@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I agree...some of them don't. That's why when I send a message after an item has been mailed, I give them an eta in days...not business days.
I used to do something like that through ebay messages immediately post-shipment but then I realized that by initiating communication where none had previously existed, I was leaving myself open to low DRSs on Communication instead of the automatic five-stars. I then considered doing it by sending a message to the email registered with paypal (the one that sent payment to me) but then I decided that might just make buyers angry since they now get THREE from Canada Post via Paypal Shipping (label printed, dropped at post office and then delivered) without anything I can say or do about it so I figured an extra one from me, personally, might also make them angry. (On top of all the ones that they already get from ebay and also being reminded to leave feedback, no less.) So in the end, I left it at the body copy that I can customize and submit when printing the paypal shipping label and also I use a packing slip on each order and it says something like this, depending on the destination and service selected:
"Thank you for choosing McQueen and Mo Mater! Your __________ shipped SAME-DAY and within ___ hours of payment (at cost of postage with NO handling fees added) via ___________ which has a delivery estimate of _____ business days, not including the day it is received by the post office for processing, weekends or holidays. When your order arrives, please let us know if there is anything that we can do to increase your satisfaction with this transaction. McQueen and Mo Mater aims to provide each buyer with five-star service so if you feel that we have missed this mark, please let us know before you leave feedback and we will make it so. Thank you. - Maureen"
When the order is headed overseas, I also make mention of customs delays and fees not included.
I really don't know if anyone looks at their packing slip and, since I have never bought anything from myself, I don't actually know whether or not the text I've entered in that 'message to buyer' field on the paypal print-postage page actually makes it to the buyer on the now-shipped email but I've been doing to this way for years.
In addition to my concern about buyers not understanding the term of business or working days versus calendar days, I also worry about delays due to weather and customs and also misdirection. More misleading, however, is that the delivery estimates between ebay and paypal are slightly different AND no one ever notices that Canada Post itself does not count the day they receive a parcel as anything other than Day Zero for handling. That's a big deal to me.
With shipping, there are variables beyond our control as sellers but I do think that considering ebay knows BOTH the postal codes of the sender and receiver as well as the seller's handling time and method of shipping to be used, they should be able to do a better job at identifying delivery standards on the listings. But I am one of those unfortunate types who tends to care about every blazing detail.
The last feedback left for me was from a lovely American who received her item in five business days, two sooner than was the fastest possible given the shipping speed she chose due to my one-hour handling time and she still left feedback that makes it sound as if she was pleased to have gotten it right on time. It was way AHEAD of time. She told me she needed it for a special occasion and I broke my back to get it off my desk and straight to the post office so that could happen.
Now, rose-dee, I am not necessarily worried about any fundamental changes to feedback, as it were. Most buyers could care less about leaving it. This is not the ebay of old. I suspect they're considering a major dump of the way it is done. Buyers are interested in product reviews but they don't necessarily trust the vendor for those. At this point, I think any change to seller evaluation is a good change.
This was from yesterday's news a la http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y15/m07/i21/s02 and the boldface is mine:
"....Here are three things you need to know from Sweetnam's post:
1) eBay is looking at ways to adjust seller performance standards and will attempt to rely less on "subjective buyer inputs" and more on objective metrics.
2) eBay will bring together seller tools and reports together in one centralized spot sometime this year.
3) eBay will "streamline" the returns process. The first set of changes to the returns process will launch in the fall, and it will continue to make changes into next year...."
w~~_7.JPG "pjcdn2005"){kind=avatar}
