Late shipping conspiracy projections ?? bit of fun

[lane-ends]

Ok what is happining now is an obvious mess, with band aid work arounds. Ebay may be a complete puzzle to us mere mortals but there must be a bigger long term goal for them to stubbornly persist with this, so what is it?

I will play devils advocate and throw one up.

GOAL.:

Ebay want all buyers items who have visible tracking to buyers available from point of dispatch, so they feel more confident, and is a growing expectation. Also verification that seller has posted as per their handling day claims.

Ebay have no love of low price, low fee items and want to up the value/quality of stock on site

PROCESS:

Introduce controversial "shipping defects" so we get used to it, have a rant, adapt, then setttle down. The principle is evidence based defects rather than subjective defects. Yet buyer reported is still subjective, some dont reply, others can't remember so have a guess, eventually buyers work out impact, some will say on time when late to save seller a defect, some will say late when it wasn't as a sly slap> this aspect becomes ineffective. Sellers increasing handlling times without tracking lodgement to get around iit s not really achieving anything for Ebay in long run, so they will want to close that loophole.

POTENTIAL NEXT STEP RESPONSE

All items are to to have visible online lodgement validation within stated handling times REGARDLESS of delivery date. Not lodgement event within handling time=auto defect. Gets rid of buyer perceptions/result manipulation, and seller workarounds. "late shipment " defect then becomes genuine late shipment rather than late delivery instigated. Forces sellers to use Ebay linked shipping and prevents sellers from witholding tracking info (also a current workaround)

Sellers have items that are low value that dont justify tracking??  Do Ebay care? No, they want rid of these, forcing sellers to only offer items that can afford tracked shipping..

END RESULT

Simplified undisputable defects system reduces Ebays dispute workload..ie they have removed sellers arguable reasons for not having tracking lodgement. Buyers can buy with confidence items will be shipped on time and be fully trackable to their door

More value items=more fees + moves Ebay up the "quality" satus ladder

Aims achieved without stating it, diplomatic manipulation. 

Most changes that have been instigated by Ebay over the years have first been met with outrage, threats to leave, seller workarounds and then reluctance compliance. Ebay has always got what they wanted and those goals were not always apparent at the outset of changes.

Is this far fetched?? Or can I dredge this topic up in a couple of years and say told you so?

Any more conspiracies to add???.

[ejewellerygallery]

yes mine is not so much a conspiracy theory but when you implement new regulations be fair to aussie sellers

our delivery times are on par with the USA & UK i hate !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that ebay quotes a delivery time that not I cant provide but that Australia post cant meet .

Please ebay send a parcel from ebay Australia to ebay USA and see for yourself what the delivery time is .

ebay has always taught us they want the customer to have a good customer / ebay experience

PLEASE EBAY QUOTE CORRECT DELIVERY TIMES FOR INTERNATIONAL POST PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[247newdeals]

Personally I do not see anything you wrote as being anywhere near far fetched and very possibly correct.

I think as far as EBay not wanting/caring about low cost items it seem completely true but they are missing a very important part these items play. They are great for breaking in new sellers and buyers  New sellers (or those interested in selling) can not afford to splash out a lot of money on stock to see if EBay suit them and even if they could it would be silly to do as EBay can be a high risk platform and also has a lot to learn before you will be comfortable selling. A new buyer want to spend $100 on their first purchase I know my first buys on EBay where cheap everyday items and I did get burnt a few times. If Ebay remove a very large part of the market (for Aus sellers) customers will go elsewhere both sellers and buyers.Cheap items play a very important place and it would be a shame if Ebay force them out

[heihachi_73]

Sounds about right!

$3 DVD example #1:
Regular mail, large letter, no tracking.

Second hand DVD = $3
Large letter postage = $2
Total = $5*

* If item is over 125g when packed, add $1 for another stamp; total becomes $6.
Add another 50c if you want it sent via Priority Mail, cost of DVD jumps to $5.50 or $6.50.

Even when sending without tracking you lose against the big stores, Kmart loves throwing away DVDs for $4 in the bargain bin, and they are all brand new and sealed! Meanwhile bottom-feeders like Cash Converters are also too happy to sell them for $1 or $2 each (because they probably give people 20c or 50c each for them). In fact, even the non-profits like the Salvos sell them for $2 or so.

Not only that, you are open to pretty much every Money Back Guarantee case in the book because there is no seller protection for items sent this way. An Australia Post receipt with two lines saying "GEN ST $1.00" does not qualify as proof of lodgement.

$3 DVD example #2:
Registered Post.

Second hand DVD = $3
Large letter mail = $2
Registered Post = $3.80
Total = $8.80*

* If DVD+Mailer weighs over 125g, add another stamp = $9.80
50c Priority Mail (under 125g) = $9.30
50c Priority Mail (over 125g) = $10.30

And, just for the complete idiot sellers out there (there are plenty of them unfortunately):

$3 DVD example #3:
Parcel Post, because we are clueless twits and/or misread the article on Australia Post regarding regular "small" letters (which must be under 5mm thick and must be bendable). This does not include those who were served by an a$$hat AP employee and were stung parcel rates after they haphazardly dragged the item all the way through the letter gauge and it barely scraped the edge (a bubble mailer containing a DVD case is 18mm thick).

Second hand DVD = $3
Parcel Post = $7.45

Total = $10.45

Optional extras:
BX1 video tape box = $1.65 (total $12.10)
Or why not even round it up to $10 and charge for bubble wrap, if not some wrapping paper (at least it's packaged nicely, right?)

Bonus points if the postage is $8.25 instead, aka the dreaded 500g prepaid satchel, which offers no impact protection whatsoever and chances are the case and/or the disc gets wrecked in transit. Just as bad as people using "tough" bags or paper envelopes (and with the same results, just not the same price tag).

[bluebudgies]

I'd be inclined to dispute the statement that they don't want low priced items. If they don't want them why is there so much 'encouragement' to reduce our price when we relist, and why do they say other sellers got so much less in recent sales than we did?

Personally, I think it might be a good thing if ALL sellers got heaps of defects for not meeting the postage deadlines because then they might realise it's not going to work.  Buyers still go on when an item arrived, not when it was posted, so if you post small (untracked) items to the other side of the country you're lucky if they arrive on time, even with a long handling time.

[lane-ends]

---

@bluebudgies wrote:

Personally, I think it might be a good thing if ALL sellers got heaps of defects for not meeting the postage deadlines because then they might realise it's not going to work.  Buyers still go on when an item arrived, not when it was posted, so if you post small (untracked) items to the other side of the country you're lucky if they arrive on time, even with a long handling time.

---

I find it hard to believe these wholescale defects are not going to to happen, nor that Ebay are oblivious to the fact they will, hence I expect there is a next step in the drama to unfold.

New sellers wil be oblivious to band aid work arounds and will end up thinking "What The?"

[bluebudgies]

They seem to be in bed with AP, and AP may be getting them to push for a higher use of parcels (not that letters are much cheaper now). Defects for using untracked letters would achieve that. What both organisations are too short-sighted to see is that a LOT of things are worth selling if they can be posted as a letter, but not if they have go as parcels. Edit: and they won't be posted at all if they have to go as parcels.

[twyngwyn]

Geelong test:

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/news/geelong/geelong-test-shows-australia-post-service-has-deter...

[*tippy*toes*]

I posted an item last Thursday to the same state. EBay's estimate says 7th to 11th March. My Post notified me this morning that it's "with Australia Post for delivery today".

I'm wondering how people get on if something sits at the PO for a few days. I just checked the tracking for an item from last week and it was awaiting collection on Wednesday, but not actually collected until Friday. It was still before the first date of the estimate, but wondering if eBay takes that into consideration when slapping people? What if someone has to go away unexpectedly and doesn't collect it for10 days? Will the seller get slapped if it then falls outside the estimate?

[lurehouse]

I think you are spot on and what makes me mad is we are fundinding there little venture by still selling here, this is what happens when a large company has no compition they turn into bullies.