Ebay provides misleading information to international buyers when publishing estimated delivery time

[sfor8673]

Ebay is publishing estimated delivery times that are (at very best) wildly optimistic, giving buyers false expectations and leading to an increased number of un-delivered / late / lost item claims being opened.

We are using Australia Post eParcel service to ship items by Regular, Registered, Pack & Track or Express EMS services to international buyers. Australia Post is obviously providing eBay with a schedule of "expected" delivery times to international destinations.

Regular international Airmail Adelaide to Austria: 5 business days.

Regular international Airmail Adelaide to Israel: 4-15 business days (nothing EVER delivered to Israel in under 4 weeks, even express EMS can take 1-2 weeks to deliver here...)

Regular international Airmail Adelaide to Norway: 4-15 business days (nothing EVER delivered ANYWHERE in EU in 4 days. Aust Post can't even get a parcel to Hobart in 4 days!)

Regular international Airmail Adelaide to Russia: 12-32 business days (nothing EVER delivered to Russia in under 4 weeks, even Moscow central takes 4-6 weeks)

Australia Post relies on the domestic mail service to complete the final leg of delivery AFTER customs and border protection agencies have done their thing. If the destination network is poorly developed, under-staffed, corrupt or just inefficient, the parcel can be delayed well past the delivery date. This enables the customer to make an un-delivered item claim.

Aust Post don't recognise an item is undelivered until 90 days after the estimated delivery date, yet eBay refunds the customer without any proof, without asking any questions and without asking Aust Post to provide accurate delivery estimates. 

Is anyone else getting increased amount of undelivered item claims?

Is anyone else experiencing delayed deliveries to common destinations (EU, North America, New Zealand, UK)?

Is anyone else using another carrier (DHL, FEDEX, UPS or similar) for their international deliveries?

Regards,

The Corps Shop

[designers*n*more]

I don't post international anymore, due to too many problems, similar to what you have stated.

Totally agree the estimated delivery times ebay provides are very inaccurate to say the least. I have increased my handling time to 10 days to cover this, although I generally post, same or next day or at maximum 4 days after payment.

eBay really need to look at their Dispute process, particularly when it comes to Item Not Received. If tracking can show the item was received by Aust Post they need to extend the amount of time before a dispute can be opened to allow a reasonable amount of time and should not refund buyers when this is the case. How they do this, I have no idea but there are are so many sellers losing money because buyers open disputes whilst a parcel is still in the delivery process and eBay just refund them without checking the facts.

The whole dispute process has done nothing more than make it easy for buyers to scam sellers. There is basically no support for sellers when it comes to Item Not As Describe disputes regardless of evidence provided to eBay by sellers.

[sfor8673]

I agree with your comments.

There is no requirement for the buyer to provide any evidence that they have attempted to locate their own parcel. There is no requirement for them to have lodged an un-delivered item claim with the local postal agency responsible for the final leg of the delivery.

We believe there is a huge policy gap between the Australia Post "Service Delivery Standards" and the eBay policy on undelivered items.

THere is no requirement for eBay to provide real-time delivery estimates based on any data. This provides the customer with an unrealistic expectation.

[*tippy*toes*]

The really annoying thing about the estimates is, buyers see them as gospels. They are the dates where the seller will deliver the package. Nothing to do with AP delivery, it's the seller that is delivering. The seller has this amazing control over the postal system. I just LOVE having all that power!

My handling time is 5 days and I've never had a defect, even with the large letter items. I up it to 10 days over Christmas.

[sfor8673]

this is a definite perception problem with consumers. I see a date and automatically assume it is correct. The buyer has NIL understanding of the logistics behind moving an item from a metro suburb in Australia to another metro location overseas.

[sfor8673]

I also love the way a customer thinks we have to power to find a parcel, to deliver it faster. Someone, somewhere in the back-blocks of Chile asking us to find out where his parcel is? Or, the ones from Outer Mongolia wanting to know why the parcel has not been delivered in the 10-14 day Ebay / Aust post delivery estimate...

[porcelain_dolls_by_me]

We no longer ship to Canada.  We were finding that some 50% of our sales were being delivered late, with the latest customer receiving the envelope containing her order some 10 weeks after posting.  Delays are occuring at the Canadian end but knowing that is of no consolation.

[sfor8673]

We had a lot of delayed mail to Canada and also had some delayed mail out of Canada destined for Australia. After 10-20 late/lost item claims with Aust Post I finally speak to a guy who comes clean:

Canada Post has had rolling low-level industrial action for about 18 months. Union workers are on go-slow action with regards to all international mail. Anything un-tracked is essentially left in a warehouse until someone decides to move it on to the next depot.

Tracked and Registered items are still slow, but get through in a reasonable time-frame. Anything un-tracked is in the hands of the postal Gods. SOme customers in Canada were on to this and were using the delays to their advantage. They knew they would get the gear after a lengthy delay, but knew they could also get it for free when eBay gave them a refund.

The union industrial action is not publicised but Canada Post lost a lot of money and customers when businesses left them in droves to use other carriers for outgoing services.

Australia Post knew about the problem, but did nothing to help us as local customers shipping there. They also did not update their delivery estimates to reflect current situation. Ebay also knew about it but also did nothing. Leaving sellers holding the bag with no info or support and angry customers.

We upgrade most items not to a registered or tracked service and there is no problem.

[lyndal1838]

Mail to and from Canada has always been slow but now it appears to be slower than ever.

I am married to a Canadian and have been battleing the system for nearly 40 years now.  We had to allow a minimum of 6 weeks for an airmail birthday card to arrive and even then there was no guarantee that it would be in time.  Parcels were even more hit and miss.

In the end we sent money to OH's brother in the USA with instructions on what to buy his parents for birthdays and Christmas and he would hand deliver them.

A lot of Canadain sellers who live near the border will go to the USA once or twice a week and post from there as it is much quicker than posting in Canada.

[digital*ghost]

This is related to domestic post, but perfectly illustrates how out of touch eBay is with the day to day running of an online business that is reliant on postal services other than wordwide / express couriers. 

A CS rep once told a seller that if an Australian buyer had not received their package within 5 days (no idea if they meant business days or calendar days), the seller should immediately refund. 

It's kinda funny because even if I had a 0-day handling time, the delivery estimates for standard postage (which is the default selection on most of my listings), is 1-6 days, so if I took that advice seriously, I'd be refunding buyers all over the place, before the ETA was even up. 

No, wait... I more mean