eBay

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎01-05-2026

So it seems that I'm getting a message similar to below every few days from a buyer that eBay is giving the "tariff warning" to, but they are reading what I say in my listing so that's why they buy.

I informed the buyer that eBay is the one doing this because of UPS and FedEx shipments that have tariffs, we don't ship this way. The buyers will be chill when they get their package and all is OK. I'm just trying to reassure them in a professional manner what's going on, even going so far as to say I want eBay to stop warning my buyers when I don't ship in a DDU fashion.

C.

byto253 · ‎01-05-2026

At least some are contacting you and giving you a chance to calm their fears. Great job on saving the sale!

One little word - "may" instead of "will" would do wonders.

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎01-05-2026

@byto253 wrote:
At least some are contacting you and giving you a chance to calm their fears. Great job on saving the sale!

One little word - "may" instead of "will" would do wonders.

They already bought the item yesterday and I dropped it off at Stallion today. I explained that I dropped it off (and what happens to it between here and their location), so it's not so much that I saved the sale, as made them no longer feel upset about the purchase.

Even if they get it and there's no tariffs, if I don't reassure them with information they might be anxious enough to not buy again figuring "there were no tariffs this time, but maybe I'll pay them next time." I want to assure buyers there's no tariff on delivery in the store and it's baked in to their total. I do my own invoice on anything that has tariffs and calculate the tariff as part of what they pay, so I can show them how much extra DT is costing them in tariffs.

If the tariff is really high (like Switzerland, India, Brazil), I just list that stuff in the Canadian store and don't offer US shipping. There's going to be such high tariffs that the items won't likely sell, and they're balking at higher shipping rates, so now I'm just raising prices of some of the items.

C.

byto253 · ‎01-05-2026

Just to note that Switzerland is 15% now. Not sure if that was in your really high tariff inclusion.

marnotom! · ‎01-06-2026

@sapphyres-designer-jewellery wrote:

I'm just trying to reassure them in a professional manner what's going on, even going so far as to say I want eBay to stop warning my buyers when I don't ship in a DDU fashion.

How is eBay going to "know" that you're shipping DDP when you're using an unknown (to eBay) flat-rate shipping method, though?

I wonder if what might help is if you add a bit more pizzazz to your note to US buyers, for example, "GOOD NEWS FOR US BUYERS! Your item will be shipped with import charges pre-paid!" I wouldn't bother mentioning USPS or Stallion Express as I don't think too many people will know who the latter is, anyway. I also would just call them "import charges" as that term embraces tariffs, duties, and any sundry fees you're paying Zonus.

I was musing over the possibility that perhaps eBay needs to modify its flat-rate shipping descriptors, for example "Economy Shipping--Import Charges Pre-paid" in cases such as yours, but I suspect there would be concerns about this getting abused by unscrupulous sellers. (Never Canadian sellers, of course.)

byto253 · ‎01-06-2026

Looks like the messages being sent to @sapphyres-designer-jewellery have read and understood the message about charges prepaid but have a hard time reconcilling that with the eBay platform telling that there "will" be charges. Not sure if more pizzazz would matter here. I can understand that as there is no reason to totally believe what a random seller states.

A solution is for the "will" to be changed to "may" of course, But I really like your idea of a shipping option like "Economy Shipping--Import Charges Pre-paid" or/and "Standare Shipping--Import Charges Pre-paid" . That would be solid.

marnotom! · ‎01-06-2026

@byto253 wrote:

Looks like the messages being sent to @sapphyres-designer-jewellery have read and understood the message about charges prepaid but have a hard time reconcilling that with the eBay platform telling that there "will" be charges. Not sure if more pizzazz would matter here. I can understand that as there is no reason to totally believe what a random seller states.

More pizzazz won't completely solve the problem, but I think it will demonstrate to some prospective buyers that the seller realizes that there's a contradiction in the listing and they've worked to address it. Of course, seasoned buyers realize that eBay messages or policy prevail over anything a seller says, so there's that. I'm just trying to think of a diplomatic way of saying that eBay hasn't got its messaging quite right, and this is what I came up with.

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎01-06-2026

@byto253 wrote:
Just to note that Switzerland is 15% now. Not sure if that was in your really high tariff inclusion.

Yeah it was, it was almost first on my list of stuff to move (along with India, China and Brazil).

They're on my Canadian account now, so I'm still selling them, I'm not going to keep moving stuff back and forth between accounts on these whimsical changes that occur every day.

C.

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎01-06-2026

@marnotom! wrote:
@sapphyres-designer-jewellery wrote:

I'm just trying to reassure them in a professional manner what's going on, even going so far as to say I want eBay to stop warning my buyers when I don't ship in a DDU fashion.
How is eBay going to "know" that you're shipping DDP when you're using an unknown (to eBay) flat-rate shipping method, though?

I wonder if what might help is if you add a bit more pizzazz to your note to US buyers, for example, "GOOD NEWS FOR US BUYERS! Your item will be shipped with import charges pre-paid!" I wouldn't bother mentioning USPS or Stallion Express as I don't think too many people will know who the latter is, anyway. I also would just call them "import charges" as that term embraces tariffs, duties, and any sundry fees you're paying Zonus.

I was musing over the possibility that perhaps eBay needs to modify its flat-rate shipping descriptors, for example "Economy Shipping--Import Charges Pre-paid" in cases such as yours, but I suspect there would be concerns about this getting abused by unscrupulous sellers. (Never Canadian sellers, of course.)

The flat rate type of charge (Economy/Standard/Expedited) is to be able to make changes to my shipping policy without having to change all the listings.

I do get that most buyers won't know what Stallion Express is, but when contacted I explain how that works. I do get contacted almost daily about something in my listings (item related or TOS related).

C.

byto253 · ‎01-06-2026

Congrats, you are really on top of it. Making lemonade out of lemons.

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎01-06-2026

@byto253 wrote:
Congrats, you are really on top of it. Making lemonade out of lemons.

I'm not so sure about that... I got a message (the day after I shipped) where someone made a huge stink about how there are all these fake coins on eBay. I shipped a medal that was XRF tested, so I was confident, no problem right? Low and behold, I get a return request with a tirade about how the medal is "fake" (I just transcribed what hte medal said, and it was weighed and XRF tested, so if it's a fake, it's a 925 silver fake).

Waiting to see if I get a neg, but I responded to the request immediately.

C.