Seller Stanards - Late Shipment Rate

[zelascomics]

Does anyone else have an issue with how this is calculated. I went from below 3% and being a top rated seller and because of a multiple item purchase (which counted 8 times against me) my US late shipment rate went to almost 7%. Because these items were hockey cards .99 or less it was shipped regular post...I mean who in their right mind would pay tracked shipped $15+ on an auction win of less than 7.00? SO to make things affordable for the buyer I get the negative hit.

Ebay says "show us tracking" showing that it arrived on time....I would say "show me that it arrived late"? How can this be so one sided for a seller...let alone one who's ebay "fees" are never less than $700 monthly.

Essentially you can go around saying something arrived late without proof (either way) and the seller always gets the negative repercussion.

By the way my global defect rate is 0 for 752 and US is now 10 for 153

This needs to change as I will not be a seller much longer.

[ypdc_dennis]

When mailing untracked eBay assumes it was shipped on time if (1) the Seller marks it as shipped in their shipping time frame AND (2) the Buyer does not leave feedback or leaves feedback and marks purchase arrived by the delivery deadline.

Listing suggestion for USA (if using flat rate):

Drop Canada Post USA Letter-post and use the generic Economy Int'l Shipping which will give you a longer delivery time and lower chance of penalties.

-..-

[zelascomics]

Thanks, much appreciated! That's the issue I brought up with them...I have it set for 1 day handling time...so next day shipping at worst. So once its in the post....I cant do a thing. Their cut and dry answer "add tracking". It was a useless case of not listening. Ughhh


Thank-you again for your advice!

[reallynicestamps]

FWIW - As I understand it the difference between US TRS and Global TRS is that with the former the TRS badge shows on US screens and the Global badge shows everywhere except US screens.

The discounts and perks are the same-- well of course Global has lower /more reasonable standards for tracking.

From a functional point of view, all you lost was a badge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqomZQMZQCQ

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Ebay giveth....Ebay taketh away!! Where is the joy in that? Hmmm

-Lotz

[pjcdn2005]

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@zelascomics wrote:

By the way my global defect rate is 0 for 752 and US is now 10 for 153

This needs to change as I will not be a seller much longer.

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Are you saying that your defect rate is 10 or that your late shipment rate is 10?  If it is your late shipment rate that isn't actually a defect and it won't make you go below standard although there is a possibility that your visibility would decrease if the rate is over 7% in the US.

Although I understand why ebay requires a certain percentage of on time shipping for TRS I do think that it is wrong that 8 items in one shipments should count against a seller as more than 1 late shipment.

[zelascomics]

Hi,  my "late shipment rate" is 6.54% for 10 items, my defect rate is 0.

I included a screenshot and 8 of the "10" late shipments are the same order. I can understand 1, but including them all separately  immediately put me almost at 7%

Then they added the helpful hint "be careful if this percentage is above 7 we may follow-up with you about the handling time you offer" (I offer 1 day handling time, id love to see how they can help with that)

[esclyons]

mu understanding is , if you get to many late dings. they will add days, to your handling time, no biggie, and no penalty for the seller..  i had that happen one time, 7 items in one package, with tracking.. buyer claimed he didn't receive it even though tracking said delivered.. So i ended up with 7 item not received against me. Long story short, i got them removed as tracking did show delivered..

[recped]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

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Although I understand why ebay requires a certain percentage of on time shipping for TRS I do think that it is wrong that 8 items in one shipments should count against a seller as more than 1 late shipment.

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They don't! I have two late shipments showing, 1 is for a single item, the other is for a shipment of 4 different items bought, paid and shipped as 1 order.

Unfortunately BOTH shipments were late, one was my fault 100% the other was the fault of the carrier (not my "fault" but 100% my responsibility).

[zelascomics]

I understand if it were my fault (as you said) and at times will inevitably happen)...I'd own that. But  the ones that were the "carrier" too? How is that your/our responsibility. I don't see my responsibility being Canada post's delivery time. Do I need to hand deliver items to ensure they arrive in a timely matter? I'd love to see the shipping costs being paid for that!

I have 1 day handling period and I rarely miss it. Is it a pain sometimes, yes, but to get hooped by something that is literally out of my control AND cannot be proved alternatively by ebay or the seller is unacceptable. 

Their answer is put tracking on everything. I sell hockey cards and comics....you think someone would want to buy a card for .99 and then pay $15+ for tracked shipping to the states? No. Shipping a comic is already expensive enough with regular post...let alone adding insurance.

I pride myself on reasonable shipping rates and I think that should be promoted not hindered.

Thank-you for your input though.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@zelascomics 

Hello, tyler@ebay  , Could you address this issue please and clarify? It doesn't make sense for a seller to be punished in this way when several purchases count together as 1.

-Lotz

[ricarmic]

The 

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@zelascomics wrote:

I understand if it were my fault (as you said) and at times will inevitably happen)...I'd own that. But  the ones that were the "carrier" too? How is that your/our responsibility. I don't see my responsibility being Canada post's delivery time. Do I need to hand deliver items to ensure they arrive in a timely matter? I'd love to see the shipping costs being paid for that!

I have 1 day handling period and I rarely miss it. Is it a pain sometimes, yes, but to get hooped by something that is literally out of my control AND cannot be proved alternatively by ebay or the seller is unacceptable. 

Their answer is put tracking on everything. I sell hockey cards and comics....you think someone would want to buy a card for .99 and then pay $15+ for tracked shipping to the states? No. Shipping a comic is already expensive enough with regular post...let alone adding insurance.

I pride myself on reasonable shipping rates and I think that should be promoted not hindered.

Thank-you for your input though.

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The problem, as is the case with almost all of the rules that are a major pain to us is that eBay has had to put them in place because of abuse by other sellers.

For a non-tracked item, there is no way for ebay to know whether you put the item in the mail within 1 day and it is the POs fault it took so long vs you took 14 days to put it in the mail and the PO delivered it promptly.  Tracking is the only way to prove you did your part.

Sadly we are all paying the price for the bad sellers out there.

[tyler@ebay]

Hi @zelascomics - to add a bit to what @recped mentioned:

As a seller on eBay you are responsible for the delivery of the item to the buyer who purchased it, in the condition it was described in the listing. 

Obviously you cannot hand deliver each item you sell - that would be unfeasible - so you hire a company to act on your behalf and deliver the package. While you are not able to control their actions, that's something we see as an issue between you and your contracted employee (in this case, Canada Post).

For some sellers I've worked with in the US they've 'fired' that employee if they've caused too much trouble for them - switching local offices or at times courier companies. 

From a US metrics perspective, Late Shipment Rate has 3 ways to get you credit for shipping the item on time:

• An acceptance scan within your stated handling time
• The item scans as delivered within the estimated delivery date given to the buyer
• Upon leaving feedback, the buyer indicates they received their item on time

If any of those requirements are fulfilled, you get credit for the transaction being 'on time' even if the other two don't occur or indicate the opposite (ie: if you got a scan within your handling time and the buyer says they did NOT receive the item in time, you still get credit). 

With low-dollar sales, and the exorbitant cost of tracking nowadays, it becomes a business decision whether or not meeting this requirement for US Top Rated status is worth it for you. Personally, if it means spending a dollar to save a dime, it may not be worth it. If it is, you may want to consider working the cost of shipping into a certain portion of your items (for example, multi-quantity orders, items that cross a certain price threshold, etc).

Thanks!

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

tyler@ebay 

The problem with that being is limited options in Canada. We have Canadapost or the Purolator's/ Fedex's of the world at twice the price and they still would hand off to Canadapost in rural Canada.

-Lotz

[tyler@ebay]

Absolutely agree @lotzofuniquegoodies - options are limited and tracking is really expensive. 

However, the expectation to be a US Top Rated seller does not change if you want the Top Rated badge. 

To address your earlier question (we cross posted!) about unique order minimums:

We only count 1 late shipment per order. An order is roughly defined as all items purchased by the same buyer, on the same day, from the same seller.

@zelascomics - did this buyer purchase multiple items from you across several days and you shipped out after they paid?

[hlmacdon]

An idea here, but when I was using Canada Post with a third party insurance provider I would scan the package label and get a date acceptance stamp at the post office as proof of mailing for the insurance provider. Would an individual providing this to ebay offer the opportunity for a late shipping defect to be removed? I mean if it is good enough for an insurance company to hand over money, I would *hope* ebay would at least consider it for Canadian sellers given the very unique challenges we have here.

[femmefan1946]

tyler@ebay 

Upon leaving feedback, the buyer indicates they received their item on time

Is leaving positive feedback in itself an indication that the shipment arrived in accepatable time?

Is not leaving feedback, which is the case in over half of transactions, counted against the seller?

Canada is not the only country where the cost of tracking is much much higher than in the USA.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Maybe it's time for the metrics on how sellers are graded/qualify for the limited discounts that are available to them are re-thought. It's a well-established fact that Canadian sellers are at a distinct disadvantage to US sellers and offshore for that matter and this is not improving. How many Canadian sellers have had their status adjusted because of drops in sales due to a mail strike they had no control over followed by trying to build business back up again when people were NOT purchasing extremely close to Christmas because there were no guarantees with delivery.

-Lotz

[femmefan1946]

Again keep in mind that we are worrying about the badge here.

The name of the status is irrelevant.

If we qualify for Global TRS we are getting the TRS discount of 10% on selling fees for all our transactions, including those to the USA.

The only difference, as far as I can see, is that a US TRS gets the TRS badge on  dotCOM listings.

The Global TRS gets the TRS badge on all listings except the dotCOM ones. 

• this might include listings made on dotCA but visible to dotCOM viewers, I'm not sure.

As long as we get our risible fee discount, who cares?

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

I lost my US discount well over a year ago. With no signs of it ever returning.  Basing it on 100 transactions is just using a random number. The bulk of my dollar value of business is to US customers. Substantially more than what I sell Internationally/Canadians.

-Lotz

PS. All my listings are on dot ca. So separate discounts. Not worth the frustration to try to list on dot com with the shipping calculator problems. I do get the reminder on that screen saying "I could qualify if". After a while that's just a nuisance pop up. It's like the statement announcing you have an offer from a buyer with 100% positive feedback. Can a buyer have less than 100%?