I am in a little bit of a difficult situation and need some advice. I sold two comics for $25 plus $5 shipping. Mailed them off to the verified paypal address via USPS. No problems. The buyer opens a case on me for item not received. I check the tracking and it says the item was delivered. I send a message telling him it was delivered and he says he didn't get it. I tell him to call his local post office. He does and says the package could not be delivered because there was something wrong with the shipping label and it is being sent back to me and that it was scanned delivered by accident. I tell me him I'll keep an eye out for it but the tracking says delivered so that's all I know. There were no additional updates to the tracking. I do get the package back almost two weeks later and the label was partially torn off by USPS and the comics were a little damaged in their 4500 mile trek across the country and back. What do I do? If I tell him I got them back he is either going to expect me to pay to ship them again or if I tell him they were damaged he is not going to want them anymore and want a full refund leaving me with damaged product I can't resell. I'm better off just saying I never got them back because I am protected because the tracking says delivered. He would lose the case if it were escalated right? I feel bad for the guy because it wasn't his fault but it wasn't mine either.

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Next time just set vacation mode and avoid the issue.

Whenever I have sold through GSP, it seems like I takes a while to ship internationally, no matter how fast I ship. The buyer will probably not notice the few day difference. 

Next time just set vacation mode and avoid the issue.

No vacation mode when you dont have a store

1 hour ago, Phil B said:

7 hours ago, Migration said:

Next time just set vacation mode and avoid the issue.

No vacation mode when you dont have a store

The fees are high enough without paying through the nose for a store also. I list for 10 days at around the recent lowest price and 99% of the time, everything sells. For a turkey that HAS to go, I start an auction at £0.01 with free postage. I even remember selling a Friends Pet Salon for £0.01 and I even put a penny in the box to give away the damn thing!

I also allow 7 days grace between a listing ending and when I have to travel. Not too bothered now as eBay is <5% of my sales.

4 hours ago, TabbyBoy said:

The fees are high enough without paying through the nose for a store also. I list for 10 days at around the recent lowest price and 99% of the time, everything sells. For a turkey that HAS to go, I start an auction at £0.01 with free postage. I even remember selling a Friends Pet Salon for £0.01 and I even put a penny in the box to give away the damn thing!

I also allow 7 days grace between a listing ending and when I have to travel. Not too bothered now as eBay is <5% of my sales.

Do you have inventory costs? I fail to understand burning money...

12 minutes ago, dx0520 said:

Do you have inventory costs? I fail to understand burning money...

You just have to skip over his comments or read them for entertainment purposes only. Not much knowledge to be gained from that one 

No vacation mode when you dont have a store

Isn’t a basic store like $5 a month? It’s worth it to not have to deal with a headache such as this don’t you think?

37 minutes ago, Migration said:

Isn’t a basic store like $5 a month? It’s worth it to not have to deal with a headache such as this don’t you think?

Yep. Pretty much if you sell more than a dozen items of the same product group at once, it's worth it. It's not always the cost, as the store itself allows "foot traffic", so to speak. In the description of all my items, I mention that if they're interested in this product, they can view more in my store, and frankly an impactful % of my sales are multi orders and/or returning customers.

It's often repeated in LEGO fan groups that ebay are "full" of scammers and fake stuff. So oftentimes, reputation matters, and when they experience a good transaction, they'll often browse the same seller's store first, oftentimes willing to pay the extra 5-10% more than to risk buying from another unknown seller.

In short, a store has significant intangible benefits that is not simply the + and - of profitability.

Reliability is profitable.

57 minutes ago, Migration said:

Isn’t a basic store like $5 a month? It’s worth it to not have to deal with a headache such as this don’t you think?

I just end all listings and restart all listings when back.

I just end all listings and restart all listings when back.

Meh. That’s to much like work.

7 minutes ago, Migration said:

Meh. That’s to much like work.

ok so I didn't realize the basic basic store was about $5 now. Last I checked, the cheapest was $15. Out of the loop, I am. 

£25 month cheapest UK shop fee I think

25 minutes ago, minicoopers11 said:

ok so I didn't realize the basic basic store was about $5 now. Last I checked, the cheapest was $15. Out of the loop, I am. 

Technically it is called Starter store.  A new level below Basic

Just now, Darth_Raichu said:

 Technically it is called Starter store.  A new level below Basic

That sounds better than basic basic.

2 hours ago, Migration said:

Meh. That’s to much like work.

remember this when you complain captaining is like work...

I find that the vacation mode can sometimes deter a buyer from making a purchase - I much prefer to change the handling times.

If the vacation is an extended one, I will contact the buyer, thanking them while also reminding them that I am away (extended handling time), and if there is any issue with the delay they could let me know (and I will cancel, if needed).

17 minutes ago, KShine said:

I find that the vacation mode can sometimes deter a buyer from making a purchase - I much prefer to change the handling times.

If the vacation is an extended one, I will contact the buyer, thanking them while also reminding them that I am away (extended handling time), and if there is any issue with the delay they could let me know (and I will cancel, if needed).

When I am on vacation I do not want to think about work.  And this whole selling stuffs on eBay is work for me

3 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

When I am on vacation I do not want to think about work.  And this whole selling stuffs on eBay is work for me

As a full timer, if my store isn't open for business - I won't be getting a paid vacation.

2 minutes ago, KShine said:

As a full timer, if my store isn't open for business - I won't be getting a paid vacation.

I know what you meant, I've worked as a contractor with no paid vacation.  But I have a more European view on this.  Vacation is where I disengage from my daily grind (including work). 

Just now, Darth_Raichu said:

I know what you meant, I've worked as a contractor with no paid vacation.  But I have a more European view on this.  Vacation is where I disengage from my daily grind (including work). 

A few emails isn't that big a deal - The work is when I return, and (hopefully) have a bunch of sales needing to be shipped out.

5 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

I know what you meant, I've worked as a contractor with no paid vacation.  But I have a more European view on this.  Vacation is where I disengage from my daily grind (including work). 

Yes, Europeans actually live life to live.

It amazed me while vacationing years ago how everyone would take the month off, with no one interested in taking advantage of working while everyone else was away. Same thing with the afternoon closings/siestas.

I find that the vacation mode can sometimes deter a buyer from making a purchase - I much prefer to change the handling times.
If the vacation is an extended one, I will contact the buyer, thanking them while also reminding them that I am away (extended handling time), and if there is any issue with the delay they could let me know (and I will cancel, if needed).

Items can and do sell during vacation mode, you just don’t have to ship until you get back.

Just now, Migration said:

Items can and do sell during vacation mode, you just don’t have to ship until you get back.

Yes, but that pop-up warning to the would be buyers can keep some of them from completing the transaction.

I think it's more of a personality thing. If you can't enjoy vacation because something in your mind (a pending sale) is eating at you, vacation mode is the way to go.
Sellers that aren't imaging a buyer stewing and refreshing tracking every 10 secs, cursor hovering over negative feedback before it's even shipped...well you might be fine with delayed handling.

I didn't realize there was a newer Starter plan. I know it got to a point where the monthly listing fees exceeded the store fee, so it just made sense. Having store-like categories & vacation mode (+$25 for quarterly shipping supplies) are nice pluses.

Yeah I have one day handling on all my listings, but 99% of the time ship same day. And I still have customers complaining about how long it takes. Not very often but it happens more than I would think. I always point out tracking and how the post office had it same day as ordered. So I would definitely always use vacation mode as I can’t imagine the complaints on just changing handling time.  I don’t think many customers even pay attention to that.