USPS

[199mpd]

Ebay needs to extend the time for delivery for sellers using USPS. This is a mess, I have items just sitting and not moving and requests for a refund for none delivery. Our local news showed trucks back up a 1/2 mile waiting to get into a distribution center. Also I have had packages that were delivered and never scanned. This is going to be a losing Christmas for me. I'm thinking of stopping my items until the first of the year.

[stuff4divas]

read this ebay announcement for a little help from them >

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Helping-buyers-understand-shipping-delays-and-what-you-n...

[dbfolks166mt]

     Everything I currently have posted ends today and I too will not be relisting or listing anything until one of two things happens. Either eBay comes up with a reasonable solution to thwart the growing number of INR cases, which I don't believe they are either capable of or interested in doing, or the shipping situation clears up which may extend well past the holiday. 

     The distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine is going to bog down an otherwise overburdened logistical system as the federal government works with land, sea and air shipping companies and you can bet the vaccine is going to take priority over EVERYTHING else when it comes to shipping. I doubt USPS will be involved in the process they simply do not have the equipment to transport the vaccine but you can be FedEx and UPS do. Knowing the creativity of Amazon it would not surprise me if they became a player in logistical operations as well. 

     This is going to be a long protracted impact on eBay sellers with no short term relief in sight. 

[therogue-trader]

There are many threads about this already, unfortunately.

[dbfolks166mt]

This was a nice try by eBay but it only burdens the sellers with tracking, managing and updating information on the growing number of INR cases. It would have made more sense for eBay to extend the timeline for filing an INR case to 6-10 days after the EDD. 

[monroe67]

"I'm thinking of stopping my items until the first of the year."

I did exactly that last night.  My selling ID has three sold items stuck somewhere between me and their buyers, and I didn't want to make matters worse.  I have one item still active, ending in about four hours.  It has two watchers and is not something you can just walk into the closest location of your favorite national craft chain store and buy.  

I think I won't be listing anything else for sale until well into January of next year.  

[buyselljack2016]

---

@dbfolks166mt wrote:

This was a nice try by eBay but it only burdens the sellers with tracking, managing and updating information on the growing number of INR cases. It would have made more sense for eBay to extend the timeline for filing an INR case to 6-10 days after the EDD. 

---

^^^^^^  This

Extend the INR filing date has to be the most logical way.  Wave of the IT wand. Poof. Done.

I can see that there may be some instances where a buyer could end up beyond the "30 days after estimated delivery filing window", but way less complicated than trying to change estimated delivery that I believe must currently be linked to the estimates provided by the carriers.

eBay can continue to tell sellers things, but the buyers just aren't getting it.

Delays? What delays? My mailman comes by every day.  My seller is a liar 👹  I want my money back !!!!!

[buyselljack2016]

Things are moving from my local area to the regional facilities, and then many have no scans at the next point.

I am confident that the facilities here are functional, maybe slowed a bit, but as some items have been delivered at, or have been scanned at other locations, it is evidence that they are moving from here.

There are unverified stories of facilities not doing arrival/processing scans so that the facility does not drop in its "service metrics". As in, no scan means it wasn't here yet, so we weren't slow processing it. More likely, the fact of the matter is, they aren't scanned because they are still in the truck, backed up outside. (as OP posted)

Cringed yesterday when one had an "Indianapolis" scan, but it has moved along to another facility.

Earlier in the week I put all accounts on "time away".    That was done for temporary internet issues, but with many items out in the system that just aren't where they belong by now, the accounts will remain on vacay. No INR's (knock on wood) at this time, but it only takes 1-2 refunds to take all the fun (fun is $$$ in my bank account) out of selling.

Not going to send anymore items out into an already overloaded system at this time.

[moparfan2010]

I stopped selling here altogether...makes for a less stressful life!

[johnwhiplash]

After two INR requests this week, I started notifying all my customers that have not received their items yet  about the USPS delays. I hope that will hold them off for a few days. A couple have responded and thanked me for keeping them updated.

[buyselljack2016]

---

@johnwhiplash wrote:

After two INR requests this week, I started notifying all my customers that have not received their items yet  about the USPS delays. I hope that will hold them off for a few days. A couple have responded and thanked me for keeping them updated.

---

That's a good thing to do.  Simple process for a buyer to see what is going on with their delivery without being prodded, but just so many that don't have a clue. Probably used to the sites that give that auto updates. Wally keeps me informed. FedEx tells me they left my package outside (someplace).

Last INR that I had was for an item that was 1 day later than the eBay guesstimate. Tracking indicated that the item had arrived at the regional facility in the buyer's state. It was delivered the next day. I was still the bad person for not having it there the 1st day after my handling time. (I shipped same/next day)

[va-8501]

IT'S USPS THAT SHOULD INCREASE THEIR DELIVERY TIMES TO REFLECT THE REALITY OF THE MESS THEY HAVE!!  

USPS website even has an ALERT in bold letters indicating there are delays, but the USPS dumb clucks continue to show Priority Mail delivery times as 2, 3, or 4 days.  Just look at your pre-paid shipping labels.  Go to USPS.com and calculate a shipping price for a priority flat rate package going from an eastern zip code to a California zip code.  It shows 3-day delivery.   I believe it is USPS delivery time data that gets transferred over to the ebay system for setting when a buyer can open an INR.  Ebay shouldn't have to make adjustments for USPS incompetence.  USPS should just increase their delivery times by a factor of 3x until they work their way out of their mess.  Wouldn't those increased delivery times then carry over to ebay?  USPS sure as heck can figure out how to electronically put out rate increases, why can't they put out delivery time increases?

I love it when someone at USPS says 'do you realize how many packages we have?'.  SO WHAT!  THAT'S YOUR JOB!!  THAT'S YOUR PRIMARY JOB FUNCTION!!  THAT'S WHAT YOU DO!! DID YOU JUST CRAWL OUT FROM UNDER A ROCK AND REALIZE IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME??

This is really messed up logic.  Penalize ebay sellers with having to give a full refund and potentially not get their item back, when the culprit is USPS, they don't suffer any consequence.  In fact they will charge an ebay seller about $15 to have their LATE package sent back.  Why is there sympathy for USPS and not for ebay sellers???  

[garrettnelson]

I have 45 packages out right now in limbo.   Shut my store down until the 24th, but will probably extend that as I read the posts here.   Was hoping things would get back on track by then but now I am not so sure.    Worst case scenario I have to refund all 45 packages....I keep trying to tell myself it is a cost of doing business and that makes me feel better for about 5 seconds.   Kicking myself for not shutting down sooner. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     Since I don't have access to eBay's software or formula's for calculating the EDD they present to buyers I won't speculate as to where they pull that information from. However I can tell you with 100% confidence that the eBay interface to the USPS is broken and inaccurate with regards to the tracking information eBay is presenting to the sellers and buyers through that link. Take a look at several of your shipped items and compare what eBay says the status is and what USPS says it is. Most of mine show several differences but since USPS is in possession of the package I tend to rely more on their information that what eBay shows. 

     While USPS could probably increase their delivery times and make priority mail 6, 9 or 12 days and hopefully eBay could make the adjustment what to you suppose your potential buyers reaction is going to be when they are shopping and now are presented with EDD dates, no matter how realistic, that are 6, 9 or 12+ days out and even that may be overly optimistic. USPS, along with other shippers, are the cause of delays but eBay is 100% responsible for the seller pain. USPS is not the one refunding the buyers money when an INR case is settled in their favor it is eBay. 

     I have sympathy for the USPS and other carriers because they are front line workers in the COVID situation and have limited resources at their disposal to do their jobs. They cannot simply pull more delivery trucks, aircraft or people out of thin air to compensate for the current crunch. I worked for the government for 30 years and one thing I can tell you is nothing moves quickly and that was by the design of the founding fathers. 

     I also have sympathy for the sellers but that is centered around the fact that eBay as a company is doing nothing to effectively help the sellers in the current situation. The purported extension of the seller response time to address INR's does nothing to forestall the actual opening of the INR cases in the first place and just shifts an added burden onto the seller in having to address those. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     I too have taken a break from listing anything until things clear up a bit. I don't expect the post office to work off  the Christmas backlog until sometime in January depending on any extenuating circumstances that would add to that such as winter storms/blizzards. In addition Congress just barely managed to pass, and the president signed,  a one week continuing resolution to keep the Government running for one more week. If they cannot get a 2021 budget passed and in place, which they were supposed to have done by 1 October, and there is a shutdown things could get a lot uglier. 

     Like you I have always known and accepted that there are risks and costs of doing business as a seller on eBay and accepted those and continued on. However, at the present time the risks are simply becoming excessive and the deck to heavily stacked against the sellers. I continue to utilize other sites that are not impacted by the shipping situation and there is a better balance of seller and buyer understanding. Things on those sites are rolling along just fine.