eBay

zamo-zuan · ‎08-03-2020

It seems based on the recent announcement, eBay is protecting sellers from lates.

Problem is, many of these "lates" are now turning in to "Item not received" as USPS issues are continuing!

Today alone we've had to file 8 requests to USPS for items not received, and we're not even done going through all of them yet! Many times we've having >10 items per day that are never unloaded from the USPS truck and no scans past their initial scans!

This is a major issue that needs to be brought to eBay's attention. It doesn't seem protection from "late" is going to be sufficient.

We were just told on phone support that eBay is "Expecting USPS to handle things better now that people are figuring out how to handle Covid". This doesn't even make sense, as the problem isn't Covid anymore, it's the new USPS policies that were put in place.

Furthermore, his comments don't make sense in the context he's mentioning it either, as the eBay announcement has specifically mentioned that they're aware of the carrier delays going on.

What are us sellers supposed to do as all these lates are beginning to turn in to INR cases?

donsdetour · ‎08-04-2020

I just talked to an seller that had this happen.

Item not received case.

EBay found for the purchaser, pulled money.

Item received.

Case then appealed and found for seller.

They got their money back from eBay.

zamo-zuan · ‎08-04-2020

@donsdetour wrote:
I just talked to an seller that had this happen.
Item not received case.
EBay found for the purchaser, pulled money.
Item received.
Case then appealed and found for seller.
They got their money back from eBay.

I'm very surprised if eBay actually refunds the sellers. I don't know if that is a general policy, or if that was a courtesy to the seller in this case.

I do hope they at least remove the metrics though.

I'll of course post here if we hear anything official regarding an updated policy for the INR situation!

brian@ebay · ‎08-04-2020

@mam98031 wrote:

This is a huge problem for sellers right now. And it is likely to get worse as more and more disruptions are likely going to happen in the USPS system between now and the end of the year. Ebay does need to pay attention to this and give sellers even more protections than they are currently.

They also need to be willing to change an improperly filed INAD to an INR and get that INAD ding on the service metrics removed. I've read a couple other sellers with the same issue. Ebay needs to react to this in the proper way.

While I don't have as many delivery issues as you do, well then I'm not as big of a seller as the company you work for is. But it is still a serious problem for all sizes of sellers.

We need Ebay to help us with our Service Metrics too in the hopes of not being unduly punished via higher expenses due to a global issue we have no control over.

tyler@ebay

brian@ebay

@mam98031 currently, service metrics are not included in the added protections, but I appreciate the points you've shared here and will pass the feedback along.

Brian,
Community Team

zamo-zuan · ‎08-04-2020

brian@ebay wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
This is a huge problem for sellers right now. And it is likely to get worse as more and more disruptions are likely going to happen in the USPS system between now and the end of the year. Ebay does need to pay attention to this and give sellers even more protections than they are currently.

They also need to be willing to change an improperly filed INAD to an INR and get that INAD ding on the service metrics removed. I've read a couple other sellers with the same issue. Ebay needs to react to this in the proper way.

While I don't have as many delivery issues as you do, well then I'm not as big of a seller as the company you work for is. But it is still a serious problem for all sizes of sellers.

We need Ebay to help us with our Service Metrics too in the hopes of not being unduly punished via higher expenses due to a global issue we have no control over.

tyler@ebay
brian@ebay
@mam98031 currently, service metrics are not included in the added protections, but I appreciate the points you've shared here and will pass the feedback along.

I hope you will consider it, as eBay made it clear they're aware of the situation at USPS.

It's not fair if they're aware and protecting from late, but not Item Not Received. As INR is simply a late that has gone beyond 7 days.

If you check USPS records, you will see there's a huge amount of shipments at USPS that have not been scanned.

I could provide you with an extensive list if you need. If you check our shipments on July 23rd alone, 32/46 USPS items show they were accepted from us, yet they have not had tracking updates at the post office!

I hope eBay will assist, as the potential losses from so many shipments is already at thousands of dollars. For our account status to be at risk for any further penalties is unfair as USPS is clearly at fault.

mam98031 · ‎08-04-2020

brian@ebay wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
This is a huge problem for sellers right now. And it is likely to get worse as more and more disruptions are likely going to happen in the USPS system between now and the end of the year. Ebay does need to pay attention to this and give sellers even more protections than they are currently.

They also need to be willing to change an improperly filed INAD to an INR and get that INAD ding on the service metrics removed. I've read a couple other sellers with the same issue. Ebay needs to react to this in the proper way.

While I don't have as many delivery issues as you do, well then I'm not as big of a seller as the company you work for is. But it is still a serious problem for all sizes of sellers.

We need Ebay to help us with our Service Metrics too in the hopes of not being unduly punished via higher expenses due to a global issue we have no control over.

tyler@ebay
brian@ebay
@mam98031 currently, service metrics are not included in the added protections, but I appreciate the points you've shared here and will pass the feedback along.

Well that was a SERIOUS side affect of so many INRs being filed for Ebay to just overlook and/or not address.

As you are passing this along to whomever is appropriate for this subject, please ask how sellers are suppose to improve their services to lessen INRs if Ebay is not going to help the sellers with these in the Service Metrics. I personally have no idea on how to better my service in order to mitigate the issues that too many INRs may cause the health of my account.

brian@ebay

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

fulolu009 · ‎08-04-2020

This is really going to hurt ebay. I have 6 orders “In transit-late”, i definetly wont be buying stuff online anymore

zamo-zuan · ‎08-05-2020

@mam98031 wrote:
brian@ebay wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
This is a huge problem for sellers right now. And it is likely to get worse as more and more disruptions are likely going to happen in the USPS system between now and the end of the year. Ebay does need to pay attention to this and give sellers even more protections than they are currently.

They also need to be willing to change an improperly filed INAD to an INR and get that INAD ding on the service metrics removed. I've read a couple other sellers with the same issue. Ebay needs to react to this in the proper way.

While I don't have as many delivery issues as you do, well then I'm not as big of a seller as the company you work for is. But it is still a serious problem for all sizes of sellers.

We need Ebay to help us with our Service Metrics too in the hopes of not being unduly punished via higher expenses due to a global issue we have no control over.

tyler@ebay
brian@ebay
@mam98031 currently, service metrics are not included in the added protections, but I appreciate the points you've shared here and will pass the feedback along.
Well that was a SERIOUS side affect of so many INRs being filed for Ebay to just overlook and/or not address.

As you are passing this along to whomever is appropriate for this subject, please ask how sellers are suppose to improve their services to lessen INRs if Ebay is not going to help the sellers with these in the Service Metrics. I personally have no idea on how to better my service in order to mitigate the issues that too many INRs may cause the health of my account.

brian@ebay

Exactly. There's not much we could do about the INR's that already happened. There's no way for sellers to "fix" these problems on their own, especially for shipments that already went out over the last few weeks.

We're working on switching to another carrier now. That requires appropriately sized boxes for new carriers, though, and packaging companies are not able to provide them immediately (samples will be ready today and if they're appropriate we will need a bulk order which may take a few more days). This is going to be a monetary loss as USPS is cheaper, but it's a change we must make as soon as possible.

Until we're fully able to switch, we can't stop the INR's that are a fault of USPS. And there's already been 3 weeks of orders before we were aware of how bad the USPS problem was.

Since it's widespread, a known issue with USPS, and eBay has expressed being aware of these issues, it doesn't make much sense to punish sellers for something out of their hands.

bluemorningglory · ‎08-05-2020

The mail started getting slow months ago with the pandemic. Two day shipping became three day shipping. I have heard from multiple sources that the USPS mail really crashed about two weeks ago.

I have two sold items in transit. A high value, fragile items shipped via Priority Mail was scanned once at the local Post Office, then vanished into "in transit" status, and is now overdue. It was insured, but the headaches, the risk of bad feedback, the Post Office fight to file the insurance claim, the paperwork on the Ebay transaction. Sigh. The second was a simple padded enveloped mailed First Class. It seems to be moving along, for now. The Post Office estimates its delivery time to be EIGHT days?

I thought about trying UPS, but they left electronics outdoors, as the remnants of a hurricane went past. The package was wet before I could open the door and grab it. As for the China issue, how can I compete with free shipping auctions with an ending bid of 10 cents? Sigh. Not sure that I will try selling again for awhile.

elizabethowen · ‎08-05-2020

Talked to clerk at PO just now and asked about three missing packages since April. Her advice was to tell eBay that sellers shouldn't be held responsible for USPS delays due to the pandemic. I don't really think that's going to get me anywhere. I had to refund the buyers. Only one was a priority package and I filed an insurance claim.

I guess it's a sell at your own risk environment more than ever.

bluemorningglory · ‎08-05-2020

I wish that Ebay would just have a policy that if a seller provided scans/tracking info proving that the package had been shipped promptly, that feedback could not be dinged for shipping delays.

zamo-zuan · ‎08-05-2020

@bluemorningglory wrote:
The mail started getting slow months ago with the pandemic. Two day shipping became three day shipping. I have heard from multiple sources that the USPS mail really crashed about two weeks ago.

I have two sold items in transit. A high value, fragile items shipped via Priority Mail was scanned once at the local Post Office, then vanished into "in transit" status, and is now overdue. It was insured, but the headaches, the risk of bad feedback, the Post Office fight to file the insurance claim, the paperwork on the Ebay transaction. Sigh. The second was a simple padded enveloped mailed First Class. It seems to be moving along, for now. The Post Office estimates its delivery time to be EIGHT days?

I thought about trying UPS, but they left electronics outdoors, as the remnants of a hurricane went past. The package was wet before I could open the door and grab it. As for the China issue, how can I compete with free shipping auctions with an ending bid of 10 cents? Sigh. Not sure that I will try selling again for awhile.

Yup! Some PO's definitely had a slowdown with the pandemic. But the new policies put in to effect on the 13th of last month has slown things to a crawl!

For the first week things began to slow down, but as things piled up, USPS started getting hit really hard. Now it's so bad it's not a viable shipping service anymore.

I can feel your pain. We're scared to even go through the recent week of transactions as those aren't showing up as Item Not Received yet. It seems likely we're going to have to file over ONE HUNDRED of those PO claims due to this!

The China issue that you mention should be the FIRST thing they changed if they were actually trying to solve the PO's problems, improving profitability and efficiency. It makes no sense. That makes it clear what is going on now isn't to solve these problems...

FedEx is our only choice. But as mentioned in an earlier post, we need appropriately sized boxes for this. We used to send about half our orders FedEx PAK, and the rest either USPS Large, Medium or Regional.

But now, USPS Med/Regional are unstable, so we need to find alternatives, and need boxes in the same size range. Working on that as fast as we can, but we're reliant on the packing companies. Hopefully the samples will be delivered today as promised, but that's going to be a much smaller scale purchase. We're going to have to purchase thousands of boxes, and I have no idea how long those might take to manufacture...

zamo-zuan · ‎08-05-2020

@bluemorningglory wrote:
I wish that Ebay would just have a policy that if a seller provided scans/tracking info proving that the package had been shipped promptly, that feedback could not be dinged for shipping delays.

They were providing that earlier, the protections just expired a few weeks back.

I don't understand why they aren't taking similar steps now? As the situation now has turned in to one that is even worse than the early peak of the shutdown of the pandemic! You would think they would be providing even better/extended protections now.

fmkathie · ‎08-06-2020

I don't usually reply with things political but the fact is, it's because the new trump appointed head of the U.S. Postal Service established major operational changes at the beginning of July that slows down mail delivery, warning employees the agency would not survive unless it made “difficult” changes to cut costs. If you want to read more, washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/14/postal-service-trump-dejoy-delay-mail/

zamo-zuan · ‎08-07-2020

Yup, this is what has been confirmed by the drivers.

The reality is, USPS won't survive these changes if nothing further changes. The service is so unreliable it is unusable right now.

USPS won't have to worry about cutting costs when their customers can not longer use them.

We don't want to switch to FedEx, but we're being forced to. An average of 20-33% of packages are being lost each day, with random entire days disappearing in to thin air and never to be seen again.

If costs were a problem, how is it going to work out when USPS has to begin granting claims for lost items during this? We have hundreds of packages that are missing. Auto parts that cost anywehre from $50-100 on average, with some being much more.

At this rate, they won't even be able to afford all the claims.

zamo-zuan · ‎08-11-2020

I'm shocked eBay hasn't said anything further on this, as it's been highly publicized.

There's 9 days remaining until those of us who have faced these issues will be getting a service metrics penalty!

This is what we're dealing with:

Only the ones with "check" marks have processed correctly. ALL the rest, the majority have not had a single update since the accepted scan.

This is just a fraction of the cases we're seeing. Our average price of products is $75, and average shipping price is $13. This is going to be a HUGE amount of losses, and an insane amount of Customer Service to get everything handled.

That should be bad enough... And eBay isn't stepping in to protect us from INR penalties as well...? Especially a Service Metrics penalty... That is not something that is deserved when USPS is facing known issues that eBay has announced they're aware of!

Sellers need help right now, not salt rubbed on their wounds...