Issue with in-person handoff
Summary: lma-7004 shared their experience with a new feature on eBay that allows local pickups to avoid delivery fees. They mentioned a potential issue where a buyer might have mistakenly selected the pickup option for a small item, despite living far away. lma-7004 contacted the buyer with no response yet and is uncertain how to resolve the issue without penalties. They expressed concerns over the new system possibly causing confusion for users.
Today I just made my first order with the note to hand over the item in person. This is new at Ebay, this option to target items very close to where you live so as not to pay for shipping. I think it's a good idea, it will be an extra option for successfully selling, for example, a heavy or bulky item or one that really deserves to be seen in person by the buyer.
The problem is that, like me, I never buy on Ebay, I sell, so I have no way of seeing whether the new blue button that replaces the shipping print button is misleading when a buyer purchases! I have the firm conviction, though not yet the proof, that the person who just bought me a small item weighing barely 500 grams made a mistake. She should have checked the shipping box and not the in-person delivery box.
Here is the process: I had no shipping label button to print, I only had the note " Contact the buyer". Well, that can be understood for an in-person delivery because you have to agree on the place, the date, etc. in order to meet physically.
I sent 2 messages to my buyer, I saw that it was a woman. I still have no reply. After all, it's not that serious, you're not obliged to reply within 15 minutes. But it's already been 1 hour. Digging around (it's hard to find more than a buyer's name), I'm doing my investigation, trying to find her city. I think I found it and what do I see?
The person lives in the Côtes d'Armor area while I am in Grand Est (Nancy region). You can't really say that an in-person delivery makes sense since we don't live anywhere near the same place.
My questions: When will the customer realize her mistake, will she write to me? Can I cancel the order she placed with me without penalty? How do I contact a human at Ebay? And finally, I'd add: "be careful, this is something that can happen to you". Hoping that Ebay hasn't built a bureaucratic monster by adding the in-person delivery option.
PS: When I have news, I think I'll let you know.
lma-7004
OP3 weeks agoI was right. The person made a mistake when placing their order; they asked to cancel it, which I accepted right away.
If I’m not careful with canceled orders, well, my item isn’t put back up for sale, and that’s a major problem for me. In fact, if an order is canceled for one reason or another, and it’s only canceled by and for a buyer, it should systematically be put back up for sale without the seller having to do anything. Not finding it anymore among my items for sale, I had to manually relist it.
This kind of bug should be reported to Ebay.
A canceled order isn’t a product that can no longer be sold, so right after it’s canceled, the product should automatically be put back into the seller’s sales basket.