Negative Feedback because of USPS shipping.

[leannsloft]

I shipped an item 1 1/2 days after it was ordered (I said 3 days, so I shipped earlier than promised).  Dropped off at the post office on Nov. 10.  Then the label never tracked after it said left my post office.  Buyer asked me what is going on, I went to the post office to ask.  The post office said "due to COVID things are taking longer and the package will be scanned when it arrives".  I told the buyer.  The package arrived on Nov. 20. The buyer just left me negative feedback saying  "worst shipping ever!!!".  What can I do?  It isn't my fault, I shipped on time.  Thanks.

[grasscarp]

10 days to arrive?? Not bad!! USPS Tracking --- a JOKE to say the least.

I have had several packages take 4 weeks to arrive in Michigan from NC. And yet only 3 days to go from NC to Puerto Rico or to Hawaii.

Welcome to COVID-2020.

If you shipped within your stated handling you can ask ebay to remove the negative. They have done it for me when this has happened. You can also ask the buyer to revise their feedback after explaining nicely that USPS is having major issues with delivery. Just go to their website and read all about it.

Too bad that buyers think we sellers also deliver the packages for the USPS (or FedEx or UPS). When all is cleared --I BLOCK buyers who are so "bleep". 

This is the new norm. We just have to grin and bear it.

[rebell45]

They say the first one always hurts the worst. About all you can do is leave a calm, factual reply and move on. Highly doubtful that eBay will remove that one.

[lamber9347]

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@leannsloft wrote:

I shipped an item 1 1/2 days after it was ordered (I said 3 days, so I shipped earlier than promised).  Dropped off at the post office on Nov. 10.  Then the label never tracked after it said left my post office.  Buyer asked me what is going on, I went to the post office to ask.  The post office said "due to COVID things are taking longer and the package will be scanned when it arrives".  I told the buyer.  The package arrived on Nov. 20. The buyer just left me negative feedback saying  "worst shipping ever!!!".  What can I do?  It isn't my fault, I shipped on time.  Thanks.

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I highly suggest that you NOT leave a reply to that negative. That first one stings a bit but you need to take a step back and consider many things about it. People no longer look at FB like they used to, in fact many don't notice it until there is an issue. You've already amounted quite a bit of FB over the years, kudos on that. If you write a retort it may come across worse for you as typically those comments are defensive and tend to put off new customers more than the initial comment. 

The buyer has left, they will not see anything you write as there is no alarm that goes off for them that you posted a response. So any response is for new customers only. The best you could write is I shipped within 3 days but post office was slow due to covid. We already know that so that sort of comment says nothing about you as a seller. Sometimes people have a bad experience, what they wrote really isn't personal against you. This is a business, they aren't saying you are a bad person. They simply wanted their item quickly and that didn't happen, during a global pandemic. No one will blame you for this....

I suggest you concentrate on selling and try to acquire more FB. This will quickly move to your second page where no one will see it other than you. In time this will be nothing to you. They didn't break any policy so no reason for eBay to remove it. Just try to move on from this and ignore it for now. It's really not that bad, please try not to make it worse. Best of luck to you....

[plymouthsales4165]

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@leannsloft wrote:

I shipped an item 1 1/2 days after it was ordered (I said 3 days, so I shipped earlier than promised).  Dropped off at the post office on Nov. 10.  Then the label never tracked after it said left my post office.  Buyer asked me what is going on, I went to the post office to ask.  The post office said "due to COVID things are taking longer and the package will be scanned when it arrives".  I told the buyer.  The package arrived on Nov. 20. The buyer just left me negative feedback saying  "worst shipping ever!!!".  What can I do?  It isn't my fault, I shipped on time.  Thanks.

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Contact eBay explain what happened and they will take it down. If the first person you talk to says no just call back. This is exactly the type of neg that gets taken down

[luckythewinner]

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@rebell45 wrote:

About all you can do is leave a calm, factual reply and move on. 

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I agree. "Item shipped Nov 10 by USPS from IL, delivered on Nov 20 to XX" 

[mam98031]

Unfortunately you buyer really wasn't clear when they left the FB.  While you know what they are saying and likely most of us know what they are saying, it isn't enough to get Ebay to remove it.  They could have meant that your packaging was horrible or something else.

I'm sorry this happened to you.  About the only thing that might help you at this point is to review the buyer's FB left for others.  If you can see a pattern of FB abuse, that can often times be enough to get Ebay to removed the FB.

[carey7716]

We've lost several hundred dollars this year due to the USPS shipping delays and buyers opening Item Not Received cases, more than a few of these the package was delivered but the case would have timed out had we not refunded (and when a case times out ebay finds in the buyer's favor and issues us a defect and takes our money and gives it to the buyer anyway)...

So there comes a time, depending on the monetary amount when a negative would be welcome in lieu of being forced to refund.  Whether that is your case I could not tell you, but I am no longer concerned much about negative feedback.

[vintagecraze50]

USPS has lousy service now. You cannot rely on them and if you rely on them for Christmas you are going to be in big trouble. We had several horrendous experiences with late and lost packages with them for months before we switched entirely to FED EX. If you want late packages lost packages during Christmas and angry buyers and forced refunds from Ebay because packages have INR, and then the item gets delivered and you are out 1,000’s of dollars then USE usps AND DRINK HEAVILY.

[vintagecraze50]

COVID is having some impact on all carriers but USPS is still THE WORST of all of them becuase of their stupid corrupt postmaster general and what he has done to the service and their financial woes. The other services are running much more efficiently.

[msbkrt]

Hi! I had a really bad feedback due to slow USPS delivery. Here is what I did: I went to help & contact located at the upper left hand corner of the page. Scroll down to Need More Help? and click on Contact Us. You will have a few options but I recommend Have Us Call You. You may have a wait time for the call back but a customer service person can help you fix this. Explain how this was not your fault and ask if you can have that negative feedback removed. 

Also, when you tape the label on, tape around the tracking bar code. The scanners at the post office can't read thru tape. When I started to leave that part uncovered (I taped everything else down to prevent tearing in the machines) my packages were, in most cases, delivered a day earlier than the projected time listed on the tracking.   Good Luck!

[myangelandmyprincess]

The scanners can read through the tape as long as it's straight over the bar code with no wrinkles.  My post office lady had told me to tape over the barcode because since I was using an inkjet printer the ink could get smeared when wet causing more issue than the tape.   I've always taped over the barcode like that and never a single issue.  

That said I would see if eBay would remove the feedback if I was unsuccessful I would reply with facts   

"purchased 11/8 shipped 11/10 delivered 11/20 sorry for usps delays"

[dubiousgain]

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@msbkrt wrote:

....a customer service person can help you fix this. Explain how this was not your fault and ask if you can have that negative feedback removed.

It can very much depend on the CSR one speaks to.

Should representative A or B not be compliant, representative C, just might be. Troubled times, which deviate from the norms, can certainly bring out the worst in entitled, privileged, buyers, who might be scam paranoid, and just do not want to hear it. 

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I

[mam98031]

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@myangelandmyprincess wrote:

The scanners can read through the tape as long as it's straight over the bar code with no wrinkles.  My post office lady had told me to tape over the barcode because since I was using an inkjet printer the ink could get smeared when wet causing more issue than the tape.   I've always taped over the barcode like that and never a single issue.  

That said I would see if eBay would remove the feedback if I was unsuccessful I would reply with facts   

"purchased 11/8 shipped 11/10 delivered 11/20 sorry for usps delays"

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Something I realized a while back when a package got returned to me.  If you use a Thermal Printer for your shipping labels.  If you put clear tape over the barcode to protect it while in the hands of the carrier.  That bar code will eventually disappear.  So my advice to those that use a Thermal Printer for labels, don't use tape on the important areas of the labe.

[a_c_green]

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@mam98031 wrote:
Something I realized a while back when a package got returned to me.  If you use a Thermal Printer for your shipping labels.  If you put clear tape over the barcode to protect it while in the hands of the carrier.  That bar code will eventually disappear.  So my advice to those that use a Thermal Printer for labels, don't use tape on the important areas of the label.

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I always split the difference and tape over the bottom half of the barcode, as well as the human-readable digits below it. Another piece goes over the printed address. Thus the scanner can read whichever half of the barcode is more legible (if there's a difference), and key parts of everything else are protected from rain. (Laserjet toner won't run if it gets wet, but Deskjet ink definitely will, and easily.)