Shipping Defects and Covid 19

[dr.note]

I sell stamps and ship a lot of $ 5-20 orders. If I was to add tracking, I would either make no money of make no sales because the buyer is not going to pay $15 + to add tracking. So I am at the mercy of the post office to get things to the customer on time. Not that big a deal when the post office if running smoothly. But with Covid nothing is arriving by the date Ebay estimates and even though you ship it on time the customers are logging late shipment defects and there is nothing I can do because I do not have proof. Initially Ebay was protecting sellers but as of October 1 the defects stand. I think Ebay has prematurely removed the seller protection we need and is hanging us out to dry. When you request defect removal because of Covid you get denied. I am wondering if there are other sellers in my situation that are experiencing the same frustration. And how are you dealing with it.

[reallynicestamps]

Take a deep breath.

What are your sunk costs on a $20 sale? $5? $1?  Including postage, which I assume you are taking from your common mint stamps box.

That's how much you lose with an unwarranted Not Delivered claim. How would those losses compare with lost sales and unnecessary tracking costs?

The best workaround for late delivery seems to be extending your Handling Time from one or two days to five, seven, even 30 which pushes eBay's estimated delivery window further away.

This does not mean you wait to ship, obviously.

Better that your customer expect  14 days delivery and gets seven days delivery than the opposite.

I think Ebay has prematurely removed the seller protection we need

I agree and it will not get better over the holiday shipping period.

This would be worth raising in the Wednesday Chat.

[pjcdn2005]

I would look at changing your stated delivery service.  Instead of specifying that you are using Canada Post lettermail, use the generic standard or economy shipping for within Canada depending on which time frame works better for you.  You could also change other countries to either economy international shipping or standard international shipping.  

You might want to change your handling time by a day or two as well...just give yourself a bit of an extra buffer.

[motomike_canada]

Where do you sell to the most? if USA, think about using ChitChats.  

I use it for small items to USA daily.

1st class mail is tracked, and is about $5 canadian give or take for a #2 bubble mailer 

I don't have a location nearby, so it costs about $10 to send a box to the nearest location. Normally I have 10-15 items in each box... so it works out to a buck or so extra each.

I charge $7.50 shipping to USA flat for those items to (mostly) cover expenses. .   and bump your handling time up 2 days from what you normally display to cover transit time from your location to USPS dropoff. 

This has been working well for a year now.