eBay

vintagenorth · ‎02-07-2016

I always ship airmail, NEVER ground for overseas and use "standard shipping from outside USA" but am thinking to change to "Economy shipping from outside USA" to give me a longer ship time. Thinking of doing this for all USA and International listings. I have already had a newbie give me a ding for ship time arrival due to ebay's very short mailing estimates.

Has anyone changed their times and if so has it been very detrimental to your USA sales?

If I changed my International times to Economy do you think overseas buyers will assume I ship by ground? (I never do). To the UK is never a problem but Australia is worrisome.

Do buyers ever really read the shipping information?

dutchman48 · ‎02-08-2016

Here is what buyer from US told me

It's up to you to make sure eBay has reasonable dates for delivery

Fat chance of that ever happening. Seems to think that we supply the dates to Ebay.

This whole policy is absolute garbage so Ebay can do you know what to sellers.

If your assumption is correct, Ebay supplies dates and we have no idea what they are as my listing after the sale, still says varies.

pjcdn2005 · ‎02-08-2016

Mine showed varied and on the dashboard Ebay says buyer stated arrived late so they do see the question. Listed on .ca and sold to the US

I've never seen it say delivery times varies for the U.S. so that's really odd. Is it possible that they were using a mail forwarder in the U.S.?

pjcdn2005 · ‎02-08-2016

@vintagenorth wrote:
Okay, I'm not absolutely sure about this but I think it shows "varies" until it is purchased and then the buyer sees ebay's estimated shipping time in days for their country. This seems to happen just for certain countries.

I've never seen that. If it says varies in the listing then it's always said varies on the order details page as well.

The dates on that page is what the buyer sees.

dutchman48 · ‎02-08-2016

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
Mine showed varied and on the dashboard Ebay says buyer stated arrived late so they do see the question. Listed on .ca and sold to the US

I've never seen it say delivery times varies for the U.S. so that's really odd. Is it possible that they were using a mail forwarder in the U.S.?

Not from what I can tell. Has feedback of over 12,000

femmefan1946 · ‎02-08-2016

I know that Raphael in the weekly sessions says so far the questions is working for most sellers but I am skeptical.

How is it working for sellers?

Does having the question speed up their shipping?

Does it speed up the postal system?

Does the question prevent postal delays?

Does it improve scores of some sort?

Does it apply to the 40-60% of buyers who leave no feedback at all?

If a buyer does not leave feedback, does the seller get an On Time automatic credit?

If so, does the seller get that credit the day the purchase was deemed to be received?

The next day?

After 60 days with no feedback left?

After 30 days from the deemed received date?

This is just a silly metric that means nothing.

If a purchase is very late, the buyer has the right to use the Resolution Centre and get a refund.

hlmacdon · ‎02-08-2016

@dutchman48 wrote:
How can it arrive late if Ebays does not show sellers listing anything other than varies? No days shown.

Do you have a listing number we can check? As far as I have seen, the varies for item delivered to an international location only appears for countries outside of North America, but I may have overlooked one of the non-carrier specific options I don't use.

dutchman48 · ‎02-08-2016

@femmefan1946 wrote:
I know that Raphael in the weekly sessions says so far the questions is working for most sellers but I am skeptical.

How is it working for sellers?
Does having the question speed up their shipping?
Does it speed up the postal system?
Does the question prevent postal delays?
Does it improve scores of some sort?

Does it apply to the 40-60% of buyers who leave no feedback at all?
If a buyer does not leave feedback, does the seller get an On Time automatic credit?
If so, does the seller get that credit the day the purchase was deemed to be received?
The next day?
After 60 days with no feedback left?
After 30 days from the deemed received date?

This is just a silly metric that means nothing.
If a purchase is very late, the buyer has the right to use the Resolution Centre and get a refund.

I agree 100% except it punishes the sellers and nothing else gets accomplished.

ricarmic · ‎02-08-2016

It seems to me that the measures put in place over the last few years have had the intention of trying to identify happy buyers vs buyers that are unhappy and not likely to purchase again (ie go someplace else instead of ebay).

Perhaps a simple question of:

Would you buy from this seller again? Y/N

would provide a better picture, especially if buyers were able to change it as they are feedback?

block36 · ‎02-08-2016

Excuse me, please, but do I understand it right ?
if I will change my handling time from 1 day to 2 or 3 (or even higher) this will extend the delivery time for my items without jeopardizing my TRS status?

I am listing on eBay.ca only

Thank you

dutchman48 · ‎02-08-2016

I am a buyer and certainly am not happy but does Ebay really care or just give lip service.

They of course care about their bottom line, the advertising income, the big box stores, and the Chinese.

The rest are insignificant even if they are both buyers and sellers.

Most of what I call smaller sellers, me included, create 90% or more of the problems and generate a minuscule part of their income.

I fully understand, don't like it, and choose to be vocal about it. As a seller, I don't have any other options, as Ebay very seldom if ever helps sellers.

decal-fx · ‎02-08-2016

ricarmic wrote:
It seems to me that the measures put in place over the last few years have had the intention of trying to identify happy buyers vs buyers that are unhappy and not likely to purchase again (ie go someplace else instead of ebay).

Perhaps a simple question of:

Would you buy from this seller again? Y/N

would provide a better picture, especially if buyers were able to change it as they are feedback?

I could not AGREE More. This one simple question would certainly be a MUCH Better gauge of Buyer Satisfaction.

pjcdn2005 · ‎02-08-2016

@block36 wrote:

Excuse me, please, but do I understand it right ?
if I will change my handling time from 1 day to 2 or 3 (or even higher) this will extend the delivery time for my items without jeopardizing my TRS status?

I am listing on eBay.ca only

Thank you

It wouldn't affect your global TRS status. The only time that the one day handling comes into play is if you are a TRSplus on .com and unless you use tracking for the majority of your items, it is difficult for most Canadians to be a TRSplus.

Some may think that if you have one day handling that you are rated higher in search when a buyer is using best match but I don't think anyone knows that for sure or how much of a difference it would make.

In your case, you might be better off just to change the shipping methods on your listings. Instead of lettermail,, one of the generic choices might work better for you.

hlmacdon · ‎02-08-2016

@femmefan1946 wrote:
I know that Raphael in the weekly sessions says so far the questions is working for most sellers but I am skeptical.

How is it working for sellers?
Does having the question speed up their shipping?
Does it speed up the postal system?
Does the question prevent postal delays?
Does it improve scores of some sort?

This is just a silly metric that means nothing.
If a purchase is very late, the buyer has the right to use the Resolution Centre and get a refund.

If you read through their investor relations material, you can get a pretty good idea of the direction they are headed. A lot of the policies introduced over the years have forced many of the smaller sellers (small biz or consumer to consumer) out of ebay. So much so according to their data 80% of items sold are new and over 80% are sold via fixed price.

What this tells you is it mostly business to consumer sales we are seeing. The direction as a result is very much tailored towards competing with certain US online retailers that have been taking out large chunks of ebay market share. If you look at the current strategy it basically boils down to:

Item specifics to create a catalog. Ebay ranks at the bottom end of SEO, meaning there is very little natural flow through from search engine traffic (ie google) to ebay. Also they are basically trying to assume the role of a content aggregator, adding images, specs, etc eventually to products to help the cure problem of poorly listed items. This is why they are hammering away on sellers for item specifics such as UPC/part numbers to link the data
Creating product reviews and other content to link to the above

I mention the above as basically step 1 is to create a better catalog of product, and step 2 will be to filter buyers to present customers with the best seller for the chosen item. The late shipping metric is simply going to be one more metric for them to use in an algorithm to direct buyers to the seller that has the best price, ships the fastest, arrives on time, etc. This will eventually be a more in your face presentation to the consumer than the best match as it stands today. The buyer protection value add is a very worn out concept at this stage and isn't a competitive advantage, so the value add is going to be directing the customer to the best price with quickest availability. If you think about it, that is the only way they can compete with shipping methods that guarantee delivery in x# days.

As a strategy I think it will help certain types of sellers, but as many of you are experiencing it alienates the small seller. To me these sellers represent the real value add of ebay as they present the sort of items you can't readily find elsewhere and that is what brings real value to the ebay marketplace for me as a consumer. Otherwise ebay is just becoming another glorified dropshipping experience. If you think about it, what they are spending their time investing on is create the very basics of an ecommerce site, and this is how many years on from since when they started?

Fundamentally I still think they are missing the boat, with a half baked mobile implementation whose last version was a disaster, a Canadian marketplace that can't address specific international markets with a functional add to cart implementation, and policies which continue to increase friction between buyers and sellers. That is far more important in converting lookers to buyers.

hlmacdon · ‎02-08-2016

@ricarmic wrote:
It seems to me that the measures put in place over the last few years have had the intention of trying to identify happy buyers vs buyers that are unhappy and not likely to purchase again (ie go someplace else instead of ebay).

Perhaps a simple question of:

Would you buy from this seller again? Y/N

would provide a better picture, especially if buyers were able to change it as they are feedback?

I think this would be more problematic as it is more likely to take one potential part of a transaction that a buyer isn't satisfied with and magnify that, which could hit the seller with a general black mark, rather than a specific one. If you simply metrics to that point you run the risk of eBay's algorithms punishing you in a far more punitive manner. That sort of generalized information is less useful when you start introducing algorithms to guide buyers.

ricarmic · ‎02-08-2016

Certainly a single "would you buy again", is simple, it really is something like what it was in the "original" days with a simple rating of 1 to 5 of the seller.

As a seller, I would really like to know the reasons why a buyer wouldn't come back, so that I could evaluate what I need to change, if anything.

It is interesting to me that (remember I am a stamp guy) the other 3 non-ebay sites I sell on still rely on: a single thread positive/neutral/negative, a single level style rating, or no rating system at all, with no ability of the seller to "reply to feedback" on them.

Certainly it seems counterproductive that if eBay wants shipping to be faster, the measures are forcing people to "pad" their shipping times to meet the metric, which looks to the buyers like it takes longer to get stuff from those sellers......

pocomocomputing · ‎02-08-2016

@dutchman48 wrote:
@pocomocomputing wrote:
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
@ricarmic wrote:
However, for international folks, if I look at my listing like I'm them, the shipping estimate shows:

"Varies for items shipped from an international location"

The shipping estimate will says 'varies' for some countries. For example, buyers in the UK and France do see an time estimate. Poco's chart in post 8 shows which countries give the 'varies' message.
-------------

Someone on another thread mentioned that if this shows up the buyer does not receive the "did it get there on time" question when they leave feedback and it counts like they didn't answer (which is good because it counts in the overall count but not as a negative).

My suspicion is that this is working in my favour....

It may be but when there is no tracking and when the buyer doesn't answer the question or doesn't see the question, that transaction is not counted in the overall count. So if all of your items are sent without tracking and only 50% of your buyers answer the 'on time' question, your overall count will be based on 50% of your total transactions.
I can confirm that a listing with "varies" does not ask the "on time" question. I had a purchase from a Canadian seller who listed on ebay.com using Standard Int'l shipping and for Canada shipping, it always shows varies and I noticed I had no "on time" question.

I do find it interesting that your comment that the more "varies" you get for using Economy Int'l shipping reduces the pool of listings where the buyer can ask the "on time" question and may result in a higher percentage of "no's" to the "on time" question. I did not think about that angle.

I know that Raphael in the weekly sessions says so far the questions is working for most sellers but I am skeptical. Only time will tell how this "on time" question will affect sellers.
Mine showed varied and on the dashboard Ebay says buyer stated arrived late so they do see the question. Listed on .ca and sold to the US

I was referring to listing on eBay.com and if you use Standard Int'l Shipping, selecting Canada will always show Varies message instead of an exact date. Same for Economy Int'l Shipping.

I have tracked what delivery time estimates and the time and the countries since it was started 3-4 years ago. Canada has always shown varies on ebay.com for Standard Int'l Shipping option.

If you list on eBay.ca, most options to the USA that I have been following (Flat Rate Shipping with Standard, Letterpost, Light Packet, Small Packet, Tracked Packet except) show a delivery estimate time. What option did you use in your listing? What was the listing number?

hlmacdon · ‎02-08-2016

@ricarmic wrote:
Certainly a single "would you buy again", is simple, it really is something like what it was in the "original" days with a simple rating of 1 to 5 of the seller.

As a seller, I would really like to know the reasons why a buyer wouldn't come back, so that I could evaluate what I need to change, if anything.

It is interesting to me that (remember I am a stamp guy) the other 3 non-ebay sites I sell on still rely on: a single thread positive/neutral/negative, a single level style rating, or no rating system at all, with no ability of the seller to "reply to feedback" on them.

Certainly it seems counterproductive that if eBay wants shipping to be faster, the measures are forcing people to "pad" their shipping times to meet the metric, which looks to the buyers like it takes longer to get stuff from those sellers......

It seems simple but you have to look at the buyer psychology. If you look at the late defect issue for example, we have customers who are leaving positive feedback, often with great comments, but then answer no to the did it arrive on time question. Having a few specific metrics you measure is far more useful when you are designing algorithms as it allows you to get more granular with your results.

Ebay is happy to see smaller sellers pad their shipping times, because small sellers are not who they are targeting with this direction. They want retail merchants, with large inventories, inherent cost advantages, and often advantageous logistics. To attract those merchants they need to show that there is an advantage for them to list on ebay. As a large retailer all I care about is my visibility on a crowded site. I'm either going to pay for positioning on landing pages, featured spaces, or I want to know that my listings are going to get priority via algorithms in place, assuming I am bringing a better value proposition for the buyer. The shipping time metric just allows for one way for ebay to evaluate that in a more transparent fashion.

For the smaller sellers it is more of a Darwinian approach. The best of the small sellers in given niches will rise to the top, while the others will get deranked. It isn't too much different than how best match works today as a concept. I think it for many of those small business niches guiding buyers to the right seller isn't the main issue preventing growth, but rather it is all the pain points that currently exist, especially once you add multiple countries into the mix. If 60% of my revenue was international, as EBay's is, I sure as hell would want to know that I had a shopping cart that functioned seamlessly across all international sites. I agree that it is counterproductive, but you have to look at where the company focus is moving forwards.

block36 · ‎02-08-2016

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

It wouldn't affect your global TRS status. The only time that the one day handling comes into play is if you are a TRSplus on .com and unless you use tracking for the majority of your items, it is difficult for most Canadians to be a TRSplus.
Some may think that if you have one day handling that you are rated higher in search when a buyer is using best match but I don't think anyone knows that for sure or how much of a difference it would make.

In your case, you might be better off just to change the shipping methods on your listings. Instead of lettermail,, one of the generic choices might work better for you.

Thank you very much for your guidance!

Additional question ( I am absorbing it step by step):

Did I understand properly that although I can allocate light packet or small parcel shipping method, I can indicate the same shipping cost as I do for letters?

And the light packet or small parcel selection will give me a day or two more for delivery?

Thank you again.

For comparison on the subject: I purchased a set of stickers for my granddaughter from seller in China on January 13, 2016... This is obviously LETTER type shipping... The system indicates that I should get it Feb 5 - Feb 25 (quite generous time frame) and it is ECONOMY SHIPPING as marked on the item.

I guess this is the example of what I should do?

pocomocomputing · ‎02-08-2016

@hlmacdon wrote:
@femmefan1946 wrote:
I know that Raphael in the weekly sessions says so far the questions is working for most sellers but I am skeptical.

How is it working for sellers?
Does having the question speed up their shipping?
Does it speed up the postal system?
Does the question prevent postal delays?
Does it improve scores of some sort?

This is just a silly metric that means nothing.
If a purchase is very late, the buyer has the right to use the Resolution Centre and get a refund.
If you read through their investor relations material, you can get a pretty good idea of the direction they are headed. A lot of the policies introduced over the years have forced many of the smaller sellers (small biz or consumer to consumer) out of ebay. So much so according to their data 80% of items sold are new and over 80% are sold via fixed price.

What this tells you is it mostly business to consumer sales we are seeing. The direction as a result is very much tailored towards competing with certain US online retailers that have been taking out large chunks of ebay market share. If you look at the current strategy it basically boils down to:

Item specifics to create a catalog. Ebay ranks at the bottom end of SEO, meaning there is very little natural flow through from search engine traffic (ie google) to ebay. Also they are basically trying to assume the role of a content aggregator, adding images, specs, etc eventually to products to help the cure problem of poorly listed items. This is why they are hammering away on sellers for item specifics such as UPC/part numbers to link the data
Creating product reviews and other content to link to the above
I mention the above as basically step 1 is to create a better catalog of product, and step 2 will be to filter buyers to present customers with the best seller for the chosen item. The late shipping metric is simply going to be one more metric for them to use in an algorithm to direct buyers to the seller that has the best price, ships the fastest, arrives on time, etc. This will eventually be a more in your face presentation to the consumer than the best match as it stands today. The buyer protection value add is a very worn out concept at this stage and isn't a competitive advantage, so the value add is going to be directing the customer to the best price with quickest availability. If you think about it, that is the only way they can compete with shipping methods that guarantee delivery in x# days.

As a strategy I think it will help certain types of sellers, but as many of you are experiencing it alienates the small seller. To me these sellers represent the real value add of ebay as they present the sort of items you can't readily find elsewhere and that is what brings real value to the ebay marketplace for me as a consumer. Otherwise ebay is just becoming another glorified dropshipping experience. If you think about it, what they are spending their time investing on is create the very basics of an ecommerce site, and this is how many years on from since when they started?

Fundamentally I still think they are missing the boat, with a half baked mobile implementation whose last version was a disaster, a Canadian marketplace that can't address specific international markets with a functional add to cart implementation, and policies which continue to increase friction between buyers and sellers. That is far more important in converting lookers to buyers.

Over the past years with all the changes at eBay, it has been suggested by members in the USA forums that an eBay "Classic" site be set up for what the old ebay was famous for. Collectibles, old out of stock items, whatever made eBay great. Save the classic site from what ebay wants to be, just another eCommerce site.

The past few years has driven out so many sellers who made ebay what it one was. And those sellers were buyers too.

But then there would be the problem of what goes on one site and the other, eBay has never been able to handle policing, from overcharging on shipping, to category spamming, what ever sellers do wrong by accident or deliberately. Reporting listing on eBay never see any action.

ebay is lost at what to do. Always changing each year what direction they want to go in. Never finishing a move in any direction they take.

pjcdn2005 · ‎02-08-2016

dutchman48 wrote:

pocomocomputing wrote

Mine showed varied and on the dashboard Ebay says buyer stated arrived late so they do see the question. Listed on .ca and sold to the US
I was referring to listing on eBay.com and if you use Standard Int'l Shipping, selecting Canada will always show Varies message instead of an exact date. Same for Economy Int'l Shipping.

I have tracked what delivery time estimates and the time and the countries since it was started 3-4 years ago. Canada has always shown varies on ebay.com for Standard Int'l Shipping option.

If you list on eBay.ca, most options to the USA that I have been following (Flat Rate Shipping with Standard, Letterpost, Light Packet, Small Packet, Tracked Packet except) show a delivery estimate time. What option did you use in your listing? What was the listing number?

I think that it was listing 262237778664 which does have an estimated delivery time. I think that he may have been looking at it with a Canadian shipping location.