Another Australia Post and Late Arrival Defect Thread

[jfmgray]

The last week has been a disaster for me in terms of items not arriving or arriving later than eBay's estimated delivery dates.  I have had 10 messages or items not received cases from buyers in NSW and Queensland (I am in Melbourne).  And whist I continue to communicate with buyers to try and minimise the damage, I have received 3 late arrival defects this month (compared to nil for the rest of 2016) and will refund the 3 item not received cases by the due date if the item has not arrived.  My business model exists on posting at large letter rates so there is no need to recommend tracked postage for me as I can't affort it (nor can buyers for most of my low cost items).

Is anyone else noticing an increase in late arrivals?

What are seller's experiences in using the 50 cent priority stickers for letters expecially for destinations in galaxies far far away?

I have avoided increasing my handling time from 1 day basacially as I have not needed to do this.  But the increases in late delivery defects and the grief (and time) being caused by late deliveries has made me rethink.  I know most sellers who have increased handling times would say heir sales have not been affected but are there any sellers who have noticed a negative consequence?  Additionally how far can you stretch out handling time before there is an effect on things like Top Rated status or best match placements or anything else?

In saying all this, my late arrival defects are an 0.5% and I can never see them reaching 5%.  So this may all be an over reaction for one bad week!!

[*tippy*toes*]

One can never pick it with AP. Some have said the 50c sticker makes a difference, others haven't. Registered post is supposed to be one of the slowest methods, according to the peoples at my local PO, but I got a registered large letter from rural NSW to rural WA in 3 days 2 weeks ago. I normally allow 2 weeks to WA. By the same token, it can take me 2 weeks to get something to Vic.

I few weeks back I bought something from a seller in Brisbane. They'd sent the wrong item so I returned for exchange. They sent the correct item the same day I sent the return. The one I sent arrived in 2 days, the one they sent me took a week. Go figure!

My only suggestion is to blow your handling time out to fatten out the estimate, but still post same or next day as you're already doing. I post both parcels and large letters and have had no problems with delivery defects for either. My handling time is 5 days, but others are having equal success with 3. It won't affect your top rated seller and I cant comment on best match search as I run auctions so BM for me doesn't really apply as most auction buyers search by ending soonest.

I haven't had any reduction in sales since I increased my handling. Only noticable difference is buyers commenting that they got their item before the first estimate date.

[typhoon4u]

Yes, I now use priority stickers on all out of state items.

It definately solved late delivery problems.

I'm now getting 3-6 days from WA to eastern states.

Auspost basically hold and delay your item as a way of extorting the priority sticker.

In real price/delivery times, auspost more than doubled the cost in Feburary.

From 70 cents/3-6 day delivery to $1.50 (stamp+priority) for the same 3-6 day delivery.

Please do use the priority sticker and I think many of your problems will disappear.

I also have a 4 day "handling" time but items generally sent next day.

[padi*0409]

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@jfmgray wrote:

What are seller's experiences in using the 50 cent priority stickers for letters expecially for destinations in galaxies far far away?

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I'm not a seller jf, but I had to use the priority stickers on 2 letters sent by registered mail to try and get speedy delivery of the letters.

One was sent on the monday the other on the tuesday, they still took until the following tuesday to arrive in Perth only 350 Klms from where they were sent from.

I could have walked to Perth and hand-delivered in less time than that..................grrrrrr.

[jellybirddesigns]

I don't use the priority stickers as I have pushed out my handling time to 5 days, even though I post the next business day.

My items are also sent as a large letter, and to date I have had no late defects in the last 12 months.

I still have a top-rated status, even with the extended handling time.

[rocket2retro]

I increased my handling time from 1-4 days & have not had a defect since. I can't know how, or if, it has affected sales. It won't affect your top rated status (but late delivery defects will) & frankly I don't give a hoot about best match placements (you'd need to give your item away for free with free express postage and offer lifetime money back guarantees to qualify anyway).

[digital*ghost]

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@jfmgray wrote:

What are seller's experiences in using the 50 cent priority stickers for letters expecially for destinations in galaxies far far away?

Additionally how far can you stretch out handling time before there is an effect on things like Top Rated status or best match placements or anything else?

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I use priority on every large letter and find that in some cases, delivery is faster than it used to be (before the two-speed service was introcuced), eg 2 days to TAS and WA (post on Mon, arrive Wed) when before it was often 4-6 days, or it's at least on par with how it used to be for the rest. 

It's important to note that not everyone experiences the same, though - some sellers have tried priority and found their packages either aren't any quicker, or they're even slower than the non-priority ones. I attribute my 'success' (for lack of a better word) with it at least partially to my location, which is metro-SA - being in the middle of the country means my packages never hardly ever travel from one side of Oz to the other (AP errors notwithstanding ).

eBay will give you a 'warning' about non-standard handling times if you select anything over 3 days, so 3 or under shouldn't see much (if any) consequence in terms of rankings.

I have mine set at 2, though everything is posted same or next business day (I often post on Sundays, as well). I like 2, because it gives me an extra day or so grace with eBay's ETA, but doesn't make buyers think they'll be in for a long wait if they buy from me. I have 0 late shipments (never had one at all, as far as I know). 

[jfmgray]

Thanks all for your input.  I will look at extending handling times to 3 days and using priority labels to WA and other locations far far away.

Apart from hopefully reducing the grief and workload that goes with late arrivals if I extend handling time and use priority mail, I would still appreciate views on the impact if I did nothing and my late arrivals stayed below 5% (which will be the case).  If there is no penalty for sellers who stay below 5%, am I unnecessarily worried about increased items arriving late?

[chameleon54]

I have pushed handling time out to 5 days for all new listings, but existing listings still have 3 day handling time. I recieved a couple of defects for slow postage a few months ago, but nothing since. The extra handling time has made no difference at all to my monthly sales.

[typhoon4u]

I was more concerned with customer dissatisfaction than ebay issues.

Trying to keep customers happy and avoid neutral/red dots is my priority.

I have several postage defects of which 90% are false positives. Meaning tracking proves they were posted within the time frame and ebay got it wrong.