Seller protection from USPS failures---does it exist anywhere? Etsy? Bonanza? Amazon Marketplace?

[chris-s-g]

Hi!  I know there are a lot of sellers out there who use other marketplace platforms and so I'm hoping you can tell me if any of them are protecting sellers during the USPS disaster that appears to be occurring right now.  I've had a package go from Philly to NYC via Hawaii and a few counties over in PA via Iowa.  Tracking shows no movement for a week sometimes.  USPS is a mess.  Buyers seem to be catching on and exploiting the situation by demanding a refund immediately after the EBAY GENERATED promised delivery date has passed, then keeping the item when it arrives late.  I am out the money I paid for shipping and for the item I shipped. 

I believe that there are some unscrupulous buyers who are taking advantage of the situation and we have to put an end to that exploitation of a broken USPS and  honest, hardworking eBay sellers.  

I have always shipped on time, within 24 hours of a sale.  I was a TRS but I am going to change my handling time to something like a week so I can force some cushion into the predicted delivery time.   But, that doesn't change the fact that eBay is providing a marketplace for scammers.  Not cool.

My question to all you is this: are there other sites on which we can sell, where sellers are not held over a barrel to keep giving away free stuff (and paying to ship it) to so-called "buyers"?  I understand that it's not the buyer's fault that a package is delayed, but it's not my fault either.  There must be a more fair way to treat this situation and I'm hoping to find a platform to which I can move my teenie-tiny store without worrying about having to work my butt off to give stuff away and to subsidize the USPS!

Thank you!

[celticmuse]

How are they "porch pirates" when the item isn't showing delivered?  Put yourself in their place.  They paid money and don't have an item--wanting either the money back  or the item isn't unreasonable.  I currently have three items shipped at the start of December that have not yet arrived postal inquiries have gotten me form letters that say it's busy and they close the case--even though there is still not current scan activity on the packages.  Miraculously, on Sunday the oldest package was scanned in four different locations and appears to be moving in the buyer's direction.  

[chris-s-g]

I am not saying for one second that buyers should bear the loss when a package is LOST.  But, when there are huge delays and the package is still somewhere in the system, I believe that eBay should support its sellers by managing the expectations of buyers.  If they listed a longer range of time for expected receipt which reflects the average right now, I wouldn't be getting the INR cases from someone who didn't get something in the 3 days they expected it due to eBay's stated expectations.  I did my part, I got it in the mail within 24 hours.  I stand in line at the post office to get a receipt.  But, when the USPS takes a little (or a lot) of extra time, I pay for the item, I pay for the shipping, the buyer eventually gets something for free.  It sorta sucks.  eBay could support us better and manage everyone's expectations without putting undue hardship on sellers.  

[jewelbiz]

I shipped out a package from New York City to the next state of Connecticut on January 6 about a distance of 45 miles.  Now 12 days later it just only reads, “usps in possession of item”

No further update...

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@e-cheddar wrote:

On Amazon, if you buy shipping labels through them, and you ship on time, for the most part you are protected against claims of INR when a package disappears or a customer claims they didn't get it...Amazon funds the refund in these cases.  That policy differs for different selling progams (likes seller-fulfilled prime, etc.) but most sellers are protected.

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That must be fairly recent. I haven't sold there in three or four years, but it used to be that if a buyer said they didn't get an item, unless you had signature confirmation (who buys sigcon for a $20 book?) even if the tracking stated delivered, Amazon would refund the buyer from the seller's account and you'd get a metrics ding.

[wastingtime101]

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@chris-s-g wrote:

I have always shipped on time, within 24 hours of a sale.  I was a TRS but I am going to change my handling time to something like a week so I can force some cushion into the predicted delivery time.

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eBay determines estimated delivery dates based on your historical shipping time. You can extend your handling time to 7 days, but if you keep shipping within 1 day then eBay's going to use a 1 day handling time to determine estimated delivery.

You can wait the full 7 days to ship your orders and eventually eBay will adjust estimated delivery dates based on that timeframe, but it's not padding the estimated date at all. eBay will keep estimating 4 days for a first class package. You're just shipping later and making the buyer wait even longer.

Since it's not economical for you to use UPS or FedEx, you'll need to make some business decisions. Decide whether or not you want to keep selling while these delays are still happening, and whether or not your prices can support an increase to cover the occasional loss from an INR refund.

[02strapswatchbands]

Its sad that ebay takes so little responsibility for returns.  I ship 20-50 items daily, and the USPS loses 5-10% of them.  The last 12 months the USPS has been a disaster.  Since Louis Dejoy (PG) came in and asked them NOT to use the large sorting machines AND ship every package everyday, even if unscanned, just throw it on the truck.  Thats why from December 8th-30, I lost $6000 as I kept reshipping or refunding items, and always sent 2-3 new labels. The outgoing central phoenix office was sticking unscanned items into semi's and didnt get caught until December 22nd.  Do you think they have a record of how many reshipments I kept paying for?  Redundant as the answer is yes to both as a lower USPS customer service went through my extensive shipping history.    On the year I am down $30,000 and $15k of that is because ebay only gives you 2-3 days to reprint or refund, and you cant find out its lost for 5-9 days or longer, forcing me to follow the long horrible USPS process of 1 refund at a time with customer information (Stamps.com) does not, or take the loss, which is what I am forced to do as I dont have 10-15 minutes to get a $4 refund.  

eBay knows this is happening, yet does nothing.  even though it will take me more time to go stamps.com and print labels, they offer a 30 day quick refund if it never gets used, scanned or lost.  Ebay knows about the issues, and I assume because they keep a part of the label fees on my 2nd or 4th label to the same customer, they just make more money doing it this way.  I wish Ebay would start looking out for its sellers instead of themselves.  

Anyway, didn't mean for a rant, but wanted to see if anyone has a solution for larger shippers besides adding more time going to stamps.com.  I cant find a "Bulk" refund tool on ebay or the USPS.