Customer selected wrong postage, Media mail for non-media

culinaria-repast · Posts: 6

Looks like shipping has changed again. My customer selected media mail, so I had a nice 15-20 mins of trying to figure that mess out...refund to paypal, email to customer...(presume sale complete loss) and only the second sale in 6 months. So why is eCrater even offering Media Mail to customers on non-media items?

tigercreekgifts · Posts: 6293

Any shipping option you check to allow from the USPS calculator, will allow those options to be used on every item in your store as long as those items fall within the weight limitations for that type of shipping class, even if those items cannot be shipped via that method.

It's ridiculous I know but that's just how it is here. I think someone needs to make a suggestion to ecrater to block media mail for items that are not considered media. I use the matrix for my shipping but that's the main reason I stopped using the USPS calculator, because of problems like yours.

culinaria-repast · Posts: 6

OK, this is where I get confused, I have selected the shipping matrix, so I do not understand why the USPS figure shipping is what the customer was given.
I re-entered shipping matrix data last night and still get USPS options.

SheilaDeesPostcards · moderator Posts: 4620

culinaria-repast · Posts: 6

Sheila,
Thank you, (of course, that does not explain why ecrater has not put that choice under shipping options). but at least I have been able to fix the problem now. Certainly that is not an intuitive place to look for shipping set-up.

MoonwishesStore · moderator Posts: 17389

culinaria-repast · Posts: 6

And yet my listings show up on Google fabulously!!! Better than any other site I use. I do ok with Amazon, but it is getting harder to turn a profit. Postage rates continue to climb and the $3.99 that Amazon allows does not ever completely cover what I have to spend. (Not to mention that Amazon tells the customer it will be shipped first class, so media mail is in fact a bit of a violation, yet in order to compete with other sellers, you absolutely have no choice). Then you have to price the item higher, which means that Amazon takes a bigger commission...not to mention that it is impossible to compete with the sellers who price books at .01. So far I had not listed any books on this site, an doubt I will.

MoonwishesStore · moderator Posts: 17389

Not everyone buys things on Amazon at the penny price. Since it is hard for me to go shopping, I tend to buy a lot of things on Amazon and when I see the penny sellers, most of them don't have a 100% positive feedback nor do they have any kind of description of the actual product they are selling so I pass them by, so don't think that the penny price draws everyone into their clutches. I only buy from someone with a description that lets me know they actually have the product--none of that 'thousands of satisfied customers' nonsense and as good of feedback as possible. those in the high 90% I will look and see why they got dinged. If the buyer appears to be a nutcase I give them credit in my mind for a positive.

I used to sell a lot of books on line at Amazon and made out quite well and then everyone wanted on that gravy train and it got harder and harder. It is still hard no matter where you go to sell used books for decent money especially if you are trying to sell something that has a thousand listings on Amazon. At that point, I don't even see much reason to try listing on a different venue (This is my opinion only) as I figure if someone wants a particular book they will either search Amazon first or Google the book or use other search engines and of course you end up with Amazon as the first or second listing, review places and author biography sites etc. then other sites that sell the book in all formats. Now the whole thing would reverse if you had a first edition of the Canterbury Tales or something like that. I found I just couldn't keep searching for the good books anymore, although I did manage to sell several for over $200 and quite a few for over $100 but those were rare finds.

Obviously if you have been selling books for a while you know most of this, but it seems, at this point you really need the time, the energy, and the love for the book hunt to be really successful. I don't know how anyone makes any money with run of the mill regular books.

culinaria-repast · Posts: 6

You are absolutely right...mostly the issue of competition is in all areas. The serious shortage of jobs in this country has caused desperate people to try anything and everything. I hear many dealers say they did better a few years ago (vintage clothing, collectibles, books, etc...) There just is so much competition and so many people that do not have the cash reserves they had a few years ago to spend. ebay, I have given up on entirely...unless I come across something really outstanding. The job market has not proven to be any different, my stomach actually rolls at the mere mention of filling out an application now. Books, I seldom add more to my listings, mostly just go through my own and try to determine if I would miss it (if it sold).

tigercreekgifts · Posts: 6293

thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat · Posts: 10159

I think you made a very bad error in canceling the transaction, especially without giving the buyer a reason or a chance to start over and pay the proper shipping.

It was a $2.99 item and would have been pretty light weight. Shipping first class would not have lost you a ton of money. Even if you lost money on the total transaction you would have been ahead of the game.

As it is you now have -100% feedback and the buyer states they have a bad taste in their mouth about eCRATER. That hurts all of us.

MoonwishesStore · moderator Posts: 17389

Unless you would have gone into negative numbers, I too would have sent the item. But even if not, you need to contact your buyers and tell them what happened and also tell them what you are doing so it wouldn't happen again. Give them the option of still receiving the item if at all possible. With as few items as you have in inventory to have actually gotten some sales is surprising and I wouldn't want to turn any of them away. It is against ecrater rules to charge more than the invoice that they paid, but with no fees here other than the very minor marketplace one, with the item price and the shipping you would have gotten for media, I would think you still probably could have shipped without losing too much money and learned a cheap lesson.

Back before I had a scale and electronic postage. I sold something on ebay and since it was a lightweight cake pan I figured the postage wouldn't be bad. But it was to an APO address and before I knew it I was shelling out something like $9 for postage and didn't make a penny of the transaction. I did learn why it was important to have my own scale and electronic postage so I could get a discount at that point on D/C. Very Happy

Some lessons are very worthwhile.

cosmicray · Posts: 7286

MoonwishesStore · moderator Posts: 17389

Now your shipping seems to be swinging the other way. For a crocheted hot pad $11! That should be able to go as first class mail in a padded envelope for at most (13 oz) $4.00 plus the cost of the DC if you buy your postage at the PO. Yet currently you have a glass berry bowl with $5.99 shipping which would take much more extensive packaging. I can only assume that you are changing each item's shipping cost individually. Be sure you are not pricing yourself out of existence with your shipping and handling. I know I wouldn't pay $1 for an item and then fork out $11 or $13 which also seems a way to make any marketplace fees be lower as many on eBay tried as a way to lower fees. I know shipping on ecrater can be difficult, but the matrix can make it easy to ship by weight and it will help you come up with a fair postage prices AND help when someone wants to buy more than one item, it can combine postage costs which customers like.