eBay

raphael@ebay.com · ‎09-08-2015

Welcome to the 2015 Fall Seller Update discussion thread. Myself and other eBay staff will read all your comments and do our best to respond as our schedules permit.

Thanks!

ight.coin · ‎09-17-2015

What about Customs delays internationally? Some Canadian sellers have commented that they have 90% international sales which do require customs declarations (by Law)?

Canada Post claims to have absolutely no control over timing of release from customs.

Canada Post does not build in their delivery standards ANY TIME FOR CUSTOMS, let alone time for customs delays.

How can Canadian sellers be expected to comply with delivery estimates when Canada Post DOES NOT BUILD ANY TIME FOR CUSTOMS (OR SOMETIMES ADDITIONAL TIME FOR CUSTOMS DELAYS).

90% of a Canadians sales could be affected. Since US sellers send so much of their items domestically. The proportion of their sales that could be subject to time to clear customs or delays in customs is much, much lower.

Raphael, if delivery time is out of Canada Post's control, how can Canadian sellers expect Ebay to fairly judge Canadians performance based on delivery time which could be delayed by customs clearance?

raphael@ebay.com · ‎09-17-2015

@ight.coin wrote:

What about Customs delays internationally? Some Canadian sellers have commented that they have 90% international sales which do require customs declarations (by Law)?

Canada Post claims to have absolutely no control over timing of release from customs.

Canada Post does not build in their delivery standards ANY TIME FOR CUSTOMS, let alone time for customs delays.

How can Canadian sellers be expected to comply with delivery estimates when Canada Post DOES NOT BUILD ANY TIME FOR CUSTOMS (OR SOMETIMES ADDITIONAL TIME FOR CUSTOMS DELAYS).

90% of a Canadians sales could be affected. Since US sellers send so much of their items domestically. The proportion of their sales that could be subject to time to clear customs or delays in customs is much, much lower.

Raphael, if delivery time is out of Canada Post's control, how can Canadian sellers expect Ebay to fairly judge Canadians performance based on delivery time which could be delayed by customs clearance?

Hi ight.coin,

The delivery estimates we use for non tracked services are, we believe, adequately padded to cover for customs delays.

Because we are already asking buyers to say whether the item arrived on time when they leave feedback, sellers who use non tracked services to the US will be able to see how their current shipping practices fare under the new system when seller dashboard preview launches in November.

pierrelebel · ‎09-17-2015

"Because we are already asking buyers to say whether the item arrived on time when they leave feedback, sellers who use non tracked services to the US will be able to see how their current shipping practices fare under the new system when seller dashboard preview launches in November."

Please tell us a bit more about that.

Will the information provided by eBay to sellers in November show information accumulated by eBay since August?

raphael@ebay.com · ‎09-17-2015

@pierrelebel wrote:

"Because we are already asking buyers to say whether the item arrived on time when they leave feedback, sellers who use non tracked services to the US will be able to see how their current shipping practices fare under the new system when seller dashboard preview launches in November."

Please tell us a bit more about that.

Will the information provided by eBay to sellers in November show information accumulated by eBay since August?

Yup, that is exactly what I've been saying.

rose-dee · ‎09-17-2015

@mjwl2006 wrote:
Pardon me for butting in but it takes a lot less than Hurricane Sandy to result in significant mail delays. Force majeur can be declared for heavy snowfall and it renders the delivery standards null on anything in the system yet when this had happened in Canada, I've never seen it reflected on the feedback page like Hurricane Sandy was for months.
Yes, exactly. This was my point. I'm in Nova Scotia. Who in the States (at eBay HQ) has even heard of it, let alone will remember to check our weather every week to make special allowances?
We get knock-down, drag-out weather "events" regularly during winter that delay everything, including departures from the Halifax airport, for hours if not days. Each one will now be a potential "no-no".

Regarding handling time: [...] The business days are incongruent. They don't match. One ends more than six hours before the other. An item received at 9 pm is no closer to being delivered than one at 9:01 am the following day. This new policy doesn't make sense. I don't know how to explain it any better.

Can another seller help me out?

Maybe I can -- eBay has just effectively shortened our delivery window by several hours, no matter what our stated handling time is. EBay's timer for getting a parcel acceptance scan now actually starts running for us at the point where our P.O. counters closes, not at the point eBay says it does (11:59 p.m.).

For Canadians, it is a practical impossibility to make use of the extra few hours' in the day that eBay says they'll allow, so stating 11:59 p.m. is pointless. This is because we can no longer say an item is in the hands of the P.O. (i.e. we've met our stated handling time) just because we've dropped it into the outside slot at, say, 7:00 p.m. Getting that on-time scan is now everything.

Maybe there are postal counters in the U.S. that are open late hours that will scan parcels in, so eBay figures that should apply around the world?

pjcdn2005 · ‎09-17-2015

I do think that it is ebay's problem in the sense that they changed the rules so shortened everyone's handling time. They now allow a seller with one day handling time to be 'on time' as long as a label is printed before midnight on the following business day. They aren't even required to ship it the following day although I think that they should be. With the new rules they are insisting on a scan in order for it to be 'on time' so they are requiring that the label be printed and scanned during business hours, not until midnight. In most cases this is going to be 6 hours or so earlier than previously. This affects both U.S. and Canadian sellers.

The change will be more of a problem for some sellers, especially those with higher sales and/or many other daytime commitments. I think that it would be more reasonable for an item purchased after the business day ended (for example after 6 p.m.) the seller with one day handling had the following business day to prepare the parcel and wasn't required to have a scan until the business day after that. A sale on Monday at 2 p.m. would have to be packaged, shipped and scanned by Tuesday at 6 p.m. and a sale at 11 p.m. on Monday would have until Wednesday at 6 p.m. to be scanned. Then when a seller had a purchase after business hours they would have a little more leniency.

ight.coin · ‎09-17-2015

raphael@ebay.com wrote:
The delivery estimates we use for non tracked services are, we believe, adequately padded to cover for customs delays.

Adequately padded? Is that based on skewed data?

A percentage of international sellers mail is sent with customs declaration absent - usually legitimately but also sometimes unlawfully. Those packages are NOT SUBJECT TO GOING THOUGH CUSTOMS and therefore are being delivered more quickly.

Those quicker deliveries have the effect of SKEWING YOUR DATA toward unrealistic expectations of faster international delivery than is possible for sellers who follow the LAW and declare for customs purposes.

Raphael, can you assure sellers that ebay has adequately padded delivery estimates for those sellers who follow the LAW? (The sellers that can expect to be subject to customs delays in up to 90% of their overall sales.)

rainbow71113 · ‎09-18-2015

Hello Toby,

in Canada registered according to the last price guide was $100 covered and you could pay extra up to $5000

now according to the links you provided registered to the US is covered for $60.

I have sent a package to the UK registered, it got there just as fast as tracked would and YES I could see online that it was

delivered

rainbow71113 · ‎09-18-2015

Hello Rose,

I sent a $200 package to the UK, it arrived in less than 7 days and was tracked and showed delivered. Shipping itself was only $5.90 so paying the $17.00 to get it tracked was a bargain compared to the tracked package rates.

rainbow71113 · ‎09-18-2015

yes, it is tracked and I saw delivered to the UK address just last week

momcqueen · ‎09-18-2015

rose-dee wrote:....
For Canadians, it is a practical impossibility to make use of the extra few hours' in the day that eBay says they'll allow, so stating 11:59 p.m. is pointless. This is because we can no longer say an item is in the hands of the P.O. (i.e. we've met our stated handling time) just because we've dropped it into the outside slot at, say, 7:00 p.m. Getting that on-time scan is now everything.

Maybe there are postal counters in the U.S. that are open late hours that will scan parcels in, so eBay figures that should apply around the world?

Yes, this is what I am trying to say. Under current rules, a seller printed their label and considered it dispatched on time when it was dropped into a mailbox before 11:59 pm. Sellers do that. It's okay.

Now ebay is saying that practice is invalid because it requires an acceptance scan by 11:59 pm. An acceptance scan is only done when the parcel is put into the hands of a real, live person at the counter. In person. As in, I am standing inside the post office which closes at 6 pm and giving that order directly to the employee. We make small talk but not much because they quit at 6 pm and the office closes and they go home and I go home to pack the rest of my orders. Therefore the opportunity to get an acceptance scan leaves with them when the door closes and locks at 6 pm. Canada Post's business day ends six hours (in many cases) before the cut-off time ebay says sellers can use.

Furthermore, the practical application is that any order received by Canada Post or its authorized dealers after the final pick-up of the day at 5 pm (or sooner in some cases) doesn't matter because that parcel sits in the backroom until the following day. Therefore, for practical purposes, the business day ends at about 4:30 pm. Mail received at an authorized agent at 8:57 pm goes nowhere until the first pickup of the next day. And none of that mail goes anyplace outside sortation until after 9 pm that day.

Can we take a field trip to Canada Post or something? I'd like to show the folks who makes decisions how sending mail works. Plus, it might be fun. I'll get a bus and everything. We can wear tshirts that match. It'll be great.

rose-dee · ‎09-18-2015

@isis1313 wrote:
Hello Rose,
I sent a $200 package to the UK, it arrived in less than 7 days and was tracked and showed delivered. Shipping itself was only $5.90 so paying the $17.00 to get it tracked was a bargain compared to the tracked package rates.

It sounds as if you must have been shipping something under 100gm by letter mail to get the $5.90 rate. I expect that's why your parcel got there so quickly, because it was being handled as a letter and not a commercial sale.

This weight class would rarely apply to my items, and I use Light Packet or Small Packet (as required by Canada Post for commercial items). I personally wouldn't use letter mail for order shipments, although I know many sellers do.

Although I haven't checked lately, it seems to me that the Tracked Packet rate to the U.K. for commercial parcels of under 100 gms would not be much higher than ca. $23.00, although the size of the parcel would matter (i.e. if too small). I rarely sell anything of that weight to the U.K., generally the items I sell there are in the range of 200-300gm or more, and under $50 in value. Tracked Packet to the U.K. and beyond simply isn't worth it for items of less than about $150 in value, in my opinion.

For my business, given this new eBay policy, international sales are going to be very problematic.

rainbow71113 · ‎09-18-2015

Hello again,

tracked to the UK for 100 grams is $46.36 so you can see how much money the difference is using registered (22.90). I also typically ship items around 200 grams and I noticed if you put light packet for the US and small packet for international it buys you a couple more days of shipping time than putting lettermail even if you do ship the package lettermail, it's just for the system that it makes a difference.

rainbow71113 · ‎09-29-2015

today I just did an expedited to the US...interesting to note...tracked was

4-15 days @$17 and change, expedited is 4-8 days @$18 and change...

I didn't realize there was almost a whole week difference between the two...

here I thought tracked was faster....since both are tracked I wonder why expedited

is faster?

pjcdn2005 · ‎09-29-2015

You're looking at the estimated delivery times in Paypal? I think that the 15 days is a misprint. I just did a shipping estimate from Alberta to Florida on the CP site and tracked packet shows 6 business days and expedited estimates 6 -7 business days. I rarely use expedited but I know that tracked packet can really vary. I've had packages arrive in 4 days and have had some take 13 days. I think the average is around 7 days. (calendar days, not business days) If both TP and Expedited were about the same cost...I probably would use Expedited.

rainbow71113 · ‎09-29-2015

sorry, yes it was paypal. I've also noticed big differences in ebay for countries for small packet, some say 11-14 business days delivery and some are now up to 30 days (I think this was Russia). I stopped shipping to Russia because it was taking so long so maybe they are finally acknowledging the problems with mail delivery in that country and others.

momcqueen · ‎10-03-2015

This is somewhat off-topic as far as where the thread has gone toward the end but I wanted to highlight something Raphael explained to me at the most recent Board Hour when I was knee-deep in twisted knickers over Delivery Attempts and how that might or might not be recognized by the system and I wanted to re-iterate what he said here. It was good to be corrected on my misunderstanding so I will attempt to copy-and-paste the exchange here.

Personally, I had lost sight of exactly what would change as far as TRACKED versus NOT-TRACKED defects with the Fall Update and how it would be measured and this led me to a greater sense of annoyance than was likely warranted.

His answer explains it very well so I hope that I'm not in contravention of some rules by linking to another post from a different thread.

It's from the third page, second from the bottom http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Weekly-Board-Hour-Session/September-30th-2015-Weekly-Session/m-p/314574#... and it reads:

(0)View Listings

eBay Employee

Posts: 1,028

Registered: ‎07-26-2010

Re: September 30th 2015 Weekly Session

in reply to mjwl2006

‎10-01-2015 04:19 PM

@mjwl2006 wrote:
Also, will Delivery Attempt count as delivered on time? Is the program able to discern that distinction? It's hardly the fault of the seller if their on-time tracked parcel sits at the postal counter for nine additional business days because the recipient was out-of-town when the initial delivery attempt was made. Signatures are required for items of higher value. That often leads to Card for Pickup scenarios. I would appreciate a specific answer to that question because I haven't seen one yet.

This question only applies to tracked shipments, because untracked would have no such thing as a delivery attempt.

For tracked shipments, remember that if the acceptance scan is recorded within the seller's stated handling time, the shipping is considered to be on time and nothing after that can change that.

If there was no recorded acceptance scan, or of the acceptance scan was recorded after the seller's stated handling time, we then look at whether there was a delivery confirmation scan recorded within the estimated delivery time. Attempted delivery does not count as confirmed delivery.

If there was no delivery confirmation scan or if the actual delivery confirmation scan was recorded after the latest estimated delivery date, we turn to the buyer's response to the question whether they received the item by the latest estimated date.

rose-dee · ‎10-03-2015

raphael@ebay.com wrote:
@rose-dee wrote:
However, if 6 parcels in a year (4 for US TRS) happen to be delayed by even 1 day (by no fault of my own) and those buyers leave feedback, saying "no" to the crucial question of whether the parcel arrived on time, I will lose what has taken me over 2 years to build up -- my TRS status and the discount that goes with it. Worse, a few more such "accidents" and I may find myself restricted in more ways than one.
Can you honestly say that would be a fair result for a seller with 100% FB (forever) and zero defects (ever)?

Please keep in mind that as a Canadian seller, you get your 20% FVF on all your items whether you make TRS on eBay.com or globally.

I wanted to reply to this comment, because I think it may reflect the wider view by eBay of the effect the new policy may have on a lot of Canadians.

I do realize that losing the U.S. TRS would not mean losing the 20% FVF discount if I maintain Global TRS, and that the percentage of allowable late deliveries is different for the two TRS programmes.

However -- and please correct me if I'm wrong -- my concern about losing my US TRS is that I've always understood, from comments and recommendations made by eBay itself, that having US TRS meant an advantage of some sort (what sort has never been described) in search placement, visibility, etc. on .com.

Since over 90% of my buyers are American, this is important to me. And it's important not to lose it. That is, unless there really isn't any benefit on .com for Canadian sellers with US TRS. If that's the case, please tell me, because it means I've been working hard to achieve it and maintain it for no good reason at all. If it's not the case, and US TRS is of some significance in search placement, then I repeat what I said earlier: I don't look forward to losing that designation as a result of just a few postal mishaps over which I have no control.

With winter approaching, and the inevitable delays from ordinary, everyday snowstorms, this becomes even more critical to know. I've yet to see eBay extend estimated delivery times or make any announcements to buyers about delays due to snowstorms in Nova Scotia (let alone Canada as a whole) -- have you? The last one I recall was Hurricane Sandy, which really only affected the eastern seaboard of the U.S.

momcqueen · ‎10-03-2015

Canada Post declared a Force Majeur last year about two days before Christmas and whether this was due to an overwhelming number of parcels in the system or due to the ice storm that hit Toronto area that day/night, it rendered all guaranteed deliveries (I had one mid-route via Xpresspost so this is the reason I noted and cared) null and void. It was full-on declared, it showed in tracking on the Canada Post website, lasted 12 to 18 hours and was lifted.

No mention was ever made on ebay.

My point is that weather events disrupt postal services and delay deliveries all the time; this is not just us saying this as senders, it is noted by carriers on a regular basis. Weather events are routinely cited by the couriers in winter as the reason a parcel wasn't delivered on time and because it is an act of God as opposed to the neglect of man, you don't get your money back as the sender because the delivery guarantee was missed.

How will this be acknowledged by ebay, I wonder?

Given the length of time that notice about Hurricane Sandy was on the feedback page, you'd be forgiven for assuming the entire world had been lost for all eternity. I had one seller use it as the reason she didn't notice she had mailed me an item that was obviously a factory defect: she was distracted by her sister's flooded house. So be it. I'm not a monster, I didn't make an issue of it. I'd be worried if my sister's house was flooded but if I felt I could no longer carry on delivering orders as promised due to the strain, I'd close shop until I could.

maggiebvintage2010 · ‎10-04-2015

You suggest using registered mail for sales to Europe, especially high value items in light packages. Raphael gave you a kudo for this suggestion. According to Canada Post, registered mail going to USA and internationally from Canada is only for documents, see this link:

https://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGregistus-e.asp

Domestic registered mail may include certain other items, see the following link:

https://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGregister-e.asp