Late Shipment Rates

[secondhandswank]

Hey All,

Is anyone else having issues with an increase in late shipment rate notices? I ship my items typically the same day or within the next business day as required. I know there have been issues with our post office delivering/scanning mail on time due to varies reasons, with the weather being the biggest culprit. I haven't had any complaints from buyers that there was a problem. My late shipment notices from eBay say it is because the post office shows a late shipment.  How can I control if the post office has failed to deliver/scan packages on time?  Now, these late shipment rates stay on my sellers report for a year.

Is it just me or this happening to others. Is there anything that can be done about it? Is it possible to have these late shipment rates removed sooner than waiting a year for them to drop off?

Thanks 

[disneyshopper]

I use ebay's bulk shipping, even for 1 item, and always print the SCAN sheet.

Regardless of how busy the post office it, I stand in line to have my SCAN sheet scanned.

[orangehound]

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@secondhandswank wrote:

Is there anything that can be done about it? Is it possible to have these late shipment rates removed sooner than waiting a year for them to drop off?

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To avoid potential late shipment dings, you need to get an acceptance scan when turning over your packages to the USPS.  It is that simple.  There isn't anything you can do after the fact.

[storytimequilts]

Sad to say your at the mercy of the PO and if they don't scan it,, your just screwed...  I can't close my shop and go to the PO everyday. so I depend on my Mailman to get it done and he does,, but,, when he is off,, it's sort of hit and miss if they scan or not....  Seems like if we pay for that service,, they should provide that service......

[mycollectiblesandmore · Accepted solution]

Yes, contact ebay and tell them that you shipped on time and that you do not have control of what the post office does or rather does not do. It is not our fault that the post office can't do their job right. ebay will  change the late shipping ding, so it does not effect your selling account, but it will still show - but it is sort of hidden. Not sure how to explain it. I have had to call them many times because of this same reason. I just recently had a couple that the post office did not scan on time and they showed they got it a day later than when I took it there, but I guess it got to the buyer in time, ebay did not ding me for it. If they had, I would have called them on it again. We should not have to waste our time calling them all the time to fix a problem that we did not cause. But it is what it is.

[domin-tomas]

I never heard of this before. What is with this dinging if the mail is delivered late? I have been here for a good few years and this I never heard of. Could someone give a brief lowdown on this. Thanks in advance.

[iart]

We pretty much solved this by talking to our letter carrier. We explained the problem and asked if they could pick up our items when they delivered and scan them right there.

We know his first name and use it. We ask about his family (3 daughters). We offer him a hot coffee when it's cold and cold drink when it's hot. And we tip the heck out of him during Christmas - we consider it profit sharing.

Not only does he do what we ask but when he's off and someone else temporarily takes the route he teaches them what to do and lectures them if they mess up.

We sell about 40 items a week and have a late rate of .07%. So it seems to be working.

Good luck!

[gwens*4saleitems*]

Reset your handling time to 3 or 4 days and still sending things out in a day or 2, this will make a big difference in the "Guaranteed by *** " delivery date that the Bay puts into your listings. I have mine set at 3 days, sometimes I get it out next day, sometimes I don't, but haven't run into a late shipment strike.

[secondhandswank]

Thank you.

[secondhandswank]

Thank you. I do the same thing. I really try to talk and take care of my mail carrier with special gifts etc. It seems to happen a lot with new carriers, which I seem to a lot of different lately.

[secondhandswank]

Good Idea. Will you lose your Top Rated Status if it's not set on next day handling?

[gwens*4saleitems*]

No, I have Top Rated but don't have Top Rated PLUS. You can figure the difference, Top Rated Plus gives you a discount on FVF, late shipment strikes cost you 4%? 7%? (not sure because I don't have any).

[secondhandswank]

Hey, thank you. I'm currently enrolled in eBay's guaranteed delivery program. Do I have to un-enroll from that to change my listings to 3-day delivery?  How do I change all my over 500 listings to 3-day handling in bulk? the thought of changing them one by one is a bit overwhelming. 🙂  

Thank you for your help. 

[gwens*4saleitems*]

I'm not familiar with the Guaranteed delivery. What would happen if you had an accident, hospitalized, flu ?? 

As far as changing listings --- bulk edit --- click on listings to change, edit (there is 'edit selected' or 'edit all") -- click on Edit Fields -- handling time  --- change to --- drop down gives you a number of options. Click save and then update.

[rixstuff]

Its the PO lately. There's no rhyme or reason but some items arrive almost over night way across country but other items across town take WEEKS.  I often see items sitting at a distro center for days and I wonder what they are waiting for.  Items arrive with NO tracking, others no tracking until it is delivered.  I had a couple of items RETURNED TO ME for no particular reason just week or so ago.  Enough postage, correct weight, no idea.  Shipped it back out in the exact package and it got there in 2 days.  Go figure.