posted on July 26, 2001 06:51:22 AM
Since I am a seller myself, I feel that I can give, as well as get criticism. I am now going through the 3rd purchase I've made in the last month, where I have requested Priority Mail shipment, been quoted Priority Mail shipment, paid for Priority Mail shipment, BUT had the shipment made by Media rate slow boat to china shipping. Priority Mail gets to me, from anywhere in the country in the 2 to 3 days. Media rate mail will take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months, sometimes never makes it. So needless to say when I request and pay for one rate but are switched to another, I tend to get a little PO'd.
Has anyone else encountered this nasty little trend or are the gods just frowning on me???
posted on July 26, 2001 07:22:20 AM
I am a seller myself and I also buy. I ALWAYS ship USPS Priority or sometimes UPS. I think it is very important to be up front with the shipping. I do buy things on a regular basis and I have seen a lot of what you are talking about. About half of the auctions i win say they will ship Priority, and show up Media Mail. I think you can report this to safe harbor. It is against eBay policies to intentionally mislead people and make money off of the shipping of an item.
posted on July 26, 2001 07:28:29 AM
I've experienced some times when I am expecting priority mail and it comes parcel post or UPS (a real pain if I don't know about it up front). Most of the time, though, it is because the seller quotes a shipping rate that matches a priority mail rate and I am guilty of the sin of making an assumption...the seller never says "priority". It's obviously done deliberately because I think most buyers assume priority mail as well.
When I sell, I am very specific about priority shipping, handling and insurance charges right in the listing and offer option for parcel post when it makes a difference.
Gerald
"Oh but it's so hard to live by the rules/I never could and still never do."
posted on July 26, 2001 07:36:48 AM
In defense of SOME sellers, I myself have done that.
It was in my earlier days of packing(didn't have the USPS boxes then), my customer paid for priority and got it 1st class.
What happen was I'd take a big batch to the PO and the postmaster would weigh the item and put the approriate postage on it.
Me...I've totally spaced off it was suppose to go priority.
That does'nt happen anymore as I have those Priority stickers I put on the box if its not a USPS box to start with.
Mistakes happen.....If I catch it or realize it later I always have e-mail the buyer and appologized offering a discount on future wins.
If I have'nt caught it then I'm sure my buyer thought I was the scumbag seller your all talking about.
posted on July 26, 2001 07:56:17 AM
It depends on the sellers volume, I think, and if you are asking them to deviate from their usual process.
When I am stuffing packages I usually do 30-40 at a time. I am not going to remember a request from a particular person who wanted a particular thing unless they were very clear and specific (gave me the auction number) such that I could note it in my spreadsheet. Particularly if they asked me two weeks ago and I just got their mailed payment.
I don't know how detailed you were being with your seller so this may not apply.
posted on July 26, 2001 08:31:50 AM
In defense of sellers I also wanted to say that there have been times when I have misjudged shipping costs and rather than spend more of my profit margin I will try and mail it at a cheaper rate if I can. This does not happen to me much anymore, but when I first started I know I was guilty of mis-guessing things and I always guessed too low. I would never ask someone for more money ot mail something, but I will try and salvage as much of my profit as I can. Just so I am being clear-- I am not saying that I mail something that is non-media, media rate. I am talking mailing parcel rather than priority.
:0)
posted on July 26, 2001 08:40:42 AM
All of my labels come from the same database that generates my EOAs and they bear the specified method of shipping prominently in large bold type. I don't have to remember to tell the postal clerk what package goes how at 7AM before the caffeine actually kicks in. 99% of my packages go media mail and that's the database default for each new record. The majority of my media mail gets there plenty fast with zip+4 and a barcode.
I've had sellers send slow mo when I paid for priority. Some people know what they are doing. Others don't or don't care.
posted on July 26, 2001 08:41:53 AM
I seller and buy ocassionally.
I ship most items priority and it is stated in my listing and EOA. What drives me crazy is when the winner sends payment and changes it to first class or whatever. Never fails I forget and send it priority because that is how I ship. I eat that cost!
On ocassion a winner will want insurance. No problem. But when sending 50 packages at a time and remember to put insurance on 1 of them...while let's just say it has cost me plenty! I now have a system in place that seems to be working.
posted on July 26, 2001 08:50:27 AM
I normally ask a buyer to include a note when ever they want me to do something that's not how I normally do things (like over night a package).
Like wbbell said, trying to remember a request from 2 weeks ago isn't always easy, particulary if you run a lot of auctions.
Now if it was a case of the seller listing the item with the terms being "priority mail" and then sending it media rate, I would raise cain about it.
If it was a case of you asked the seller to deviate from his normal process, and you didn't include a note with the payment, I would probably still bring it to their attention, and possibly ask for a refund of the diff in the 2 postage rates.
In any event it certainly doesn't hurt, or take much time, to include a copy of your email (or a note) reminding the seller of any requests.
Who Need's a stink'n Sig. File?
posted on July 26, 2001 09:16:45 AM
I know just how you feel! I bought something 2 week's ago was told it was sent priority,Still haven't seen it!It's for a birthday now I wonder if it will come in time.
posted on July 26, 2001 02:00:22 PM
I once messed up and sent something Media Mail that should have been sent Priority Mail. I was tired when I was doing my packing that evening and didn't pay attention to the shipping method written next to the items on my list.
So when I discovered my mistake the next day, I was upfront about it and sent the customer a refund check for the difference.
So, it is fairly easy to mess up when you're accustomed to shipping items Media Mail and someone requests otherwise, or vice versa. But having a good system in place should cut down on such errors.
posted on July 26, 2001 02:23:11 PM
I list in my listings exactly how I intend to ship.I either list First Class for DVDs or Priority for the rest.If a person buys several DVDs they get shipped Priority also.I no longer use Media Mail except for videos on Amazon.Even when Amazon says send Media Mail it goes First Class because I don't want a DVD throwed in with heavy books.I think a Seller should tell want method of shipping they intend to use,and stick with it. Media Mail sucks,it takes way to long to get there.I don't think that many people are interested in getting a cheap shipping rate,they would be just as happy with Priority.
posted on July 26, 2001 03:26:44 PM
I've been fortunate not to have made this error - YET.
My "shipping dude" works off the "invoice," and it's all noted there. He also write "pri" or "med" on the insurance forms so the PO folks know which is which.
While there are some parts of the country to which media rate takes a long time, I've been satisfied so far with how long it takes. My customers seem to be happy to save $1.60 - $4.00 by shipping this way also.
First class, Priority, and Media Mail all eventually go through a machine the Postal employees affectionately refer to as the "mangler."
posted on July 26, 2001 03:43:16 PM
I don't think when talking about sellers you can say they have a short attention span.
many are Busy Some sellers are running 200 to 400 Auction per day some less some more But when you put your self in the place of a seller with 20 , 50 or 200 winning bids everyday some times specail requests can be missed or over looked.
I sell from one to 20 Items in a week I have no problem dealing with each buyer on a one on one bases but if I had a 50 to 100 per day or even week I would have trouble not a short attention span just busy.
