USPS Disclaimer In My Listings

[Anonymous]

I've got this disclaimer in listings made today forward:

Mail is moving SLOW due to Covid and the Holidays.
CHRISTMAS DELIVERY IS ABSOLUTELY NOT GUARANTEED.
I ship next day if not same day, once shipped delivery time is out of my hands and solely the responsibility of USPS. Packages have been known to sit at a hub in route for 4-8 days.
Please be patient, most deliveries are running late of expected delivery date.

It is the truth, and may help weed out impatient buyers who just don't get it and are sticking to the old protocol.

[buyselljack2016]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've got this disclaimer in listings made today forward:

Mail is moving SLOW due to Covid and the Holidays.
CHRISTMAS DELIVERY IS ABSOLUTELY NOT GUARANTEED.
I ship next day if not same day, once shipped delivery time is out of my hands and solely the responsibility of USPS. Packages have been known to sit at a hub in route for 4-8 days.
Please be patient, most deliveries are running late of expected delivery date.

It is the truth, and may help weed out impatient buyers who just don't get it and are sticking to the old protocol.

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That's a good idea, as long as you can get them to believe that USPS is solely responsible😁  We all know that eBay does not follow that line of thinking.

I gave up, and put our accounts on "time away" earlier this month after the bottom fell out of the delivery process setting us up to give things away.

I understand, as this is your "job" after moving East, that "time away" is not an option that will "fly" for you. 

Hope this works for you. Hopefully the # of packages that the USPS is handling will start to level off/decrease, and things will improve.

[Anonymous]

Remember, there are literally MILLIONS of potential buyers.....if this repels claims down the road, that's a good thing.

I don't believe this violates listing policy because I am not discouraging buyers to buy, I am laying out the facts of what is happening with anything they order.

[buyselljack2016]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Remember, there are literally MILLIONS of potential buyers.....if this repels claims down the road, that's a good thing.

I don't believe this violates listing policy because I am not discouraging buyers to buy, I am laying out the facts of what is happening with anything they order.

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Yup, I see no problem with it.  Anything that we can do to help ourselves at this point is a good thing. Although I might shy away for actually using the word Covid. 

One of my sales that is stuck out there in a USPS black hole someplace is going to a customer that expressed interest in other items that I have.

This waiting, and waiting experience may give them reason to purchase elsewhere😐

[donsdetour]

I will start by just saying: it does not mater what you write in your description, you agree by selling to eBay's buyers guarantees.

It will help with some what you are adding: and over all:

Some think its all fake and you the seller are wrong:

Some are purchasing with time limits in mind. Not happy when it is delayed.

Most are and will be understanding  yet must also protect them selves.

Some will just try and use this mess for free stuff.

Ebay does not help this with the STUPID estimations they have put on shipping. Much less the guaranteed shipping times.

Worse it is a part of the contract, to ship with in a reasonable time no mater what the problems are with the USPS

It means you chose to use it and are responsible.

Keep using USPS if you can afford the cost of fail or:

Use a different shipper (if practical) for a time, or stop your listings, or put em on vacation, etc..

That is the only sure ways to aid in the mess of today.

[libersales]

I spoke to the Post Office today having taken a tracking number in to them for an item that I had to give a refund on. It was small and light weight and I didn't even try to send it FedEx - which in hindsight I should have.  The customer said she "has been a seller and a buyer for years and if the tracking isn't advancing it means the item is lost". Well, according to the Post Office our items leave here (Payson, AZ) and go to the hub in Phoenix - where they are unloaded, scanned and moved along - under normal circumstances. Right now (December 21st) there are trucks that are still sitting in Phoenix that have not been unloaded for the last two weeks!! due to increase in volume and a lack of personnel. So, everything I ship from now on will go FedEx.

[philsumm]

I think you're setting yourself up by saying 4-8 days. What happens after 8 days and there's no movement?

[lilprotege]

i'd add on to your disclaimer that any delivery date ebay shows you is overly-optimistic (fantasyland)  at this point. 

[Anonymous]

Yeah.....I'll be changing that to 4-14 days. More realistic and better than not.

[Anonymous]

Yep......last line will become "Please be patient, most deliveries are running late of unrealistic expected delivery date."

I'll refrain from putting eBay's name to it.

[magicjohnsonsvariety]

Might want to change that to 4-23 days. That's how long one of my Priority mail pieces sat at the Distribution center in MA. Finally showed movement today. 

You may think once you ship, it is out of your hands and solely the responsibility of USPS, but both you and I know that is simply not a fact...it is only your opinion....and, technically, opinions in listings violate policy.

In most cases, ebay holds sellers responsible for what the USPS does and most buyers know this....Even if they could, Ebay doesn't discipline USPS... 

It reminds me of the old days when people had all kinds of crazy disclaimers posted in their listings...everything from "buyers always pay return shipping" and the every so popular..."I don't accept returns or refunds for any reason". 

[techstuffphx]

A report from a seller in Phoenix - I work for a company and run the Ebay store, and I sell stuff personally as well.  First class has not moved outside of Phoenix in three weeks for some of my shipments.  The customers are getting really mad and there's really not much that we can do except refund and then the item will eventually show up so now we're out money and product.  I've tried filing claims but they just close them saying the item is on the way.  I've also tried calling but spent over an hour on hold and I just don't have that much spare time.

I'm going to start deleting low-price items that can't absorb a ~$9 shipping fee with UPS/Fedex.  This is ridiculous...