Guaranteed Delivery looks like a good thing!

[pvcliff]

So after attending both live discussions and Weekly Chat, Guaranteed Delivery looks to me like it doesn't have a downside. Might work a little better if I lived in Omaha instead of Los Angeles since distance can play a part, but otherwise I can't wait until it goes live for me!

[cs43ls]

I must be missing something too. Just checked some of my listings and found most of my  BIN listings with "delivery in 3 days" . Und just underneath is the  regular approx. delivery date that is actually 5 days.

(item # 292485230502 ) I did not sign up for 3 day delivery as  I have a 2 day handling time, ship first class , and cant see how a parcel could go from Houston Tx to CA or FL. or even just to OK in that time span .  Many shipments are by truck, and if there is a weekend involved, the mail truck often does not move .There is a distribution center in Arizona and I noticed that on long weekends ,they are not " distributing". So a parcel might take 5 to 6 days to LA, or LV etc.

I hate to be pessimistic, but I see this as an other hoop to jump thru, just like free shipping, free , no fault returns, and now free vouchers for buyers if the parcel did not arrive at the overly optimistic time Ebay is pressing on sellers. All those " innovations"  and I am finally at the end of March made the same amount of $ that I used to make in previous years in January.

       Actually, I dont think Ebay had any original ideas lately, they have become  just a copycat of Amazon and its not working for most sellers.

        Is there there anyone that could  suggest how I can  get rid of that 3 day delivery on my listings. I will not be part of it, I see this as a new money grab and punishment by Ebay.

       I can hardly wait what the summer update has in store for us.

[mr_lincoln]

@pvcliff  It depends on what one is selling as to whether or not the program is of any real benefit.  Offering BOTH Parcel Select and Priority Mail for about three years Buyer chose the low cost shipping solution over delivery time ... but then Collectibles are a different animal then other items.

As long as eBay DELETES any Neutral or Negative Feedback relating to a late delivery AUTOMATICALLY then its a good program ... if Sellers have to call in and fight about getting bad FB removed then its not worth it because there is no gaurantee reps will delete the bad FB.

eBay should have negotiated penalties with the carriers because after all, THEY are the 3rd party in the transaction that no other party has any influence over ... period.  Yet they are the ones where on time delivery lies (this assumes of course that Sellers ship within their handling time).

I can see Buyers wanting to get things quicker but no wanting to pay for it ... I suspect there will be a lot of "oops" after the sale where Buyers ordered the slower delivery but message Sellers that they want the G.D. ... so how will THAT be handled?  Send a new invoice?

[pvcliff]

@mr_lincoln There was mention of batches of shipping time negatives being removed, so hopefully we won't have to call in.

[tweetystwades]

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@mr_lincolnwrote:

@pvcliff  It depends on what one is selling as to whether or not the program is of any real benefit.  Offering BOTH Parcel Select and Priority Mail for about three years Buyer chose the low cost shipping solution over delivery time ... but then Collectibles are a different animal then other items.

As long as eBay DELETES any Neutral or Negative Feedback relating to a late delivery AUTOMATICALLY then its a good program ... if Sellers have to call in and fight about getting bad FB removed then its not worth it because there is no gaurantee reps will delete the bad FB.

eBay should have negotiated penalties with the carriers because after all, THEY are the 3rd party in the transaction that no other party has any influence over ... period.  Yet they are the ones where on time delivery lies (this assumes of course that Sellers ship within their handling time).

I can see Buyers wanting to get things quicker but no wanting to pay for it ... I suspect there will be a lot of "oops" after the sale where Buyers ordered the slower delivery but message Sellers that they want the G.D. ... so how will THAT be handled?  Send a new invoice?

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That's the issue, there is nothing we can do differently except ship within our handling time.   

[campesinoplastic2014]

This happens A LOT, even if you get a scan. Guess who is going to burn?

[tweetystwades]

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@sockmonkeydavewrote:

@campesinoplastic2014

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@campesinoplastic2014wrote:

I have no choice but to ponder those numerous instances where sellers post here that they ship well withing their handling time, get a scan, but for some reason Ebay has "info" showing them as "late shippers" and cannot get it fixed. I wonder how well they will do.....

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Well, because it does happen.

A few years back my shipping % went down from 100% to 98%

I ran the report, and this is what it said:

Label printed on time... yes

Inital PO scan.... blank

A couple other fields... blank.

Delivery scan... blank

Two packages shipped the same day, both with no scans.

I pull out my USPS receipt, and call ebay.

1st CS says, we can fix that... well I can't fix that let me transfer you.

6 more CS said the exact lame line, but then they were going to get a supervisor.

While on hold, my call was dropped.

So yes, Guaranteed Delivery looks good...  ON PAPER.

My guy at the PO, his wife does ebay full time.

I ask him what he thought about it, he just laughed.

ebay is making promises that USPS, UPS and fedx, do not make.

Guaranteed delivery, "free returns", And on, and  on, and on.

All to the benefit of ebay's "customers" the buyers.

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I just see all this costing the seller. They want "free returns", "GD" which I believe is priority mail.

Why not just make it mandatory to ship priority, and forget about this GD. That's what it boils down to anyway. I ship first class, priority is too much and cuts into my profit for the items I sell.  It's also going to cost me listing visibility if I don't do it. Tired of being choked    

[gopetersen]

vintagecraze wrote: "I agree that the GD is going to be a very good thing. People who shop on Amazon and then go to Ebay will come to expect that deliveries are going to be fast. They love that about AMZ. People who need items for a specific event are going to love it too. People who do not want to QUESS when the item is going to arrive are going to have more CONFIDENCE buying on here. People, you have to undstand this as well. Customers usually have LESS buyer remorse when they make an impulse buy and get it QUICK. They are less likely to return something psychologically becuase they did not have enough time to really think about what they spent.  IT WILL WORK. And I feel confident with Ebay's support if items get there late due to the P.O."

There is no point in comparing eBay to Amazon or pretending to buyers that we can do what Amazon does. It will only annoy them to be promised one thing and get another.

Amazon has fulfilment centers and storage lockers in every corner of the continent. Sellers can put their items in these warehouses and Amazon takes care of the shipping through their special arrangements.

eBay does not provide sellers with fulfilment centers and storage lockers in every corner of the continent. Sellers ship on their own and most things do NOT get from coast to coast in three days any more. I find 5 to 7 days for First Class packages is quite typical to certain destinations.

Also, buyers do not look at handling times. Most of them don't even know where to look on the listing for the handling time. If you tell them 3 days, they will expect it three days from the day of purchase, not 3 days from the time it is shipped. They don't read the fine print—they read the bold print, the advertising.

[tweetystwades]

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@gopetersenwrote:

vintagecraze wrote: "I agree that the GD is going to be a very good thing. People who shop on Amazon and then go to Ebay will come to expect that deliveries are going to be fast. They love that about AMZ. People who need items for a specific event are going to love it too. People who do not want to QUESS when the item is going to arrive are going to have more CONFIDENCE buying on here. People, you have to undstand this as well. Customers usually have LESS buyer remorse when they make an impulse buy and get it QUICK. They are less likely to return something psychologically becuase they did not have enough time to really think about what they spent.  IT WILL WORK. And I feel confident with Ebay's support if items get there late due to the P.O."

There is no point in comparing eBay to Amazon or pretending to buyers that we can do what Amazon does. It will only annoy them to be promised one thing and get another.

Amazon has fulfilment centers and storage lockers in every corner of the continent. Sellers can put their items in these warehouses and Amazon takes care of the shipping through their special arrangements.

eBay does not provide sellers with fulfilment centers and storage lockers in every corner of the continent. Sellers ship on their own and most things do NOT get from coast to coast in three days any more. I find 5 to 7 days for First Class packages is quite typical to certain destinations.

Also, buyers do not look at handling times. Most of them don't even know where to look on the listing for the handling time. If you tell them 3 days, they will expect it three days from the day of purchase, not 3 days from the time it is shipped. They don't read the fine print—they read the bold print, the advertising.

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Bingo!!!!!

[go-bad-chicken]

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@cs43lswrote:

I must be missing something too. Just checked some of my listings and found most of my  BIN listings with "delivery in 3 days" . Und just underneath is the  regular approx. delivery date that is actually 5 days.

(item # 292485230502 ) I did not sign up for 3 day delivery as  I have a 2 day handling time, ship first class , and cant see how a parcel could go from Houston Tx to CA or FL. or even just to OK in that time span .  Many shipments are by truck, and if there is a weekend involved, the mail truck often does not move .There is a distribution center in Arizona and I noticed that on long weekends ,they are not " distributing". So a parcel might take 5 to 6 days to LA, or LV etc.

I hate to be pessimistic, but I see this as an other hoop to jump thru, just like free shipping, free , no fault returns, and now free vouchers for buyers if the parcel did not arrive at the overly optimistic time Ebay is pressing on sellers. All those " innovations"  and I am finally at the end of March made the same amount of $ that I used to make in previous years in January.

       Actually, I dont think Ebay had any original ideas lately, they have become  just a copycat of Amazon and its not working for most sellers.

        Is there there anyone that could  suggest how I can  get rid of that 3 day delivery on my listings. I will not be part of it, I see this as a new money grab and punishment by Ebay.

       I can hardly wait what the summer update has in store for us.

---

You do not need to do anything. The reason that it is showing you 3 day delivery is that you are loged in and the system is recognizing you as someone who is located in the same city that you are. So naturaly it will shoot you an estimated delivery date of 3 days. I am located in Missouri 65201 and when I pull up your listing it is showing me a more accurate Estimated Delivery Date of Wed. April 4.

[campesinoplastic2014]

In any effort to adequately answer this, and most questions regarding their thousands of "Improvements". it shall always com down to -----do YOU trust the venue? Do they stand behind YOU when you have done everything right as a good seller, and they have to choose to side with the buyer, themselves or you? The answer always seems to be the same, they turn their back on YOU and let you burn. Is this going to be any different? What information is brought forward and from what source that would compell us all to beleive that this is going to be any different? What has changed so drastically in recent months that they will now (suddenly) stand behind sellers? Are we suddenly on a venue where the IT glitches are gone and the data is all accurate? Now when we call, do they tend to support us and side with us IF and WHEN our story is bulletproof? Do they suddenly valuse us as professional sellers and customer service experts? Are we suddenly in a new environment here? If not, well.....expect more of the same.

[gopetersen]

If I read the terms of the program correctly, if the buyer files a dispute for eBay to "make it right", the seller has to contact eBay and provide evidence of having handled the order properly.

This appears to me to mean that eBay does not automatically check the tracking and back up the seller. It sounds like sellers will have to prove themselves (just as sellers currently have to make a special request for a partial refund of seller fees if the buyer is given a partial refund).

So I completely agree with the importance of the question campesinoplastic posed. How well do you trust the venue?

This also forces sellers into a time-versus-money dilemma and if they choose time, then the money comes out of their account rather than eBay's account.

[go-bad-chicken]

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@tweetystwadeswrote:

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@sockmonkeydavewrote:

@campesinoplastic2014

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@campesinoplastic2014wrote:

I have no choice but to ponder those numerous instances where sellers post here that they ship well withing their handling time, get a scan, but for some reason Ebay has "info" showing them as "late shippers" and cannot get it fixed. I wonder how well they will do.....

---

Well, because it does happen.

A few years back my shipping % went down from 100% to 98%

I ran the report, and this is what it said:

Label printed on time... yes

Inital PO scan.... blank

A couple other fields... blank.

Delivery scan... blank

Two packages shipped the same day, both with no scans.

I pull out my USPS receipt, and call ebay.

1st CS says, we can fix that... well I can't fix that let me transfer you.

6 more CS said the exact lame line, but then they were going to get a supervisor.

While on hold, my call was dropped.

So yes, Guaranteed Delivery looks good...  ON PAPER.

My guy at the PO, his wife does ebay full time.

I ask him what he thought about it, he just laughed.

ebay is making promises that USPS, UPS and fedx, do not make.

Guaranteed delivery, "free returns", And on, and  on, and on.

All to the benefit of ebay's "customers" the buyers.

---

I just see all this costing the seller. They want "free returns", "GD" which I believe is priority mail.

Why not just make it mandatory to ship priority, and forget about this GD. That's what it boils down to anyway. I ship first class, priority is too much and cuts into my profit for the items I sell.  It's also going to cost me listing visibility if I don't do it. Tired of being choked    

---

USPS First Class is a service that qualifies for the GD program.

While I am still on the fence about the whole GD program, and still have many concerns. My immediate feelings and opinion right now is that the program will end up having a negative effect overall in the long run, on eBay, the marketplace, and its sellers, But this is the Devil's sandbox, the Devil calls the shots in this box and on this playground, and now the Devil has decided that he/she wants to play a new game. Since I have continued to choose the Devil as one of my playmates, I am going to play along for awhile, and try to survive this game without getting burned, or at least to badly.

So, I have considered going along with this insanity, at least in the short term. My tentative plan is to stick my toe in the water for the first few months and  use my items that ship USPS First Class mail as my test subjects.

https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/shipping/ebay-guaranteed-delivery.html#eligible-carriers-servic...

[gopetersen]

I'm trying to figure out how eBay is going to pay for this.

Are they looking for expenses to write off as losses? because USPS First Class services are NOT going to get there on time.

I don't know what percentage of my packages reach the buyer later than 3 days from the day they are shipped but a very rough guess is that 30% of them take more than 3 days, especially those going coast to coast (or to Puerto Rico or Hawaii). That's a conservative estimate. It might be more.

Multiply that times millions of packages per week.

[nawlinsron2]

Conspicuous by their absence are the Priority Mail Regional A & B services

Once again, a QC checklist goes a beggin'.

[gopetersen]

I use First Class Package, Regional A, and Priority Mail Padded Mailers more than any of the other services.

The absence of Regional boxes in the eligibility list is definitely a problem for many sellers. The other options are more expensive and higher shipping prices are a deterrent to buyers.