In climate weather

[justntime8933]

How do you guys handle shipping during bad weather? I live in NC and this pending storm looks like it will have everything shut down for a few days at the least. I know I could do time away but I really hate to turn that feature on being as I'm not on vacation just can't ship items on time due to weather. Fairly new seller here and am looking for advice, any given will be much appreciated.

[buyselljack2016]

@justntime8933 

you are not on "vacation", but in essence your selling (ability to fulfill orders) is/should be on "vacation".

Time away is not just for "vacations". There to assist the seller in protecting their account.

I use time away any time that I can not or think I can not do what I should be doing. 

Some buyers just don't/won't understand, and don't care what your issues are. They want what they want.

eBay protections "in place", but that could be erratic/frustrating.

[fern*wood]

You can extend your handling time if you feel you might not be able to ship within your current stated timeframe. 

[luckythewinner]

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@justntime8933 wrote:

How do you guys handle shipping during bad weather? I live in NC and this pending storm looks like it will have everything shut down for a few days at the least. I know I could do time away but I really hate to turn that feature on being as I'm not on vacation just can't ship items on time due to weather. Fairly new seller here and am looking for advice, any given will be much appreciated.

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My handling time is set to 3 days and I will do nothing due to the storm. 

If you think your currently handling time will not be sufficient, extend it. 

If you think there is no handling time that will be sufficient, pause your selling. 

[golfingaddict]

Putting your store on Time away, while still allowing sales just helps you quickly increase the handling time for the sold items.  

It does not stop you from selling and you can still ship your items if the Post Office is open or the carriers are still operating.

Seller Protections are in place for sellers impact... - The eBay Community

Time Away

I think it is nice that eBay posts those protections but I think it is more important for sellers to protect their own businesses.  

[mustang707]

I think you mean the inclement weather hitting the eastern US. You can use "time away" for any reason such as hospital stays or weather. 

[12345jamesstamps]

If there are power outages people will not be making purchases.

I see a decline in purchases due to the bad weather...not to me...but to others.

My sales have really dropped so I think people are probably not even thinking about making a purchase.

And most people will be rather understanding to the poor weather and late shipping aspects of it.

[jbbowers12012]

Hi,  Having only about 160 items listed - We here in New Jersey have just "ended Listings."  We will "Relist" when things clear up a bit.  Seems pretty easy. Good Luck!

[legalbeagle52]

Hi @justntime8933 

Go ahead and use 'time away" if you feel the need to.   That's what it's there for.    And this MAJOR storm taking over much of the country is certainly a good reason to use it.   It doesn't literally have to be used just for 'vacations' but it can be used anytime you cannot fulfill your orders in a timely manner.

Although I use it sparingly ... I do use it whenever I'm sick or a family member is sick or if things come up, I will turn it on.   And while a large part of the country is dealing with this, not everybody is.   It's -3 degrees here but my daughter in California is enjoying a balmy 58 degrees, so there are still some people in the country that will be able to buy.  

Check your weather reports for the next week and that should help determine what you do.   I don't have any listings up right now & I plan to put them back when the weather calms down.   You can extend handling times or put your items on time away .... it's not only acceptable but a good business practice  to do that. 

Good luck with your sales!   😊

[squinkercat59]

We have a little snow here in Colorado, but nothing drastic. However, I have some sales going TO North Carolina and Texas, but I have three day handling so am going to wait until Monday to mail. Hopefully there will not be a bottleneck by that time for packages going to those locations.

[martin2001]

Meteorologists are wrong at least 50% of the time. Although the storm is coming, here in Virginia, they are already reducing the total snowfall. It was supposed to start snowing around 4MP, nothing, then at 6 PM, nothing, it's now 9:30 PM and it's not snowing, the first snow is forecast at midnight.

I mailed some orders today, I also have 3-day handling. Where I live, I do believe that the mail delivery (and pick up) will start at least on Wednesday.  Although they are forecasting freezing temps for Mo-We, they also forecast sunny days, which will help with the maintenance of the roads, So I do nothing. Of course, depends on where you live, if in a metropolitan area, I think by Wednesday, your area will also be OK. But of course, you know the best.

[christworks]

I extended my handling time to 3 days for most items, and 5 days for items I know will ship FedEx or UPS. If it comes down to it, I'll walk the two miles to USPS to ship things on Wednesday. 

I shipped out things today, even though I do not normally ship on Saturdays. For my orders that have come in, I will send messages to buyers once the storm ends tomorrow night and I have a better idea when I'll be able to get up the street. 

We started off with sleet and snow today and the roads are covered. It is an ice skating rink out there. The chemicals that are placed onto the road do not work well once the temperature drops below 24 degrees, so public works is putting down sand to give people some traction.

I would have done time away had I not closed for a few weeks after Christmas. While you can still set it up to make sales, I have often felt that eBay suppresses those listings until it gets closer to your reopening date. It is really a six of one, half a dozen of another situation. There is no right way, perfect way, or wrong way. Honestly, simply communicating with your buyers from the start is enough to fend off most complaints. 

Everybody be safe. I pray nobody here loses power or has any damage. Do enjoy some hot chocolate, and maybe be kid again and just enjoy it as much as possible. 

[kensgiftshop]

Around here, we never know what it's going to do, so when they start talking about bad weather, I just shut everything down so don't have to worry about it.

I remember one year, they were calling for a couple inches of snow, but we ended up having an ice storm.

Some places electric was out for a couple weeks.

[bdmh-enterprises]

Foot of snow and -15 wind chill is what we here call a "regular January day" so I'll be sending as usual. Only difference is that my mail guy might not be wearing shorts (not kidding, dudes a beast.. AND scans my stuff immediately).

[r_lresale]

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@bdmh-enterprises wrote:

Foot of snow and -15 wind chill is what we here call a "regular January day" so I'll be sending as usual. Only difference is that my mail guy might not be wearing shorts (not kidding, dudes a beast.. AND scans my stuff immediately).

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Lol here in Texas right now we are around 8" - 10" and its still going. Right now it's 11 degrees and -15 wind chill.  Not only did the main PO truck from Ft. Worth couldn't get here but our local PO didn't run at all. We live in town and couldn't get out of our driveway.  We didn't make any sales since thursday so I went and put the store on time away.  Well apparently it hadn't taken effect (since it was PST?) and 2 sales I gotta figure out how to ship on monday 😭