Determining shipping method from listing

[mcowley1024]

HI

Recently I've had bad experiences when sellers use 3rd party courier companies to ship the items instead of regular Australia Post.  These 3rd parties are often late, or loose the item and sometimes charge fees for redelivery. 

Looking back at my purchase history so far I have been unable to tell from the postage section which method was chosen, some listings have "Australia post standard parcel" and the item was delivered as such, yet some items have "Standard parcel" and still arrive by Australia post, yet other "Standard Parcel" listed items go via 3rd party courier.

Ideally I would like the eBay listing to show explicitly the method used to ship, I understand that may reduce flexibility  on the sellers part somewhat but getting charged a redelivery fee because the seller is saving money on postage isn't right, at least with Australia Post I can pick it up at the post office if I am not home.

[padi*0409]

The only sure way if AP isn't specified is to contact the seller and ask them.

[digital*ghost]

The first thing to do is click the "see details" link next to the postage info, or click the 'Postage and Payments' tab - if a seller has specified a particular service, it will display in full there (there are many services that have the generic 'standard postage' displayed in the summary, but they will show the full details in this tab). 

eBay - as in the website - doesn't work well enough to have sellers specify actual postage service being used in every instance, though. The ability to do it is there, mind you, but it often significantly reduces other important site functions, like combined postage (not much of an issue if the seller lists everything with free post, but will be a huge issue if they don't).

i.e. eBay will not apply combined postage rules if the postage service on one item is different to the service set for another, so they still have a generic "standard postage" option that allows sellers to set up functional combined postage rules.

What I'm trying to get at is that while having that generic service option can create problems, it also solves a lot of others, and most sellers will use the options that solve the most problems for them and the majority of their buyers. 

There are some sellers that select which service to use on a per order basis, so along with asking to confirm prior to purchase,  parcel locker / collect or PO boxes can solve that one - they are (usually) forced to pick AP if it's an address almost exclusively accessible by AP, if that will help (parcel locker and parcel collect addresses are free). (I have to say usually because I've had a seller list the postage service specifically as Aus Post, so I used my PO box address, then they went ahead and sent through Fastway 😖 ). 

[mcowley1024]

Hi Digital Ghost

I had the same problem you mentioned with the parcel lockers, sellers would use couriers for delivery and that would cause all sorts of dramas, In the end I stopped using parcel lockers due to Auspost technical glitches preventing me from getting my parcels, usually after hours on a Friday.

Looking at the postage details tab there is no pattern so it looks like the only way forward is to find sellers who specifically mention Aus Post or if the pickings a slim then message each seller asking the method. 

[digital*ghost]

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@mcowley1024 wrote:

Hi Digital Ghost

I had the same problem you mentioned with the parcel lockers, sellers would use couriers for delivery and that would cause all sorts of dramas, In the end I stopped using parcel lockers due to Auspost technical glitches preventing me from getting my parcels, usually after hours on a Friday.

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Ah, that sucks - either sellers who don't know the rules for parcel lockers, or they're just not paying attention 😞

Some sellers will at least have their delivery services noted in the description, so that's another thing to look out for - occasionally it will be hidden in tabbed sections. Usually if they list a combination I've found they'll use a courier for street addresses and AP for my PO box, but I suppose if they are making the effort to inform buyers, it's a good indication they know all of the respective issues for different addresses and such. 

For a non-free option, PO boxes can now be upgraded to accept courier deliveries - an extra $24 p/a allows up to 50 business-to-consumer courier deliveries without the courier being asked to pay to deliver to them like normal. That would make a standard PO box+ cost $165 per year, plus the $20 initial set up fee, though, assuming no concessions are applicable, which might be difficult to even justify for the odd delivery (plus larger parcels need to be collected in-store, so business hours may be an issue). I keep mine so I don't have to use my home address as the return address on sales, so it's probably more of an option if a PO box will be useful in multiple ways.