Why is eBay doing this?

[coolthings123]

Checked my seller dashboard and noticed I had a late shipment defect.  The buyer had left very good feedback so I enquired with the buyer as to what had happened.    The buyer advised me he simply followed the question asked of him by eBay as to whether or not the item had arrived between April 15 and April 28.  They buyer bought and paid for the item on April 11 and I shipped it on April 12.  Apparently Canada Post was tardy in their delivery of the item (something as we all know we, as sellers, have absolutely no control over)  So,  the buyer checked off that the item had not arrived within the April 15 to 28 window at which time eBay automatically generated the rating showing a late shipment.  Why is eBay doing this?  It wasn't a late shipment.  It was a late delivery by Canada Post.  The buyer indicated in no way was he being negative about me as the seller or the item but was simply following the question posed to him by eBay.  So, again my question is, why is eBay doing this?  Why are they even asking this question and why are they arbitrarliy generating negative ratings based on their arbitrary delivery windows.  Especially, during a pandemic.   Who at eBay thinks this stuff up.  Do they have a special unit at eBay HQ dedicated to coming up with ideas to annoy sellers?     

[foliums]

" Do they have a special unit at eBay HQ dedicated to coming up with ideas to annoy sellers?     "

Yep...they give  bonuses for the nastiest idea of the week.

[needsmorerobots]

Is your delivery method set to one with the maximum amount of days possible? It's what I had to do to avoid this issue during a pandemic. So far, so good.

And no use asking eBay why. It would be like asking a machine why it does what it's programmed to do. For eBay to change something like this means someone would have to create another patch which may or may not work smoothly at first.

I'm learning from other users here there is no easy solution when it comes eBay website issues. The only thing that is quick is posting a rant (vent) like I did days ago to make myself feel better.

[recped · Accepted solution]

Was there tracking included with the shipment? If there was tracking and it is upload within your handling time AND scanned once within your handling time then it would not matter what the buyer reports.

If there is no tracking then eBay has nothing to go on except what the buyer reports.

Late shipments

To provide your buyers with great service, it's important to make sure you send your items on time. Late shipment rates are determined by the percentage of transactions that you sent after the handling time stated in your listing, or were not delivered by the estimated delivery date.

We'll only consider a shipment as late if:

Tracking shows the item was delivered after the estimated delivery date, unless there's an acceptance scan within your dispatch time or there's confirmation from the buyer of on-time delivery

The buyer confirms the item was delivered after the estimated delivery date, unless there's an acceptance scan within your handling time or there's delivery confirmation by the estimated delivery date

https://www.ebay.ca/help/selling/selling/seller-levels-performance-standards?id=4080#section4

(scroll down a bit to find this particular section and a bit more scrolling to find the requirements)

A few late shipment dings will not affect your seller status, for TRS you are allowed up to 3% / 6 or more, for non TRS sellers you can have many more before it will affect you.

[coolthings123]

I hit the wrong button as I really can't accept this as a solution.  As sellers we are up against the whims of eBay and their unrealistic expectations with respect to delivery times, even in the best of circumstances, let alone during a pandemic.  We also have the double whammy of having to rely on Canada Post or whatever entity is responsible for getting your item to its final destination.   Why is eBay actively soliciting information that has a negative consequence on the sellers even though in many instances it is totally out of the sellers control.   If I wait for a week before I ship an item then shame on me.  If I consistently ship on time and Canada Post or whomever drops the ball then shame on them.   For the amount of money Canada Post charges for shipping they should be a little more accountable.  If I were a conspiracy theorist I would suggest eBay is doing this to augment their bottom line somehow by penalizing TRS whenever they can to perhaps prevent them from attaining the discounts.  I am not a TRS or a Power Seller or anything like that but I really have to take exception to the fact that a few late shipment strikes won't affect me.   If I have done everything properly at my end of the transaction then I certainly shouldn't have to suffer due to unrealistic rules set out by eBay nor the inefficiencies of the postal service.  eBay and the postal service should get their collective heads out of the sand and base delivery times on reality as opposed to the utopian version they are promoting.  

[ricarmic]

The problem isn't you it is the seller that does hang onto the item for a couple weeks before shipping.

If both are untracked nobody knows who actually mailed it or not.

That's the risk we take shipping untracked which is for many of us necessary most of the time (I only ship about 10 - 15% tracked).

Most of the very annoying measures and rules are in place not because of "us" but because of the "problem" sellers out there.

[recped]

The only late shipment dings I have are for untracked shipments overseas, even with 5 day handling, Standard International the delivery estimates by neBay are reasonably fair but packages CAN take a long time these days but in spite of that I only get a small number of later shipment dings, 1.69% for Global, 0.68 for US (and those WERE shipped late and were not dinged because of anything the buyer reported.

You can have 3 % and still be TRS, there isn't a definitive number I can find for Above Standard which is what your level is.

Even better for Canadian Sellers, you don't even need any tracking to qualify for the TRS discount unlike the US where you must ship within 1 day AND have Tracking confirmed within that time to qualify for the fee discount.

[zee-chan]

I set my handling time to 5 business days but usually ship within 3 business days. That gives me a buffer with that shipping time, and I also choose the slowest option (economy shipping) to drag that shipping window time frame even further. There is no point asking eBay "why" they do this, they are inanimate and the system is far from perfect. I actually stopped checking whether or not I have any recent defects...

[apmtrade]

I ship the same or next day and have no control of post-transit time.

Unfair wording from eBay when sellers receive shipping time defect.

" Transaction that weren't shipped on time"

[ambros_51]

YEP i agree with you  ! but that is  not all ! 

but the  real waco's are  the  higher ups  that approve them .

[parts_and_diecasts]

interesting, I had never heard of the Piston Cup set (I'm not into Cars to be honest).

I'm the 11 watcher, as useless as the other 10 but if it can help your listing visibility...

if there is a Chit Chats location or UPS store (via Paypal/NetParcels) near Maple Ridge, I would use those instead of relying on Canada Post to ship to the US, cheaper, more reliable and much faster. I haven't used Canada Post (directly) in over a year and haven't looked back since

[blackranda2]

LOL!! They probably do!! 

[cardconnoisseurs]

Because Ebay buyers are *so* willing to pay for tracked shipping 😕

The amateur operators have buyers trained that free/extremely cheap shipping costs are their constitutional right!