Late shipping strike causes sad behaviour...

[ricarmic]

Today I looked up my latest late shipping defect.

(reminder I sell stamps and only sell on .COM)

Buyer is from Israel, always a worrisome country to get it delivered in the first place...buyer's feedback is positive. I can't see DSRs anymore, but I got a late shipping defect. (non tracked)

(I really think they should consider waiving late shipping defects for these slow countries like they used to do for INR defects for countries like this, Russia, Brazil etc)

This isn't a first time buyer, buyer also sells so theoretically they know the damage answering "No" causes. (I believe it must have only been a day or two late, I can't tell the date they left feedback anymore). Possibly they left a bunch of feedbacks together and by accident answered "No" erroneously to mine? (I have had other buyers do this).

I think about whether the buyer is likely to come back and late shipping is likely to happen again, and I decide yes.

So I review my options:

1) I review whether I should change my international shipping from "standard international" to "economy international" flat rate. Look at the wondrous tables folks provided in other threads and it makes no difference for Israel.

2) I think about whether I should change my 2 day handling time to a bigger number, but that affects all buyers just to try to avoid problems with the country(s) I sell very little to. Seems an over-reaction at this point.

3) I think about blocking Israel as a country. I think about this hard. I've always been proud that I still ship everywhere (I sold to 55 different countries last year). I decide perhaps it was just a mistake this time, a one time problem I and I pass on this idea for now.

4) I think about whether I should contact the buyer about it, but really this has risks in and of itself. It could provoke other troublesome problems if they don't react well, ie it wasn't a mistake, they get irritated, they do buy something else again, and I have additional risk of bad feedback beyond late shipping. English may or may not be a spoken language and language barriers may be an issue.

5) I think about blocking the buyer. Current transaction is settled, worst damage is the late shipping. Blocking avoids future late shipping defects, but also loses future transactions with a buyer that I know I can get stuff successfully to.

Result:  I block the buyer.

This really goes against everything eBay is trying to promote, but I have to protect myself. Selling to dangerous INR countries is bad enough on its own without risking the effect the late shipping problems cause.

Personally in the last 17 years I've sold on eBay, this is the stupidest reason ever that I've blocked a person for. Enough said.

[sylviebee]

ricarmic, I have another suggestion.  (Your #4 I think.)

Your letters for buyers are among the best I've seen and I wonder if posters here couldn't collectively come up with a short note to include with purchases.

(Something that wouldn't hurt but might help.)

Buyers don't realize that they're rating the PO and the effect of those ratings.

It should be possible to come up with a polite short note which makes them aware of that.

I've started to put one together but so far I haven't used it.

[musicyouneed]

So sorry for you.  You are not alone.  I have 3 defects with a similar story.  Do I block Australian buyers??????

Do post this on the Wednesday session, just as is without mentioning the selling on .com and ask for advice from Raphael.  This advice would pertain to both .com and .ca.   Remember you can post this anytime after 10AM eastern to the following day.  

[hlmacdon]

Israel has been one of the tougher countries to ship to in my experience as well. Over half of my transactions to there have had a problem, typically it is with their postal service not making delivery attempts after an initial attempt and forgetting to leave package pickup slips when they hold an item at the post office. I've debated blocking the country and I'm still on the fence about it. Fortunately I ship with tracking so the late shipment bit doesn't effect me and I at least have visibility on the packages.

Like you I originally wanted to ship to a broader group of countries, but unfortunately that can be problematic. If you are building a business small or large sometimes you have to balance the potential sales versus the impact visible in the form of negative/neutral feedback or non-visible (seller defects). There is a reason why insurance companies employ actuaries to analyze their risk profile for shipping to certain countries. As a seller you have to do the same. Depending on volumes, the cost of losing top rated seller status may outweigh the GP earned from the additional sales you garner during a month for shipping to riskier locales. Hopefully eBay's lobbying to push international postal services for affordable tracked options bears fruit one day. It would be useful to see agreements in place that extend beyond HK/China.  

[ricarmic]

Hi Sylvie! I strongly suspect that over time (at least experienced) buyers will come to know the effect answering that question has as a result of being berated by sellers, or being blocked or whatever, and they will evolve to answering yes unless something else provokes them to be upset with the seller.

From what I saw with the DSRs it appeared to happen that way over time as well.

Unfortunately if things do work that way, it makes the measurement even more meaningless from the perspective of what eBay is wanting to accomplish.

I actually hadn't thought about adjusting my form letter snippit I tape to my receipts asking them to contact me if they have any issues.

I think I will wait and see what happens over the next few weeks, my main reason for reacting as I have here, is that sales to that country are risky enough as it is so I'm less stressed about blocking the buyer from that perspective.

I do feel bad for the buyer, they will have no idea why they got blocked.

[hlmacdon]

---

@musicyouneed wrote:

So sorry for you.  You are not alone.  I have 3 defects with a similar story.  Do I block Australian buyers??????

---

If shipping non-tracked, I would given the current climate, unless Raphael gets that economy option in place. I shipped tracked via USPS to Australia, and statistically they are always the longest delivery times compared against all the other countries I ship to. 3-4 week delivery times are not unusual. A good deal of the buyers there seem to get antsy as they are used to very fast shipping times from Asia to Australia and extrapolate that on a global basis.

[ricarmic]

Hi Music! 

I feel bad for the buyer, they'll have no idea why they were blocked (my policy is once I block a buyer I don't respond to messages from them, just too many ways trying to "explain" the reason, if I even remember why, can go wrong) and they can't buy stuff from me now.

I would really like to maintain my "I sell everywhere" stance, I am a stubborn son of a gun, but time will tell on that front.

[vintagenorth]

I stopped shipping to Israel some time ago. Nice buyers but terrible postal system.

[femmefan1946]

I don't think I have any countries blocked, but I am considering both Brazil and Israel, because the very few sales I have had to those countries have all been problems.

[momcqueen]

I had an untraced Late Shipment Defect (based The Question) recently removed because I was able to prove: (a) business days were miscounted on the Order History page and did not include a recognized Stat and (b) Canada Post admit publicly it was experiencing delays due to high volumes.

The defect came from a buyer in France, the second time he had bought something this quarter and the first time he rated it late. Also a seller of the same items, so I cannot pretend he would not know the implications of answering 'non' and it was one day late at most, based on the day he left feedback versus the day range it was supposed to be there, even the shortened one.

My justification for the buyer block was that this buyer or address in France has become a high-risk to my enterprise. Was it their fault the order may have arrived a day late? I have no idea but, without tracking, we are at the mercy of all circumstances beyond our control. Lightning may strike a single house and burn it down three consecutive summers and that would hardly be the poor, hapless homeowner's fault (unless they were standing on the roof with a key and a kite) but your home owner's insurer is going to kiss you goodbye fast because you are a demonstrable risk.

These are the cards we, as sellers, have been dealt. I felt no guilt about blocking the buyer. I do, however, agree it is a poor reason to block another member. 

[Anonymous]

Why do those evil people at eBay add that to make sellers' lives hell is beyond me.  eBay should know that the mail system is not reliable.  Sometimes they arrived fast but most time they arrived much later than should, so why the heck should we as sellers be penalized by eBay??  And for what reasons decided by those evil people?  eBay should be named as eVil!

[sylviebee]

i feel that the new rating system ism't as harsh as the old one was, but even so I still received a ding for a late shipment which was shipped within hours of payment.

I used to leave a FB related note in my packages, but a few months ago I stopped because I find it distasteful, but I've found that I get less FB now.

To me that's an indication that buyers do actually read that stuff.

This morning I came up with a new note to include in my packages and I'm posting it here in case anyone wants to borrow it and/or offer me some FB regarding the note and perhaps help me (Perhaps our wordsmith femme?) punch it up a little.   I think it's much too long.

A Note Regarding FB and Seller Ratings

Dear Buyer. I take my ratings VERY seriously, as does eBay.

Among other questions which rate sellers, eBay presents a date and asks buyers to note if the item was received prior to that date.

I’m drawing your attention to this question because, as a result of the way the question is presented, I sometimes get poor ratings for shipping time even though I shipped within 24 hours.  (Or inset whatever works for you.)

Until eBay fixes the issue at hand, and If you feel that I shipped as quickly as possible, I’m asking you to leave that question blank because it actually rates the Postal System and not my performance.

If you indicate that your item did not arrive within that time frame, the outcome is that our transaction is judged unsatistfory even though you may have intended to leave me Positive Feedback and ratings.

After some careful thought I’ve decided to draw your attention to this issue because, until eBay fixes the problem, those poor ratings threaten my standing as your eBay seller.

Sincerely,

[momcqueen]

I really do not want to discourage you but I've a gut feeling you could get into some kind of hot water over a note that persuasive. 

[sylviebee]

That's the reason I posted here.

Why?

It's much "less" than the note I used to send and the notes that sellers send to me.

[momcqueen]

I'm on a mobile device right now so I cannot find the feedback 'solicitation' policy but at one time, sellers were explicitly prohibited from attempting to direct buyer feedback. Or ask about it. I don't know what consequences exist for that, though, or how long ago that policy was valid. If no one else can source it to cite, I'll look for it tonight and update this.

[sylviebee]

I hadn't considered that there might be a conflict with policy.

I've only been concerned with how buyers would view it, and if there's conflict with policy it should be possible to edit that out.

[momcqueen]

I promise that if no one else can find that policy today, I'll get it posted tonight. If it still exists.

[sylviebee]

Thank You.

In any case, I'll edit the note with the assumption that it does violate policy.

That should be possible without changing the meaning of the note.

[lucitabby]

This is the only one I could find

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/feedback-manipulation.html

[sylviebee]

Just in case the first note violated eBay policy, I polished it a little.

Dear Buyer. I take my ratings VERY seriously, as does eBay.

Among other questions which rate sellers, eBay sometimes presents a date and asks buyers to note if the item was received prior to that date.

Buyers can respond with a Yes, No, or leave the question blank.

I’m drawing your attention to this question because I am getting penalized when items arrive after that date even though I shipped within 24 hours. (or whatever works for you).

That question actually rates our postal system, processing at the border, weather conditions and other factors out of my control.

In short, if you respond that an item arrived later than the cutoff date, then our entire transaction will receive a Negative Rating even though that may not have been your intent.

After some careful thought I’ve decided to draw your attention to this issue because, until eBay fixes the problem, those ratings threaten my standing as your eBay seller.

Sincerely,