My rant for the day

[dutchman48]

Buyer from US buys item on a Sunday and pays, buys another item on Monday and pays. Got a 25% discount through best offer on 1 item.

Sent light packet on Tuesday.

Because he paid for each separately, got 2 late shipping defects as he said they arrived late.

Every one I have received has been from the US and none are newbies so Ebay is getting what they want from their buyers, punish sellers for shipping which they have no control over at all, or customs for that matter.

I am tempted to cut the US off for tokens as they don't like the shipping cost and give out a lot of late shipping defects for the amount of sales I get from there for tokens.

Even sending tracked packet does not guarantee delivery time.

End of rant!

Anyone have any suggestions?

[ricarmic]

How bad is your late shipment rate %?

[lukey9]

I have been lucky lately I had a couple of Buyers looking for their parcels but after I told them there was a lot of delays at their Customs they both gave me arrived on time even though it was close. After the storm on Monday and Tuesday here in Nova Scotia where even some PO'S were closed for the day I mailed every thing this morning and e-mailed them saying because of the Storm there might be a little longer arriving & hope for the best.

[dutchman48]

I send everyone an email after shipping giving ballpark times and may be delays due to Customs or weather.

They don't care due to Ebay asking was it delivered before this date?

[dutchman48]

My 3 month lookup is at .8% because of those 2 as all that counts is those that answer the question yay or nay.

I have some others that are not counted but will be when I go back on 12 month look up.

Only reason I am on 3 month now is that I had a lot of sales in January.

[i.am.vivian]

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dutchman48 wrote:

Buyer from US buys item on a Sunday and pays, buys another item on Monday and pays.

Sent light packet on Tuesday.

got 2 late shipping defects as he said they arrived late.

Every one I have received has been from the US and none are newbies

Anyone have any suggestions?

---

Not much of one, I'm afraid.  You do not say what date the items were bought nor what date the FB was left with the "no" on-time answer.  

What I'm thinking is this,  If the FB was left  BEFORE the estimated date for delivery, meaning the items arrived on time (within the estimate) then maybe you could call eBay and explain that this buyer was just being mean and trying to damage you and get the "late shipment" reports removed.  

Used to be about all a seller had to do to get rid of neg FB was accuse the other person of being a competing seller doing damage.  It is a lot  harder to get anything removed these days.  If your problem buyers are as experienced as you say then maybe they ARE resellers.  

The only other thing I can think of is extend your handling time.  Mail the same day or day after when you can, but extending it would give you a bit of a "time cushion" when needed.  

You've heard people say that it's eBay's litterbox so not much you can do but work with what you're given.  At least you can phone eBay for free and ask.  They can't say Yes if you don't ask.  

Sorry I haven't anything better for you.   :-(  

[ricarmic]

The reason I asked is because you're still a long ways away from even losing TRS, you can survive another 5 before you'll lose the TRS 20% discount.

With respect to the higher level of 5% for which ebay "may" decide to contact you, I've been asking and so far have never heard of anyone who's lost more than the TRS because of late shipments.

So the question becomes, do you sell enough tokens to Americans to justify the risk of losing TRS discount, because theoretically that's the worst case scenario.

My situation is similar to yours, I've only one late, but it has me at .45%. I'm in the same boat as you in terms of total count before I reach the 3% level.

I've coached myself to quit worrying about it. If I lose my TRS discount, the impact on my bottom line is only marginally affected because I'm already running a "fixed cost" of $475 (US$) a month for the anchor store and the fact that I choose to run each item in two categories (which costs 5c more per item per month). I looked at what happens if I lost my TRS last month and it moved my costs of selling up from 13.65% to 14.86%, meaning my costs increased 1.2% if I were to lose my TRS discount.

Radically changing what I do to protect myself against a 1.2% increase at this time for me doesn't make any sense.

(This is also why I continue to be one of those radical sellers who ships everywhere and has no selling blocks of any kind, but then again, I live in a "good" selling category)

[reallynicestamps]

I don't know numismatists at all, but I wonder if your US shipping charges are a problem.

I notice that you offer Free Shipping to Canada, but one token I clicked on (Calgary souvenir dollar) gave me $7.50 International Shipping to 90210 (CA) for a $3.95 CDN item.

What do you think would happen if you extended the Free Shipping to your US customers, dropping tracking and moving instead to Cookie Jar Insurance* on your low value/ LightPacket shipping?

Buyers hate shipping, no matter how valid it is.

And since you are selling on dotCA the late shipment /tracking is much less important than for your dotCOM listings, if any.

*Shakes tambourine, sings chorus of "This Little Light of Mine".*

[dutchman48]

I can't send tokens letter mail and they have  to go as light packet.

Light packet starts at $6.84 to the US and goes up from there.

Are you suggesting I raise my price by $7.50 and offer free shipping to the US.

That would kill my Canadian Market where they can go letter mail and I can offer free shipping so I don't have to pay Ebay FVF's on the high Canada Post Shipping costs to the US.

And yes, Canada Post has killed my market to the US but my rant is that all my late defects come from tokens to the US and only a small portion of my token sales are to the US.

I either have to live with it, don't even offer them to the US, or send tracked packet to cover my behind.

I don't want to cut them off as I just send an order for 258 pieces to the US but I paid $85 to ship express as you can't get signature on expedited parcel (another wonderful CP policy) to the US. $70.00 of that was out of my pocket. Expedited would have been $60.00 total but because of CP, I had to upgrade

The only reason I keep doing this is to dispose of my personal collections.

[dutchman48]

Defects for Canadian seller are based on Global, which will include .ca and .com listings

[Anonymous]

It is unfair that eBay developed this insane policy and what more we have NO control of the length of mail delivery.  eBay needs to "retire" it.  I am getting tired of eBay always thinking of something to "penalize" us sellers for so many years.  It is high time that eBay be grateful to us sellers as we are the ONES that generate billions of $$$ to eBay!!  Shame on eBay!!

[recped]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It is unfair that eBay developed this insane policy and what more we have NO control of the length of mail delivery.  eBay needs to "retire" it.  I am getting tired of eBay always thinking of something to "penalize" us sellers for so many years.  It is high time that eBay be grateful to us sellers as we are the ONES that generate billions of $$$ to eBay!!  Shame on eBay!!

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The requirements for Above Standard are not onerous, not everyone gets to be at the top and those that don`t make the grade are not being "penalized" anymore than Andre de Grasse was penalized because he only got a bronze medal (2 actually).

Oh and by the way, you do have control of delivery, not absolute control but there are things you can do to ensure you meet the requirements.

[momcqueen]

How far away do you live from a major hub? I've never gotten a Light Packet USA-related defect. 

Winnipeg might not be the centre of the universe but at least my stuff hits the US border by the end of the second (and sometimes first postal handling day) for tracked items. I can only assume that it's the same or similar for Light Packet.

Maybe you need to pad your EDDs by adding fictional days of handling?

[momcqueen]

And if you were to opt for Tracked Packet USA, your concern with meeting the on-time shipping commitment begins and ends with getting your acceptance scan within your time committed. After that, the postal system could deliver it eight days late and it wouldn't matter to your Late Shipment standing. 

[momcqueen]

You've got a two-day handling time and from a random postal code in your town to a random postal code in Calgary,  it's two days. Maybe you need to add another two. Just to be safe. 

p.s. I'm planning a trip to Waterton this summer. 

[dutchman48]

But who is going to pay the tracked packet rate for a $4 or $5 token. I have thought about it in the past.

[dutchman48]

I have had light packet take from 4 to 90+ days and no way of knowing if it is CP, Customs, or USPS.

It is a real unknown regardless of what CP posts.

[momcqueen]

You may lose the one-at-a-time sales of tokens to the USA with a switch to Tracked Packet but it may also lead buyers to consider multi-item purchases since it's the best way for a buyer to economize postage costs. When I buy, I look to maximize that postage value. If I'm paying shipping for one thing, I'm going to look to see how many other items I can get from that same seller without drastically increasing postage.

[widgetc]

"I can't send tokens letter mail and they have  to go as light packet.
 
Light packet starts at $6.84 to the US and goes up from there."

Put it between 2 pieces of light cardboard or the pieces of the thin light  foam board that sells in full sheets for $1.25 at the buck store and put that in an envelope and mail...cost $2.95. If you like put "photos please do not bend" on it to discourage any potential theft.

[dutchman48]

Everything after the first item is free. Whether they buy 1 of 100, shipping is still the same.