The Ebay Advice Column

stuckeyc · Wed Sep 06, 2017 11:33 am

I have only had to file 1 or 2 claims and they paid up no problem

hunterjax · Wed Sep 06, 2017 11:41 am

This is not helpful of me, but . . .

RottenAtom wrote:UK set that price, not us. Not sure why they would do that. They're making this transaction a royal pain in the ass.

alittle · Wed Sep 06, 2017 12:00 pm

Most of the time, I just raw dog it. drymount insurance.

RottenAtom · Wed Sep 06, 2017 8:30 pm

Thanks all. My #TLDR experience:

I used the Global Express Guaranteed calculator on the USPS site and reached a point where it wouldn't let me proceed. There are minimum sizes the package must be in order to fit their big ass shipping label. Their definition of 'length' is the longest side. While the length surpassed the minimum size allowed, the height (around 3.5 inches) did not. The minimum height was 5.5". The website doesn't account for the fact that it's a tube and the label will fit with no problem.

I tried purchasing actual GXG postage on the website instead of using the estimator and I didn't get the same problem. I still went to the post office though to ask about GXG and get prices. One of the ladies working there has been there forever and she seems to know her stuff. These are the different services they offer and the prices for shipping from Houston to London for a medium sized tube (smaller than your typical Mondo).

Registered Mail- $37.45 Can only add $60 worth of insurance. Comes with tracking*. (*This blew me away. I was always under the impression that the only way to send international with tracking was Express Mail. I swear I've been told that multiple times.)

Priority Mail upgraded to Express Mail- $69.55 with $650 insurance (the maximum to the UK). This option is not available for every region. The transaction starts as regular Priority Mail and at some point the computer offers to upgrade to Priority Mail Express. Apparently it's the exact same as Priority Mail Express but cheaper. Comes with tracking.

Priority Mail Express- $76.80 with $650 insurance (max to UK). This is the same service as the one above but more expensive. Comes with tracking.

Global Express Guaranteed- $97.80 plus $17 for insurance equals $114.80 with $1725 insurance. The receiving country limits what can be sold via GXG and the UK has a lot of restrictions. It wouldn't let me send it marked as anything like 'art work'. We tried multiple options and it finally let us proceed when the contents of the package was listed as 'printouts'.

Nothing's shipped yet, but now I have some options for the buyer.

halftonegraphics · Wed Sep 06, 2017 8:42 pm

last time i used GXG i think i marked it under something like "Commercial Advertisements" or something like that. was the closest thing i could find when i looked.

nomdeguerre · Wed Sep 06, 2017 9:47 pm

alittle wrote:Most of the time, I just raw dog it. drymount insurance.

Quite true, as a seller i always self insure.

earlgreytoast · Mon Sep 11, 2017 8:47 pm

Here's a new one, got an offer on an item I have listed for a set price with no OBO option. Wtf?

Kramerica · Mon Sep 11, 2017 8:49 pm

earlgreytoast wrote:Here's a new one, got an offer on an item I have listed for a set price with no OBO option. Wtf?

I am always getting messages like this it seems. Or when I do have best offer and someone messages me asking what the lowest I will take is.

halftonegraphics · Mon Sep 11, 2017 8:55 pm

earlgreytoast wrote:Here's a new one, got an offer on an item I have listed for a set price with no OBO option. Wtf?

did the buyer message you prior?

i know sellers can respond to a message with an offer. not sure if eBay has also offered the reverse and allow buyers to respond to a message with an offer. $.02.

earlgreytoast · Mon Sep 11, 2017 8:57 pm

No, I didn't get a messsge, I got an actual offer via eBay. Only thing I can think is that it is something I have multiples of and 3 are available, but how would duke even be able to make an offer on 2 of them? Added them to his cart or something?

LeeKaye · Tue Sep 12, 2017 1:10 am

If there is some weird eBay loophole that allows lowballing morons to make an insulting offer, they will find it.

Mapman · Tue Sep 12, 2017 10:24 am

ERGH.. sorry just need to vent. Bought a camera flash off ebay, apparently the seller was listing it for a friend, well the friend left the batteries in, and they had exploded, but they told me it worked just fine. I have been trying to clean it all up, but so far it still doesn't work. I'm not worried about getting refunded, but it really is annoying when people don't bother to confirm the condition and then cause me to deal with their ineptitude!

soam24 · Tue Sep 12, 2017 10:35 am

LeeKaye wrote:If there is some weird eBay loophole that allows lowballing morons to make an insulting offer, they will find it.

Truth.

canuck · Tue Sep 12, 2017 10:49 am

RottenAtom wrote:Cross-posting from the Pet Peeves thread. This is not Ebay related but maybe somebody has some useful info.

I just had a frustrating experience at the Post Office. They informed me that I can only insure something up to $650 when sending to the UK. Is this true? Can someone please chime in? If so, that is ridiculous. They said the UK set that price, not us. Not sure why they would do that. They're making this transaction a royal pain in the ass. They want to charge me $75 to ship it with less than half the amount covered by insurance. What do folks in the UK do when purchasing valuable prints from the US? Any help would be appreciated. Super annoyed..

It's only a phlegm print. Just roll that biatch up and ship it off.

I still remember receiving Civ fresh as can be with maybe 1/2 inch of kraft overlapping each side from the man. Ah..the good ol' dayz.