@zorloth Why not just add $2.50 to the cost. Then your not out a penny and the customer is happy. Like I said before it’s not generally the sellers or buyers fault the mail is literally screwed sometimes on untracked mail.
www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://amp.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article239794943.html&ved=2ahUKEwjpzbjbtrrrAhULLKwKHYoQBygQtwIwAHoECAQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw13HR0KSPvAZ_r1__LBlqAA&cf=1 Or this one. Sorry for triple post I’m trying to enlighten people. Now read every story and tell me shipping untracked is the way to go
Because at most 1 out of 20 ~$15 items I send without tracking result in an ‘item not received’ case. So if I sold 20 $15 items to 20 different people, it would cost an extra $50 to add tracking to all of those orders. And if I don’t purchase tracking, I save $50 and refund a single $15 order. So yes, I would be out $35 for no material benefit. Very occasionally buyers are annoyed I don’t purchase tracking. But I’ve never received negative or neutral feedback so it hasn’t been much of an issue for me.
None of this changes the fact that I send out 100-200 pieces of untracked mail on a weekly basis and a maximum of 5% result in INR cases. Mail almost always arrives. And tracking doesn’t change the likelihood that it arrives; it just prevents fraudulent INR cases. My biggest loss was on an $800 piece of tracked mail, which was permanently lost and which I had to refund. If you want to purchase tracking on $25 orders, feel free. But unless the buyer paid for tracked shipping (in which case it’s your obligation to purchase tracking), you’re just throwing money away, IMO.
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@zorloth I agree with you on almost every post you do but this one I’m far off. You admit it only cost you a few bucks extra for tracking. And your worried about cost but the buyer can pay the simple few bucks. Most sellers and listings have no option to upgrade the shipping or they only offer a $7-$10 option. Which is clearly more then it even costs most of the time. Rarely do I see a seller offer a $3-$4 option which is more then reasonable but when I do see it I always pay the difference. You can also factor it into listing price.
Had my first tracked package in years this week say delivered and it wasn’t in my locked USPS box. USPS is on some major shit now.
I don’t know how to offer additional shipping options as a seller; I just do a 99 cents flat shipping charge on all my items. If a buyer wanted to pay for tracking, I’d be more than happy to purchase it. But I don’t charge for tracking, so there’s no reason for me to purchase it (purely from the perspective of maximizing profit). But I do, of course, purchase it for items above a certain threshold. And, on occasion, I’ll purchase tracking on ~$20 items if the buyer has a low feedback score, since lower feedback score buyers are much higher risk for INR cases. And I’ve occasionally had buyers ask if I will purchase tracking on something. And when I’m asked that, I always end up purchasing tracking (on my dime) lol. But the vast majority of people just want to get the item they ordered in a timely manner and don’t care about being able to track it. I personally don’t even check tracking on items I buy unless it’s been like 3+ weeks since I ordered it.
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I’m with @zorloth
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Super grimey if its regardless of it arrives or not, really hoping its a joke.
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I mean, he does like his own comments. One can only imagine what other evil things he’d be willing to do.
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Is this a US exclusive thing, or a joke maybe? I can’t find any info on this.
I ship USPS First Class, and I go through Ebay or PayPal depending on where I’m selling. My shipping with tracking cost (not counting supplies) is rarely over $3.50 and is most times less than $3.
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I’m assuming he’s referring to the fact that you can’t purchase untracked labels through PayPal. Of course, even if you purchase some postage through PayPal, you don’t have to send everything with PayPal labels…so I’m not sure what his point is. You can spend $3 on a tracked label through PayPal or 50 cents on a forever stamp…
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Unless they know something we don’t, it has to be a joke? Shipping through PayPal is discounted, but not free.
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it does feel like a lot of people chiming in about shipping literally everything with tracking either
- Haven’t done the math on how quickly sending every and all items tracked adds up, making the occasional loss a cost of doing business
- Restrict all of their sales to high end items that will require tracking anyway
or - Have an absolute principle that they must send tracked no matter the item, it’s cost, etc
Quite interesting. When people say just increase the price of the item by 2$ for the shipping, that is very unrealistic for your stock under 20$ as that is increasing the overall price of the transaction by more than 10%
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It depends on the value but I buy a ton of cards. I rather pay $8 for a $5 listing to have the peace of mind it’s tracked. Especially with anything $20 or more. There is plenty of times no matter the order size sellers simply send untracked. Most of the time the order comes but I’ve lost a decent amount of order from sellers skipping tracking. Which annoyed me equally as much each time. I also never returned to those sellers for more cards.
Sometimes it’s a $49 transaction but the sellers mindset is anything under $50 untracked. Sometimes it’s a $70 untracked order. Sometimes $35 etc. The price is always different but regardless as a buyer I rather deal with less issues and know my order is tracked and on its way.
This is true, i’ve had some orders with nasty delays but i didn’t mind since i knew the packages were on their way. Personally, i don’t mind waiting weeks even a couple of months for one order as long as i know they are safe and well.
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I understand where you’re coming from, but you’re mistaken if you think that untracked mail is significantly more likely to get lost than tracked mail. The times where an untracked order was ‘lost,’ it’s actually more likely that the seller never shipped it in the first place. Of course, don’t ever accuse a seller of this – there’s no way of knowing what happened and you should alwaysgive people the benefit of the doubt (both ways – from buyer to seller and vice versa).
The peace of mind thing I can empathize with, but I still don’t really get it. On a $5000 order? Totally. But on a $10 order or even a $100 order? I don’t stay up at night worrying about that stuff. If it doesn’t arrive, just open an ‘item not received’ case and get your money back. If anyone should be anxious at all, it’s the seller, since they’re the one taking the risk. There’s effectively zero risk as a buyer on eBay. My advice is to just forget about an item for 3 weeks after you buy it. Of course, it will probably arrive much sooner than that. But if it doesn’t, just open a case and get your refund.
Ultimately, the seller has one job and one job only: to get the correct item, in the correct condition, in a timely manner, to the customer. That’s the extent of the obligation a seller has. It’s why I get really annoyed when people tell me how to pack my cards or how to ship. Let the seller handle it – if the seller doesn’t fulfill his/her end of the contract, then file a case and get your money back.
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