Vaction Mode or Increase Handling Time which is better?

[trimix]

Hi all,

Last time on went on vaction i left my store open for sales in vaction mode and allowed people to buy. I was penalized for not shipping and lost my Top rated sellers status. So this time was just going to turn off all sale. But should i leave sales open and just increase the handing time for the legth of my vacation or just turn off sales all together?

What do you all do?

Trimix

[trimix]

I will be away a week and out of the country so bringing them along is not an option. My last vaction i left sales open and just had the vacation setting on allowing people to buy. I sold alot and got hit with late shipping and lost my top rate status due to low volume and not shippping while away. I only sell BIN.

So my choice is hide my listing no sales or Bulk increase my shipping / handling time to the length of my vacation and put on the vacation mode that allows sales.

I like the the 2nd one but you run the risk of negative feed back because people do not read the shipping time. But you do not loose sales or loose visability. Hiding listing is kind of dumb but if it keeps my 10% discount i guess it needs to be done.

Also sometimes people pay and ask to ship later because buyers are on vacation. That also penalizes your account for being accomodating to your buyer.

[trimix]

Also does anyone know how it looks if you shut down sales does it apear on the people watch list or is it removed from there watch list?

[castlemagicmemories]

It depends on your comfort level.  

Increasing handling time is a must.

You can hide or not hide as you choose.

[trimix]

A lot of people just said hide all listing and go on vacation. But i would lean more to bumping the handling time to the term of the vacation and allow people to buy. Most can see the banner across the top saying delay is shipping is inevitable. If they do not like the handling time they a can not buy or ask to terminate the deal.

[1wayglobalmarket23]

How do I increase handling time to 10 days my handling only goes up to 3 days 

[nobody*s_perfect]

If a listing was set up using the "Quick" version of the listing from rather than the Advanced version (AKA the business tool) then you won't have access to options that are only available on the Advanced form, including extended handling times.

10-day handling would be appropriate for an absence of two weeks -- IMHO that's too long to expect buyers to wait, and you should just end your listings if you don't have a store subscription. Even the next-shorter option (5 days) mean you'd be keeping buyers waiting a whole week before you ship.

[pargran3]

What am I missing here? The options for putting a store on vacation (NOT AUCTIONS) changed a long time ago.

Once upon a time you could hide the listings or take your chances. Now you have the option to make it so the potential buyer can still see the listing but cannot make a purchase. They can put it on a watch list.

You can, of course, increase the handling time. Not the best idea because buyers simply do not process that!

And keep in mind, depending on your handling time, you can take the vacation setting off a day or two before you get home. Unless you have hundreds of sales per day (in which case you are not doing this by yourself) just follow the vacation directions.

Radine

[nobody*s_perfect]

What you might have missed is that this is an old thread from 2017 hat was revived by the post just before mine.  That member doesn't have a Store subscription.

[nkpina2014]

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@trimix wrote:

Hi all,

Last time on went on vaction i left my store open for sales in vaction mode and allowed people to buy. I was penalized for not shipping and lost my Top rated sellers status. So this time was just going to turn off all sale. But should i leave sales open and just increase the handing time for the legth of my vacation or just turn off sales all together?

What do you all do?

Trimix

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I do both. I set everything to Vacation Mode, but I don't delist/hide my items or remove them from listing. Then I add a message stating when I return and will ship items.   

Then I set my handling time to all listing via Bulk Edit to the day when I return. So if I'm gone 7 days, my Handling Time goes up 7 days. 

If anyone has a question, they'll ask. Everyone that sees my listings during that time frame will see "this seller is on vacation, handling times may be increased" and then clearly see "7-10 days handling time" in the Shipping part. 

I have yet to have anyone ask about it when I do go on vacation, but never underestimate the silliness of the Ebay user! The last vacation I went on, I sold a few high dollar items that basically paid for the vacation. They wouldn't have sold if I had hid my inventory!

Also - if anyone leaves you poor feedback about shipping time, you can contest it with Ebay because you clearly disclosed your S&H times. As long as you are meeting your ship by date + tracking, it's all good. 

[gracieallen01]

One might want to consider that ebay also uses 'history' for a sellers previous handling/shipping time when telling a buyer when to expect delivery - no matter how long a seller increases their times when on vacation, for a weather event or emergency.  It would seem that the only 'really safe' way to not end up with problems or dings is to end listings.  Just a thought.

[kh-ornesh]

Hello Everyone,

Due to the age of the thread, it has been closed to further replies.  Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thanks for understanding!