calculated shipping option - bonanza bug? can be costly.

I sold an item a few days ago that had the incorrect shipping price calculated. It turned out that several of my postings had that same problem, which could be costly if not corrected.

It turns out that if you specify Calculated Shipping, enter the weight of the item, but DO NOT specify the shipping service, the Bonanza system automatically defaults you to “USPS Media Mail Parcel” for calculating the shipping price. That can be costly. Also, if you have a lot of postings to create, you can accidentally also forget to select the shipping service.

Recommended [URL removed] The EDIT ITEM / Calculated Shipping screen should not allow the user to save the settings unless a Shipping Service is selected.

I also found out that if you selected calculated shipping and leave the Shipping Weight blank, that Bonanza will not let you save the setting and gives you an Error message that you need to specify the weight or select no Shipping offered. So the recommended fix can easily be put in place.

Does everyone agree?

asked over 9 years ago

8 Answers

Yes, I agree. There seems to be a problem with the Internet Explorer browser unchecking the selected shipping. A check before saving the edit, at the end of the edit session would be great.

I have found a way to check your listings for this problem. It is a bit tedious, but [URL removed]

1. Go to Batch Edit Items
2. Click on Shipping
3. Sort by Newest
4. Scan down the pages for each listing, look for entries like [URL removed]

Calculated by USPS using weight X lbs, X ozs

The second line after that should have Ships Via with a postal service such as Priority Mail, Media Mail, etc.

If it is blank, that indicated there is a blank check mark by it. You need to go in and edit it, to add the proper postal service.

answered over 9 years ago

3 Comments

BestInField says: January 04, 2015

Thank you for specifying how to find your items with Group Edit. Was a refresher. If an item is 1lb. boxed, best to select Calc. plus Priority Mail. Get 2-3 day shipping.. For heavier weights you can give the buyer a choice of Std.Post or Priority Mail, or Flat Rate if it item fits.

BestInField says: January 04, 2015

I just checked using Chrome on Windows 8.1 and the same problem exists, so IE and Chrome fail.. The checking for shipping service is a programming issue. Not a browser problem.

CatnuttiToo says: January 05, 2015

Agree, I use Firefox and it is doing the same thing. Don’t know what to tell you (except my last post at bottom) because I have already told support…and it is still the same.

The specifications for calculated shipping have been in place since USPS did an Update (the update in USPS webtools is what caused the change) in Jan 2013…

However, informing the person listing items that shipping may not be complete is a good suggestion…

all suggestions should be submitted here for bonz to work on

[URL removed]

answered over 9 years ago

ccmom
Reputation: 12648
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3 Comments

BestInField says: January 04, 2015

Funny, I posted my suggestion at the forum you mentioned and it has been a few days and still was not approved by moderator? I see other comments approved. .

BestInField says: January 04, 2015

Probably was not accepted recommendation because this is a koown problem that has not been corrected by engineering – I think this is serious enough to get it fixed, because you are penalizing new sellers who will be hit with this problem.

CatnuttiToo says: January 05, 2015

I told support months ago and they told me it was sent to tech, but still the same problem. I posted here so others were aware and wouldn’t get burnt…but my post (and this one) get lost in the list.

I noticed this some months ago and posted here (although my post eventually got lost down the list). I also sent this to support which told me it had been sent to techs…and that’s all that happened. I went through all my listings to correct…UNFORTUNATELY what I found is that items continued to revert to the non checked listing. For what reason I do not know and I come back to check time and again. I have started reverting my items to flat rate shipping. I can always refund any major difference but I do not want to lose sales/money on shipping.

answered over 9 years ago

2 Comments

BestInField says: January 04, 2015

How do you refund a buyer for shipping easily? Can this be done through paypal? I have always wanted to know the best answer.

CatnuttiToo says: January 05, 2015

Yes, you can refund any amount through Paypal. Click on the transaction and in blue you will see a link to Refund but be SURE to put in the correct amount you want to refund because it defaults the the entire amount.

This just happened to me yesterday – I sold an item that weighs 4 lbs shipped by Priority Mail and the calculated cost came up as $4.61 – I cannot afford to eat the difference to ship this item, I contacted the buyer to see if they agree to pay the proper amount or if they want me to cancel the sale and refund their payment.
This will probably be a lost sale.
I am in process of checking each of my Priority shipping items and changing the shipping to flat rate.

answered over 9 years ago

This happened to me twice in October. This problem was listed in site improvements at that time. I had never had a problem with calculated shipping since I jointed Bonanza in 2010. I went through and found 18 items that I had “forgot” to list a type of shipping. It appears that seller “forgetfulness” has become widespread at Bonanza. Lately I am beginning to question buyer selection of “flat-rate” shipping as it has not always been the cost-effective option.

answered over 9 years ago

sheepish
Reputation: 276
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1 Comment

Barb'sPlace says: January 01, 2015

No word from buyer, refunded buyer. cancelled sale & waiting on return of fees – Lost Sale!

Wow, what a turn-off. So does everyone here do flat rate shipping instead? Shipping is the area where I am most likely to lose money. Ebay’s calculated shipping works well. When I sold on Etsy, I created about a dozen shipping profiles. What do most sellers on Bonanza do?

answered over 9 years ago

3 Comments

CatnuttiToo says: January 04, 2015

I used to use the calculator here because it defaulted to priority, but not anymore. So I am slowly moving things to flat rate to hopefully avoid these issues

BestInField says: January 04, 2015

Looks like I hit a nerve with this post. Sellers are spending a lot of time avoid getting burned with this issue. Or have been burned and verigying their posts or converting to a new shipping policy. This problem needs to get fixed so you select a shipping service or you can’t complete an edit.

SuperFunkyStuff says: January 09, 2015

How do you choose Parcel Select in calculated shipping? It’s goofy. I use the USPS API on my website and it includes all USPS options, so I’m not sure why Bonanza doesn’t. Anyone know?

I also got burned on a recent sale because the heavy item defaulted to media mail. Bonanza also needs to add the USPS Parcel Select option, which does not come up on the USPS shipping list.

answered about 9 years ago

A year later & this is still an issue? I sold a 2-Lb PM $13 item to Vegas. The post price was over $2 short! I ate that. My [URL removed] 1st Class & PM Flat Rate are done in the Flat Rate tab. I do not use the Calculated tab now – it does not have PM Flat rate (it used to) or Standard Post (Bonz claims the PO doesn’t provide it anymore). For Calculated PM or Standard Post items, I select ‘In The Description’ tab. In each listing is a link to another listing with a zone chart and prices, so there is no confusion. I inform that I will invoice with the correct total. Anything over 5-Lbs has prices in the listing. I have hope they will fix it by 2017… :|

answered over 8 years ago

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