The end of lettermail on eBay ?

[chicweb]

Things are at a standstill with the negociations between the CUPW and Canada Post. Even worse, the Minister doesn't seem to want to force them back.

When I first started months ago, I was only using shipping with tracking, since it was the way to do things correctly, here.

By seeing sales not going up that much, I decided to switch to lettermail to be more competitive. I then saw a drastic change in sales.

With the current situation, it's worse than ever. Even having switched back to tracked shipping, no sales.

All the sales goes to sellers still offering lettermail, even if they are in vacation or cannot provide timely shipping (Items sent through Canada Post won't be delivered before xmas, that's for sure, even if they would come back today). And the could be striking for months. I still cannot understand why some sellers still offer it...

Is it the end of lettermail shipping on eBay ? What do you think? Is it it time that eBay does something about it ? If so, eBay should provide us with the same promotion tools as the US (Buy X get 1 free, promo codes,  etc), so we can work with this new price structure.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

They also instructed people to use extended handling times. 

I highly doubt they are going to remove multiple defects, feedbacks, or extend windows for INR claims for sellers who did not give the buyers the courtesy of showing them proper handling times. I could be wrong. 

At the end of the day, I agree with the other post. It's better just to focus on delivering value in the best way you can than to focus on perceived cheating by other sellers who advertise handling or delivery times that they will never meet due to the strike. If they have chosen the risk/reward of doing that is in their favour, and they don't have an issue ethically with promising something that they know they cannot deliver, that's on them. It's not my place to impose my ethics on them or say what I have chosen to do in response to the strike is the right or only way everybody should handle it. 

I believe that eBay should incentivize sellers to use Fedex and UPS calculated rates because instructing people to stay open with extended handling times will hurt the marketability of the entire platform in the busiest month of the year since it could lead to consumers assuming that all eBay sellers aren't shipping until the end of the strike. With that said, I understand that eBay had no way to know that this strike could last weeks. I think if they knew that from the get go, their marketing strategy would have been different. 

[chicweb]

If they don't remove INR or bad feedbacks for "after" the strike started... then it's all good for me. It's fair play. Sellers makes their decisions but also have the risks/consequences of that decision.

Sellers will get the feedbacks deserved. (I'm sure there will be a lot of complaining and lost of sellers tho... but that would be their decision).

I'm not overly focusing on it. Only in this thread, actually. I'm doing my things and will try some things to adapt.

I also beleive that eBay  must provide us with more promo tools. That's the perfect occasion... and work on the search listings (specifically, sellers in vacation and combine shipping).

[recped]

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@chicweb wrote:

That's whishful thinking.

I don't operate on "best case scenario" and no packages will be delivered before xmas. That was said many times, even in the news. They will not be able to ship in time. I still see estimates of december 5 using lettermail. Ridiculous.

As soon as lettermail is back, of course I will use it if ebay still allows it. I have personnally nothing against it. I have against misleading customers, tho.

eBay should at LEAST fix their estimates correctly, promote more about combined shipping... Shows who is in vacation in the searches, and basic changes like that. 

That would help a lot businesses still operating and offering alternative shipping methods.

You said 14$ shipping. Sure. On a single item. With combined shipping, it's as cheap as lettermail.

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It's not wishful thinking, it's 50 years of mailorder and dealing with multiple Canada Post strikes.

Buried in your wall of text is a single mention of combined shipping and you give no details about how much the discount is. Not relevant anyway because I (with my buyer hat on) only wants ONE.

[chicweb]

From the latest post by eBay. Seem related to this thread.

Protection for

- Late Shipment Rate (LSR) defects 

- Valid tracking upload rate   

- Negative or Neutral Feedback if you uploaded tracking before the case was opened and have a physical scan from the carrier 

- Seller initiated cancellations 

So, LSR. Is that INR ? If so, with tracking provided or all LSR ?

Negative or Neutral Feedback: If tracking uploaded. Doesn't apply to lettermail.

Seller Initiated cancellations: While I think this can still affect customer's experience, I can understand why (suggesting other shipping methods by message, as an example).

So I'm OK with that. They are flexible with LSR, but feedbacks without tracking would stay. Which seems fair for all.

[reallynicestamps]

If you sell a $1.00 CD with $25 shipping, you won't get many sales.

Partly because the total price is too high, but mostly because the breakdown sounds sketchy.
Most buyers have no idea of how much shipping costs, nor do they care.

You would, in my opinion (and I have been selling mail order since the mid 70s) offering that CD at $26 with Free Shipping.

Seriously, it works.

More useful would be to move all your listings to Unsold and relist them when the strike is over.

You don't have any problem with high price shipping, because you are not shipping,

You don't have to change any shipping costs, because you are not shipping.

You don't look sneaky by having shipping higher than the purchase price.*

You won't lose anything, since you are not getting the sales anyway.

You don't have to worry about  late deliveries and negs from  angry customers.

*Buyers hate paying any shipping, and really really hate paying shipping that is higher than the purchase price.

They will usually go for the $30 with Free Shipping over the $1 with $25 Shipping.

Seriously.

[chicweb]

I don't think it looks sketchy at all. When I order on websites on the web (other than Amazon), shipping is always 10$+ with tracking.

Amazon and eBay are the exceptions. Most of the time (almost all the time), tracking are provided on online store websites. I would also always do it, but it's not competitive here.

This is why telling users about combined shipping is important. The UI is not user friendly about it.

About the Free Shipping. I cannot do that. Sending to Yukon would cost more than 100$. I cannot block provinces.

I cannot incorporate free shipping while using UPS or Fedex. Too risky. It's possible only with Canada Post because their prices doesn't vary that much from place to place.

I still have sales (minimal but some), and using business policies is fast to switch things. So I will go back to lettermail when possible. Otherwise, I must use shipping with tracking. Cheapest available to me here without 2 hours drive is UPS.

[chicweb]

I guess I wasn't that far away from the truth?

Is that true that Trudeau said that if Canada Post and CUPW doesn't come to an agreement soon, it might be the end of Canada Post ?

Heard it in the news.

That's not looking good....