Just received an email from eBay-Canada:
As you are likely aware, there is a possibility that Canada Post services will be impacted by a labour disruption as early as July 2, 2016. We encourage you to visit canadapost.ca/update to read about the latest developments and sign up for email updates.
In the event of a Canada Post labour disruption, eBay will remain open for business, and we’re asking you to do the same. There is no need to put your store on vacation hold, to end listings, or to zero out quantities on multi-quantity listings.
Should Canada Post service be disrupted, we recommend that sellers:
- Continue to list and sell on eBay; and
- Be considerate and accommodate buyers who may wish to cancel orders if they have not yet been shipped.
eBay will be monitoring, and where possible adjusting, estimated delivery dates and eBay Money Back Guarantee timelines to ensure that sellers are not penalized for shipping delays.
eBay will communicate with buyers who purchase Canadian items prior to, or during, a labour disruption to ensure they are aware of the likelihood of shipping delays.
The eBay Canada Team will post additional details on the Announcements Board as they become available.
What this message tells you is to keep listing, keep selling so eBay keeps on collecting fees.. What this message does not tell you is that if an unhappy buyer leaves negative feedback because of delay caused by the postal strike eBay will NOT remove it.
I can't wait as long as Wednesday, you have an advantage there. My shutdown day is Monday.
I mail on Monday, truck takes the mail from Dauphin down to Winnipeg Monday night, stops along the way. Re-sorted on Tuesday, sent to Mississauga Tues-Wed. Re-sorted and out Thursday. Friday is Canada Day, Monday is July 4th.
How is eBay supposed to be warning buyers that they have bought from Canada and there is a work stoppage and their purchase will be delayed by weeks? Buyers do not read their mail as it is.
I am really not understanding eBay's stance on this.
I shut down yesterday. I'm in a small town in SW Nova Scotia, and 95%+ of my customers are in the U.S.
Parcels I drop off at my local P.O. even on Monday may not get out of Canada before Thursday (the last business day this week), which is just cutting it too close for my comfort. That is especially considering there may be a big rush of last-minute mail and parcels trying to get through the system this week in advance of the strike.
Do I believe eBay?
No, no thank you. Better safe than sorry. Whether it's negative FB that is or isn't removed (which, by the way, is still relevant to us sellers, even if eBay doesn't think so), or just a disappointed customer who gets a refund but not the item they dearly wanted, no thanks, I don't need that kind of trouble.
Besides, sometimes a forced hiatus can be a great opportunity to re-organize, re-think, reboot and refresh in a way that can have a very positive outcome. Why tear our hair out trying to carry on and then risk getting punished by eBay for our efforts? No, no thank you.
With all due respect, to state that ebay won't remove negative or neutral feedback due to postal delays during the labour disruption is erroneous and misleading and, dare I say, fearmongering. We don't know that to be the case. There are a number of posters here who are making assumptions and presenting them as fact to support their own decision(s) to close. You know who you are.
Here is what we do I know and I am quoting from the Weekly Chat, Raphael's response to my question. The red boldface emphasis is mine. We, as sellers, will need to press for an answer at the next Weekly Session to find out more. My suspicion is that he will say that negative feedback won't automatically be removed but judged on a case-by-case basis. Unlike defects which will be pro-actively prevented as per his announcement.
@mjwl2006 wrote:
raphael@ebay.com wrote:
@ight.coin wrote:How about Negative Feedback.
How will ebay protect against negative feedback from buyers that may be upset about what they will perceive as 'poor service'?
Sellers will be blamed for long delivery timelines. As everyone knows ebay's system is not able to handle removal of negative feedback without a (hours) long phone call to ill-informed customer service reps.
Since negative feedback doesn't bear any effect on a seller's performance rating anymore, we wouldn't remove those as part of the seller protection in case of a postal disruption. I understand that receiving negative feedback can be upsetting, but now more than ever before it is nothing but an expression of the buyer's opinion, whether it is founded or not. If a buyer was to leave a seller negative feedback because of longer than normal shipping delays due to a postal disruption, despite eBay's and the seller's best efforts to warn the buyer about it, the seller's best response would be to post a reply to explain why there was a delay and so that other buyers can see that the negative feedback was unfounded in the first place.
This I have a problem with. Negative feedback may not impact a seller's metrics any longer, but it certainly impacts their reputation and drives away future purchasers.
Here is my case in point:
I am staying open and switching to courier service or, in certain cases, a day-trip southward to utilize USPS to support my Local Pickup payment/shipping option. In preparation for any hurdles I may encounter doing so, I have increased my handling time to 20 days and added the following information on my listings at the end of the Item Description: Please note our temporary extended handling time and increased postage cost is due to the expected mail strike/lockout at Canada Post Corporation. McQueen and Mo Mater will endeavour to continue delivering your orders with all due haste using alternative methods. We appreciate your patience, and value your business. Thank you for choosing McQueen and Mo Mater!
You cannot tell me that a buyer should be allowed to potentially leave me negative feedback for 'slow shipping' if it is made abundantly clear shipping or delivery may be slow. It should fall under the same removable rule as buyer complaining their explicitly-stated used item was used.
Hi Maureen,
I'm not saying that feedback won't be removable under these circumstances, all I was commenting on were our proactive efforts, which as of now only cover defects and not feedback. I'll check with a colleague who specializes in defect removal (what used to be feedback removal is now tucked under the defect removal umbrella) and see if the removal rules you mentioned can apply in your example.
@mjwl2006 wrote:Furthermore, it would be nice if, since this is the second time in five years that ecommerce will come to grinding halt in Canada due to Canada Post fighting with their employees, that CPC would not be the only option available to ebay sellers like me who use Calculated Shipping. Why isn't at least one of the main couriers included? I can't go flat-rate without grossly under- or over-estimating costs and, worse, losing all my calculated shipping settings. It seems like there should be a better way to make this work for sellers.
I wish we could offer that as well, but setting up the same kind of real-time rating as what we have in place for Canada Post rates is quite the endeavour, which leans on a lot more than development resources on eBay's side, which as you know are already pretty sparse when it comes to Canadian projects. The carrier also needs to develop the appropriate systems to manage and feed rates to eBay. So far we haven't been able to make something like this happen for another carrier. We hope to be able to in the future.
Furthermore, I made my choice to stay open and alter my shipping practises before this announcement was made. Most of you seem to think I am insane for considering that; I don't expect business to be brisk and I will be using the slack to create new listings and catch up on paperwork like the rest of you. (Or even spend time outside with my family.) The difference being that I decided not to let Canada Post make my choices for me.
Readers interested in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision may find all the information here:
http://www.cupw.ca/sites/default/files/CUPW.reasons.for_.judgment-en.pdf
That was a heck of a read. There was quite the amount of "he said" "she said" in there.
I take issue with a post, elsewhere, that stated that back to work legislation has been deemed unconstitutional. According to the judgement in this case, just this particular Act was was found to unconstitutional. Plus, this is just an Ontario court and not the Supreme Court Of Canada. Back to work legislation would still be legal.
My take-away from reading that? Yes, CP gained an advantage with the lockout. CUPW returned the favour with this judgement. Advantage CUPW.
Where does this leave the current situation? That's the question.
@ypdc_dennis wrote:
@fort2b wrote:
... In 2011 I knew the dispute was going to be ended by the Government legislating CUPW back to work. This time, that cannot happen. CUPW took the Government to court and eventually the Supreme Court ruled such legislation unconstitutional. So it cannot happen this time. The dispute will continue until CUPW and the management at Canada Post come to an agreement. ...
I am expecting this to be a very long strike/lockout. At least 2 months probably a lot longer. ...
Complete shutdown for 2 months is not going to happen.
Properly done Back-to-work legislation is constitutional -- what was forced through by the Harper government in 2011 was not.
-..-
Exactly.
"how long with the Liberals let a strike/lockout go on before taking action? "
I guess the federal government will listen to Canadians before taking action on back-to-work legislation.
What do most Canadians want? Do they really care if there is no postal service for a week or two or longer? Systems are in place for delivery of government cheques (if needed at the end of July). Since most Canadians now get their government benefits (both federal and provincial) through direct deposit to their bank account, many may fell like letting both Canada Post and its unions fight it out for a while.
Time will tell
I would bet that the back to work legislation is already written.
@mr.elmwood wrote:I would bet that the back to work legislation is already written.
And there is no minority government issue to get in the way this time.
