Tuesday, June 4, 2013

eBays ETA on shipping screwing sellers over

Once again eBay is making changes. In the all the years we have been selling online eBay has made more changes in the past 5 years then Amazon and etsy combined!

Why is that?  Who really knows, but I am noticing a new things that is really bothering me. Does eBay own the post office now? Amazingly they know delivery dates. Why does eBay think its ok to tell a buyer when they will get the item?  Ive been doing this for many years and yea there are others doing this a lot longer than I have.  But one thing is always the same, the post office service is unpredictable.  How can eBay say an item would take 4 days to get across the country?

Let me explain:

I had a buyer purchase an item on Saturday May 25th after 5PM pm here on the east coast, so 2PM on the west coast. The buyer is located in the state of Washington.  Well naturally we could not ship as our local post office closes at noon on Saturday, not to mention it was already after 5PM anyway!  Sunday we packed it and knew it would not go out until Tuesday because Monday was Memorial day and the post offices across the US would be closed.  Tuesday came we took the package to the post office and it was on the way.

On June 3rd I notice we got a 'neutral' feedback and wonder what now!  Well this buyer is complaining because the package is 3 days late and we are wondering how is that possible.  After researching it, the order is telling the buyer that this item is 'Fast N Free' and will arrive on or before May 31st, how is that possible?  How is it possible for us to ship an order on Saturday when everything is closed and how is it possible they were told it would be delivered on May 31st?  And why does the USPS indicated it would be delivered on June 3rd?  And why does the buyer blame sellers when packages arrive 'late' according to eBay?

This buyer is not taking the time difference or the fact we are on the opposite coast as they are into consideration.  Nor the fact that it was a holiday weekend.

So we call eBay, they think Im asking for feedback removal and I keep reminding them thats not why I was calling. Why would eBay promise to a buyer that a package would arrive by a certain date?  Why would they not take into consideration the fact that the buyer purchased this out side of 'normal business hours' and it was impossible for us to ship the same day? Had it been any other day we would have been able to ship the same day.

When I review my listing Im thinking its because it has 'FREE' shipping!  Ive changed the shipping zip code to NC, FL and CA and it consistently shows the item will arrive in 4 days, how is that possible?  They of course say the feedback would not be removed and I continue to say thats not why I was calling.   Then they tell me I should contact the buyer and ask them to change it!  But this is not something I created, we've done nothing wrong, we never told the buyer it would arrive May 31st,  its something eBay created!

You've seen it,... I have shipped packages to Hawaii that arrive in 4 days, I have also shipped packages 4 hours north of my location and seen it take 2 weeks!  How can they be allowed to make false promises to buyers?

Another peeve I noticed is the time, have you ever tried to print a label after 6PM and it still shows todays date?  If I go to purchase an item after 6PM it will still say it would be shipped today even if it can not be.  Not until around after 8PM if I try to print a label would the system actually adjust the date for the following date.  Call me crazy but they should not include Saturday at all since every location has various hours on Saturday and some are not even open on Saturday.

Their posted hours are on the pacific coast time which leaves the east coast with an unfair advantage.   They need to reconsider their program that gives these ETAs and modify it.