NEW eBay Guaranteed Delivery Thread

[garymi6]

 Its important. Its bound to drag exposure for regular listings down even further. Now that the TRS discount is slashed in half, its not worth having 1 day handling for many sellers (like myself) anymore. Not everyones orders go in bubble wrappers and small boxs. Its just not worth it if your packing heavy or big, time consuming orders anymore. Dropping TRS and not opting into this new program thats horrible for average to medium sized sellers, will push listings further and further down the page for otherwise great sellers.

As the article im posting a link to at the bottom mentions, ebay does intend for us to pay for the shipping refund a buyer gets if their package is past the guaranteed date. Money will come from our pockets. So if your not big enough to absorb the losses, or sell items with many many multiples where its finacially worth it to do everything to stay on the top of the list. For the average seller of single item listings though, your getting the shaft. 

Ebays new changes make it so you have to jump through hoops to get the TRS exposure (because the discount is almost useless now). Take 30 day returns and ship next day for peanuts, but if you dont, exposure goes down. Now with this and the new promoted listings, you will have to pay ebay way more in for the listing, AND have to refund shipping (or take it back if they want) if it doesnt make it in 3 days. 

So, if we dont want to get buried by big business compitition, and continue to get the same exposure we get today, we would need to continue to jump through hoops for the now useless TRS Plus listing discounts, pay extra for promoted listings, and offer 3 day guaranteed delivery or the shippings free. Just to end up at the same exposure. As it sits now only bigger companies can afford to absorb all these expenses. Its just wrong.

Is this the new direction the new young CEO wants to go? Hes dong a major diservice to many of his best sellers. He seems to forget that unlike Amazon (Amazon Prime - which is what he is attempting to compete with), ebay doesnt have a warehouse full of employees to expidite shipping. Plus they dont own the merchandise, nor have 3rd party items in their possession. Its not their guarantee to make, and to then make US refund shipping if its a day past their made up date!? Ridiculous. 

Am I alone on this one?

Under the new eBay program, if a product doesn't arrive in the guaranteed time, both eBay and the seller will chip in to refund shipping costs. If an item was shipped for free, eBay and the seller will provide an eBay coupon, expected to be $5, Lawton said. Two-thirds of the products on eBay include free shipping, according to the company.

[dhbookds]

An ebay marketing scheme. 

Exactly..........it's advertising something people may want and come to ebay to get.........fast shipping............

[mscarlett1450]

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@hollysfinds wrote:

I for one will NOT be joining that ridiculous program.

Let the chips fall where they may.

As others have said, the P.O. doesn't even guarantee

the delivery, so why would I.

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I agree, holly, I just don't see the advantage to small sellers.  Especially vintage china and glass sellers like us.  For bigger sellers who have page after page of the same or similar items in a search this program may (repeat may) make their listing stand out among the others.  But not so much for a gravy boat listing.  

This program doesn't do anything for me at all.  I already had 0-1 day shipping and it didn't increase my sales.  In fact, I lost my TRS as a direct result of slow sales.  I changed to 2 day handling and will not chase after the TRS badge any more.  I only have a few things listed now and will probably move most to another site later this week. 

[tev4all]

a redundant program,  just more obfuscation.

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity”  Sun Tzu

[llllady]

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@dhbookds wrote:

not sure about the one filter,  think I read there would be 3 .......1/2/3 days

the hook is a competitive advantage to get MORE sales..........to all who participate, but especially the big guys who have items in warehouses strategically placed all over the country.......and who now can't take advantage of advertising that because they have to specify one shipping location......

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I asked about this in the Weekly Chat. Th question went unanswered, so I sent Greg a message inquiring if there would be one search filter or two for the two different options.  His response:

"Both versions of the program will offer the same filter. So the buyer won't be aware of 2 versions in what they see on the site."

I agree with you that there is no question the D2D is all about the big guys with warehouses in various locations.

[missjen831]

Is anybody else wondering what the distinction will be between a listing in the guaranteed program and a listing NOT in the program? Are buyers going to know that guaranteed delivery is an optional program? I know I'm always a skeptic and a naysayer when it comes to these ebay gimmicks but I think this guarantee delivery sham is going to cause headaches for sellers not in the program because buyers are going to think its a site-wide guarantee and when the estimated delivery date comes and their item hasn't arrived, they are going to contact the seller demanding a refund right? 

[baggs-2024]

I posted this in the chat thread, but it seems to have disappeared.  We all should be concerned over this statement.  JMO

[antium385]

no your not,I am cloasing my store,ebay has gone down the tubes

[wifetrained]

Strikes me that this is just another nail in the coffin for small sellers. And by small sellers I am refering to those people who are either just a hobby seller or those who are just clearing things from around the house.  It's stunning that the "suits" keep pursing this Amazon Lite persona.

[ymeagainlord]

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@baggs-2017 wrote:

I posted this in the chat thread, but it seems to have disappeared.  We all should be concerned over this statement.  JMO

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I've also had no response to my query as to how eBay would "have my back" if I was in this program and eBay screwed up my tracking.

[d-k_treasures]

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@newview wrote:

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@stonevintage wrote:

Why did I have to read through almost 500 responses to get the same clarification that I and many needed - that could have been answered as soon as those concerns made themselves blatantly apparent from seller posts? They could have answered my questions (and many) with two simple sentences posted right away.

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I suspect the "split choice" was a spur of the moment wrinkle added at the last moment due to the largely negative (and rightly so) response from the community. No where did I see it mentioned initially ... only after pointed & repeated prodding questions and apparently an overnight brainstorm session, and well into the chat session.

Call it "throwing us a bone" or a "spoonful of sugar" ... pick your analogy.

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More like a spoonfull of castor oil.

[d-k_treasures]

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@ymeagainlord wrote:

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@baggs-2017 wrote:

I posted this in the chat thread, but it seems to have disappeared.  We all should be concerned over this statement.  JMO

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I've also had no response to my query as to how eBay would "have my back" if I was in this program and eBay screwed up my tracking.

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They are probably trying to reword it so that 'end' doesn't come after 'back' in the response.

[ymeagainlord]

Well we've seen them state over and over that they have no way to remove a ding for tracking not validated (even when it's their wonky system) so I assume they can't "fix" it if you're in this program and it happens either.

[moondogblues]

Sigh...I am so happy that I decided to quit selling here.

[highdesertart]

In today's world of ridiculously fast shipping, I'm slowing down.  I've already decided that I'll be done selling here by summer.  Because NOTHING can be guaranteed. It used to drive me nuts when my listing would say "delivery by.....an actual date".  But how can they do this?  There is NO telling what can happen to a package; whether it's getting lost, stolen, delayed by weather, or other reasons that just come up.  I've always got my packages to the post office within 24 hours; sometimes the same day.  But there cannot be a guarantee!!!!!  This is just getting ridiculous and it's one thing I just don't want to worry about; people complaing that their package got to them one day late. 

[ymeagainlord]

I doubt that even transplant organs have a "guaranteed" delivery.