Neg rec'd saying item late and shipped Mar 16th, still within ebay's estimated arrival time.

[vintagenorth]

Received a neg saying item still not rec'd. for an item I shipped March 16th. Ebay's estimated delivery time to the USA (Florida) is 6-12 business days which means it still has another 3 days before even being considered late. Only ever had (I think) one other neg in 15 years so not sure what to do. Can I ask for removal since not yet late or should I even bother about it? Should I reply to the neg and say shipped Mar 16th, international shipment, still within estimated shipping time?

[marnotom!]

Well, your buyer's feedback doesn't say that the item is late, only that they're still waiting for it.

What do you feel you'd have to gain by removing it?  I'd probably just respond to it in the manner you stated.  Your buyer doesn't have a very high feedback total.  Have they been trying to communicate through feedback with other sellers?

[femmefan1946]

You are allowed to Respond to any feedback, but I would hold off until the last estimated date for delivery has passed.

Then, if it has been delivered your Response can be "Shipped from Canada 16/3 Arrived FL 4/1" .

If it has not been delivered do nothing until the buyer opens a Not Received Dispute. Only refund if he opens the Dispute, but do that promptly.

EBay does not use feedback to assess member accounts.

Because you don't sell a lot, you might try increasing your feedback by buying some stuff you need anyway from sellers who leave FB on shipment.

[needsmorerobots]

Ebay may not judge based on feedback but people like me do. I always looks at the worst to see what to expect when I want to buy.

Looking at yours it's inconclusive and trivial.

Ride this one out til the end and then respond (if you wish) without emotions involved, only customer care. If you do otherwise you will be judged by future shoppers.

It'll be up to you to block this buyer.  Keep in mind there are users who don't know yet the protocol on this site, while others just don't care. With this customer's feedback this person might be the former. If the user turns out to be the latter his/her pool of people who'll sell to him/her will get smaller and smaller.

[retrocorp.inc]

I had two neg fbs removed at Christmas time. I had two items lost in transit and refunded each item in full as soon as the INRs were filed. eBay was a lot more accomodating given the numerous postal delays. The fact you got a neg. fb because it's taking a while to arrive is not a valid reason to leave fb, especially since it is within the window of estimates. Do not reply to the fb yet. My advice is to wait and see if your buyer receives the item. If not you'll be committed to refund and then request a review to remove the fb - btw I used eBay chat both times and the negs were removed within 5 minutes! 

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@vintagenorth wrote:

Received a neg saying item still not rec'd. for an item I shipped March 16th. Ebay's estimated delivery time to the USA (Florida) is 6-12 business days which means it still has another 3 days before even being considered late. Only ever had (I think) one other neg in 15 years so not sure what to do. Can I ask for removal since not yet late or should I even bother about it? Should I reply to the neg and say shipped Mar 16th, international shipment, still within estimated shipping time?

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There was this announcement back in January but unsure if it is still applicable with eBay.

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Announcements/Significant-delays-to-Canada-Post-deliveries-to-the-Unite...

As for the fact your parcel was shipped US Small Packet Air it's 60/40 it was scanned and would be considered. Over the past 6 to 8 months I have received a seller protection report. They show up on a very random basis. Example attached. In reviewing it I can tell that tsr's/feedback were removed but there seems to be no way to check as to which particular items they apply to. Unfortunately your average TSR as a seller you really have no control over. Example: a)High shipping. Item was heavy and expensive to ship. b) Item was late. Item was shipped with slow service as per customer. Postal service delivers parcel...Not the seller.

Maybe, tyler@ebay can confirm whether the leeway is still available for slow/late deliveries or if it needs to be done manually.

-Lotz

As a side, I had a shipment last month to Sweden. According to eBay suggested delivery time to Sweden was shorter than allowable time to the UK. (Last time I checked the UK is closer). Parcel ended up being delivered 7 business days later because of customs. Only reason customer knew this was the case was customs was able to eventually contact them to resolve the issue. (Tracking did not clarify.)

[femmefan1946]

@needsmorerobots   Yes, buyers do read feedback and that is why it can be dangerous to Respond to it. Really angry FB says something about the buyer, who after all is anonymous, but really angry Responses say more about the seller,  who is the one being checked.

Sellers don't often have a chance to check the FB Left for Others of customers, since over 85% of transactions are Fixed Price or Buy It Now.  We only have advance looks for Auctions and for Best Offers.

Mostly, I believe buyers don't actually read feedback, depending instead on the rating (%), which is misleading because a large seller can have dozens of negs out of thousands of positives, maintaining a 100% rating, while a smaller seller can get one nutbar who poisons the account for a year.

However, eBay doesn't use it to assess our accounts, realizing (at last!) that it is voluntary and that less than 40% of transactions get any FB at all.

[marnotom!]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

Mostly, I believe buyers don't actually read feedback. . .

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This one does!  ✋ 😄