eBay EIS Replaces Seller's Box with Bubble Mailer

by: etectra

Repackaging is of the reasons I would never use eBay's international shipping program.

In 27 years of selling on eBay I had one package damaged and that was jabbed by a UPS forklift. The customer kept the item (with a discount) as it was close to Christmas and he did not want to disappoint his child. The outer box, packaging, product box and inner folded foam insert had been stabbed, but not the product.

That record does not happen by accident, but by careful packaging within boxes, with double or triple boxing for some items. I've shipped everything from tiny pieces of jewelry to steamer trucks. I do not want the grubby little hands of a eBay employee or contractor on anything I sell.

Everything goes in a box. Bubble mailers and poly mailers are never used in place of a box. They are only used as internal packaging or around a small box to increase it size to lesson the chances it its lost or stolen and to provide more space for a shipping label.

This is why you should not follow the advice of many of these so called YouTube experts. Many of the clothing resellers are notorious for shipping out clothing in poly mailers, which will provide no crush or blunt force protection. Th edges of poly bags and bubble mailers can be caught in the sorting machinery. Clothing has buttons, zippers, snaps and other items that can be broken. Clothing is made weaved cloth, thread and seams which can tear and fray under stress. These sellers will typically respond that they have shipped hundreds without incident. I can also walk across the street in front of the small town I live in hundreds of times without looking left and right, but sooner or later a car will hit me.

Some of these experts someone think putting an item in a piece of cardboard inside a poly of bubble mailer somehow helps, but that defies any engineering I can think of. Others will claim they are doing this because its a low value item - which means they should get out of the reselling business as every customer's item should be treated with care.

Its all about speed. Spending more time on items cost them labor and thus more money. That is why you see Amazon pack items so badly. I often find Amazon has stacked the items on top of each other, pushed them into one corner of a box and filled the rest of the box with kraft paper. This leaves two side of the items, top and bottom protected only by a 1/8" cardboard box wall. If Amazon would rather spend less money on replacing damaged items that spending more money on labor costs.

Another issue with this inspection is theft at the hub.

eBay can always claim that was how they received the package so you might add some protection by using some tamper evident tape around the internal packaging and box and snap some pictures. Of course eBay can always claim they got the item with the evident tape sliced open. I wouldn't put anything past them.

One should refrain from using newspapers as internal packaging as this can be viewed as another product under custom rules and possession of these newspapers could possibly get the buyer in some serious trouble by their government if they made it through customs as it might be viewed as subversive foreign propaganda.

by: Snapped

“ I told them I did ship in a sturdy box, but the eBay international shippers must've opened the box and placed in the bubble envelope. “

This conclusion presumes elimination of all other possible accidents and malfeasant acts by all other parties, including all official handling beyond control of EIS.

It also presumes there was no legal, or ecopolitical authorized reason to open and inspect the ‘electronic’aspects of the item.  Border agents don’t necessarily pay attention to detail.  

Also missing is any eBay stance that may be known, fwiw.

Just some thoughts


 

by: my2cents

Ebay does NOT repackage things arriving at their International processing centers unless there is some need to do that.  It simply isn't cost effective.  So this is an unusual occurrence to be sure.  

I use EIS and 99.999% of the time, for me it works very well.  

The OP is fortunate, the policy on EIS has Seller Protection and once that package arrived and was accepted at the International Processing center, Ebay now takes over and that includes damage like the OP is reporting.  The coverage on EIS is very good for sellers.