On time delivery defects? NEW POLICY?

[detroittech313]

Hey all:

I lost "top rated seller" status in one of my accounts as my "late shipment defect rate" went to 3.01%  Maximum allowable is 3%.

I ship close to 99% of my items within 1 business day....how could this possibly be?

I called customer service and was told that if the Post Office says it will take 3 days to deliver and it actually takes 4, then it is counted as a LATE DELIVERY.  Ebay automatically tracks/checks this. I had not a SINGLE customer complaint in regards to this....

I countered that I did exactly what I said and what I was supposed to do...Ebay rep countered that there are other sellers who DO NOT have a problem with this, so I should choose a faster shipping method.  I can't ship a $15 (4 ounce) item for FREE with priority shipping....It does not seem right/fair that a seller who deliveres to the post office AND has the item accepted and scanned in time, gets dinged when the post office is late delivering it!

Fast forward to today and I get an email stating:

"

• On-time shipping rate: Sellers are also required to maintain a high rate of transactions that are shipped in the time promised based on information from the buyer or carrier. Uploading tracking is key—if tracking shows an acceptance scan from the carrier within your stated handling time, we’ll recognize your shipment as on-time, regardless of when it is delivered. "

This is in DIRECT CONTRADICTION to my prior experience and decision from Ebay!

So I called customer service and they stated that the latest email was the correct policy...

OK FINE, if that is the correct policy, I NEVER SHOULD HAVE LOST TOP RATED SELLER STATUS TO BEGIN WITH!!!!!!!

Further, if that is the case, will I be receiving a retroactive refund (10% of sellers fees), and then what about my dropped placement in search results?

Anybody else experience this?  

What is the correct policy/decision?

[sg51]

The dashboard will show you which sales failed to be shipped on time.

What happened?

[thatsallfolks]

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@detroittech313 wrote:

OK FINE, if that is the correct policy, I NEVER SHOULD HAVE LOST TOP RATED SELLER STATUS TO BEGIN WITH!!!!!!!

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You're making assumptions. You need to check the packages that were considered late to see if they got scanned within your handling time. If they didn't, then it was the combination of a missed scan AND late delivery that caused the defect. 

The policy hasn't changed.  Please don't rely on eBay CSRs to explain policies to you.

[detroittech313]

No, the item was scanned within the 1 business handling time....

I take EVERY package to the customer counter to have it scanned manually.

Something is terribly amiss if the policy has NOT changed...I am receiving official emails from Ebay stating something different than what I was told AND what Ebay acted on...

[detroittech313]

What happened was the packages were delivered by the post office OUTSIDE of the initial time estimate for delivery.  For example, the post office says 3 days and it was delivered in 5 days.  

It was brought to the customer counter within 1 business day of payment and was accepted and manually scanned...

[ebaayisfun]

I've never checked my Seller Dashboard, didn't think it really mattered much.  However, after reading these boards over the last few weeks, I decided to check mine.  I ALWAYS ship within my 1 day set limit.  I use eBay's label printing service.  Thought everything was okey dokey.  I was shocked that I had 14 out of 1,401 packages with a "transaction defect rate".  Looked at the report in detail.  I know there's nothing I can do about it, but my situation is that I have my mail carrier pick up all my packages.  Sometimes they deliver my mail and don't even pick them up (always the replacement mail person) and sometimes they just don't scan upon pick-up.  Another yucky eBay thing that we can't control.  And NO, I am not going to drive everyday to my local post office - it's a nightmare there, very crowded and they do NOT like or want you there ... always tell me to just have my mail person pick them up.  That's what the post office promotes - at least out here in Southern Calif.

[*eponymous*]

I called customer service and was told that if the Post Office says it will take 3 days to deliver and it actually takes 4, then it is counted as a LATE DELIVERY.

That information is wrong.

Make sure tracking is uploaded within your handling time.

If you have acceptance scans within your handling time, you cannot be counted as late, no matter when the item is delivered.

If you have acceptance scans within your handling time - and were still counted as "late" - call eBay to adjust those.

**The change to seller performance standards is from the 2016 Fall Seller Updates http://pages.ebay.com/bh/en-us/sellerinformation/news/fallupdate2015/seller-standards.html **

[myboardid]

They KEY to this is getting the acceptance scan WITHIN your HANDLING TIME.  After that, it doesn't matter when the package gets delivered. 

If you use a SCAN SHEET when you drop off your packages, and they scan it and hand it back to you, or if you leave one with your boxes to be scanned by your mail carrier, you will completely solve this problem!  

[partial*eclipse]

Are you sure that you're getting your acceptance scan on the next business day? If you're paid on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, then you must ship (and get the scan) on Monday.

FYI, as long as you don't have your TRS anyway, you might as well revise your handling time to 2 days.  This will help avoid any dings against you as you work towards getting your TRS back.

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@blonsterkathryn wrote:

I've never checked my Seller Dashboard, didn't think it really mattered much.  However, after reading these boards over the last few weeks, I decided to check mine.

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Many sellers who are no longer allowed to sell here thought the same way...

Yeah, it's important.

[sg51]

It was brought to the customer counter within 1 business day of payment and was accepted and manually scanned...

Any way you can show us the list of those which failed, and tracking record from one on the list which shows this?

[luckythewinner]

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@sg51 wrote:

It was brought to the customer counter within 1 business day of payment and was accepted and manually scanned...

Any way you can show us the list of those which failed, and tracking record from one on the list which shows this?

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Also remember that simply getting a scan is not the only requirement.

The tracking number also has to be uploaded in a timpley manner to each item that was included in the package. 

[mr_lincoln]

@detroittech313 WHOA!  I SAID WHOA!  That is NOT how the shipping metirc as you know from the section you posted on "On-time shipping rate".  You definitely need to bring this up at the next Weekly Chat (8/2/17), forget calling at this point because the phone reps have on clue.

If a Seller getst eh acceptence scan withint heir handling time THEY ARE DONE WITH THE SHIPPING METIRC, PERIOD. 

[digitalfoundry]

Mr. Lincoln:

I called customer service and they said that they could only find one transaction that improperly counted against me....but that is all that is need as I am 3.01% late delivery.  Most of the other transaction that were late were over 90 days.  They couldn't do anything TODAY, but will restore "top rated seller" at next period.  If they were incorrect, it should be addressed and taken care of TODAY, BEFORE THE END OF BUSINESS.

If management, or anybody in Ebay's organization reads this thread, then they need to listen to my RECORDED, archived, customer service call ins.  What has been described to me by customer service reps is simply not accurate, they will hear this in the call!

I've been selling on Ebay for 15+ years and have about 9,000 feedback, and have done well over $1MM in sales across my accounts....

As time progresses, Ebay gets worse & worse for the sellers.   Sometimes there are good changes (free packing materials), but for the most part, they are detrimental to sellers.

Ebay also has a MAJOR problem with their offshore customer service reps.  Most of them are very friendly, cheerful, eager to help....but frequently things just don't "click".  They probably are not Ebay users, they are not acclimated to American culture, etc.  When you speak with them, most of the CSR have little to no power to change or correct anything.  Calling them for ANYTHING other than the most simplistic item or question is simply a waste of valuable time.

Ebay expects their sellers to adhere to high standards, which is good!  HOWEVER, as an organization, Ebay does not follow the same standards that they expect of top rated sellers.

I've just about had it with selling on Ebay.  I've got hundreds of auctions and most of business is wrapped up in this...but I've just about had after today.  I can go work a dead end $20/hour job instead of this hassle.

Their management I suspect is run by people who have NOT built businesses on Ebay.

[mr_lincoln]

@digitalfoundry  Thanks for that reply ... I think the other issue is eBay upper management is so far removed from the day to day tasks that Sellers perform and all the rules and regs they have to conform to that they have no clue how small changes affect Sellers, or at least don't care.