Chit Chats No Longer Providing Acceptance Scans

[wilsonharborsales]

Chit Chats has changed their policy regarding acceptance scans without notifying users. Rather than providing ‘acceptance scans’ they will provide an ‘electronic information received’ scan when you drop a package off. Then, over the course of the next 3 days, they will physically inspect the package. Once the package is inspected, they will mark it as ‘received’.

With this new policy, Chit Chats has become non-viable for most Canadian sellers. 3 day waiting times on scans is unacceptable. Just a heads up before you buy postage from them.

Josh

[wilsonharborsales]

Here are the new scans.  This is infuriating.  There is no recourse now that my packages have been dropped off.  I will receive 22 deliquencies (actually 35 because many are combined shipments on separate eBay orders) for this batch because of an uncommunicated policy change.  Everyone who dropped packages off today is now at risk of falling below standard on eBay because of the holiday Monday.  They could have let everyone know prior to making this change.  I could drone on about how this is both misrepresentation and breach of contract (acting in bad faith) on their part, but it solves nothing.  The gist - you can't legally take possession of a client package and pretend that you didn't.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

The only way I can see to deal with the late packages is to extend shipping time. But it depends what you sell. The kinds of things I sell no one is in any hurry to receive and waiting a few days for it to be accepted at USPS is no big deal. But if you're selling something people need fast or want right away, then it does make it better to just ship it with Canada Post.

I didn't realize Chit Chats was inspecting every package, that's probably due to lots of China packages trying to sneak through during the first week of no de minimis for China, and their truck being refused at the border every day for a week. So they're doing this to try and make sure they don't have any more refusals if packages are inspected.

I'm not sure what Stallion is doing, but so far only one customer has provided feedback on their package and they said it hadn't been opened by Stallion or Customs enroute to him. I've tried to very clearly declare what is being shipped "Great Britain 5 Pounds 2002 with stamped cover", and that seems to help. I suppose if you're shipping tshirts or toys that have a tendency to be manufactured in China those items might require actual inspection.

C.

[byto253]

These guys (Chitchats and Stallion) are between a rock and a hard place.  As the carrier they are responsible to border authorities for the contents and are easy to check since they are small potatoes compared to UPS, etc.    

I can understand the policy but not providing a heads up is not good business for sure.   If there is a postal strike and their volume goes way up like it did last time, this is going to be a messy show.   

I may have to give a 5 day handling time, and use generic economy for delivery time.  It may also be useful to drop off multiple shipments to Chitchats in one box under a single batch number.  

[wilsonharborsales]

I understand why they want to do it, but at least announce the policy change.  eBay is the most forgiving platform when it comes to e-commerce.  The other platforms, one and done.  This is a major policy change with no update.  

They can accept the package and then add a processing scan and reject the shipment there if they'd like.  With that, everyone is happy.   Those of us selling at large volume can not add multiple days of handling times or ship a few times a week on the other platforms.  It would be game over.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@wilsonharborsales wrote:

I understand why they want to do it, but at least announce the policy change.  eBay is the most forgiving platform when it comes to e-commerce.  The other platforms, one and done.  This is a major policy change with no update.  

They can accept the package and then add a processing scan and reject the shipment there if they'd like.  With that, everyone is happy.   Those of us selling at large volume can not add multiple days of handling times or ship a few times a week on the other platforms.  It would be game over.

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OK, so it's basically two things... one they didn't tell anyone this change was made (that actually surprises me a little since they're pretty good at updating the blog), and second they are not marking the packages accepted to help you meet your obligations with eBay and other platforms.

That's reasonable to be upset about that. I was thinking the problem was them taking three days to check packages (which I would really not like... thankfully Stallion is not taking so long most of the time, sometimes 1 day, sometimes 2). Also the acceptance scan tells the customer you brought the package in. While I can count on one hand the number of upset customers, I have gotten them who saw I made a label but it didn't reach USPS (using USPS tracking), and sent very upset messages about shipping time.

C.

[wilsonharborsales]

Exactly.  With eBay, you will lose your top rated or top rated plus account standing if you do not maintain your shipping times.  This is heavily reliant on same or next day acceptance scans.  The missing acceptance scans will drop your account to below standard, which is an additional 10% fee and dramatically reduced visibility on the site.

[vintage_america]

Did they say it will be a 3 day wait while they inspect? I can’t imagine they would take that long. I heard they are inspecting all packages and there might be delays but 3 days is unacceptable. That would force me to use UPS until CP strike is over. Customs really going after cross border shippers. Will likely be awhile before we get any stability.

[wilsonharborsales]

This is also true.  I had heard that one border agent rejected a truck because a Made in America item (untampered new package) did not contain a manifest inside the package.  This is not a requirement for Section 321 shipments.  That rejected truck was rerouted to a different border crossing where it cleared without issue.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@wilsonharborsales wrote:

Exactly.  With eBay, you will lose your top rated or top rated plus account standing if you do not maintain your shipping times.  This is heavily reliant on same or next day acceptance scans.  The missing acceptance scans will drop your account to below standard, which is an additional 10% fee and dramatically reduced visibility on the site.

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I thought there was no requirement to stay above standard for shipping on time. In the dot com forum people have said you would lose top rated status, but not fall below standard. But falling below top rated means you lose your discount, and if you extend your handling time, you lose your discount on those listings until you change it back to one day.

Getting reduced visibility on the site though is a very bad thing. I have 5 days handling and probably already have reduced visibility because of that, but having bad metrics would make it so much worse.

C.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@vintage_america wrote:
Did they say it will be a 3 day wait while they inspect? I can’t imagine they would take that long. I heard they are inspecting all packages and there might be delays but 3 days is unacceptable. That would force me to use UPS until CP strike is over. Customs really going after cross border shippers. Will likely be awhile before we get any stability.

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It's easy to slip something past the radar with a cross border shipper, that's why they're all checking packages and not leaving it to customs to find ones that don't comply.

C.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@wilsonharborsales wrote:

This is also true.  I had heard that one border agent rejected a truck because a Made in America item (untampered new package) did not contain a manifest inside the package.  This is not a requirement for Section 321 shipments.  That rejected truck was rerouted to a different border crossing where it cleared without issue.

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This is good to know since I occasionally have shipped without a manifest (generally it was a bonus item that travelled by itself, either to make up for a problem with a transaction or because they're a good repeat buyer). There's no manifest because the item had no cost. I just put an estimated retail value (and since gift items would be generally under $20, I didn't think this would be a problem.

C.

[byto253]

I put a copy of the eBay receipt in each package, do you know if that qualifies as a manifest?  

[wilsonharborsales]

Manifesting is currently not a requirement for Section 321 de minimis shipments.

[chicweb]

Well, we were using ChitChat and had to sent our packages in.

We won't be using them anymore. The delay will be enormous.

That and the fact that eBay isn't usable for Urban vs Rural with the rate table, we don't have any other choices to use Calculated UPS only for Canada and United States and FedEx for international.

Wow... This is hard times for shipping from Canada.

[cottagewoman]

Why aren't rate tables useable urban vs rural? I ran tests for many different postal codes once setting them up - seemed fairly accurate to me.

Please advise if you have information to the contrary!

[flipistics]

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@cottagewoman wrote:
Why aren't rate tables useable urban vs rural? I ran tests for many different postal codes once setting them up - seemed fairly accurate to me.

Please advise if you have information to the contrary!

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I use them. Every so often you get burned, but it's pretty rare. If you build a tiny bit in to all the labels, you should come out pretty close in the end.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@byto253 wrote:

I put a copy of the eBay receipt in each package, do you know if that qualifies as a manifest?  

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Manifest is a term usually used for an container or full truckload. For customers that send multiple shipments per day, often they will have to run a manifest of the shipments created to be picked up. Then driver signed or scanned confirmation saving them having to scan each parcel individually.

Packing slip is something used for the buyer as a record of what they bought/ordered. For courier shipments the long ongoing standard was to include a copy of the packslip/or invoice with pricing attached to the shipping label. It is not mandated for mail but highly recommended. Especially when shipping internationally. For customs it confirms what is in the box is the same as what is what the shipment value is based on. (See country specific requirements for shipping with CP for more info.)

[chicweb]

I have packages to send to "La Malbaie". This is semi-urban, let's say. Far from Quebec City.

For eBay this is Urban. For ChitChat, it cost me double than sending anywhere else in the province.

I just cannot use eBay Table rate at all and plan ahead.

[chicweb]

Well I've been burned right from the start.

It's easy to see the differences on Chit Chat with their prices. It cost almost all the same price with Selection. I've tested with many weight and dimensions, many postal codes. Still almost the same price in all the same province.

If it's far away from big centers (rural), then it's a lot more costly (From 7$ to 13$).

I had an order from La Malbaie.  For eBay, it's urban but not for chitchat. So, it's a guess and I will not lose money.

Same thing happened in Ontario. So far, 3 in 3. So it's a big nope for me.