eBay

b86fiero · ‎04-10-2020

It appears mail is being diverted away from the Detroit area sorting facility as evidenced by messages I am receiving from buyers. Probably due to the covid-19 pandemic hot spot there. Mail delivered in my area comes from that facility - or did until recently. My family receives a lot of mail every day although lately there has been several days with no mail delivered and a few times where mail has not been delivered for several days in a row.

Most recent complaint involved a package shipped from northwest Ohio to southeast Ohio on April 6 which eBay guaranteed delivery on April 9.

Tracking shows the package is now in Kansas City, MO.

I understand the delays and necessary rerouting. USPS staff gets sick like everybody else and needs to attend to their health and family first. This virus is nothing to mess around with.

Unfortunately some buyers don't give a whit and demand immediate delivery even though they refuse to pay for priority mail.

Thank the gods that eBay has seller's back and will protect our accounts from late delivery defects.

Is eBay still giving out that $5 coupon for late delivery or did it find the cost too high to continue the program?

wastingtime101 · ‎04-10-2020

The $5 coupon is still available for listings that qualify for the guaranteed delivery program.

I'm very interested to know how INRs in these types of situations are being handled by eBay. Will they grant longer extensions for sellers than usual?

GLORIOUS!

auroraflix · ‎04-10-2020

Is the "late defect" Ebay relief written in stone somewhere? That's certainly good to hear.

Thanks for the information on the USPS Detroit facility. Here's my Detroit area shipping nightmare right now, which the buyer has filed a claim on (he also lives about 45 minutes from the Pontiac Distribution facility)

In Transit to Next Facility

2020-04-06, 00:00:00

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

2020-04-02, 19:02:00, PONTIAC MI DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Departed USPS Regional Facility

2020-04-02, 17:54:00, DETROIT MI NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

2020-04-01, 08:59:00, DETROIT MI NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Departed USPS Regional Facility

2020-03-31, 20:41:00, JERSEY CITY NJ NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility

2020-03-30, 12:55:00, JERSEY CITY NJ NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

b86fiero · ‎04-10-2020

There was an eBay announcement about late shipments / late delivery about 2 weeks ago. You can find it on the announcement board. Link is at the bottom of this page.

Upon further checking I discovered packages I shipped which would have gone to the Detroit facility never went there at all. Tracking went from accepted at my local post office then 2 days later showed arrival at Kansas City, MO.

Normally they go from accepted here directly to the Detroit facility then to the sorting facility near the addressee then delivered.

Also ~ watch your shipping metrics. I was shocked to see that I just received late delivery defects for 16 packages all shipped on March 31. (That might be the time frame when Detroit went dysfunctional).

And yep, tracking was uploaded on time and those packages were delivered to the local post office the day those shipping labels with tracking were printed along with a scan form which the clerk scanned. (All packages showed as accepted and tracking showed movement. Not fast enough I guess).

I have never missed a shipping date except when the country was shut down during the 911 tragedy. Nobody could ship anything those couple of days.

Time to contact eBay CS through email and hope those defects get removed pronto.

Good luck everybody!

videogames-andmore · ‎04-11-2020

I'm in metro Detroit and this is starting to worry me. Not only are there delays, there seems to be a lack of tracking/information. I'm assuming they're so delayed they are taking shortcuts and not scanning packages? That puts me at ease...

USPS picked up a shipment on my porch April 4th, I got a pickup confirmation but no acceptance scan (this happened earlier in the week and the item was scanned later an delivered so I was not worried about it.) But now, one week later, absolutely nothing. Tracking still says "waiting to be picked up by USPS" or whatever it says. Now my buyer is getting angry, deservedly so, and probably thinks I never shipped it. I'd hate to have to offer a refund just to have the item show up at their address in a week and I'm out $600.

Also made two purchases on Monday, both are super late. One shipped from Grand Rapids (100 miles away!) And it was at the Grand Rapids sorting facility on Monday. It is now Saturday and no further tracking updates... It hasn't moved/updated in 5 days even though I'm 100 miles away!!! other shipment is from Texas and it's the same thing, no updates in 4-5 days.

I understand delays with the current situation, but there needs to be clarity. If there are delays because they are moving sorting to say Ohio instead of Michigan, okay, just let me know my package is in Ohio instead of not updating tracking for a week.

golfingaddict · ‎04-11-2020

I had a package that is just sitting in limbo. I put in a report on USPS and someone from Detroit called me. They said that they have barely any employees and basically nothing is moving. She said it could be a couple of weeks.

It makes me wonder if we should even mail anything there for awhile.

parsig1 · ‎04-28-2020

I have had a package sitting in Detroit at the sorting facility since the 21st, so 7 days.

I just wanted to post this so Ebay users will understand what is normal.

I do not expect an update for several more days and have not tried to contact them. I may do that next week.

79schoolmarm · ‎06-25-2020

And they are STILL having problems. Especially with packages mailed on the weekend or Monday, it seems. I have a set of 7 packages mailed 10 days ago (on a Monday) and all are stalled. The Tuesday mail (9 days ago) has moved and one package has been delivered to Puerto Rico! They same thing happened for the packages sent the previous Monday, but they have all been delivered.

I know they still have COVID up there, but this is ridiculous.

Buyers are saying that EBay guaranteed the delivery in 5 days and they are not happy campers.

And neither am I. We used to have a mail sorting facility in Toledo. Now our Ohio mail goes up to Detroit. SIGH.

orangehound · ‎06-25-2020

@79schoolmarm wrote:
I know they still have COVID up there, but this is ridiculous.

Interesting. So, you realize that these are not normal times, but you are upset that you are impacted?

Some people are sick, some people are out of work, some people are quarantined, some postal facilities are closed, and some USPS workers are dead ... and ... and ... yes ... some sellers are suffering shipping delays. Sorry you are impacted, but many people are impacted in a pandemic.

What I'm trying to say is that I think the USPS is doing an overall great job, despite the hardships. So, manage your customer's expectations, and help them to know that the packages will arrive despite the temporary disruptions due to the pandemic. And, if the item has eBay guaranteed delivery, then they are eligible to be reimbursed for shipping or $5.

https://pages.ebay.com/shipping/guaranteed-delivery.html

pooh333piglet · ‎06-25-2020

In many states USPS still playing catch up with packages from weeks or even a month ago. Bins sat full with no one to push them along. I admit...it sucks. I dont like it one bit. I try to explain to buyers who dont want to understand why they received an ebay purchase from another buyer but not my package...That is what is happening. I dont have an answer as this is my 1st pandemic. For the next one I hope to know better