eBay

jt-libra · ‎11-05-2015

I viewed the data made available to us this week on our Seller Dashboard related to the new on-time shipping time metric which will formally come into effect in February.

I had one defect on one of my accounts, with the reason "buyer says late delivery". This was a lettermail item shipped from Winnipeg to a small community in Northern B.C. and it served as a warning to me to ensure that I choose the proper shipping option on the SYI form.

Another seller spoke about this in a previous thread and I didn't pay as much attention as I should have.

I have always selected, under Domestic Shipping: Canada Post Lettermail (2 to 6 business days), never really noticing the option, Economy Shipping (1 to 15 business days). Had I chosen the latter option, the buyer would have seen a different date on which the item would have been considered late and I could have avoided that defect. I'm pretty sure that even the most remote locations in Canada receive lettermail within 15 business days.

For lettermail/light packet items listed on .com, I think we are pretty much protected because economy shipping from outside the U.S. indicates a shipping time of 11 to 23 business days.

I intend to go through all my listings and change the lettermail shipping option to Economy Shipping.

This may or may not be useful information for most of you, but for those, like myself, who had not paid attention to the number of days associated with the option we'd selected, this may be of some use.

musicyouneed · ‎11-05-2015

I sell CD's so they go oversized letter mail in Canada, from my understanding they cannot go through the letter mail machine.

I got a defect from a buyer in Ont when it didn't arrive by the time that ebay had said. It did come two days late but still I got a defect and a low shipping star. After that experience, I changed all my handling times to 2 days and changed the shipping to economy. I still ship the same or next day but now I need to cover Canada Post delays.

Every month I need to jump through hoops because of all the changes.

jt-libra · ‎11-05-2015

@musicyouneed wrote:
I sell CD's so they go oversized letter mail in Canada, from my understanding they cannot go through the letter mail machine.

When I indicated lettermail, I was including CD's and DVD's which are shipped at the same rate as documents.

amya4295 · ‎11-05-2015

Why do they not do something about the standard for lettermail then. Why should be be forced to "lie" in our listings, add handling time and state a different method of shipment just to protect ourselves from a defect? Letter mail to remote parts of Canada most definitely can exceed 6 business days. I know this from experience and even ebay calls it an "estimate". Why not change it to truly reflect what shipping lettermail from coast to coast really is? Why force sellers to deliberately put false information in their listings just to meet the expectations of the new "Shipping metric". Sure most days the time allowances may work but when they don't, because of Canada Post or USPS delays, customs, weather, Holiday Rushes, why allow the seller to be penalized. It's great if you ship with tracking because you can prove that it was not seller error or responsibility but for the vast number of us Canadians, tracking is not an option so we are at the mercy of the limited options for postage and the buyer answering the "question".

That been said, for now, following your advice and changing my lettermail's to economy. Don't feel good about it but will feel much worse when I get my first defect 😞

11canadianchick · ‎11-05-2015

@amya4295 wrote:
Why do they not do something about the standard for lettermail then. Why should be be forced to "lie" in our listings, add handling time and state a different method of shipment just to protect ourselves from a defect? Letter mail to remote parts of Canada most definitely can exceed 6 business days. I know this from experience and even ebay calls it an "estimate". Why not change it to truly reflect what shipping lettermail from coast to coast really is? Why force sellers to deliberately put false information in their listings just to meet the expectations of the new "Shipping metric". Sure most days the time allowances may work but when they don't, because of Canada Post or USPS delays, customs, weather, Holiday Rushes, why allow the seller to be penalized. It's great if you ship with tracking because you can prove that it was not seller error or responsibility but for the vast number of us Canadians, tracking is not an option so we are at the mercy of the limited options for postage and the buyer answering the "question".

That been said, for now, following your advice and changing my lettermail's to economy. Don't feel good about it but will feel much worse when I get my first defect 😞

I know that some sellers have stated that they intend to increase their handling time to minimize the possibility of a defect due to late delivery. However, eBay has always stated that a shorter handling time, 1 business day, will increase your visibility in search. In fact, I read recently that they were encouraging sellers to ship same-day. So if we increase our handling time, we could affect our search placement, as well as perhaps deterring buyers.

I don't consider the selection of Economy Shipping as lying. To me, it simply means "not by expedited mail".

Having said all this, though, I agree with you that we should not be held responsible for postal delays, weather, holiday periods, etc. This was discussed at length with Raphael during one of the weekly board chats shortly after the seller updates were announced. He thinks we should not panic and that this three-month preview of the on-time shipping metric should alleviate our concerns. We'll see!!