pay promptly as I ship on Tuesdays. (Auctions were ending on Saturday and Sunday). No problems... I get everything out, people say I was quick with shipping and all is going well. Well, one auction ended on Sunday and the gal didn't email me, I had to email her on Tuesday about payment, so I can get it out to her. She said she would pay in a couple days. She pays on Friday, Dec 14th in the late afternoon. Now, I have several other packages to get ready, my auctions say I ship on Tuesdays and I ship priority. Also, we just all happen to come down with the flu. Well, I just now get an email saying "I paid 6 days ago, where's my package and tracking"... Nowhere did I say I use tracking (and I think USPS tracking is a total waste of money since they don't really "track" it) and I did ship on Monday - a day earlier than stated on my auctions and only one shipping day after she had paid. She's not happy with me... And I'm not trying to be rude or confrontational, but isn't an expectation to ship THAT MINUTE out of line? I had to wait 5 days for payment... can't she wait a couple days for shipping? I'm just so afraid I'll get negative feedback for no reason. I sometimes HATE the whole feedback thing, because it's SOOOOO easy to get offended or to offend someone for NOTHING on ebay and I'm constantly living in terror that I'll anger someone, but I'm a stay at home mom and I just CAN'T hop to the post office every five minutes!
 
#2
Hey there -- unfortunately, whether or not you think tracking is a waste of money or not, as a seller, it's your responsibility to provide tracking to the buyer. If they claim they didn't get the item, eBay/PP will side with them if you can't provide tracking for your item. Sorry you've got an impatient buyer.
 
#3
lorihmatthews said:
Hey there -- unfortunately, whether or not you think tracking is a waste of money or not, as a seller, it's your responsibility to provide tracking to the buyer. If they claim they didn't get the item, eBay/PP will side with them if you can't provide tracking for your item. Sorry you've got an impatient buyer.
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That I understand, but it still doesn't seem reasonable to me that people expect shipping the minute they pay. ESPECIALLY for those who don't pay right away or even TELL you that they aren't paying right away.

I need to start charging more for shipping too because with insurance, tracking and priority mail, I'm losing my shirt. Yet people start screaming if they have to wait...

thing is... if I buy through an online store, it's not tracked 99% of the time - or insured.
 
#4
Yep, don't feel bad about charging more for shipping. I've been charging more for shipping too. Postage has really gone up! But you do save a little bit (free delivery confirmation) if you print out postage from your computer. International postage is especially high these days.
 
#5
lorihmatthews said:
Yep, don't feel bad about charging more for shipping. I've been charging more for shipping too. Postage has really gone up! But you do save a little bit (free delivery confirmation) if you print out postage from your computer. International postage is especially high these days.
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Oh, that's good to know about the free delivery confirmation. Our printer cartridge is out of ink, so I wrote all packages out by HAND!!! That's a LOT!!! LOL

Oh well... I just wish there were more checks and balances with the rating system on ebay too. A few negatives here and there if you are a BIG seller don't dent your rating much, but ONE negative has a HUGE impact on smaller sellers and some people are just so unreasonable.

In this case, the lady bought three purses valued at over $1000 total and paid $165 with free shipping... took five days to pay, and then is impatient. "I" shipped only 1 business day after she paid (didn't ship on Saturday because we all had the flu and I KNOW the post office was a ZOO!). I can't help that USPS is slower than usual. Yet, I understand that she wants her items and buying from ebay is a whole trust thing too, but at least people can be more friendly about it instead of, "Where is it."
 
#6
BTW one other thing--as an eBay seller you technically must ship within 7 days of receiving payment, so just keep that in mind.
Definitely always use delivery confirmation and also signature confirmation when the item or total of the items is over $250. Otherwise, as mentioned, you'll TOTALLY lose your shirt if someone makes a PayPal claim against you.
 
#7
CynthiaNYC said:
BTW one other thing--as an eBay seller you technically must ship within 7 days of receiving payment, so just keep that in mind.
Definitely always use delivery confirmation and also signature confirmation when the item or total of the items is over $250. Otherwise, as mentioned, you'll TOTALLY lose your shirt if someone makes a PayPal claim against you.
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If I waited to ship for ONE WEEK, I think I would have 50 negative ratings. People expect it at their DOOR within a week. I understand it, but some things are out of your control. She paid on Friday afternoon. I shipped on Monday and as of Wednesday she ddin't have her package and she's complaining.
 
#8
Oh I know!! I think they're unreasonable too! I was just mentioning the one week thing for future information.
Because of people screaming over getting their stuff, I actually ship every day during the holidays--if you can't get to the PO, you can print the postage online (you need ink though!!) and give the packages to your mail carrier or schedule a pickup.
 
#9
berryblondeboys said:
... At the bottom of my earlier auctions I stated that I can only ship once a week, so please be sure to pay promptly as I ship on Tuesdays. (Auctions were ending on Saturday and Sunday). ....
Well, one auction ended on Sunday and the gal didn't email me, I had to email her on Tuesday about payment, so I can get it out to her.
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Couple of things I would do different...
First - I would make that "Shipping is Tuesdays only" statement highly visible, in fact, I'd put that statement at the very top of the description. There are ways to say so, still look professional, without scaring the buyers away. That way your buyers can't come back and say I didn't see it. I read once on an eBay how-to book that a vast majority of buyers do last-second impulse bidding and would only get through the first three sentences /or just read the part of the description that would fit inside the window without scrolling down the listing. This statistic is so true and explains a lot of the "I didn't see that menioned" dilema. Ok, so move the statement to the top and if they still leave you a neg they'll be the ones making a fool of themselves.

Second - I'd email my buyers right away as soon as possible after the listing ends, not two or three days down the road. You are more likely to get paid right away if you invoice as soon as the listing ends.
 
#10
CynthiaNYC said:
Oh I know!! I think they're unreasonable too! I was just mentioning the one week thing for future information.
Because of people screaming over getting their stuff, I actually ship every day during the holidays--if you can't get to the PO, you can print the postage online (you need ink though!!) and give the packages to your mail carrier or schedule a pickup.
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That's what I'm going to start doing. (having the carrier pick them up). I took SIXTY packaged in one day, 20 another day, and 10 on Monday for straggling payments.

But, how do you know the shipping unless you do a Flat rate box? That's then another expense - a scale... what do you all use?
 
#11
mmmpurses! said:
Couple of things I would do different...
First - I would make that "Shipping is Tuesdays only" statement highly visible, in fact, I'd put that statement at the very top of the description. There are ways to say so, still look professional, without scaring the buyers away. That way your buyers can't come back and say I didn't see it. I read once on an eBay how-to book that a vast majority of buyers do last-second impulse bidding and would only get through the first three sentences /or just read the part of the description that would fit inside the window without scrolling down the listing. This statistic is so true and explains a lot of the "I didn't see that menioned" dilema. Ok, so move the statement to the top and if they still leave you a neg they'll be the ones making a fool of themselves.

Second - I'd email my buyers right away as soon as possible after the listing ends, not two or three days down the road. You are more likely to get paid right away if you invoice as soon as the listing ends.
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That's a good idea about putting the shipping info at the top. I did send an invoice within 2 hours, but she didn't respond for a couple days. That's when I emailed her again, basically. Isn't an invoice email (with a personal note attached) the same as getting an email as far as making contact about payment? I always see it as such.
 
#12
berryblondeboys said:
But, how do you know the shipping unless you do a Flat rate box? That's then another expense - a scale... what do you all use?
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I bought a scale from the USPS.com website. It has been worth its weight in gold! You don't have to use flat rate boxes, if you print labels from eBay/USPS you type in the dimensions of the box and the weight, and it tells you how much postage will be.

Doing postage from my home computer has saved me SO much time in getting packages out the door. If they weigh less than 13 ounces and fit in a mailbox, you can drop them in without setting foot in the post office. Or you can just put them in a drop box at the post office without standing in line. :yes:
 
#13
I bought a post office scale, mind you, years ago before the price jump. They were $24.95 (they now cost $39.95!) - this what it looks like:
10lbscale_d.jpg

Those only go up to 10 lbs. Anything else that is heavier than 10 lbs I use my regular body-weight scale which works fine. The post office scales work great - even though my first one started to malfunction after two months (it had a digit stuck, not showing correctly), I just brought it back to the post office and they gave me another one off the shelf. You can find them on eBay for less, so depending on how much you are planning to sell, you may want to invest on one.


 
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