Guaranteed Delivery and a Good Example of Exactly Why Not To Do It!

[llllady]

Buyer paid and I shipped on May 3.  Package was destined for PA from NJ.  (Shipping was upgraded from Parcel to Priority).

Since then, the package left my post office, and the next day was scanned in PA (Note: there was no scan from any of the NJ sort facilities).

On May 5, it departed PA and landed in a NJ sort facility on May 9.

On May 11, it arrived and departed Tampa, FL...and once again, the item is supposedly in transit to its destination.  God only knows what destination it's headed for this time!!!!!!!!!

Fortunately, so far, the buyer has been patient and we're waiting to see what happens for now.  I told her I would refund her if she didn't want to wait any longer.  I suspect I will be filing a lost package report on the 15th day, which is the soonest it can be filed.

This is not the first "vacation" a USPS package has taken, and I'm sure it won't be the last. 

No, eBay, you can keep your guaranteed delivery.  If the USPS won't be held accountable, neither will I!

[usmc*usnmom]

If you opt in to the handling time guarantee, and you ship within your handling time, Ebay will cover any late claims made by the buyer.  If this is really what happens, I don't see it lasting very long.

The actual delivery guarantee will be covered by the seller, and I would imagine only high volume sellers with shipping contracts with the various carriers would opt in to this.

[tonycea]

It is a bad program period and eBay should suspend it altogether, east coast post offices are the worst in the nation, end of story, weather related delays, workers who will not scan packages at all.

I ship the same day I get orders, eBay already knows who ships fast, that is why they have their fast and free program, they already know who they can place the 'fast and free' tag on and which sellers ship fast, this program is a vain attempt to compete with Amazon Prime who controls the shipping from their own distribution centers.

[megadestroyers]

It would appear, at least in the last few days or so, there's yet another very good reason not to be too hasty getting that package in the mail.  Hacked Paypal accounts resulting in unauthorized charge backs shortly thereafter.  Yet, the time between supposed Paypal payment and the unauthorized charge back just happens to be just enough time to get items shipped, seller left to scurry to get item shipped back.

Guarantee delivery or not, how does it go..........

Haste makes waste.

[tonycea]

Hacked accounts are eBay's problem, they have to cover the sellers loss on that.

[cb-boards]

I have no proof of this, but I would highly suspect that in another 2 years or so eBay will make "Guaranteed Delivery" a requirement for TRS status.  Just another hoop for eBay to make sellers jump thru.  

[megadestroyers]

Don't know if that's comforting, or quite worrisome!

[d-k_treasures]

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@tonycea wrote:

Hacked accounts are eBay's problem, they have to cover the sellers loss on that.

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You need to read the other thread where the case was opened and closed against the seller without allowing them to even enter a tracking #. 

And the response from trinton was that it's the sellers problem.

[llllady]

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@usmc*usnmom wrote:

If you opt in to the handling time guarantee, and you ship within your handling time, Ebay will cover any late claims made by the buyer.  If this is really what happens, I don't see it lasting very long.

The actual delivery guarantee will be covered by the seller, and I would imagine only high volume sellers with shipping contracts with the various carriers would opt in to this.

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Yep, always intended to oopt into the handling time one because it is easy for me to meet that expectation.  It's the guaranteed delivery part that is a no way, Jose!

[a_c_green]

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@llllady wrote:

Fortunately, so far, the buyer has been patient and we're waiting to see what happens for now.  I told her I would refund her if she didn't want to wait any longer.  I suspect I will be filing a lost package report on the 15th day, which is the soonest it can be filed.

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I think you may have a problem filing a lost package report when it was scanned as recently as yesterday. 

On the tracking results page for your package, subscribe yourself (and your buyer, if you like) for email updates whenever the package is scanned, so that your package will be reporting to you; you won't have to keep going off to look for it. Note that subscribing to email alerts will have absolutely no effect on the progress of the package itself, but you will get an immediate heads-up in email whenever and wherever the package turns up next.

One other point to consider is that when the package is scanned as going into a container for a long-distance hop, further scans will be reported of the container, not the package itself, until the package is scanned directly at some later point. Thus if it didn't get scanned when coming out of the container later on, further reports will keep on following the container instead. Hopefully the label barcode is sharp enough that you'll get a further direct sighting of it soon.

[llllady]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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@llllady wrote:

Fortunately, so far, the buyer has been patient and we're waiting to see what happens for now.  I told her I would refund her if she didn't want to wait any longer.  I suspect I will be filing a lost package report on the 15th day, which is the soonest it can be filed.

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I think you may have a problem filing a lost package report when it was scanned as recently as yesterday.  I will just be surprised if this package will ever make it to the right destination at this rate and I will probably have to file a lost package report on the 15th day...not now.

On the tracking results page for your package, subscribe yourself (and your buyer, if you like) for email updates whenever the package is scanned, so that your package will be reporting to you; you won't have to keep going off to look for it. Note that subscribing to email alerts will have absolutely no effect on the progress of the package itself, but you will get an immediate heads-up in email whenever and wherever the package turns up next. Done two days ago.

One other point to consider is that when the package is scanned as going into a container for a long-distance hop, further scans will be reported of the container, not the package itself, until the package is scanned directly at some later point. Thus if it didn't get scanned when coming out of the container later on, further reports will keep on following the container instead. Hopefully the label barcode is sharp enough that you'll get a further direct sighting of it soon. I want more than a sighting...I want to see it delivered!  🙂

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[a_c_green]

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@llllady wrote:

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I think you may have a problem filing a lost package report when it was scanned as recently as yesterday.  I will just be surprised if this package will ever make it to the right destination at this rate and I will probably have to file a lost package report on the 15th day...not now.

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One thing you could do right now would be to visit your local PO and ask for a printout of their intranet tracking for that package. That provides additional detail on each scan event, including (in particular) whether it was a direct scan (i.e. of the package itself) or an indirect scan of a container instead. That may help to give you better idea whether you're following the progress of the package itself, or of the container that it was last seen in.

[threshold.sales.group]

IIRC, the version of the program I saw had the seller and ebay splitting the compensation to the buyer. So if the buyer gets a $6 coupon for comensation, then the seller would be charged $3, assuming the package was shipped within the handling time.   

My observation is that USPS is on-time about 90% or so of the shipments, but that still leaves say 8 or 10 out of 100 shipments elgible for the late delivery compensation - that's not nothing. 

[slati_2013]

Not even USPS Next day Express Mail is guaranteed. I have had next day mail downgraded to Second Day Express Mail. With the USPS, nothing is guaranteed. To depend on them for Priority Mail is not wise. Priority Mail can in reality take anywhere from two to seven days no matter what they claim. 

[moondogblues]

Or never...I had a package of 8 flat posters go astray in April. The tracking still says 'in transit to destination' from NH. Sent Priority with insurance thank goodness. But no matter what I or the seller did it has not been found.