Archive for July, 2011

Dear eBay Queen:

I just bought an item from a seller that was listed with Free Shipping. When I got the invoice, there was a $.70 charge added at the bottom. I thought that eBay or the seller were trying to charge me tax, so wrote him and asked him what the .70 was for. Here’s the answer he gave me:

“Hello, first of all, congratulations on winning this auction. As to the .70 charge, it is for the delivery confirmation tracking number that we purchase through the post office and that we provide you with to track your package while it is in transit. As sellers, eBay has made it clear in the past that we are NOT to include ANY pricing fees in the description area of the auction. All shipping charges are to be placed in the appropriate area of the auction (under shipping tab) and not in the actual description. To be in compliance with eBay’s policy, we have done just that and try to the best of our ability to give accurate description in all areas of the auction. Thank you for your patience and your understanding. Hope to do business with you again. Please refer us to others. Have a wonderful day.”

What is this guy talking about?  I don’t think this is eBay legal is it? I think charging for delivery confirmation is charging for a fee related to shipping. What do you think?  How should I handle this?

Elaine C.
Dear Elaine:

I did not find anything within the eBay shipping guidelines about charging for delivery confirmations. http://pages.ebay.com/help/pay/shipping-delivery-options.html  It really isn’t “free shipping” if he is charging for part of the shipping, is it?

If this were my transaction, I would pay for the item, and wait to see what kind of label was on the package. If I received a green delivery confirmation label, he really paid .70 for it.  If I received the package with a white and black bar coded label he only paid .19 for it.  Either way, I would contact eBay and let them know what he was doing.  To do this go here: http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ContactCS

You could refuse to pay until the shipping is really free and possibly get in an email argument with him, but it most likely won’t get him to do the right thing.  In this particular situation following up with eBay is the best solution.

Dear eBay Queen:

An eBayer, with private, feedback won an auction of mine last night.  I don’t understand why anyone would have private feedback and most importantly why would eBay allow them too? The only reason I can think of is to hide the feedback they leave.

It took me quite a bit of time, but I did some back tracking and did a search of the buyer’s winning auctions from June to July.   He won 19 auctions.  Out of those 19 auctions the buyer left 3 positives, 4 neutrals and 3 negatives.

I went to “Buyers Requirements” trying to find a way to block bidders with private feedback, but there was nothing!  UGH! Is there any way to avoid doing business with this buyer? If I can’t get out of this transaction now, what about in the future?

Private Seller
Dear Private Seller:

I’m not sure why anyone would want to make their feedback private.  The only reason I could think of is if you didn’t want people to see what you buy; but anyone with a little bit of eBay knowledge knows that you can see what a person has bought by checking out the advance search.  According to eBay if you make your Feedback profile private, “your Feedback comments will be hidden, but members will still be able to see the number of positive, neutral, and negative Feedback ratings you’ve received and you won’t be able to sell items on eBay.”

I don’t think there is anything you can do right now with this buyer.  Just send the item quickly and safely and hope they like it. Is there something in the feedback they left that makes you think they are not going to be happy with your item?  If so you could address it now.  I wouldn’t say that you looked at their previous feedback when addressing this though.  If for some reason the buyer leaves you an unwarranted negative, I would contact eBay and let them know that this buyer is a serial negative feedback giver.  Hopefully they will review their account and take action.   You can also block the bidder by adding them to your “block buyer list”.  To do this, go here. http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?bidderblocklog .  Let me know how this turns out for you.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 130538888460 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page):  It’s Fair time!  Check out this rare 1915 California PPIE Fair Pinback Button SOLD $415.00  Check it out HERE

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? Email: questions@asktheebayqueen.com

Dear eBay Queen:

I haven’t read anything where you talk about the new account selling limits. I really think you should make your readers aware of them.  I’ve been selling off and on since 1998, and I have never encountered anything like this crazy new rule on eBay.

I noticed last week that I had a “selling limit” on my account. I just called in to ask to have my limits raised.  I sell mostly back to school items, and this is the start of my heavy listing time period in preparation for back to school sales. After a review of my eBay account, I got my item limit raised by only 300 items and my money limit raised by just over $3,000.  I was told I could seek a new review no sooner than 30 days from the day I called in.

I asked some questions of the eBay representative. The rep told me ALL ACCOUNTS already have limits that are set based on age of account, “reputation” and prior 90 days sales volume. They’re just slowly rolling out the visibility of the limits. What the heck does “prior 90 days” of sales volume have to do with anything?  What does eBay think when they see my account?   “I see she listed lots of stuff in July-December, but what is she doing January through June?” Does eBay want us all to be mega sellers?

The eBay representative that spoke to me could give no justification for doing this. He stumbled and stuttered his way through what sounded like some pretty scripted comments. As I said, I’ve sold on the site for 13 years, most of my time on eBay was as a casual seller, only selling 10-20 items a week, but sometimes I would move housefuls of collectibles and household goods for lots of money.  I’m not a newbie, but his tone and some of the expressions that he used really made me feel as though I have to prove myself all over again. I would think with over 1100 feedback, 100% feedback and all DSRs at 4.9 or 5.0, I’d already done that. Just a note, part of his review was to look at my DSRs and feedback before raising my limit.

What do you think of eBay’s selling limits?  Why would they limit what a seller could put on eBay? Do you think it would be best if we just moved all of our items from eBay to another venue?

Alex; Houston, TX

Dear Alex:

This selling limits program is new to me also. I had to do some extensive research to just find and understand the rules on selling limits.  http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/sellinglimits.html

There are 3 types of seller limits:

Account limits:  If you have an account limit, eBay has placed a limit on your sold items, gross merchandise volume, and active items for sale. If an item sells, it counts toward the limit, but if a listing ends without any sold items, it no longer counts against the limit.

You can find your account limits by looking at “My eBay”  Click My eBay  at the top of most eBay pages, sign in to your account, then select the All Selling option in the Sell section on the left side of the page (or in the Selling Manager Summary).

The Monthly selling limits section shows your current selling activity relative to your monthly limits. You’ll see a red alert once you’ve reached a limit, letting you know you won’t be able to sell more items in the current month. You always have the option to request higher selling limits.

Limits placed on an account for failing to meet the minimum performance standards will also be shown in your Seller Dashboard. This module is not displayed if you aren’t Below Standard. You will see your category and item limits when you list using the Sell Your Item form.

Category limits: Certain categories, for certain sellers eBay will limit the number of items that can be listed in a calendar month. These limits may apply to your account if:

• You registered your account less than 90 days ago.
• You haven’t sold multiple items in this category before.
• You haven’t sold in this category in over a year.
• You have had eBay Buyer Protection cases opened for more than 3% of your total transactions in the last year.

Item limits:  With certain items eBay may limit the number that you can list in a listing period. One big area with item limits would be designer or branded items like Coach, or Louis Vuitton.   eBay doesn’t allow the sale of counterfeit, fakes, replicas, or unauthorized copies. If you are listing items that have the potential to be counterfeit, eBay will limit the number you can list.

If you can prove (by receipts, etc) that your items are authentic, these item limits will be lifted. If you are a new seller, the limits will be lifted after you’ve established a good selling history, but other types of limits will always remain in place.

I understand why they would have selling limits on new sellers or sellers that have problems following through with their sales.  I don’t know why they have put a limit on your selling. No matter what, I believe it is important to not try to outmaneuver eBay by circumventing these listing limits. As unfortunate of a situation as this is, it is important to play within the rules and the limits will be gone soon.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 130538888460 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page):  Not many people wear powder anymore but powder bowls are still popular sellers on eBay.  Check out this Darbyshire Powder Bowl Butterfly Ornament  SOLD $994.86 Check it out HERE

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? Email: questions@asktheebayqueen.com