In every issue, readers soundoff about issues important to them. From shipping issues to payment processing, from fees to online marketplace policies, EcommerceBytes Soundoff gives you a chance to air your views.
Dear Ina,
eBay has really messed over postcard sellers recently by retiring many sub-categories on their platform and lumping everything now into only two categories (topographical and NON topographical.)
Now with this new change, the eBay Standard Envelope system no longer works. eBay says that this is a “glitch” that they are aware of but they have no idea when that will be fixed. And if that isn’t bad enough, because of this new category change, they have gone in and completely wiped out ALL previous item specifics on each listing and added a bunch of new ones and some of them don’t even apply. I personally have 2,200 active listings that I am now going to have to completely redo and some sellers have 25,000 listings and there is no way to bulk edit any of this because every postcard is unique and different.
It’s a HUGE mess and a LOT of eBay postcard sellers are absolutely LIVID and INFURIATED over this. Everything was working fine before and now they have really “screwed the pooch” with this bonehead move. All this started on October 1st and Oct 12. Right as we are going into Q4 the busiest and most profitable time for resellers.
Kenneth
Dear Ina,
Etsy no longer has tech phone support for sellers……buyers only!!
I sent my time sensitive query to Etsy 7 days ago by email. No response. This is outrageous they don’t offer support to sellers.
Nancy
Note from the editor: See the petition on Change.org, “Requesting Etsy Support for Sellers,” which has garnered over 19,000 signatures since we wrote about it.
Hi Ina,
Should we be concerned about this page on eBay UK? ebay.co.uk/gdpr
Surely a breach of trust when eBay opts us into sell on our personal information to all and sundry and especially when the page is titled GDPR.
R.
Hello Ina,
New gripe about eBay. I shipped a $260 item to Hong Kong w/ eBay’s Standard Shipping – it looks like USPS get pkgs to DHL, then they get pkg to the destination. It’s supposed to be reasonable, comes w/ $100 insurance
I ship $260 thing – never arrives – eBay refunds buyer my $260.
At about 80 days out tracking shows it’s finally in Hong Kong. Never shows it being delivered.
I file $100 claim w/ eBay insurance – I fill out a LENGTHY form w/ all info, screenshots (all info from eBay). Now after 90 days have passed I can see no tracking or info. They could look at the tracking and see the situation. Buyer does not answer questions – he may have rec’d the pkg.??
Now I get an email telling me that I need to provide insurance FULL screen shots of the info on eBay, not partial screenshots – blah blah blah… $260 probably gone.
Best,
M.
Dear Ina,
I just read your September 30, article about Amazon cracking down on counterfeits and paid reviews. I wanted to let you know that the practice is still live and well as I just fell victim to this scam.
The trick here seems to be that the seller waited to mail the counterfeit product without tracking so that it would arrive on the last day to request a refund per Amazons return policy. I had waited until the next day to figure out what to do about it, and by that time it was too late for me to initiate a return through Amazon.
After talking to several of my friends about my situation, they said they had fallen victim to the same scam and some were unable to receive refunds at all.
The product I purchased is no longer for sale by the seller, but the seller is still selling products on the Amazon platform. So far, it looks like I’m SOL on getting my $52 back. This isn’t the only time I’ve had experience with fraudulent activity on Amazon but is by far the worst experience. Hopefully my loss can be a warning to others.
Best regards,
Rey
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Re the package going to Hong Kong. Was the package tracked through Hong Kong Post once it arrived in Hong Kong ? Most mail tracking overseas will end when it hits the destination country border, at which point the local country tracking kicks in.
A common scam with trackable mail going to mainland China or to Hong Kong, is for an attempt to be made to deliver it to the address on the package, whereupon the person answering the door says there’s no one to sign for it. The letter carrier/delivery person leaves a Mail Collection Notification Card advising where the package can be picked up. The package is held at the nearest post office for 30 days, meantime, the “buyer” opens an INR as there’s no trackable confirmation of delivery, gets a refund,THEN goes to the post office on day 28 or day 29, and picks it up. Ask your eBay CSR (try to get one based in North America) to check Hong Kong Post to see if an ATTEMPT was made to deliver it.