Hit with INR's after USPS shipping debacle - Service Metrics rising (bad)

[aldente28]

USPS messed up a BUNCH of orders over the holiday weekend. All were shipped on time (same day), but part of the screw up includes "Misshipment" and bad tracking data for all of them.

They all show "Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending" within my handling time. Then nothing until two days later when they are ALL "Moved, Left no Address". This is obviously not correct and USPS confirmed this is incorrect.

After two days of wrangling on the USPS helpline, they started to fix the issue and packages started moving through the system. The best they can tell, an entire lot of packages were sent to the wrong place. Internally mis-routed, if you will.

So many of these packages are late. Some haven't arrived. And I'm being hit with some INR's. I suspect there may be an onslaught of them very soon.

My issue of concern for this post is Service Metrics. My INR Metrics are heading higher and if the trend continues, they will shoot through the roof to "Very High".  This is very bad, and it has nothing to do with anything I did. 

My question is this: Does ebay do anything to avoid penalizing sellers in circumstances like this? Is there anything I can do to avoid the penalties that come with "Very High" Service Metrics for Item Not Received when this is a single event due to an error at USPS that had nothing to do with me?

I am very concerned. If my Service Metrics for INR go "Very High", ebay says I will be penalized. I've done nothing but ship consistently within my handling time for over a year.

[anneecakes]

Oh, my -- how stressful. As overloaded and understaffed as poor USPS has been through Covid, I was dreading last week's holiday's affect on shipping.

The good news is that (back in March) eBay put up a Seller announcement that they were protecting all sellers' metrics and selling levels through June 20, 2020 (which they later changed to July 20, 2020).  The announcement in essence says to "do the best you can," but eBay won't penalize anyone or lower their seller level (and I believe their metrics) during Covid (up till July 20).  You should find the verbiage if you go to Seller Announcements.

Best wishes and good luck.

[aldente28]

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@anneecakes wrote:

The good news is that (back in March) eBay put up a Seller announcement that they were protecting all sellers' metrics and selling levels through June 20, 2020 (which they later changed to July 20, 2020). 

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I read that too, but I believe my Service Metrics are rising. I am pretty sure I was at 0% for one of them a month or so ago and now I am at something like 0.49%. I am not exactly sure of the numbers, but I am fairly certain it is a post-lockdown rise. I've been locked down for more than 90 days, and I'm pretty sure the rise has been within this time.

I'm open to being wrong because I've been focusing on other things like survival, but I would be surprised if I'm wrong about the rise or the timing of it.

[martin2001]

I have been selling on ebay for quite some time but have never seen a service metric for INR. Perhaps I just learned something but I can't find any such metric on my dashboard. Would you be so kind and did a screenshot of that metric?

Once the scan shows the acceptance, that's it. You have done your part.

Or are you referring to Cases closed without seller's resolution? That is when the buyer does not receive the order and you fail to refund so ebay steps in and close the case in buyer's favor? That's a completely different thing.

[aldente28]

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@martin2001 wrote:

I have been selling on ebay for quite some time but have never seen a service metric for INR. Perhaps I just learned something but I can't find any such metric on my dashboard. Would you be so kind and did a screenshot of that metric?

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my ebay/selling/performance/service metrics

[martin2001]

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@aldente28 wrote:

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@martin2001 wrote:

I have been selling on ebay for quite some time but have never seen a service metric for INR. Perhaps I just learned something but I can't find any such metric on my dashboard. Would you be so kind and did a screenshot of that metric?

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my ebay/selling/performance/service metrics

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Thanks! Learn something new every day.

[anneecakes]

Ah yes, I just looked and saw that my INRs have risen on the Service Metrics chart/graph, too. I can see that the seller announcement doesn't solve this worry.

The fact-lets that I am clinging to to reassure myself that I'm not "in trouble" in the Service Metrics area are :
* the penalty for getting 'Very High' in INRs is not increased fees, it is to have longer dates displayed as estimated arrival times next to your listings (not great, but not direct $$ out of my pocket)
* In theory, other sellers are getting more INR dings since Covid, too, so however many I get will be in that context
* No matter how "high" on the chart a sellers' INRs go, no penalty is supposed to be imposed by eBay UNLESS there are 10 or more INR incidents on the graph thing-y.
In addition to avoiding "bad" service metrics, I like to avoid cranky customers. So even if I know that an INR won't "count" in the end if it gets delivered, I always proactively contact those customers to say that "even though eBay is not enforcing penalties on sellers for late parcels during Covid, I am apologetic that yours was misrouted and/or stalled within USPS, likely due to the 4th of July holiday. I have filed an online service inquiry with USPS (which USUALLY knocks these mail pieces loose from their stalls). Rest assured I am monitoring this parcel's progress on my end and (of course) I won't leave you in the lurch if it is permanently lost and not just delayed."

Your blood pressure must really be up and I send my sympathy:/.