I applaud all of you sellers

[bigdeals.etc]

I've been hearing so many sellers closing shop during this time. With all that's been currently going on... all the challenges thrown in our faces. To name a few:

-Covid Pandemic Spikes

-Holiday rush

-Cabin fever frustrated buyers

-USPS shipping delays

-Increased INRs

-Ebay CS almost nowhere to be found to aid us thru this

-Supplier shutdowns and closures

-Postmaster General Dejoy's "brilliant" ideas

I say EVERY seller who has continued to remain open during this entire time and come out on the other side still standing deserves a freaking medal. I'm sure everyone can agree that doing so isn't an easy feat. Every seller doing this is literally holding ebay on his/her shoulders while getting hit with all this feeces (see above). Just think, if every seller decided to close shop when facing adversity during this time... EBAY WOULD IMMEDIATELY CEASE TO EXIST. And there would be nothing to come back to by 2021 (post holiday). So thank you all and push thru. Only about one more tough week to go.

[biggymoe]

Well said!!

I fear the USPS problems are only going to get worse and for more than one more week.  Horror stories about how hard they are being hit with Covid.  Serious under staffing at a critical time.

Let us all pray.  Stay safe.

[bigdeals.etc]

---

@biggymoe wrote:

Well said!!

I fear the USPS problems are only going to get worse and for more than one more week.  Horror stories about how hard they are being hit with Covid.  Serious under staffing at a critical time.

Let us all pray.  Stay safe.

---

Yea, I agree. But hopefully the holiday rush will die down significantly by then and instead of juggling 10 balls in the air, we’ll only have to deal with 9.

[jewelbiz]

Shocking you didn’t mention Managed Payments as a challenge!

[1tuna]

..............general reply........

a couple more weeks and it will all blow over...............I am sure I will not be worried about the post office in 2021.

I think they will be caught up by Jan 1.

the post office delay will be gone soon I think but not this covid

[toysaver]

"if every seller decided to close shop when facing adversity during this time... EBAY WOULD IMMEDIATELY CEASE TO EXIST."

I think they would actually listen to sellers and meet their needs before pushing up daisies.  They have stockholders they are accountable too.  In the long run this could be just what sellers need.

[dbfolks166mt]

     You did a pretty good job laying out the problems but you missed one major one and that is eBay's lack of action during the present situation to help stave off a few of the problems and assist the sellers. While they cannot fix things outside of their control, i.e. the shippers, they could modify some of their own internal software, policies and processes to help mitigate the problems. For example not allowing a buyer to open an INR case until at least 10 days after the EDD. Not simply taking the buyer situation as holy writ. The small things they have done have only further burdened the seller with additional task. They seem to have plenty of resources available to continue the march down the managed payment path and its inept deployment but can't seem to address real time problems and issues that have been with us for 9 months. 

     If every seller temporarily stopped posting/selling during the current crisis eBay would not immediately cease to exist but they would take a hit to their bottom line and maybe that would be a good thing and send a message.  I only sell on eBay as a sideline but if I was a business there is NO way that I would put my business and livelihood at risk to keep eBay afloat. Maybe you should reserve the medals for the individuals  and companies that don't survive and the shipping service workers that are on the front lines everyday working in an overwhelmed situation. If you want to help somebody through the crisis how about quit shipping and reduce the workload on the logistics process while we get through this mess. If you think this is going to clear up magically after Christmas you are not looking at the big picture and if you think it's just USPS with shipping problems wait till FedEx and UPS shift their focus to the shipment and distribution of the COVID vaccine. 

[dbfolks166mt]

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bigyellowdog2012]

I just pulled all of my items except for one. I just can't take a negative

my numbers are too small. one hit and I would probably turn into a 74% positive.

[bill.purvis2012]

I put my store on vacation until after the Christmas shipping. I hated to do it. But, I have many packages out there just sitting somewhere. It would be easy for me to just keep taking orders. But, I care about my customers and I care about my EBAY standing as a good seller. I also don't want to be refunding all these orders while the shipments dribble in to them.  It's a hard decision as I've invested lots of time & effort to get to where I am.  Tough times.

[inhawaii]

Thank you, but i don't deserve all that credit.

There is only one reason i'm here...

Have a happy (and prosperous) holiday season everyone!

[alouetta725]

The main reason I stopped selling until after New Years is due to Ebay not helping or supporting the sellers during this time.  The second reason is the Post Office. I live in a rural area, Vermont. After filing several missing packages with USPS, the local postmaster called me and informed me that 500,000 packages were backed up at the New Hampshire regional distribution center. That was last week. It is only going to get worse until after Christmas. With no help from Ebay for the seller it just isn't worth it right now for me to sell. 

[centralave_records]

After talking with an eBay rep, she said that they would remove bad feedback due to the horrendous shipping delays. Once an item is received and scanned in by the post office, late or lost packages should not fall on the seller, especially if they shipped on time. As one seller to another, just stay in contact with your buyers and let them know that you care. Also expect to issue refunds at some point. If my buyers don’t received their items by the end of next week, I’m issuing full refunds out of good faith. A minor setback is set for much bigger comeback. Even though it’s hard during these times, stay positive. I wish everyone continued success. 

[calntom]

I increased my handling time to 2-days hoping that might extend the delivery window here on eBay.

I have about 5 limbos floating around out there out of the last 15 USPS shipments. Not good at all…… Only one buyer contacting me and I think my consistent communication with that buyer has them in patient mode. The callback I received from USPS in St. Cloud MN stated that they did not have the amount of drivers they need in order to move the shipments from distribution center to distribution center. 

All of my UPS Ground has made it so far with stellar performance. 2-3 business days out of Dallas to destinations far away.

I had a 97-lber make it from the Dallas area to BOYNTON BEACH, FL in two business days. Shipped this past Tuesday and arrived Thursday.

I have 3 orders so far this weekend that are either heavy or have the margin in them to ship UPS Ground. I will be holding my breath if anything comes in that has to go USPS but will ship nonetheless. The show must go on.

Prayers up for the carriers.

[oldold-timer]

Removed all my listing Dec. 5 and have no regrets.  If eb had extended EDD's back then, instead of giving my buyers estimated delivery dates in 4-5 days after shipping, I probably would have stuck it out.  I still have USPS FC packages out there somewhere.  My buyers have been super patient about not opening INR's on these.  That is who I thank.  Will return when things get better, hopefully in a few months.