I would REALLY like to know where eBay are getting their postage estimates for everyones listings

[danieh_6]

When eBay stopped at the start of this month protecting against INR cases and late shipment defects now, I started researching.

Domestic Standard Australia Post

Something never added up to me why are we given different time frames based on what Australia Post. I am in Melbourne, but I am getting abused from customers for items going to North QLD, TAS & WA, even when we send out early they are late still

Before we go further:

- Yes well aware of COVID causing delays

- This is only standard AP listings not 3rd party courier

- Yes I understand this could be "averages"

- Yes it could be different for other method of postage i.e. eParcel, Satchels, Handwritten w/stamps etc.

But anyhow, just take a look at these screenshots.

Its 2am on a friday morning.  I picked two random items from a Sydney and Melbourne based sellers with same business day handling, both delivering to Postcode 3000, both using AP standard.

They don't add up! Yes postage has improved recently, but I think its important eBay is providing accurate delivery times to protect against negs, Late shipment defects and INR as they are no longer helping sellers since the start of this month.

[love_of_cars]

I don't have the answer but I've always felt that eBay made the shipping part of their selling platform much too complicated and over-featured years ago.  They will never go back to basics.  On my website I simply have one price for each country (based on AP's prices) and some text saying a general overview of expected shipping times.  During pre-Xmas time I add express options for a few countries.  Plenty of happy customers.  Done!

[south.coffee]

We are in rural Victoria and when an order rolls up from a buyer in North QLD, TAS or WA we roll our eyes as well. It is natural for destinations further than the source take longer to deliver and the answers are clearly explained on Australia Post's website.

We have an automated email script which gets sent to every buyer outlining those delays and buyers have been understanding.

Of course eBay is going to shorten those delivery times based on buyer and seller postcodes and we see that reflected in the higher number of sales going to nearby states.

Buyers are certainly voting with delivery time in mind. They are waking up.

[danieh_6]

Yes agreed but if auspost estimates up to 8 business days to go to the same suburb shouldn't eBay be reflecting that?

We have a copy paste too but like we have heaps of transactions out of every 100 buyers 10-15 still think there's nothing wrong with the post.

[danieh_6]

I just thought i'd update this as i found something new. eBay has added (not sure how recently) a centre where you can get support for sellers out of business hours or appeal stuff. https://www.ebay.com.au/sellerhelp out of curiousity I tried to appeal a 3 late shipments on an account that doesn't have an account manger. All were denied, I don't think they read them or they are done by bots. 1 was clearly sent on time even with proof from Australia Post, but not removed, another a buyer asked me to change the order as it was about to get picked up, the other was incorrect address. So what's the point of the centre really?

As they are no longer "supporting sellers during covid19" as they were in this thread, and victoria might be in a harsher lockdown and they literally are not providing correct etas. The account only has 2.5% late but I am not really phazed by them, won't be wasting time on live chat.

https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Selling/Do-you-think-eBay-will-extend-the-Additional-support-during...

Blows my mind honestly, but then again what can I say its eBay!

[heihachi_73]

Harsher lockdown confirmed.

If you have just come back from being out (e.g. post office after sending something, or even just Colesworths for shopping), it is now illegal to go back outside on the same day. Of course, eBay won't do anything so I fully expect Melbourne sellers to cop this on the chin when the defects and INRs start rolling in over the next 6 weeks.

Speaking of INRs, I'm practically waiting for one from a buyer, sent a parcel (Melbourne eastern suburbs) on the 20th to WA and the last tracking scan was on the 26th and in Melbourne 3000 with nothing else showing. Have fun: R342780024422136 

[*tippy*toes*]

My last item sent to WA (from rural NSW), was posted on July 13. Next scan was July 14 in Sydney. Next scan was July 20 when onboard for delivery.

I wouldn't go into panic mode just yet.

[danieh_6]

Agreed with tippy, but just curious, what did ebay set the delivery time frame to? and what is AP estimate?

[everard6920]

I'm in Brisneyland so my postage times are usually pretty good, but I pushed my handling time out to 5 days at the start of all of this just to give myself a buffer.

I also raised my postage prices enough to cover tracking on every single shipment, including letters. It hasn't affected my sales, so I'm going to keep it.

My rate of lost shipments has doubled, but is still very low overall (about 4 in 500 whereas before it was more like 2 in 500). AP had to pay because they had tracking on them.

So far, no problems with unhappy buyers, but if anyone decides to leave feedback complaining about delivery times, they'll be getting a reply reminding them that we are in the middle of a global pandemic, and a block.

[danieh_6]

BIG update, Ebay is now correctly showing correct delivery estimates for all states 🙂 Quite happy now. (Based on Australia posts delivery time frames)