eBay told sellers to cancel USPS shipping labels that incorrectly printed as “hazmat” (hazardous material) due to an eBay glitch on Thursday. While eBay said after the fact that it would offer sellers late-shipment protection, sellers said they won’t get reimbursed for cancelled labels for 2 to 3 weeks.
As we reported on December 12, 2024, sellers who printed USPS shipping labels on eBay that morning saw them incorrectly identified as hazmat (Hazardous Material) and feared their packages would be delayed as a result of eBay’s glitch. When sellers sought advice about how to handle the issue, they received conflicting information from eBay representatives about whether to ship the items anyway or cancel the shipping label and reprint them.
It’s possible buyers who are experiencing shipping delays are blaming sellers for the SNAFU. On Saturday (December 14, 2024), a buyer wrote on the eBay discussion boards asking for advice, fearing a seller was scamming them. “Hi so I recently just purchased a big ticket item with free shipping, and I haven’t received tracking on it yet but it says it has shipped. I recently contacted the seller to see what was going since it’s been 3 almost 4 days. He claims that eBay messed up the tracking label and that he had to wait for that one to be cancelled before he can buy another one. I’m wondering if I’m being scammed.”
Several people responded that it was the seller’s responsibility to cancel the shipping label and, even though the seller might have to wait up 2 weeks or more to be reimbursed for the cancelled labels, it was sellers’ responsibility to print new labels and ship the packages.
As we had written on the EcommerceBytes Blog on Thursday, initially some eBay representatives advised buyers to ship the items with the hazmat labels anyway (a reader stated in the comments: “I talked to my local post master, any Hazmat packages not following proper procedures will be destroyed, no refunds!”).
eBay pinned the following message to sellers on the Technical Issues board once the issue was resolved, but it didn’t post anything on the Seller Announcement board, nor did it post the glitch on the “Current and resolved technical issues” thread, which was last updated two weeks ago:
There was a technical issue impacting some eBay Labels for USPS Ground Advantage on December 12, 2024 which has now been resolved.
Impacted labels were generated indicating the package contains hazardous goods identified with an oversized letter “H” in the upper left corner of the label.
- If you have not already shipped impacted packages, we recommend that you void the label and generate a new label.
- If you have shipped your item, your item will be processed for delivery by USPS.
Seller protections for late shipment will be extended for these transactions.
While the message stated eBay would protect sellers from late shipments as a result of its glitch, it didn’t offer to reimburse sellers their outlay for double shipping costs, or at least front sellers the money until they’re reimbursed for the cancelled labels caused by the eBay glitch. Read more about Thursday’s glitch and leave a comment on the EcommerceBytes Blog.
I’m curious to know if any sellers had the hazmat packages pulled and destroyed, if so if ebay would take care of the costs of labels and packages.
Ebay would never compensate Sellers for their costs unless they were forced to. Ebay doesn’t care about anybody but themselves and this and other examples of how they run their Business prove this, day in and day out.
Fuhgedaboutit. eBay won’t help you!