S&H Modifications for CDVs

The fallout continues from our recent "charge back" experience.  The only way to even have a hope of protecting ourselves from things like charge backs or "Item Not Received" claim by a buyer is to have delivery confirmation on our items, signature confirmation if they are above $250 (I think).  This is because PayPal, the most common way things are paid for on eBay, assumes the seller is at fault, unless the seller can prove other wise.  If the buyer says he didn't get an item, or that it was an unauthorized use of a credit card or pretty much anything else, PayPal, and by extention eBay, assumes the buyer is telling the truth and the seller isn't.  PayPal apparently puts a hold on the seller's account immediately.  If the seller respsonds to a claim with a delivery confirmation number, PayPal investigates, and presumably releases the hold after awhile and all is well.   But I've read about some absolute horror stories on the eBay community boards.  I don't know if anyone in eBay pays attention to the boards, but there is a fair amount of discontent floating around.  I subscribe to the belief that it is usually the discontented that do the most posting, but still.  It seems significant.

The picture above is a beautiful little CDV, sold and shipped already.   Take a good look at it, because it is the last of our CDVs to be mailed without delivery confirmation.  It is also the last CDV to go out with a  $1.50 shipping and handling charge.   We can pay postage online and print a label off on the printer - the cost for delivery confirmation is cheaper when bought this way than it is if you purchase it at the post office counter.  But we send these CDVs out first class, so delivery confirmation is not free, and $1.50 will no longer cover the actual mailing cost for most of them.  So we increased the shipping and handling cost to $1.75, which should cover the cost of the actual postage, the cost of delivery confirmation and the cost of the mailer, with next to nothing left over.

I absolutely hate to do this, but it seems to be the only way we can protect ourselves.  $1.50 S&H was very reasonable and cheaper than most others charged.  $1.75 is still reasonable & may still be cheaper than most others, not sure, but I liked a $1.50 a lot better.  CDVs are the only thing we're changing our rates on though, postcards & cabinet photos & such remained unchanged, at least for now.

In 4 years of selling we've never had a problem like this.  In recent months however, eBay/PayPal has made changes which make it very easy for a buyer with larceny in his heart to cheat a seller. It was only after these changes that we got our very first charge-back.  Co-incidence?  Maybe.  But it was a wake up call, it is irresponsible for us not to take some kind of precautions.   So this stuff goes out with delivery confirmation to at least partially protect ourselves, and we have to increase the S&H rates to cover the extra cost.

I really, really hate having to do this.  I hate that all of us have to pay because maybe 1 person in a 100, or even 1,000 is dishonest.  But that is life, isn't it.

I guess we've made the big-time

After 4 years of doing business on eBay we finally got a charge back.  I've heard hints & rumors of charge back horror stories, but we never experienced it.

On March 25th we sold an antique photo and shipped it off to New York.  It wasn't expensive, the total cost, including shipping was $8.09.  On April 15th, the person opened up a PayPal dispute claiming "unauthorized use of a credit card".  It turns out that because of PayPal rules,  we, as sellers, didn't have a leg to stand on, and we realized that fairly quickly.  It also turns out that not only were we out our item, and the $8.09, but then PayPal charged us a $10.00 fee, to cover the fee that the credit card charged them.  Insult to injury.

And looking around the discussion boards, it turns out that this person has been doing this to quite a few people, there are several threads about it, and at least once person mentioned her by name.  Her feedback is private, so you cant see any comments, and but you can see that her account has over 200 purchases in the last month.

So one of two things happened.  Perhaps her credit card was stolen, or perhaps it was used without her permission to buy a bunch of stuff.  Perhaps her eBay account was compromised & a bunch of items purchased under her name without her knowledge.  That's a lot of perhaps, but if that is the case I can understand her predicament, but it irritates me that we're left holding the bag.  We did nothing dishonest.

The other possibility is that she is doing this intentionally, to a lot of sellers.  That is the possibility I'm inclined to believe.  Maybe she'll get away with it, or maybe she'll end up in some legal hot water.  I'll never know, one way or the other.

We've sold thousands of items over the years, and the worst that has happened to us up to now is that every now and then someone decides not to pay.  And that can be irritating, but in the grand scheme of things it's no biggie.  But a charge back is not good.

Perhaps all I had to do was put delivery confirmation on the package.  My understanding is for PayPal seller protection to kick in they require delivery confirmation on items less than $250 in value, and signature confirmation on items over $250.   We hadn't been doing that for the lower priced items, but we may need to re-evaluate that.

Most buyers are honest - the vast majority.  If you go into selling (or buying) on eBay thinking you're going to get cheated everytime you do anything, then you're going to have miserable experiences.  But you also need to take reasonable precautions.  And hope for the best.