Post Office turning away eBay sold packages

[crn303]

FOR GOODNESS SAKE WHAT IS GOING ON WITH eBAY ???

Visited my local Post Office outlet this pm. The customer in front of me had 4 of her items sold on eBay refused due to incorrect printed labels supplied by fleece-bay. The member of staff confirmed this customer was not the first to be turned away today.

I am sure that I read, eBay stated Post Offices will accept all items for dispatch.

Thats another incorrect bit of information from eBay.

The question I have, is what does that poor seller now do with those 4 items ??

OKAY, eBAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH … GET IT SORTED.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

sounds about right!

[kath3735_wxmjn]

some of us have a life!

[kath3735_wxmjn]

 That is fine  but my stuff goes out in plastic bags and no way am i putting an item of clothing into a plastic bag (whether sealed or not) to wait for months for someone to buy.  They are all washed and ironed and hanging on a clothes rail with a sheet to stop them getting dusty, they get wrapped in tissue paper and then bagged when the sale was made.  

[akemp1]

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@incredible_how wrote:

It is possible to put item in box and some packaging to check and then take it out again.

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If you find the right box why would you take it out again? It takes nearly twice the space to store the item and box separately. Ebay put us under so much pressure to dispatch it's stressful to have something sell and not know if you already have the right box for it. That might worry me all day at work until I can get home and check. Much happier if it's already boxed and ready to tape sealed and slap a (wrong) label on.

[welshjoskin]

They really don't have a clue do they? 

Last year I sold some leftover fabric  and weighed it on the kitchen scales, an old set that wasn't entirely accurate but close enough. When I took it to the post office it weighed more on their scales so postage was obviously higher than the buyer had paid. No way would the postman have taken that parcel if I hadn't paid the extra no matter how much I said I'd weighed it. They go by their  scales and screen and if you won't let them weigh it they won't take it simple as that. I have no doubt whatsoever that if I'd started getting het up "ebay insist you take this parcel!" he'd have responded by insisting I was shown the door  very quickly. 

[lucy_farmer]

'How does it get the weights wrong? Surely you select a weight? Tho at the moment it leaps from 2kg to 15kg and is missing the 2-10 category.

Are you saying it was listed at the proper weight but that the label came out at less?'

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I didn't think the seller selected weights at all... I think I've mis-understood the whole mess 😕

I understood (probably wrongly after reading a lot about this problem!) that the AI bot system registers what the item *is* then chooses the weight it should be to post.

(This of course would totally disregard how much packaging you might need on a lightweight yet fragile item...

would ebay cough up for a damaged lightweight but fragile item sent in the size and weight packaging recommended by the AI?. even though the packaging was 'insufficient'...... I suppose this is a question we will only find the answer to when some unfortunate seller has to deal with it!)

Is this problem caused by the AI registering what the item is, and the seller 'over -packaging' it (in the AI's opinion)?

Meaning that the seller's choice of weight conflicts with the AI's idea of how big the item *should* be in the post, and the AI's opinion winning on lable size??

(I'm giving myself brain ache again😬)

[vinylscot]

Oh Kath.....

If it wasn't a tiny, tiny minority experiencing this problem, these boards would be overwhelmed with people (rightly) moaning.

I've actually been heartened to see that the doom mongers (we all know who they are) haven't been manufacturing stories to back up their negative views of eBay. To be honest, this is going far better than I feared it might (I have a private account too, although I have only sent one item with SD)

I'm pretty sure 99% was a low estimate, although I concede, I can't be 100% sure.

[incredible_how]

SD was never available on clothing for me, so had not experienced it - still haven't as have been using custom postage this last week. I knew my postcode was one that can't offer express service - which means after 15th I can't offer first class royal mail, which occasionally buyers have requested. The higher price and lack of choice is frustrating. As I can't offer Evri, because I can only do collection not drop-off, I loose the cheaper than royal mail, option for large but under 1kg items.

[incredible_how]

just takes less space to stack boxes up when empty.

[incredible_how]

It is a problem that any slip ups that have been made weighing stuff will be harder, if impossible, to rectify

[incredible_how]

But you can choose the weight - a suggestion is made, based on category I assume, but you can click on that and get the rest of the options (except for the missing 2-10kg category).
Are people missing that they can do that?

[cdjcarsbristol]

this would not be a major issue if the buyer read descriptions, looked at pictures, made sure they actually needed  or want the item, the amount of returns would plummet if they did, only the not as described, faulty or incorrectly supplied item would be returned which is fair enough.

[lucy_farmer]

'But you can choose the weight - .....'

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Yes....... but does the weight the seller chooses 'fight' with the weight or size the AI thinks it *should be*?

And does the AI's opinion 'beat" the seller's when the size/weight is printed?

[wellingnorth]

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@incredible_how wrote:

But you can choose the weight - a suggestion is made, based on category I assume, but you can click on that and get the rest of the options (except for the missing 2-10kg category).
Are people missing that they can do that?

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As I understand it at the moment the problem is where 

a - an insufficient weight has been selected 

b - where ebay have automatically selected an insufficient weight and the seller has not corrected it 

or

c - where a parcel has worked out slightly heavier or bigger than expected. 

My concern would be what happens when ebay start transferring over existing listings and determining the weights themselves as there are likely to be a lot more errors then. Ebay have stated that in those circumstances there will be no additional costs to the seller and that the post office should accept the parcel.

[messier44000]

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@edwardian-dreams wrote:

ps …yes was copy and paste from the chat thread 

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Which in turn will be copy and pasted once more by the chat team today at 2-3pm

[incredible_how]

when I have selected the weight (have done for one of my mother's listings) they have stayed - I'm checking all listings everyday at the moment to see if they have changed to SD.

But I've not sold anything via SD so I can't say that the label is printed out as per the listing

[incredible_how]

I am checking my listings every day to make sure when they change they are correct. If the prices were the same as Royal Mail i.e not more expensive that RM, I would change the listings now so that I know the right weight is selected.

[george_geo]

Same here, eBay generated Large Letter label but in reality I had a Small Parcel. Post Office refused. eBay could not cancel or re-generate correct label.

I have a RM parcel box on my route so I dumped it there with digital Proof of Posting via RM app and the package has been delivered on time, no issues.

Sadly, these parcel boxes are not everywhere or just too far if you only have one package.

[edwardian-dreams]

Cant wait for todays session 😀

[moldosgifts]

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@messier44000 wrote:

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@edwardian-dreams wrote:

ps …yes was copy and paste from the chat thread 

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Which in turn will be copy and pasted once more by the chat team today at 2-3pm

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I'll be asking this exact question Ponting out what was said last week, copy and pasted of course

If your in any way interested keep an eye on the chat.