Pausing Sales During Holidays Due to Slow Shipping

[destrucity_shop]

I've decided to put my store on vacation mode for the month of December due to delays in shipping. This morning a customer contacted my about an item past due delivery, was shipped First Class a seven days ago-- tracking shows no activity. A forum search of recent discussions revealed many sellers complaining of severe delays in shipping. This makes sense with new disruptive Post Master rules, more people shopping online from pandemic lockdowns, postal workers calling in sick with covid, and the surge of holiday orders, the postal system is now overwhelmed. I've refunded the buyer, and will resume selling in January.

[dhbookds]

Looking at USPS estimates for delivery........they match the ebay estimates at least on the latest stuff I mailed.........

[patd3283]

FedEx hired college students here to supplement their driver squad.  A young gal came tearing into our cul-de-sac yesterday not realizing the back door of her truck was open and spewing packages.  As she went to leave,  she saw her packages and stopped to pick them up.  Guess she learned a lesson.

We have 2 medical sales reps who get deliveries almost every day. 

[beautifulbeauty2012]

eBay didn`t extend anything on my side.

Sold an item on 12/7/20, I have 3 business days handling (so I have to ship it on 12/9/20, sending from Florida to California by First Class (buyer selected), yet from the order details: 

Estimated delivery date shown to buyer: Dec 12, 2020

Other orders have the same unrealistic delivery time shown to buyers by ebay.

[beautifulbeauty2012]

yup, Michigan is a disaster now, most problematic state to ship to.

[slati_2013]

I shipped several Priority Mail packages last week. Some have been delivered, others still stuck in transit. I am simply no longer listing anything. There is no logic to why some get there in two days and others take several days. And we are not even yet into the Christmas shipping crazy days. 

[inhawaii]

Suspend sales during the busiest shopping time of the year because you're worried about shipping delays?

Well you're the boss of your ebay store. That's your call.  I don't agree with it.

Have you ever wondered how the rest of us are managing?

[chapeau-noir]

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@kathieskorner wrote:

I don't think it is just a shortage of planes.   One of the changes made by our crackerjack Postmaster General several months ago was to divert a lot of first class and media mail to trucks only.    It took 4 weeks for a media mail package to go 35 miles within the state of Florida in September - first class mail from the east coast of Florida to the west coast of Florida took 10 days.   Fortunately my buyers were patient. 

I am also closed down until the 25th.  For the past 10 years I closed down 10 days before Christmas - this year I ended all my listings early in the morning of Dec. 7th. 

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I've done this also every year since probably about 2010.  Every year the same stuff happens - the USPS gets overloaded, some of the individuals I trade with are, uh, confused, and I think "I could be taking a nice break and enjoying the holidays" since I never got to do that in my corp life. 

This year everything is worse, though.  I'm shuttering my various sites at the end of the week save for one which is more easy-squeezy about things. 

[chapeau-noir]

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@yuzuha wrote:

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@oldold-timer wrote:

I have several USPS FC packages that are late.  Closed down selling for a month or two.  Can anyone with more sense than me explain why eb does not adjust EDD's at least 3-7 days later???  What happened to eb's saying of "We've got your back?"  

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I am seeing adjusted EDDs for my sales? All of the First Class packages that I shipped yesterday are showing EDDs of 4-7 days out instead of the usual 2-4.

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Oh man, that's great news!

[destrucity_shop]

This year is unusual. I've been selling for many years all through the Holidays, without pause or issue. But wont this year. It helps that what I sell is not seasonal and in demand year round. Also, I'm not entirely dependant on my eBay store for income (I do local sales apps as well).  And four weeks is not too much to wait out. My decision was based not on my one late package (I only ship about one a day) but based on other high volume sellers' reports citing many dalayed packages with refund cases being opened, and from grim reports by people about the post office situation.  However I will continue to buy on eBay, tho excercising iron patience.

[destrucity_shop]

Find the 'Time Away' feature through: Messages/Change Settings

[moondogblues]

"I'm shipping a package with Fed-Ex today.

I haven't had any delay problems with them so far, fingers crossed !"

I was supposed to get a package from Walgreen's by FedX today...never showed.

[maros9416]

I'm no where near batting 1000, but the priority packages are going through. Even if it takes 10 days, today is only the 9th. There is still time until this weekend at least to send packages for Christmas. Yes, 1st class has been taking 7 days to reach the buyer. I guess it's based on everyone's location because I have not lost a package in months, which was problem #1 back then...65 late packages is an absorbent amount, I think your local postal system is definitely messed up. Sorry you have to close up prematurely.

[maros9416]

You're even shutting down with no problems so far. You could probably go until you actually see it slow down. It may never slow down for you. I do believe that this problem is system wide, but localized. Hate to see anyone lose money 

[maros9416]

I couldn't afford to let one late package stop me from selling. Thankfully, my packages have been late as per eBay's estimated times, but they are making it which was the problem before.

[maros9416]

Yes, as for the eBay estimated times, they are an absolute joke. I think that their delivery dates are doing more damage than the delays itself because if the buyer knew that it would arrive in 7-10 days, they would have different expectations and could plan ahead. The ' fast and free ' status on a listing is nearly impossible, even within one's own state.