survey regarding new "Guaranteed Arrival" time program

[lm-entertainment]

hi everyone. i'm not sure how many sellers received an offer to participate in a seller survey regarding shipping recently - but i thought i'd take a look at it.

was shocked initially to see that ebay are looking at trialling a "guaranteed arrival" program - where sellers state the timeframe that items will be delivered in to the buyer.

if these conditions are not met, the buyer is entitled to return the item for free with a full refund or the seller has to give them some financial compensation.

i soon realised i shouldn't have been surprised that ebay is again making the marketplace one that suits buyers and not sellers.

i thought "well, there won't be any harm in not participating in the program" - but it also says that sellers who do participate will get enhanced visual treatment in search, item detail and all other buying pages - meaning those who don't participate will be penalised. 

i've attached screenshots of the two pages of text in the survey regarding this program if anyone wants to have a look. have no doubt it'll be implemented soon.

[go-tazz]

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@rocket2retro wrote:

Ebay are dreaming again. Even the carrier (Australia Post) won't guarantee a delivery time (except express post within two major cities).

Is anyone at eBay living in the real world?

Personally I couldn't give a rats. Ebay can't bury my listing any further down the list than they aleady are. I barely have any sales to lose anyway.

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But that might be the whole point in that no one is getting sales so it's an incentive for buyers to buy items,(

any items sold is better then no items sold).

Then they can blame the sellers at the next share holders meeting and say it's not their fault.

Off course to participate you have to have tracking to make certain that eBay get all that extra money for

postage with tracking,

It wont affect me as I don't sell enough and it certainly wouldn't improve my sell through rate.

If I want to donate items to buyers it's easier to just donate them to the Op shop with a lot less hassle and I

wont be out of pocket for postage costs or ransom/extortion fees).

[lyndal1838]

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@ausbargainbasement wrote:

Yes no worries Ebay going to Gaurauntee, a outside services ability to deliver on time, For sure, only way to do that is hand deliver our items ourselves. LOL

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Ebay is not going to guarantee anything.....they expect the sellers to make the guarantee and there will be penalties if the sellers do not make good on the guaranteed delivery time.

[springyzone]

I have to say I am a bit shocked.

I buy a fair bit online (not on ebay) & I have noticed most of those particular sites have really upped the ante. Whereas maybe 3 years back, their items were taking 3 weeks, they are now there in the week. One of the sites is still a bit slower & I think if it doesn't lift its game, it will go under.

Fact is, people expect things to arrive in a reasonable time & I would say that is within 1-2 weeks.

HOWEVER. None of the sites promises a delivery date & none of them makes any promise they will compensate a buyer if it is a day late etc. Why would they?

I presume if a parcel doesn't eventually arrive or show as delivered, they would refund or resend, but how is that any different to ebay?

I think ebay must be feeling the effects of a lot of online competition these days & is trying to figure out how to appeal to more buyers but the trouble is, they are doing as lyndal says and using someone else's money to cover it.

I'll be very interested to see if the big shops that have an ebay presence will opt into this. If I were to return to selling, I wouldn't.

I believe Aust post is fairly reliable but I wouldn't fancy compensating customers for another business's delay. No one else does that.

[sparrow2207]

Ebay seem to be confused and think we are pizza delivery company - if it doesn't arrived in 30minutes its free.

[designers*n*more]

Exactly! When I query with Aust Post why so many parcels I send out are late being delivered, their response is always the same. "The delivery times are only estimates and are not guaranteed. If you wanted the parcel delivered within a time frame, you should have used express post."

Absolutely no hope for us poor sellers!

Yet again, eBay are screwing with an already failing system and not for the better!

[digital*ghost]

This isn't just a survey question about an idea ebay are kicking around, as they have already announced it on the US site:

http://cc.ebay.com/guaranteed-delivery/

Of particular note is the two different options for this guarantee - one being where the seller designates the arrival date and maintains responsibility for any costs involved in "compensating" the buyer (I better not say anything more about that right now,  will suffice).

The other is where sellers only guarantee handling time and eBay guarantees the delivery date, and if the seller meets that handling time but the package arrives 'late', eBay foots the bill for any compensation (postage costs reimbursed, a $5 voucher if it was free post, or free return to the seller).

I can't see why any seller would choose option A if they wanted to particpate in this, unless they wanted to stipulate longer delivery times than eBay.

This is a voluntary thing, with the primary carrot being improved visibility in searches, and eBay adding search refinements based on guaranteed delivery times, and sellers will need to offer a 0-1 day handling time. It will also be listing specific, so a seller may choose to have it on some items, but doesn't have to have it on all. 

All practical issues aside for the moment, I personally resist the whole idea of compensating buyers (be it from my coffers or eBay's) if an item arrives in 4 days instead of 2, and think it's profoundly ridiculous, but I think they're trying to have something that can compete with Prime, something that's consistent and can be easily implemented by individual sellers. 

[the4masters2013]

I posted a birthday card early one Monday morning , the birthday being on the Wednesday of the same week. It arrived on the Friday, 2 days after the birthday. It was going from one side of Bathurst to the other side!

on the same Monday, I posted an item going to Queensland. 

Yes, you guessed it -I had positive feedback on the Thursday on the same week.

I will guarantee the item will be delivered, just not when! 

Hoefully, before Christmas next year.

[springyzone]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

This isn't just a survey question about an idea ebay are kicking around, as they have already announced it on the US site:

http://cc.ebay.com/guaranteed-delivery/

Of particular note is the two different options for this guarantee - one being where the seller designates the arrival date and maintains responsibility for any costs involved in "compensating" the buyer (I better not say anything more about that right now,  will suffice).

The other is where sellers only guarantee handling time and eBay guarantees the delivery date, and if the seller meets that handling time but the package arrives 'late', eBay foots the bill for any compensation (postage costs reimbursed, a $5 voucher if it was free post, or free return to the seller).

I can't see why any seller would choose option A if they wanted to particpate in this, unless they wanted to stipulate longer delivery times than eBay.

This is a voluntary thing, with the primary carrot being improved visibility in searches, and eBay adding search refinements based on guaranteed delivery times, and sellers will need to offer a 0-1 day handling time. It will also be listing specific, so a seller may choose to have it on some items, but doesn't have to have it on all. 

All practical issues aside for the moment, I personally resist the whole idea of compensating buyers (be it from my coffers or eBay's) if an item arrives in 4 days instead of 2, and think it's profoundly ridiculous, but I think they're trying to have something that can compete with Prime, something that's consistent and can be easily implemented by individual sellers. 

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I can see some businesses choosing option B but I am with you, Option A would cause me resentment at the idea of compensating someone for what might be just a couple of days' delay.

Ebay seems to be offering carrots a fair bit lately 5% off if you spend over X amount and so on. If I have it right, those discounts come out of ebay coffers, not from the original seller. I presume that is why fee % have risen over the years, to cover some of these 'extras'.

If ebay are asking about something in a survey, you can bet it is close to coming in. And another thing you can bet on is it is probably the thin edge of the wedge. I'm not a seller now but I was a teacher & I saw how these things work in Education. Changes are touted & any misgivings are dismissed as ridiculous. But each year, watch it tightening and having more repurcussions added.

Just watch. This latest idea of ebay's will probably come in as voluntary but down the track, you'll have to choose an option. Of course most people in their right mind will prefer option B, but that will most likely mean they have to get things posted off within 24 hours or ebay won't cover them. This is ebay's bottom line-it wants seller's to have to post fast or face penalties.

[rocket2retro]

I think eBay are trying to reverse the damage they caused to buyer's perceived delivery times when they introduced the seller defects for 'Did Your Item Arrive on or Before...'.

For several years prior to its introduction I had a 1 day handling time.  Now I have 4 days & keep thinking I might push it out another day, as I'm still getting the odd defect. I still post items every day (when I have a sale that is...)

The majority of sellers will have extended their handling time.

From the buyer's perspective, when deciding to buy something on eBay, the delivery times now appear a lot slower than they were in the past for this very reason.

My feeling is this is another example of eBay trying to fix their own mistakes at the seller's expense.

Personally I would prefer that eBay require sellers to post an item within a certain timeframe (rather than asking sellers to guarantee something that is totally out off their hands).

[chameleon54]

I just recieved the survey before reading this thread. ANOTHER TERRIBLE EBAY IDEA, imported from overseas without any regard to Australias individual conditions. We are a huge country, sparsley populated with only one monopoly postage provider that services the entire country. Australia Post is becoming more unreliable with delivery speed each year, and is hampered by our sparse population. THE IDEA SIMPLY WONT WORK EBAY.