The EBay note about the member having their FB private says the consequence of doing it is that you can’t sell. It doesn’t show any feedback at all. It’s not feedback with the item bought or sold as private. It actually says “no feedback”. She/he has 500+ FB’s with maybe 80 in the last 12 months but the feedback area is completely blank. Odd.
eBay, etc. General Question/Answer Thread
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The EBay note about the member having their FB private says the consequence of doing it is that you can’t sell. It doesn’t show any feedback at all. It’s not feedback with the item bought or sold as private. It actually says “no feedback”. She/he has 500+ FB’s with maybe 80 in the last 12 months but the feedback area is completely blank. Odd.
You can't have private feedback when you are actively selling, but if you have no listings, you can set your feedback private. People also do it if they are buying items they don't know anyone to know about, something that might be embarrassing, or something they don't want their spouse to know about. Many sellers use one account for selling and another for buying so people can't see that they are flippers.
Private FB is very common. It helps keep nosey people and family members away. Many, many Boardies do it after finding out they could be harassed for things they posted. That's why so many sellers went to Posting IDs since they could no longer sell with private FB.
Lots of people buy very personal things too and they don't want anyone to see the item descriptions, even potential sellers.
Lots of people buy very personal things too and they don't want anyone to see the item descriptions, even potential sellers.
This is all true but I am betting that, considering what they are asking of you, there may be things in their feedback they do not want anyone to see. I am guessing the buyer has already purchased so you cannot avoid dealing with them now. You could ask them to make it public temporarily so you could see it but, really, it would probably backfire. It used to be nice when you could look up purchases so you could see feedback that way but EBay removed that.
I would not send the item in the smaller package. You can pay the difference yourself or insist they pay in full. If they leave negative feedback mentioning that, it might be removable.
That all said, it could be they do it to hide purchases and maybe believe the $1.25 is not big deal and everything will be wonderful!
I am a cynic and am trying to reform.
I would not send the item in the smaller package. You can pay the difference yourself or insist they pay in full. If they leave negative feedback mentioning that, it might be removable.
That all said, it could be they do it to hide purchases and maybe believe the $1.25 is not big deal and everything will be wonderful!
I am a cynic and am trying to reform.
I'd respond to the buyer that you can't reduce shipping or you'd lose money since $8.90 is the actual cost, of which you're already losing money since ebay charges commission on shipping as well as the selling price.
This is all true but I am betting that, considering what they are asking of you, there may be things in their feedback they do not want anyone to see. I am guessing the buyer has already purchased so you cannot avoid dealing with them now. You could ask them to make it public temporarily so you could see it but, really, it would probably backfire. It used to be nice when you could look up purchases so you could see feedback that way but EBay removed that.
I would not send the item in the smaller package. You can pay the difference yourself or insist they pay in full. If they leave negative feedback mentioning that, it might be removable.
That all said, it could be they do it to hide purchases and maybe believe the $1.25 is not big deal and everything will be wonderful!
I am a cynic and am trying to reform.
Thank you.
I responded to her that I did not think it wise to ship it in a smaller package. She hasn’t responded but in the meantime someone else purchased it. It just struck me odd that they worried about $1.25 which is what made me look at her feedback. I’d understand if it was a $5.00 item. The total private feedback worried me that she could be hiding some feedback she had left or maybe some hints some other sellers had left in their feedbacks to this buyer. I imagined if she was worried over $1.25 on an $88.00 item that she would try to beat me down more once the item was received with an excuse that it wasn’t as described or something to that effect.
If I had been able to see her feedback and all looked ok I would have probably felt better. But I couldn’t so I didn’t. But it all worked out.
@carlpsmom - I too am a recovering cynic [emoji53]
If you run a store, or even a yard sale and someone wants to haggle a bit, how do you check all of their past store or yard sale visits?
It's past time to block the ability to view FB in the way many are suggesting here, which means it's past time to eliminate FB. Or at least all comments and item descriptions.
A simple rating of completed transactions and returns would be better than the flame wars the current system incites.
It's past time to block the ability to view FB in the way many are suggesting here, which means it's past time to eliminate FB. Or at least all comments and item descriptions.
A simple rating of completed transactions and returns would be better than the flame wars the current system incites.
^^^^ This (in red). I don't care what buyers buy or if they're hiding their spending from spouses and family members, but there are bad buyers who have hidden their feedback and that's the feedback I want to look at before accepting an offer that could potentially turn into a nightmare for me. And there are a lot of buyers who are "smart" enough to hide that kind of feedback.
I recently bought an item and was shocked that the seller seemingly under-weighed and under-paid the USPS.
-The item weighed 15.3 oz
-It was in a paper mailer (w/a USPS poly mailer wrapped around it) that weighed a total of 1lb 1 oz
-And the shipping label was for a First Class Package at 8oz
My scale is accurate. How does this package make it through the USPS? Am i missing something here? This traveled halfway across the country too.
-The item weighed 15.3 oz
-It was in a paper mailer (w/a USPS poly mailer wrapped around it) that weighed a total of 1lb 1 oz
-And the shipping label was for a First Class Package at 8oz
My scale is accurate. How does this package make it through the USPS? Am i missing something here? This traveled halfway across the country too.
Several comments:
For first class mail, the price is the same whether it's going to your next door neighbor or if it's going to Alaska. Up to 16 oz/15.9, the item can go first class.
At 15.3 oz., the seller should have paid for a 16 oz. label. (It would show as 15.9 oz; for some reason, a 1-lb. first class parcel doesn't show 1 lb.) The fact that she only paid for 8 oz. and didn't get caught merely indicates that she cheated the post office and they didn't catch it. They (USPS) handle thousands of pieces of mail per day and can't weigh every one of them.
Had you been charged for the postage due, you could have forwarded a picture of the proof and if honest (which clearly she isn't!), she'd reimburse you.
ETA: I just reread your post. The packing materials brought the weight over the first class threshhold and over 1 lb. She should have paid for a 2-lb package! Ugh!
I'm curious. What did the listing show as the shipping method and how much did you pay for shipping?
Actually if the post office had weighed it, they could have charged her for a 2 pound priority package since you can't have first class over a pound. I get nervous when I ship a 7.9 ounce package at the 8 ounce rate, thinking it might come up at 8.1 ounces on their scale.
I've had sellers do the same and get away with it. Once I had something come postage due.
They could have caught it and charged them for the correct postage (through eBay) - isn't that a new program that started a few months ago? And if that happens, they lost any eBay discount and would be charged the difference for full postage at the correct rate.
Yes, that's if they catch it. But unless they catch it, sellers will get away with it.
Just yesterday I got a package from a seller who specified Small Flat Rate Box in the listing, for which I paid $7.20. I received the package, a non-USPS box, and it weighs over 3 lbs. Her label says Small Flat Rate Box. If it was scanned by the new USPS system, she will automatically be charged the difference. Ouch!
I'm not sure if underpayment results in a loss of the eBay discount when they charge you the difference. I have gotten refunds for overpayment of postage on a couple of items I sold. The refund was for the discounted amount I actually paid minus the discounted amount I should have paid.