topic Re: Delivery times in Buying

Delivery times

ilparpame — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 19:26:59 GMT

It is now hardy worth buying from Ebay sellers. Recent purchase (in Australia) ordered 13-10-21, delivery estimated late November to early January delivery. Covid is being used as an excuse!! Most sellers dont give any other option than "standard Post" .... bloody ridiculous. Going to shop locally even though it will cost more, at least I have the item quickly.

Very disappointing!!

Re: Delivery times

papermoon.lady — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 19:37:58 GMT

Some sellers have increased their handling time because they are afraid of delays and buyers opening cases. The other day I bought something from a seller in the same state. The estimated delivery is November 10-19 (!) because the seller says "will post within 20 business days". But the item has already been posted and according to the AusPost tracking it will arrive on Friday (although it could also arrive next week)... So you might as well get your item sooner than expected.

Re: Delivery times

sugar249 — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 20:49:01 GMT

Thats sounds rather excessive, are you sure they had stock, or werent overseas pretending to be in Oz.

You could always PM them and ask if they do express Post, I don't offer it as standard, but do get the odd one asking for it

Re: Delivery times

*sons_and_daughters* — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 23:32:17 GMT

@sugar249 wrote:
Thats sounds rather excessive, are you sure they had stock, or werent overseas pretending to be in Oz.

You could always PM them and ask if they do express Post, I don't offer it as standard, but do get the odd one asking for it

Australia Post aren't honouring express post at the moment, and haven't for over a year. People still pay it, but they'll tell you straight up, it's rarely going to arrive quicker than regular post. I posted an item express from regional NSW to Perth a few months back. Buyer paid for express. It took 3 weeks.

Re: Delivery times

springyzone — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 23:40:41 GMT

I wouldn't have bought that item if it had an estimated date that far off.

I'm like sugar in that I suspect it could be an item not located in Australia, despite what the ad might say.

If you bought on 13 Oct, I would expect a delivery date no more than a month out, covid or no covid.

Re: Delivery times

zanadoo_56 — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 01:57:15 GMT

Standard Post is also VERY slow at the moment so perhaps some sellers are hedging their bets. For example I bought an item from QLD, I got a tracking number right away and AP had it in two days. Then things went s-l-o-w. According to tracking my parcel did a bit of a tour of QLD before making it to Sydney on 06 Oct. It was then 'on its way' (or more likely going nowhere fast) until I got a message from AP TODAY that it was in Melbourne. From 06-14 Oct to get from Sydney to Melbourne????

it is now in Dandenong and (hopefully) will be delivered next Monday ....or possibly as late as next Thursday.

I don't think the problem is entirely with sellers!

BTW I also placed an order with a company that uses couriers. Because not all of my order was available from my local store the order was split. The part of the order that came from Sydney took two days. The part of the order that was to come from the local store took 5 days- one day for every km the truck had to travel to get to my house is one way to look at it - ie a 5km trip that should have taken 15 mins max.

Delivery estimates are crazy at the moment and buyers just have to have patience.

Re: Delivery times

digital*ghost — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 02:08:58 GMT

@ilparpame wrote:
Covid is being used as an excuse!!

An excuse to what, exactly?

As in, what do you think Australian sellers are doing, and using covid as a cover to..."get away" with?

Maybe it's them just taking the opportunity to be lazy, huh? Take weeks to post, play a few video games instead, ignore all frustrated buyers, lose sales, lose money when people run out of patience, totally shoot themselves in the foot for some reason and then blame it on covid. Sounds like a plan.

Re: Delivery times

springyzone — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 02:41:29 GMT

If you can buy locally, that definitely is going to be the quickest option if you can click & collect.

As for ebay, the solution is really in your own hands.

Only buy from sellers where the item's estimated delivery range suits you.

If they post quickly & pop up a tracking number, you can always give a bit of leeway if things get stuck in the post and delivery is a bit later than you expect.

But there's no need to buy from any seller who is quoting January as a delivery period. There are plenty of other fish in the ebay sea.

Re: Delivery times

sugar249 — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 05:19:19 GMT

@zanadoo_56 wrote:
The part of the order that was to come from the local store took 5 days- one day for every km the truck had to travel to get to my house is one way to look at it - ie a 5km trip that should have taken 15 mins max.

LOL, so do you think you paid for an expresss door to door service. Most parcels would be picked up and taken to a depot for sorting, even if it had to go to the neighbours house.

Re: Delivery times

sugar249 — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 05:22:15 GMT

@ilparpame wrote:
It is now hardy worth buying from Ebay sellers. Recent purchase (in Australia) ordered 13-10-21, delivery estimated late November to early January delivery. Covid is being used as an excuse!! Most sellers dont give any other option than "standard Post" .... bloody ridiculous. Going to shop locally even though it will cost more, at least I have the item quickly.
Very disappointing!!

Very few sellers would be using Covid as an excuse for their part of the process.

If you took the time to look at the tracking you would see that sellers lodge at the PO the same or next day or 2, (generally). But once it's out of the sellers hand they have no control over the process, and then yes it is COVID that can impact.

Most sellers are doing the right thing, don't generalise

Re: Delivery times

paper-jack — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 06:15:30 GMT

I don't think my customer in NSW who received her order of a handmade item today, 14th October, that I posted in Melbourne on 12th October, would agree with you. Postage was by standard APO parcel post.

(sold on a different ebay account, all things hand made by an Australian in Australia, thankfully there are buyers on ebay who care to support locally made items).

Re: Delivery times

springyzone — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 01:22:16 GMT

That was super fast, but delivery times are a little bit unpredictable at the moment. Some fast, some slow or slower than normal.

I think it can depend on how urgently someone wants something as to whetehr they should buy online or not (whether ebay or any other site).

If it is an absolute 'must have' within the next 4 or 5 days, then it is taking a risk to buy that thing online. Other times, a week or so's extra wait may not makemuch difference to a buyer.

But any buyer can look at the ETA on an item and make a decision from there. I personally have not seen many items located in Australia with a 2 or 3 month delivery time frame and I would probably not buy from such a seller.

Re: Delivery times

countessalmirena — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 03:21:20 GMT

I’m buying as much as possible from local retail businesses (the non-essential ones) who offer click and collect. They’ve been going through extraordinarily difficult times, so it’s good for them and and good for me.

Some of the big name stores warn of significant click-and-collect delays. There was a 2-day delay on being able to pick up the paint I’d ordered from one local Bunnings store, and 5 days’ delay on being able to pick up the paint roller, brushes, extension poles, scrapers, filler, putty knife, builder’s bog, gloves to protect against toxic stuff, etc from another local Bunnings (which had all of the stuff in stock). (A lot of repainting and so on after tenants moved out from unit…) That contrasted with the no-delay pick-up from Sydney Tools (masks to protect against noxious fumes, goggles ditto, electric sander) and Mitre 10 (protective padded gloves after I’d already knocked and scraped skin off my knuckles and hands in general with scraping off old paint from walls, and extra drop cloths), and then back to Sydney stools for one of those Gorilla work platforms so that I can sand the failed paint bits off the ceilings.

I’ve also received some posted items from QLD and SA and NSW. These express parcels are taking roughly a week to arrive, which I think is very good in the circumstances.

In other buying / post updates, I’ve sprinkled salt in our letterbox. We’ll see if the mail-eating snails like that. They’ve been winning the war thus far…

Re: Delivery times

sugar249 — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 03:40:30 GMT

@countessalmirena wrote:
Some of the big name stores warn of significant click-and-collect delays. There was a 2-day delay on being able to pick up the paint I’d ordered from one local Bunnings store, and 5 days’ delay on being able to pick up the paint roller, brushes, extension poles, scrapers, filler, putty knife, builder’s bog, gloves to protect against toxic stuff, etc from another local Bunnings (which had all of the stuff in stock).

Don't believe some of the advertised click and collect delays for bunnings, I have 3 within cooee and they are/were all saying 5 days, but when I did a click and collect it was a couple of hours.

Also through my real job, I have access, and half the staff are standing around having a good natter, me thinks the 5 day quote is just to cover themselves if things get serious.

Re: Delivery times

imastawka — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 03:43:15 GMT

Ermagerd! You have a 'real' job'?

Re: Delivery times

huatao1975 — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 04:29:50 GMT

Last month I bought from a seller located 7 km from me in Melbourne. Seller posed the item 2 days later.

AusPost tracking showed the package was going around Melbourne in a circle. From Melbourne to West to South. It took 2 weeks to complete the circle. When it finally arrived, only more than a day later AusPost marked it as "delivered".

Not really sellers' fault. I talked to the lady at my local post office, she said they are short in staff, then she added it's related to the strikes.

Re: Delivery times

countessalmirena — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 04:36:58 GMT

I don’t mean that there was an advertised delay – I ordered from Bunnings and that was how long it actually took!

Yes, there was an advertised delay but I didn’t really expect it to be that long. With Mitre-10, I was able to go directly to the stores and wait outside at a table/counter while a staff member fetched what I wanted. Sydney Tools - online order, and one hour later came the email “Your order is ready to collect”.

Bunnings’ delays are understandable and I just had to be patient. There are … let me see… 7 Bunnings stores within 15-20 or so minutes’ drive, certainly within the 15-km limit we currently have, and I ordered from the ones that had what I wanted for each order.

Re: Delivery times

davewil1964 — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 08:12:27 GMT

A workmate of mine ordered something on Sunday. Got the confirmation of item ready on Thursday evening. Don't believe that your particular instance is typical.

Re: Delivery times

davewil1964 — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 08:19:13 GMT

Yes, sorry.

Essential worker, even.

Edit: Sorry, I thought you were addressing me. As you were.

Re: Delivery times

*sons_and_daughters* — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 12:40:06 GMT

Sydney Tools, move in and undercut local businesses. It is owned by the Chinese. They are destroying genuine local businesses all over the country, especially in regional areas. I am about to see another long term local business go under since they moved here. They won't get one red cent from me. I am happy to pay the extra and support the long term local business and hopefully see them last a bit longer.

I work with the wife of the owner of said business. When Sydney Tools can sell Makita power tools for 1/4 of the cost from this business, or even Bunnings, something is dodgy.