This is going to be a long message. It’s now actually 2 issues, though, as I discovered a second problem that can compound the first. I’ve done extensive testing and have concluded it is either a bug in GS or a bug in how eBay is taking the data that GS is giving it.
Again, this will be a long message - so sorry!
The first part of this issue is possibly related to the main issue, and it is one I just discovered today.
I have a large item that I had originally put in a box that made the shipping [if shipping the item to myself] go from about $17 to $40. I had listed 2 items in 2 slightly different sized boxes, but both being very large, and the 2nd one was enough to push it into extra fees.
So I put it in a different box, and weighed it and measured it. In GS, I updated the weight and dimensions and then revised the listing using just “Shipping Options” as the part to revise. A few hours later I discovered that did not stick. eBay still had the original weight and dimensions. So I did a full revise and that was able to get eBay to update the calculated ship rate.
In all cases - the above and the below, my shipping dimensions contain a decimal in one or more of the 3 dimension fields. This may be part of the bug, as eBay, when using their app or website, does not allow 16.5 inches for example - you’d have to round it to 17.
The more “dangerous” bug for me has resulted in some loss of money, and it is not something I can easily solve unless I have more storage space.
I often sell lots of books. Meaning a Lot of 12 books by the same author. Before I list them, I weigh the books and approximate what the real weight would be with a box and packing. I then have a shipping business policy that is:
Calculated Media Mail
Calculated Priority Mail
So that gives the buyer 2 different ways to have the item shipped. Media Mail is a flat rate no matter where in the US it is shipped nor how big or small the box is, as long as it is less than 70 pounds.
Priority Mail is zoned based, and size based, so having the box dimensions can help, especially if the box is going to be big. But the issue I have is that for these Lots, I do not box them up ahead of time, as I don’t have the storage for them to be pre-packed. I put them on a bookshelf together, and when they sell, I use a box that will fit them.
The bug is that because I did not supply the dimensions to GS for the listing, eBay ignores all the info about the item, weight wise. An example is a recent sale I had. I shipped 10 pounds of books to Atlanta GA, which is not too far from where I am. I add a 40 cent [I think] handling fee for both Calculated MM and Calculated PM.
For me, that meant if the buyer picked Media Mail, I would have received an eBay shipping credit of a bit more than $11.38 [Media Mail rate, plus whatever handling cost I have added].
However, the buyer picked Priority Mail, which requires weight and dimensions - mostly. Because I did not supply dimensions to this item, eBay displayed a price of $7.13 to the buyer! I believe that is the 1 pound rate. I ended up having to pay $10.63 for the 10 pound Priority Mail shipment to Atlanta, GA.
I did an experiment after this issue. I used the eBay website to list an item with the same business policy - Calc MM and Calc PM. I used the same 10 pound weight and kept the dimensions empty on the eBay site.
I then went in to eBay as a buyer to look at my listing and clicked on the rates [the See Details link which allows the buyer to see how much each rate the seller is offering costs]. When I did so, the Media Mail rate was the same as my listing - $11.38 [plus whatever extra I charge], but the Priority was more than the $7.13 that my original listing from GS was shown. It was the proper amount for Priority Mail [$10.63 I believe].
So this told me a few things - not putting the dimensions on a listing when using the eBay site does not mess up the shipment weight. But using GS and not putting the box dimensions apparently does. From what I can figure, my 10 pound item that I used GS to list, showed up as a 1 pound item if the buyer picked Priority Mail. This has happened nearly a dozen times to me so far, and will continue to happen unless I box up all my Lots and add them into GS and do a full revision on each listing.
Like I said at the start, I do not know if this is an eBay bug in how they are processing the info GS is giving them, or a GS bug in how you’re giving eBay the info. It is super easy to duplicate this bug as one just needs a business policy that includes a flat rate service that’s being calculated, like Media Mail, and also offering a Priority or Ground Advantage service that is zoned and size based.
I know one way to semi fix this is to just make up a box size for all my Lots of books, as that should force the rush shipping to not default to a weight of 1 pound. But that feels like a hack, and with some lots, I may need to use larger boxes or smaller ones, and the shipping charge/credit will not be accurate for the buyer and myself. So in the end I need to figure why I can use the eBay website to list an item with this biz policy and the same weight as I am doing in GS, and keeping the dimensions off of both listings, but only the GS one is behaving differently on eBay’s website.
I hope this made sense, and apologizes again for the long message. I’ve been spending months trying to track this and figure out the cause and hopefully I explained it clearly, but if not, please do not hesitate to ask me for more details!
Thanks for looking into this!
