eBay

jt-libra · ‎01-06-2020

I've learned my lesson. I won't be selling next Christmas, if at all in late 2020.

The past two years, I've sold about 20% of what I usually sold over the years, so I was happy to have some nice sales in early to mid-December. Large items I shipped with tracking and smaller, less expensive items were shipped untracked, both within Canada and to the U.S. I let the buyers know whether or not their items would arrive by Christmas and they were fine with that. But now, it's been close to three weeks since some of my U.S. buyers have made purchases, and that's unacceptable to me, even in light of the holidays. I'm in the process of sending refunds to them .... not because I have to but because I feel bad that they've been so patient and understanding. It has never taken this long in previous years.

Even within Canada, I've waited several days longer than usual for parcels from big companies, like the Bay, Costco, etc., who are usually very speedy. I guess the Post Offices and other shipping companies were not prepared or were not willing to hire additional staff.

This is terrible! I feel it is a stain on my reputation as a seller.

richardcm · ‎01-06-2020

Interesting. I ordered online from Costco in early December and had a estimated date after Christmas. It arrived within a week well before Christmas. Not a Christmas gift, just something for the house. I do not remember who delivered it. I will check the box (I kept it lol for reuse) to see who was the shipping company. Just curious.

jolp_emporium · ‎01-06-2020

It's crazy.. So much being ordered online these days, delivery services just can't seem to stay on top of things! Something is going to need to change in the coming years that's for sure.

pjcdn2005 · ‎01-06-2020

I hope that I don’t jinx myself but I haven’t had any comments from my buyers about slow or non delivery. But then the majority of my items were sent within Canada this year.

jt-libra · ‎01-06-2020

I appreciate that the ones I did hear from were polite and understanding but there was no longer a justification for holiday delays. They didn't ask for a refund but I've sent them anyway and told them they could keep the items when they arrived. At least I can sleep better now!

jt-libra · ‎01-06-2020

@richardcm wrote:
Interesting. I ordered online from Costco in early December and had a estimated date after Christmas. It arrived within a week well before Christmas. Not a Christmas gift, just something for the house. I do not remember who delivered it. I will check the box (I kept it lol for reuse) to see who was the shipping company. Just curious.

Costco uses UPS in Winnipeg.

silverpinups · ‎01-06-2020

I only ship using tracked services with Canada Post. All my packages using Tracked Packet-USA arrived early or on time this year. No problems here.

I believed tracked services with Canada Post are given priority over regular non-tracked airmail services.

jt-libra · ‎01-06-2020

Anything $25 and under, to the U.S., I ship regular parcel and take my chances. I'm not paying $16 to $20 to ship a $25 item, plus I would never sell it in the first place, since I don't sell unique items. Taking my chances means a few refunds this year. Up until this holiday season, I haven't experienced long delays.

Within Canada, anything not shipped as lettermail, gets shipped with tracking.

reallynicestamps · ‎01-06-2020

A couple of years back the acting CEO of Canada Post said in an interview with the Report on Busines (G&M) that for the first time since the Edwardian era, parcel delivery was greater than letter/bill delivery.

As Canadians took to email and social media for personal interactions and business chose email over paper for billing, the "letterpost" was almost disappearing.

I know that being oldfashioned, I get my bank statements and some charity tax forms by mail, although we get daily deliveries of ad mail. This Christmas I got a grand total of six cards, and one of those was handed to me by the cleaners.

At a guess, the ramp up in online shopping took Canada Post by surprise. Were there ads in your area for temp workers from November to December?

jt-libra · ‎01-06-2020

I didn't see any ads. But what I noticed was that in previous years, a couple of weeks before Christmas, Canada Post delivered parcels on Saturdays ... and a lot of them. Not this year though.

And don' t get me started on Christmas cards! I continue to send out about 20 cards each year to people I truly like and don't see often. I don't expect them to send any back, although it's nice if they do. Like you, I got seven cards, and one was from my newspaper carrier. Yes, I still subscribe to both newspapers in Winnipeg. I spend enough time staring at my monitor .... I enjoy sitting on my couch with a cup of tea or coffee reading the papers.

But back to the cards .... I'm quite alright with not getting any cards. What I don't like is when people grab some musical card off the internet and send to everyone they know like it's a big deal. No effort and no expense. Really, really lazy.

rcrawford34 · ‎01-07-2020

Re No Saturday Deliveries

Wonder if it depended what area one is in

This year saw the The Company that delivers For Canada Post Vans out both Saturday and Sunday delivering packages in our area. I live in a Apartment Complex and they were here numerous times on the Weekends. Have heard previously these Folk had the option to do it or not

Only had one item sent to me that I purchased on another online selling site Dec 14 from the Mid West U.S. I did not expect to receive until after New Years. Received it a few days before Christmas. I was pleasantly Surprised

weavers

jt-libra · ‎01-07-2020

Have heard previously these Folk had the option to do it or not

@rcrawford34 wrote:

This year saw the The Company that delivers For Canada Post Vans out both Saturday and Sunday delivering packages in our area. I live in a Apartment Complex and they were here numerous times on the Weekends. Have heard previously these Folk had the option to do it or not

I guess they decided not to in my area. I was averaging 3 or 4 parcels a day in December .... and those that weren't delivered on Fridays were left for my poor postal carrier on Monday. I live on the main floor of an apartment complex, so he just started parking his truck in front of my patio doors and bringing them all to me ... often needing two trips ... instead of trying to bring everything in through the lobby doors. It was kind of funny!

teenytrinkets · ‎01-07-2020

What city/province are you in? I find that where your mail is sorted, and where it enters the US can play a big part in how quickly items get delivered.

I sold for the first time over Xmas. I did pretty good. I live in BC. My packages get sorted in Richmond BC and enter the US in San Francisco. Pretty efficient. Most of my stuff was tracked. Some untracked stuff, too - but most of it was pretty fast.

Re: Saturday deliveries: it depends on your local postal depot, their volume, and their seasonal staff. We had Saturday deliveries here, even amongst some TERRIBLE carrier issues we've been having since October (major staff shortages; a turnover in supervisory staff at the depot). It's amazing how your packages get delivered more expediently when you have a veteran carrier (the new ones are just GOD AWFUL)...

zee-chan · ‎01-08-2020

@jt-libra wrote:
I'm in the process of sending refunds to them .... not because I have to but because I feel bad that they've been so patient and understanding. It has never taken this long in previous years.

You're too kind... I wouldn't send refunds to them, since I feel that people who buy last minute during x'mas period should understand that holiday rush happens and should not expect to be refunded because of the delays.

I have only had one INR filed against me a few years ago from a book sent during early December... that buyer waited 3 weeks, and I blocked her after I refunded her, and when she received the book at the 4 weeks mark she messaged me complaining about how long it took... it's like geez, she already got the book for free, what else did she want?

jolp_emporium · ‎01-08-2020

I'm starting to believe that is the case as well. The only packages I've had non deliveries with were sent using Small Packets USA which don't include tracking.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎01-08-2020

Because in the past I never was seeing any status/delivered scans on US Small Packet Air I used to manually update tracking with the URxxxxxxxxxCA along with the ship date. After finding out that some sellers were seeing tracking being available I switched to just adding the tracking. The vast majority of my US mailing goes out with Small Packet Air. In the most recent available date period I am showing 100 percent tracked for my US parcels. 4 to 5 day delivery for west coast and 6 to 8 day for east coast(Shipped from Calgary).If anyone asks about their parcel(small pkt air) I let them know that that service does not include tracking but "may" display once it hits LAX/SF for customs clearance. No guarantees. Items usually arrive a day or 2 later and all is good again in the world. For the most recent eBay monitored period 16 of 17 show with tracking. 1 is still in transit.

-Lotz

PS. I recently had 1 I needed to follow up on. On dot ca tracking it showed as Out for delivery. On USPS it showed scanning was not available.

rcrawford34 · ‎01-08-2020

"What city/province are you in? I find that where your mail is sorted, and where it enters the US can play a big part in how quickly items get delivered".

I am in Peterborough Ontario and the mail goes to Toronto Ont first. When they first changed the sorting From our Local Facility the mail was sent To Ottawa Ontario and it was a nightmare

I sell mostly Old Postcards in Bubble Envelopes and backings. For some reason Canada Post has never been able to explain the majority of these mailings were Returned to me usually 2 to 3 weeks later. (Myself and my Customers were not impressed). Had 25 plus items returned. Never Happened when it was done locally. They were addressed properly etc. We were in contact with them for weeks and finally were referred to Deepak Chopra's Executive Secretary . She suggested a solution that worked. We now send them with Printed Postage and each envelope is marked "Printed Matter" They had stopped using that Phrase on Envelopes years before.

Our next problem was C.P. Employees at the Post Office and the folk at their Sub Stations. Continually argued with me that was not the way to send them. Stuck to my guns and told them to phone Corporate to get Confirmation. It was them that said to do it

Now get the odd one still arguing with me but it works None have been returned since

My fastest delivery to The U.S. was a Post Card. From Peterborough to Los Angeles. Mailed it one afternoon (It left Peterborough at 7 P.M). and got a email from the Buyer the Next evening Thanking me for the card. He got it that day. Shades of the Transporter on Star Trek

Longest mailing took close to 4 weeks. From Peterborough to Toronto. It overshot Toronto and ended up in 3 different Southwestern Ontario Cities before getting to Toronto. Was able to tell because the Envelope had Post Marks on it from Each City

weavers

reallynicestamps · ‎01-08-2020

Story on Radio One this morning about a community upisland (Vancouver Island).

A guy was wondering where some legal papers had gone and dropped in at the local PO.

Clerk looked in the back room and came out with three parcels.

Apparently the local carrier was on vacation and Canada Post couldn't find a replacement.

So they were just holding everything.

Not even sorting-- which I guess is the carrier's job?

Stuff was coming in, stuff was going out.

But nothing was being delivered. Not even notices that there was no delivery.

Guy didn't get his legal papers by the way.

I bet that PO clerk will be busy over the next few days.

jt-libra · ‎01-08-2020

I used to manually enter the UR........CA in the tracking number section, but that didn't last too long. I was getting too many queries, e.g. "I can't track that number". So now I just show the shipping date. I always let buyers know approximately how many business days it will take and, if the package is tracked, I provide a link to the Canada Post tracking site as well as the USPS tracking site (I find that CP does not have detailed tracking once it crosses the border). I really have not had a problem with late deliveries until this past Holiday Season.

I sold something recently on my other selling account and, as I noted above, I entered the shipping date in the tracking area .... after I had already sent my standard detailed e-mail about shipping and delivery times. I quickly got a message back from him ... he was quite upset. I don't understand, he said, there's no tracking number, just a shipping date. What's going on???? eBay says that all parcels have to have a tracking number. I replied that this wasn't true and that he needn't worry. He said, well then I'm going to have to cancel, which I was happy to do.

I don't have a recent figure, but I believe that Americans can send packages with tracking for a mere 50 or 60 cents on top of the regular postage. I don't know if that figure is still accurate. Wouldn’t that be nice for us? I'm sure buyers think I'm lying when I tell them how expensive it is to ship with tracking in Canada.

One of the individuals I sent a refund to still has not received his small packet air after 3 weeks. I did speak to him and he said there's been a lot of theft in his area and that makes sense -- generally speaking. If a parcel doesn't need to be scanned, it's ripe for the picking.

zee-chan · ‎01-08-2020

@jt-libra wrote:
I quickly got a message back from him ... he was quite upset. I don't understand, he said, there's no tracking number, just a shipping date. What's going on???? eBay says that all parcels have to have a tracking number. I replied that this wasn't true and that he needn't worry. He said, well then I'm going to have to cancel, which I was happy to do.

I sell mostly to Americans too (80%+?) and I rarely get the request for tracking number. I put it in if I'm using tracked service, otherwise I message my buyers to expect 2-4 weeks after I mailed. Dunno if demographics matters but I sell comic books and buyers are usually younger females. They are not foreign to the concept that international tracking is expensive as well.