Major Winter Storm This Weekend (January 23-26)
Part of this is just a PSA. Anyone in the south from Texas/Oklahoma eastward should be monitoring weather conditions going into this weekend. Record setting snows and possibly a crippling ice storm are looking increasingly likely. This, of course, will impact shipping. Buyers should expect late shipments going into next week.
The other part of this message is at what point does eBay make the decision to put seller protections in place for sellers impacted? Do they base it off States of Emergency? I need to decide no later than Friday if I am going to increase my handling time. I am expecting to be stuck until at least Tuesday or Wednesday next week. While I could walk to the post office, I'd rather not. I also would rather not have to change my handling time on all my shipping policies if I can help it. I won't be able to change it on anything that has pending offers, which will require me to end those listings, make the change, then relist.
christworks
OP8 months agoThanks for all the replies!
I'm going to wait until Friday night to make a final decision. whether I am going to do Time Away or extend my handling time. What I don't like about using Time Away is that it takes a few days to get things going again unless you do a hard reset. That's my experience, at least. I just did that a couple of weeks ago and if I do it again, it will mess up something else I have going on.
Thank you again for all the replies! Everybody be safe.
r_lresale
·8 months agoThe Governor of Texas DID issue a State of Emergency here in Texas a few hours ago...
lakefor94
·8 months agoI got caught last year not extending my handling time long enough.
The ice starts coming in here Friday ~about 5pm at last check and stops, perhaps Sunday.
I might not be able to ship until Tuesday. I can change it to 3-days on Thursday. That outta cover me.
If the ice starts earlier, the UPS trucks will get called into base Friday sometime. I imagine I can still get my shipments picked up Friday.
I won't be hoping Ebay will cover me for late shipping.
12345jamesstamps
·8 months agoThere was a 100+ car pile up in Michigan yesterday...any Fedex, USPS or UPS trucks involved?
Will there be any late deliveries? Did everything have tracking?
We don't really know.
If tracking is important on day one...you never know if tracking happens until it happens.
So many factors can happen to keep tracking from happening.
Power outage...would mean no tracking I would think of that day in a certain area.
Ice and power lines don't go good together.
'walk to the post office'...I watch those on TikTok who walk outside their house and slide down the sidewalks or even worse try to drive on 'black ice'. There are so many videos on TikTok on this subject.
During the winter it's best to not offer next day shipping.
Heck, anything can go wrong...we don't get ice...but San Francisco made the headlines this holiday season of the power outages...before and after New Year's and just yesterday and the day before.
wastingtime101
·8 months agoIndeed! Super handy for every seller to have a back up plan, whether it's using extended handling times or otherwise.
It's very easy to activate Time Away via the eBay app (under settings) or the eBay website on a phone's browser.
Discussions like this are a good reminder for everybody to have a plan in the event of unexpected down time.
wastingtime101
·8 months agoHi @christworks . While eBay generally offers weather protections in cases like this, it's better to not bank on it. Use Time Away mode. This is one of the reasons eBay extends that tool to all sellers (where previously it was for Stores-only).
You can allow sales while on time away and eBay will automatically extend your handling time on those orders (assuming no offers are involved). See more info below. In your shoes I'd set up Time Away for a week and a half or up to 2 weeks, then you can always end it early!
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Here's the page about Time Away settings:
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling-tools/time-away?id=5137
If you allow sales while away, make sure you read all the exclusions carefully.
Plan to have any auctions or offers end a week before you leave. If you have automated offers enabled, turn them off here.
There's an option to set up an out of office auto-response within the Time Away settings.
Keep in mind you're still responsible for handling any return requests, claims or payment disputes that are filed while you're away. You may want to check in via the app or through a web browser on your phone every couple of days.
ed8108
·8 months agoThe way things work, eBay will inform you when eBay deems it appropriate .
Let's hope the forecast will significantly improve.
mommaknows
·8 months agoFirst and foremost, stay safe.
You can always put everything on time away for a bit. As for your pending offers...🤞
Hopefully, it won't be as bad as predicted.