2015 Fall Seller Update

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!

Message 1 of 298
latest reply
297 REPLIES 297

2015 Fall Seller Update

don't know if anyone is still watching this thread, but I have a question-I have a higher value package going to China, a country where tracked shipping is not available, it's too big for registered and xpresspost is $81.06-that is WAY too high to charge the buyer.  How does ebay expect us to prove shipping within handling time & delivery when those are the only options?

Message 281 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

What did your listing state as far as shipping charge to China?

Message 282 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

Many of your items are being sent lettermail or something similiar to various place throughout the world so it's not only China where you would have that problem. But if there is no tracking, ebay will ask the buyer in feedback if they got the item by a certain date. If they don't answer the question, then that doesn't count for or against you.

 

If you are worried about delivery confirmation to China and the item is priced higher than what you are willing to risk, you could buy third party insurance.  My mind just blanked about for names of those companies but someone here will know. Make sure that you read their rules though...you may need proof of shipping such as a receipt from the post office. Plus, some companies may not insure packages to China.

Message 283 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

U-Pic is what I've used but they DO NOT offer insurance on everything going everywhere. The price is USD and I cannot speak for how well they handle actual claims.
Message 284 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update


@pjcdn2005 wrote:

Many of your items are being sent lettermail or something similiar to various place throughout the world so it's not only China where you would have that problem. But if there is no tracking, ebay will ask the buyer in feedback if they got the item by a certain date. If they don't answer the question, then that doesn't count for or against you.

 

If you are worried about delivery confirmation to China and the item is priced higher than what you are willing to risk, you could buy third party insurance.  My mind just blanked about for names of those companies but someone here will know. Make sure that you read their rules though...you may need proof of shipping such as a receipt from the post office. Plus, some companies may not insure packages to China.


Insure-post and U-Pic are the third party insurers you were thinking about most likely. Both have insurance available for China which I found surprising.

 

http://www.insurepost.com/questions.asp#GEN6

 

http://delta.u-pic.com/FAQ.aspx

 

Make sure you have proof of shipping. If using Small Packet Air International, if using PayPal labels, print two copies of the shipping label, put one on the package, bring the other to the post office and have them stamp the second copy as proof of shipping or some other way to prove the post office got the package. If using the manual CN22 form, have them stamp the back of the carbon copy that you keep.

 

Also make sure the item you sold is covered. Some items, electronics often, are not insurable.

Message 285 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

singly I put light packet charges because one item would not be that much of a loss, so it was $7.50- the person bought 5 kits and that added up to over $350 US...

Message 286 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

thank you everyone for the information, I didn't think to post on here before mailing but will definitely look into it for further sales.  Normally it's not an issue when it's a single item, it just happened that the buyer bought 5 items totalling $350.  I couldn't use paypal shipping either since they used Chinese characters in their address-paypal doesn't recognize those.

Message 287 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

I was just looking at the U-Pic site, it asks for tracking number-obviously if I have tracking I don't need insurance.  Does anyone know if lettermail or light/small packet is eligible, I can't seem to find any info on the site.

Message 288 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

If you contact U-pic, they will answer that question for you promptly. (At least, they did for me during business hours the last time I emailed them but that was a few years ago.) At one time, I believe they were satisfied with the receipt number generated with a unregistered small packets airmail barcode number if you could provide a copy of the label PLUS proof of shipment from the post office but that was a few years ago and I would not suggest to you that their policies haven't changed. It is best to check yourself. Let us know if I do what they say.

Message 289 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

yes, tried to call, they are closed on weekends, will follow up when I have more info, thanks

Message 290 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

You can block entire countries from buying from you. I've long blocked china. I also block most of asia, all of africa and south america. With needing to verify tracking as a seller requirement to have protection from fraudulent buyers, and it being ridiculously expensive to get tracking to many countries (if not outright impossible), then its pointless to list items to those countries buyers.

 

For example, a small 18x12x6 cm box weighing 300 grams. The only tracked option to many countries is priority courier for $184 (afghanistan, south africa, brunei, etc).

 

Another would be a larger item, say a 30cm x 20cm x 10cm box weighing a 1.5 kg. To South Africa for example there is no tracked option at all (whereas there was for the smaller box item). To Brazil the cheapest tracked option is $82, but only affords $100 insurance. The next level that can be insured to $1000 maximum is $93.

 

Go up a box size to say 75cm x 21cm x 10cm and 3kg. To Brazil its $141 minimum now.

 

Next box I size I might need, 65cm x 64cm x 21cm and 4kg. Its nearly a thousand dollars now to ship it. In canada that same box would be $30.

 

Message 291 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

Hello,

I have Mexico, Russia and South America blocked for quite a while now- Russia because too many packages were being stolen but this is still a problem because there are all sorts of smaller countries that fall under Russia and they slip under the radar so I've had a few sales to Russians even with the restrictions.  Everything to Brazil arrived damaged and delivery time to South America was WAY past acceptable.  I think Mexico is getting better with delivery time but I'm going to leave it blocked.  

Message 292 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

Hello people,

now that we are actually seeing the numbers I am curious how bad it is for the rest of you, I already have 5 defects for late shipping time, 3 are to the UK and all except 1 are over the holidays.  So that said I'm already at almost 3%.  I'm thinking of stopping shipping to the UK, there's obviously something going on there, I used to get arrivals of 4-5 days since I'm in Nova Scotia and it just hops over the pond but now I'm seeing 2 weeks plus and it has me wondering if they are detaining packages due to the problems in France etc.  Has anyone else noticed problems with the UK lately?

Message 293 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

forgot to mention I've already added 2 days handling time and have started changing to 3 days even though I ship daily
Message 294 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

My handling is still set to same-day, and I dispatch without fail the same-day. I have now one defect, my first ever, acquired this week from an untracked small packets airmail item sent to France that arrived one day later (according to the date on the feedback left) than it was earmarked by ebay to arrive. Maybe two days later. There was a stat holiday in there that might not have been counted. Or I lost a half-day due to the time zones. 

 

I really don't think your recent defects have anything in particular to do with UK as a destination.

 

I think it more likely a Canada Post problem: through the whole month of December, they ran an amber-coloured flagged banner of text at the top of each track-my-item page stating they were experiencing high volumes and apologies for the delay. The whole, entire month of December. 

 

I've been meaning to ask whether, given this epic fail having been plainly admit by CPC through a whole month of the busiest season of the year, ebay would accept that as defect-canceling circumstance for us lowly sellers who have no alternative but to use the mother corporation. 

 

I think we both know what their answer will be to that.

 

 

 

 

Message 295 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

Correction to self: it was the latter half of December and first half of January that the 'Due to the busy holiday season, we are seeing higher-than-expected volumes. We’ve devoted extra resources to serve Canadians throughout this peak time. We apologize to anyone who experiences a delay' was on display via Canada Post. If anyone can find currently-display4ed acknowledgement of that, please share. It will make future calls for other sellers that much quicker because they will be able to cite it for the Customer Service Rep. 

Message 296 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

I called with that info and they were nice enough to remove the defects over the holidays

Message 297 of 298
latest reply

2015 Fall Seller Update

I under stand the need to implement this shipping rule so customers receive their packages in a timely matter but there is flaws that effect all sellers even ones that ship daily. For instance.

 

Why would I get a strike against me for late shipping when I could not ship the package because it was a holiday?

 

My Situation; A customer bought from me on the eve of November 10th after 7pm when the post office is closed. November 11th is Remembrance Day and the post office is closed. So I shipped it first thing Monday morning when the post office re-opened BUT eBay gave me a strike for that customer for shipping the package late.

 

Were holidays taken into account in both USA & Canada when putting this late shipping rate mark against sellers ? As well as when each country actual has holidays because not holidays all fall on the same day for both countries ?

 

This does effect one area of the seller dashboard ratings which in turn effects top sellers benefit ratings. Could sellers not be rated unfairly under these circumstances and could loose there discount for a month if they had several sales on the eve of and the same day as the holiday ? What about Easter when Post offices are closed on the Friday , Sunday and Monday ???

 

Yes, I am sure I could call eBay and have them correct this but it is almost impossible to get hold of eBay and the majority of the time they either can not help you or are deflated because there is nothing they can do according to them. What will happen at Easter long weekend when everyone started receiving late shipping rates  times 1, 5, 10 etc ???

 

Could you please explain how sellers are not going to get hit for things that are out of there control ?

 

Have & Great day and I look forward to your reply.

 

Message 298 of 298
latest reply