The Ebay Advice Column

[Codeblue]

Please don't follow any of the advice I provide. It would kill most of the entertainment value of this place.

[DMBfan]

That happened when we lost Taper...imagine if we lost delta or blue? I'd have to spend my time on TMZ.

[dangerboy]

YOU can't retrieve the signature unless you pay for signature confirmation.

What Blue said - you don't get proof that someone signed for it unless you ask/pay for signature confirmation, and don't believe what USPS employees tell you, just get the sig. confirmation, or you're taking a risk.

THESE

chances are everything will be fine even if the carrier doesn't get the sig that his job requires him to get on the $200+ insurance, so he takes the chance. if you purchase sig confirmation, they know it has to go back to you, so they have to take the extra time/effort to get the sig. most of the time, if i'm not home when it shows up, they just slap the little pink slip in the mailbox and it's on me to go to the post office to pick it up/sign for it. obviously, some carriers are more conscientious than others...

[halftonegraphics]

USPS requires the signature for their internal use. As previously stated, unless you paid for the Signature Confirmation service, it is not yours to be had. They use it for their own system that is not a public system.

[bigmuls]

Is there any risk in selling a poster to someone on ebeans who has no feedback and joined recently?

[Cbjornson]

Anyone ever shipped to Norway? I've got a potential buyer (non poster) that wants me to ship there and I've never done it. Experiences? Bad/Good?

[Bickel]

Anyone ever shipped to Norway? I've got a potential buyer (non poster) that wants me to ship there and I've never done it. Experiences? Bad/Good?

I've never shipped to Norway, but I've shipped to the UK and Indonesia. Both times, it cost about $40 +/- to ship, took a couple weeks, and stressed me out until I heard back about it (especially to Indonesia - I paid for international tracking and all that entails, but at some point, it's going to go off the radar no matter what you do).

Plan on spending some time filling out forms.

[IWish]

it's going to go off the radar no matter what you do).

Worst feeling ever. Shipped a pricey print to the east coast, once it arrived in NY it fell off the radar. Anxiety set in and I went to the PO and they tracked it through the insurance label number. Clerk said the other label probably fell off. ? I paid for and never received the pdf attachment containing the signature document.

Had one clerk refuse to scan a pre-labeled tube - he told me he can't *touch* it if it already has a USPS shipping label. Never went to his station again...no other clerks hesitated to scan and give me a receipt of acceptance while I was there. I don't do that for all prints I ship (don't ship that many), but on some...I need the reassurance.

[halftonegraphics]

Anyone ever shipped to Norway? I've got a potential buyer (non poster) that wants me to ship there and I've never done it. Experiences? Bad/Good?

I've shipped to Norway a handful of times. Nothing large though. Skateboard parts and misc. No problems.

[mistersmith]

"eBay Inc., a global commerce platform and payments company, today reported that revenue for the second quarter ended June 30, 2012 increased 23% to $3.4 billion, compared to the same period of 2011. The company reported second quarter net income on a non-GAAP basis of $730 million, or $0.56 per diluted share, up 16% year over year primarily due to strong top-line growth partially offset by increased investment in the shopping experience and the impact of acquisitions, along with these rabid freaking Mondo fans mortgaging their houses for drawings of movies they could just sit down and watch, for free, since they probably already own the Blu-ray anyway."

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/2 ... 12-Results

[mattlew69]

Anyone ever shipped to Norway? I've got a potential buyer (non poster) that wants me to ship there and I've never done it. Experiences? Bad/Good?

From: http://about.usps.com/news/service-alerts/welcome.htm

Norway

The Norwegian Post informs that security controllers at some airports in Norway have been on strike since 8:00 p.m. Fri. June 1. The strike has affected the security checkpoints at the airports. In addition, security controllers at the AMU in Oslo are now also on strike. There's no impact expected for outbound mail, however, as a result of the strike the AMU is closed for outbound mail.

Norwegian Post is unable to provide a end date of the strike, but will provide updates as the situation changes.

I just shipped something to Norway today, so lets see how long it takes.

[oldfartatplay]

I put a print on ebay, $800. I get a message from some one asking to lower the price because he only has $750. I respond that if it doesn't sell I'll relist @ 750.
I relist and he bought it Wednesday. I send him an invoice and he replies that he'll pay up on Friday when he gets paid, and proceeds to tell me to double tube it or wrap the tube in bubble wrap and then place it inside one of the long triangular tube mailer boxes because the post office routinely damages his packages.
So today I get paid by an eCheck payment which wont clear until late next week.
I'm having thoughts about canceling his transaction because
1st, why is someone with not much money buying $750 prints?
2nd, his statement about the PO smashing his packages has me worried.
3rd, I will be out of town on business the following week and if something does happen I wont be able to deal with it.
Any thoughts? ,Thanks OF@P

[harrykeogh]

I put a print on ebay, $800. I get a message from some one asking to lower the price because he only has $750. I respond that if it doesn't sell I'll relist @ 750.
I relist and he bought it Wednesday. I send him an invoice and he replies that he'll pay up on Friday when he gets paid, and proceeds to tell me to double tube it or wrap the tube in bubble wrap and then place it inside one of the long triangular tube mailer boxes because the post office routinely damages his packages.
So today I get paid by an eCheck payment which wont clear until late next week.
I'm having thoughts about canceling his transaction because
1st, why is someone with not much money buying $750 prints?
2nd, his statement about the PO smashing his packages has me worried.
3rd, I will be out of town on business the following week and if something does happen I wont be able to deal with it.
Any thoughts? ,Thanks OF@P

Never used eCheck myself. Are they completely buyer centered like Paypal? Definitely some red flags with that buyer.

[ToolFanFromWayBack]

I put a print on ebay, $800. I get a message from some one asking to lower the price because he only has $750. I respond that if it doesn't sell I'll relist @ 750.
I relist and he bought it Wednesday. I send him an invoice and he replies that he'll pay up on Friday when he gets paid, and proceeds to tell me to double tube it or wrap the tube in bubble wrap and then place it inside one of the long triangular tube mailer boxes because the post office routinely damages his packages.
So today I get paid by an eCheck payment which wont clear until late next week.
I'm having thoughts about canceling his transaction because
1st, why is someone with not much money buying $750 prints?
2nd, his statement about the PO smashing his packages has me worried.
3rd, I will be out of town on business the following week and if something does happen I wont be able to deal with it.
Any thoughts? ,Thanks OF@P

Never used eCheck myself. Are they completely buyer centered like Paypal? Definitely some red flags with that buyer.

eChecks are a pain in the ass as a seller, but once they clear they have all the same protection for the seller. The eCheck is basically a bank transfer from the buyers bank to PayPal and then to your account (the equate it to a paper check which takes a couple of days to clear).

1. I am going with it being a way to get the price lower vs. not having the money
2. I would say something to the seller about safe shipping if I was spending $750
3. Be up front with the buyer and tell him that if something does happen you will be out of town and handle it as soon as you can.
4. INSURANCE!

[oldfartatplay]

I put a print on ebay, $800. I get a message from some one asking to lower the price because he only has $750. I respond that if it doesn't sell I'll relist @ 750.
I relist and he bought it Wednesday. I send him an invoice and he replies that he'll pay up on Friday when he gets paid, and proceeds to tell me to double tube it or wrap the tube in bubble wrap and then place it inside one of the long triangular tube mailer boxes because the post office routinely damages his packages.
So today I get paid by an eCheck payment which wont clear until late next week.
I'm having thoughts about canceling his transaction because
1st, why is someone with not much money buying $750 prints?
2nd, his statement about the PO smashing his packages has me worried.
3rd, I will be out of town on business the following week and if something does happen I wont be able to deal with it.
Any thoughts? ,Thanks OF@P

Never used eCheck myself. Are they completely buyer centered like Paypal? Definitely some red flags with that buyer.

eChecks are a pain in the ass as a seller, but once they clear they have all the same protection for the seller. The eCheck is basically a bank transfer from the buyers bank to PayPal and then to your account (the equate it to a paper check which takes a couple of days to clear).

1. I am going with it being a way to get the price lower vs. not having the money
2. I would say something to the seller about safe shipping if I was spending $750
3. Be up front with the buyer and tell him that if something does happen you will be out of town and handle it as soon as you can.
4. INSURANCE!

thanks
1. He bought on the 18th but couldn't pay until today so he didn't have the $
2. I know how to ship a $750 print, he said his P.O. routinely destroys packages
3. Yeah, I'm going to do that, but what's ebay policy on this?
4. Of course I'm going to insure it, I'm not a dumb ass.
I guess I'll just proceed with it.