w~~_7.JPG "pjcdn2005"){kind=avatar}
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!
@mjwl2006 wrote:
1. What is ebay Canada going to do about the fact its estimated delivery times are calculated incorrect on TRACKED domestic expedited parcels?
The Canada Post delivery standard for Y1A 5K4, for example, is SEVEN business days. Yet when I enter that postal code on my own listing, it gives the buyer "Estimated within 1-7 business days". This is establishing unrealistic expectations.
More remote locations within Canada take up to 13 business days yet the message stays the same on my all CALCULATED postage listings. Check also X0E 0T0. Canada Post's delivery standard says 13 days by Expedited. Ebay says "Estimated within 1-7 business days".
If you ask a buyer with the postal code Y1A 5K4 or worse yet X0E 0T0 whether their item arrived within the 'seven day' window, of course their answer will be 'no' because it was never supposed to be. Will I get a defect for that? And, no, I am not adding a week to my handling time to compensate for some kind of programming bug. That's not a feasible workaround. Yes, I offer same-day shipping and, no, I never ever fail to provide it. Ever.
The reason that some ship time defects are allowed at all is specifically to accommodate for situations where a defect was unavoidable or undeserved. The examples you cite are going to be far from the majority.
@mjwl2006 wrote:
2. If ebay Canada sellers are being held to the same standards for trackable services as their American counterparts, when is ebay Canada going to announce they've reached a new volume discount agreement with Canada Post that makes it feasible to offer tracking on all domestic lettermail and tracking on all Light- and Small-Packets Airmail? For the record, that means we need:
(a) an 85 per cent reduction on counter rates for Expedited Parcel to lower it to the same cost as the lowest cost domestic oversize lettermail;
(b) a 65 per cent reduction on counter rates for USA Tracked Packets to bring it to the same cost as USA Small Packets;
(c) a 75 per cent reduction on counter rates for International Tracked Packets to being it to the same cost as International Airmail Small Packets which, as you may or may not realize only serves a handful of countries so I guess we also require a...
(d) 95 per cent reduction on Canada Post Xpresspost to bring it to the the same cost as Small Packets for those other locations overseas not served by Tracked Packet Service.
This does not include Light Packet or Air Parcel, either. But I can get back to you with the discounts required on those if you need me to.
Oh, and by the way, even those International Xpresspost is essentially the fastest service an international buyer can select, it says "Varies for items shipped from an international location" so what 'delivery window' will those buyers see? And why is different information displayed for the buyer dependant on whether he or she is viewing the listing on ebay.ca or ebay.com or ebay.co.uk? By which site's standards will That Question be asked?
To assure sellers that 'a range of defects will be allowed' is cold comfort if ebay is setting up Canadian sellers for failure.
To reiterate, I have never had a defect. My customers are always happy and my level of service won't change. I do not deserve to be held accountable as a seller for factors that lay outside of my control and, again, with this anything-goes-new environment, making Canadian sellers more likely to fall victim to defects for untraced packages when even ITEMS NOT RECEIVED and NEGATIVE feedback is 'defect-free okay'.....? I have to shake my head. Whose idea was this? Only a consortium of truly terrible large sellers will benefit from this. In other words, it seems okay to get 5000 negative feedback in a month as long as none of the orders shipped late. Please tell me I misunderstand that.
Trust me, if I was able to control what rates Canada Post offers eBay sellers, you would have what you ask for already, and even better. But as you know it's not the case.
Again, the amount of transactions to buyers who will both 1) be in a region where they aren't given delivery estimates and 2) are unreasonable enough to ignore the fact that being so far from a seller will create shipping delays and 3) are willing to give a seller a bad grade because of it should be reasonably low.
@esclyons wrote:
also i ask will the new system take into account saturdays and sundays, and stat, holidays in it's estimates. in Canada we have 5, 3-day long weekends where the mail doesn't move, will the system add 3 days to the estimates in these circumstances. i truely doubt that it is set up for that.
In short, yes. We already take holidays and "acts of God" type events in consideration actually.
@pierrelebel wrote:
Good morning Raphael and Rodney
Question for you this morning.
Based on your data, what percentage of transactions by Canadian sellers - shipping from Canada - are shipped with "tracking" (as reported on your site)?
As you already know Pierre, I can't share specifics on such metrics.
@pierrelebel wrote:
Is there a substantial difference in the ratio of tracking between Canadian listing on eBay.ca and eBay.com?
Yes, not surprisingly. US sellers have access to low cost tracked services via USPS, something Canadians don't have.
@rose-dee wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Hi PIerrelebel.
Where there is no tracking, there is no acceptance scan we can use to see if the seller shipped within stated handling time. In these cases we will rely on the buyer's answer to whether the item arrived on or before the delivery estimate. This is the case no matter which site one lists on.
As a lettermail or oversized lettermail/packet seller, you still have some options, regardless of listing site.
Delivery estimates are a function of two things: The shipping services you offer on a listing, and the handling time.
If you offer a longer handling time, the date estimate the buyer rates you on will be later.
____________________________________________________________________________________
With the utmost respect, Rodney, I think you have just outlined a classic Catch-22* with this answer, actually a double-Catch-22 (Joseph Heller would be impressed).
What this amounts to is that if a Canadian seller doesn't use tracking, the chances of holding on to a top seller rating are next to impossible. However, as I'm sure eBay is aware, using tracking virtually 100% of the time is next to impossible for Canadian sellers. And round and round and round....
On the other hand, you are suggesting we extend our handling time in order to have some hope of defeating the new policy. Doing so however will make it impossible to hold onto TRS, which for many Canadian sellers is the only thing that keeps us viable in the sea of sellers on eBay.
Incidentally, in case eBay hadn't thought of this, for those of us Canadian sellers who can survive long enough using tracking to the U.S., this policy will pretty much spell the end of international sales. What seller can afford international tracking? Oh yes, American sellers can, with the GSP. Yet Canadian sellers are by and large far more effective in, and comfortable with, selling abroad than our U.S. counterparts. EBay does realize they will be losing a whole lot of FVFs on those lost sales?
First the "cart disconnect", now this. Do you think we Canadians have any future on eBay? Seriously.
*Catch-22 (for those not familiar with the novel): "A situation or predicament from which it is impossible to extricate yourself because of built-in illogical rules and regulations."
Hi rose-dee,
Yes I do think Canadian sellers have a future on eBay. I really don't think that a seller who never used tracking would be in such a worst position with regards to shipping time. Before, buyers could totally harm you with low DSRs on shipping time, but did they? The new system won't be dramatically different with regards to that same metric.
@rose-dee wrote:
Could you please confirm precisely which end of the delivery estimate is going to be deemed to be "late", and whether those estimates will change for different parts of Canada, different parts of the U.S. and which locations overseas?
For example, if I ship using Expedited Parcel to the U.S. and eBay shows a delivery estimate of, say, 3 to 5 days, if it takes 5 days to get to California (I'm in Nova Scotia) but only 3 to New York, will the California shipment be deemed late?
The long end of the delivery estimate is what is going to be used to ask buyers whether the item arrived on time if there was no tracking.
@rose-dee wrote:
One other important point I'd like clarified: is it possible to get a defect (or downgrade) for both late dispatch by the seller (i.e. either outside the stated handling time, or absent a scan), as well as late arrival at the buyer's end? This could potentially double the trouble.
No, you can't get a double bad mark that way. We look at tracking events if they are there, but only rely on the buyer's response to the timely delivery question if there was no tracking.
@rose-dee wrote:
Three last questions:
1. Does eBay not realize that tracking is not necessarily a guarantee of on-time delivery?
I have used tracked services on which Canada Post provides an "on-time guarantee" which have arrived later than the delivery window. Sure, I've been reimbursed by Canada Post, but those instances will now generate a defect -- correct?
Not necessarily. If the acceptance scan was recorded within your stated handling time, we look no further. If there was no acceptance scan or if it was recorded after your stated handling time, we look for a delivery scan within the estimated date (eBay's estimated delivery date, not the carrier's).
@rose-dee wrote:
2. Does eBay not realize that fewer and fewer buyers are leaving feedback? The last number I saw was 60%. How can you base a seller evaluation system (in the absence of tracking) upon an already ineffective customer reporting system? This is absolutely senseless.
I would love to know where you got that number, it's not something we share publicly. Personally, almost all the buyers who purchase my items end up leaving me feedback. If I had to put a percentage there (based solely on my own sales), it would have to be in the high 90s.
@rose-dee wrote:
3. Does eBay HQ care about the income (listing fees and FVFs) generated by Canadian sellers? Surely eBay must know that this policy will be the final straw for thousands of Canadian sellers. If we don't leave en masse, we will all end up piled at the bottom of page 378 in searches, where buyers will never find us. Is that really the scenario eBay HQ wants? Yikes, I know we're small potatoes, but are we that worthless?
I really don't see this as grim as you paint it. But I could be wrong, I suppose time will tell. To answer your questions, we certainly do care about our seller's fees, but we care more about their success, whatever it may seem like to you at this time.
@pierrelebel wrote:
Maybe they heard about the big fun party in San Jose (open bar) and decided to make it a long weekend!
I wish! Both to be at an open bar party and in sunny California!
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
According to the .ca update -
"When there's no tracking information available and no response from the buyer, the transaction will not be included in the on-time shipping calculation"
On .com the statement is slightly different - "When there's no tracking information available and no response from the buyer, the transaction will not be included in the on-time shipping calculation and will not be considered on-time or late since there’s no information available."
Does that mean that if I have 100 buyers and only 46 of them answer the question, my on time percentage will be based out of 46 or out of 100? If the answer is 45 then that is a huge problem.
If 3 buyers out of 46 who replied said their item arrived late my percentage would be about 6.5%
If 3 buyers out of 100 buyers said their item arrived late, my percentage would be around 3%.
Huge difference.
In the last year, about 46% of my buyers left feedback so it isn't unreasonable to suggest that 46% or less of my buyers will answer that question.
That's a great question which I am happy to answer.
Those transactions where the buyer doesn't give an answer to the on time shipping question will not be counted in the percentage of on time transactions.
@mjwl2006 wrote:
Yes, the estimates depend 100 percent on buyer location: so does the price. How can it possibly be more difficult to include an actual correct assessment. Expedited within my zone (yes, there are regions in Canada too, that's how pricing is determined) is within ONE business day. Period. One. Nowhere else will get it overnight. ebay has to know that if they know it is within the zone pricing for it.
Actually, not at all. It may be hard to believe but rating and delivery estimates are completely separated and don't interact with one another. Pricing is provided via Pitney Bowes and represents a pretty sizeable amount of data to move around in real time. Delivery estimates are a completely separate thing that lives on eBay. I agree with you 100% that it's feasible to think that if we have one, we also have the other but to enable this would represent a considerable amount of work, which (same story) we have yet to find resources for.
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
raphael@ebay.com wrote:
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
According to the .ca update -
"When there's no tracking information available and no response from the buyer, the transaction will not be included in the on-time shipping calculation"
On .com the statement is slightly different - "When there's no tracking information available and no response from the buyer, the transaction will not be included in the on-time shipping calculation and will not be considered on-time or late since there’s no information available."
Does that mean that if I have 100 buyers and only 46 of them answer the question, my on time percentage will be based out of 46 or out of 100? If the answer is 45 then that is a huge problem.
If 3 buyers out of 46 who replied said their item arrived late my percentage would be about 6.5%
If 3 buyers out of 100 buyers said their item arrived late, my percentage would be around 3%.
Huge difference.
In the last year, about 46% of my buyers left feedback so it isn't unreasonable to suggest that 46% or less of my buyers will answer that question.
That's a great question which I am happy to answer.
Those transactions where the buyer doesn't give an answer to the on time shipping question will not be counted in the percentage of on time transactions.
'm still not certain of the answer so I'll try asking a different way.In my example above...if I have 3 buyers who said that they had late delivery, would the percentage be based on the total number of customers that I had in that evaluation period or would it be based on the 46 transactions that either had tracking or replied to the question in feedback. In other words, would my on time percentage be 6.5% or 3%?
6.5%
raphael@ebay.com wrote:
Those transactions where the buyer doesn't give an answer to the on time shipping question will not be counted in the percentage of on time transactions.
I'm not sure I understand at all what you are saying in response to 'pj's' question.
To ask it another way, is our allowable "late rate" going to be based on the total number of transactions during the evaluation (which is a year for little sellers like me), or the total number of buyers actually leaving feedback?
So, if I have 200 transactions in a year, but only 100 buyers leave FB, which number will be used to calculate my "late rate"?
'pj' is absolutely right -- this is a crucial distinction!
BTW Raphael, what kind of items are you selling that you get over 90% buyer FB? Lunar real estate perhaps? Holy cats, I want in on it! 
I thought my buyers were amongst the "nicest" on eBay, but I'm lucky to get 60% nowadays.
@rose-dee wrote:
raphael@ebay.com wrote:
Hi rose-dee,
Yes I do think Canadian sellers have a future on eBay. I really don't think that a seller who never used tracking would be in such a worst position with regards to shipping time. Before, buyers could totally harm you with low DSRs on shipping time, but did they? The new system won't be dramatically different with regards to that same metric.
Well, in my own experience, no, buyers didn't harm my seller standard with low shipping time DSRs because it would take a DSR of "1" (under the old rules) to do so. My customer service is such -- both at the dispatch end, and in follow-up communications -- that this sort of result would be almost unthinkable. I rarely use tracking. I have a low volume, relatively high price turnover.
Under the new rules, I will continue to get my parcels out without fail within my 24 hour window, send my usual personal email advising of expected receipt, and use Paypal labeling which also keeps the buyer informed.
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.
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