topic Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier in Selling

Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

1076johnw — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 07:48:13 GMT

Sendle has been the default postage method for local eBay sellers for some time now.

Sellers should be aware that Sendle are not couriers, they are courier brokers who farm out a vast proportion of their parcels to Aramex (formerly known as Fastway) and Couriers Please. At the moment, I have two separate parcels that are

“currently being processed at a sortation facility” by Aramex for the seventh day in a row.

Aramex are not so much couriers as an invitation to grief. Here is their feedback .

https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/aramex-courier

94% of the 1,446 reviewers rated them one star out of five (and many of those lamented the lack of a zero star option) Pretty impressive, huh?

And if you’re wondering how they went in their previous incarnation as Fastway Couriers, well here you go:

https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/fastway

93% of the 7,929 reviewers rated them one star.

So, my question to sellers is, do you care enough about your buyers to refrain from using Sendle or is it a case of hey, they'll pick up my parcel and they’re cheap – who cares?

For my part, as a seller, I'll use Australia Post every time - they're not perfect by any means but still a whole lot less likely to result in complaints from buyers over postage time. As a buyer, I'll be checking the seller's postage details to make sure they're using Australia Post and not Sendle or Aramex.

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

digital*ghost — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 09:17:55 GMT

Horses for courses.

The best courier I personally deal with (DHL) has a similar rating via online review sites, but I've never had a problem with them myself, in several years of using them. People are motivated to trash businesses they have dealt with (like you're doing here) if they had a bad experience, but - typically - are significantly less motivated to leave glowing reviews, even for years of great service (I've never left a review for the aforementioned courier, though I have recommended them to others in appropriate circumstances).

Most people already know they are brokers for Fastway / Aramex, and Couriers Please, and the thing about that is it makes Sendle only as good as the designated courier service that's used in specific areas, quite a few of which are franchises, and service quality varies greatly. Which is why any time Sendle are mentioned in various seller groups I visit, there's plenty of people saying they use them successfully with no issues at all, and of course some who say they're awful and to not use them.

I won't use them, I don't particularly like the way they operate, and because consistency is efficiency as far as I'm concerned (i.e. my buyers tend to know what to expect with AP, and I don't have to exclude any addresses like PO boxes, and / or use multiple carriers / pricing models.

As for "do you care enough about your buyers to refrain from using Sendle or is it a case of hey, they'll pick up my parcel and they’re cheap – who cares?" this is a false dichotomy.

If I put my most cynical hat on, let's say a seller's only concern is their own interest, which means they have to decide if it's worthwhile for them to use a specific carrier to get their products from them to their customer. I don't think any seller in their right mind would continue using a carrier if even 20% of their sales resulted in complaints, let alone 90-odd %. Even if they didn't care about their customers, they'd definitely care about the time-suck from sorting out problems, bad feedback ratings etc that these things often result in.

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

gutterpunkz05 — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 09:45:09 GMT

Obviously the millions of recipients and senders, who did not leave a review, were satisfied with the service.

Hence the services continue to operate.

Hopefully you do not decide to buy something, that AP refuse to deliver.

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

1076johnw — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 10:01:33 GMT

Millions? Really? What's your source for this estimate?

And what would Australia Post refuse to deliver that Aramex would otherwise deliver weeks later, pray tell?

By the way, Fastway were the first business in Australia to receive over four thousand negative reviews, but if you want to believe there's no issue with them, go ahead.

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

davewil1964 — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 10:10:03 GMT

My source is that a courier that has been operating for decades would not still be in business if they averaged less than 30,000 parcels per year.

Admittedly, that's logic, rather than Aramex's figures, but gp's estimate is likely true. And under actuality.

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

1076johnw — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 10:10:56 GMT

Of course, any company will have the odd bad feedback from time to time. However, in Aramex's case they average at least five a day - hardly a drop in the ocean.

It's all about percentages - and of the three packages sent via Aramex to me in recent weeks from eBay purchases, one took nine days to deliver after sitting in a processing depot for three days straight, and the other two mentioned above have been 11 days in transit, both spending their seventh straight day in a processing centre.

Am I just an unlucky sod? I think not.

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

sugar249 — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 10:56:24 GMT

This same thing had a go on these boards a while back, interesting you are suggesting Australia Post, Take a look at their ratings.

8011 out of 10792 rated them 1 star. Similar type odd's, slightly better but still shocking.

At least if you are going to compare 2 services, make sure the the one you are recommending has much better averages.

Remember the review site you are using, is built for complainers. Maybe thats why you like it

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

1076johnw — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 11:04:38 GMT

So your response to what I believe are valid and concerning issues is "You must like complaining". That'll do me. By the way, are you all people eBay plants??. (P.S. This is the last time I'll access this community page. Thanks for making me feel welcome!!)

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

sugar249 — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 11:09:03 GMT

Oh they are valid and concerning, but when you try to use a site which in itself is just a complaints site, and the business you are saying we should be using has almost as bad a rating on that site. Well what else can we assume.

LOL, when you don't like what you hear we must be plants.

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

digital*ghost — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 12:09:27 GMT

The issue is not whether Sendle is right for you, it clearly isn't and I don't think anyone here is contesting whether or not you had a bad experience (or 3) with them. I fully believe it, and I have heard plenty of other stories that certainly don't make me feel very confident they'd be a good alternative to Aus Post for me.

The issue is that you can't be authoritative about these kinds of things based on your experiences, and / or the experiences of those that choose to post their complaints elsewhere. You can, of course, choose what is right for you, but you can't choose what is right for anyone else, and imply sellers don't care about their customers if they don't adopt your personal preferences. If they (Sendle) are working well for a seller, no complaints from their customers, etc etc, then all this post is to a seller like that - if they even see it - is "I won't buy from you". This means you've announced yourself as someone who is not a customer of theirs, and if all their other customers are happy, why should they care about this post? To put it another way, sellers tend to make business decisions like using courier services knowing full well that it means some people won't buy from them, for various reasons.

It's got nothing to do with defending Sendle and their associated couriers, like I said I don't use them and don't feel inclined to, and I know plenty of other sellers who refuse to use them as well, if just because they are a courier, as that entails limitations Aus Post doesn't.

I for one did not intend to make you feel unwelcome, though to be fair I did not have any specific intention of making you feel welcome, either - I don't tend to put up the happy banners for anyone who posts, be they new or not so new, rather I just respond to the content of what they post, if I see something I want to respond to.

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

*sons_and_daughters* — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 00:39:14 GMT

I have never used a courier service for ebay and probably never will. However, I've had quite a few deliveries from Fastway (before they became Aramex), and I personally couldn't fault them. Most items were here overnight from interstate. Another took 2 days. I was actually quite shocked after reading all the horror reviews.

As for Product Review. That site used to be awesome. People would post both good and bad reviews, so you got a good idea. Myself included. These days, it's pretty much only for bad reviews. It makes it hard to get an idea of the product or service you are looking at. Like, would you consider buying the latest and greatest Dyson vacuum if you went to the site and saw 250 bad reviews and only one good one? Of course you'd be turned off. Problem is, you're not seeing the 750,000 people who think it's the greatest thing ever invented.

Product Review used to be my bible when I wanted to buy something. That is no longer the case, because there are so few good reviews of items that are more than likely pretty darned good. People these days only want to leave a review if something is wrong. They don't even consider it if the item is awesome.

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

gutterpunkz05 — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 01:30:23 GMT

@1076johnw wrote:
Millions? Really? What's your source for this estimate?
And what would Australia Post refuse to deliver that Aramex would otherwise deliver weeks later, pray tell?
By the way, Fastway were the first business in Australia to receive over four thousand negative reviews, but if you want to believe there's no issue with them, go ahead.

Millions, Yes! Estimate Yes! (logical)

Given AP delivers close to 2 Million parcels per day (2020) and Sendle is attempting to become a major competitor to AP. If Sendle has managed to achieve a mere 1% Of Market share, 20,000 items per day,

then they will deliver 1 million items every 50 days or approx 7.3 million deliveries per year.

Now, working on 20,000 deliveries per day, 5 bad reviews per day = 0.025%

leaving 99.975% of customers satisfied with the service.

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

sandypebbles — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 02:18:28 GMT

Are you an Australia Post plant?

Asking for a friend

Another 'I don't like factual answers so I am going to call people names and not post on the forum again'

Oh dear

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

cezm — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 03:09:05 GMT

@1076johnw wrote:
Millions? Really? What's your source for this estimate?
And what would Australia Post refuse to deliver that Aramex would otherwise deliver weeks later, pray tell?
By the way, Fastway were the first business in Australia to receive over four thousand negative reviews, but if you want to believe there's no issue with them, go ahead.

4000 negative reviews out of 37 million parcels pa - pretty good, I'd say

Two years ago, multinational logistics, courier and package delivery company Aramex occupied 15,000 square metres of industrial space around Australia. Today, it has 24,000 square metres over 31 depots and delivered 37 million parcels in Australia last year.

How logistics companies are dealing with the huge surge in online shopping (commercialrealestate.com.au)

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

jteh001 — Sat, 07 Aug 2021 04:32:54 GMT

It may be more constructive to ask more specific questions - such as, in this case:
"Does the courier service provide for actual human beings I can speak with in order to resolve any shipping issues that inevitably come up?"

In Sendle's case, they dont have a phone number or online chat option - but instead have an online contact form that they say they'll respond to in 2 days time, and the 'Late Parcel Enquiry' button on the tracking page is greyed out until their arbitrary, subject to change without notice, estimated delivery window has elapsed.
The various shops and whatnot who serve as drop-off points for Sendle don't have any means of assisting people either - and the various assortment of couriers they outsource ruthlessly to are opaque to the sender.

Australia Post, however, do have all sorts of contact options - including actual Post Offices located in population centres all around Australia with people who can actually pick up the phone, call each other, lay eyes on any potential bottlenecks or issues, and work with the sender to resolve said issues.
Sure, AusPost upper senior management are drastically overpaid compared to all the people who do the actual work, and political meddling in this weird public private organisation isn't helping at all - but the core infrastructure of people is still there (for now).

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

sugar249 — Sat, 07 Aug 2021 05:00:57 GMT

Yes Australia Post do have Post Offices all over the country, but to say they will pick up the phone and call is a load of rubbish, if they can't determine an issue from the tracking on the EPOS terminal, they will tell you to ring the help desk. They have specifically being told that is the start and end of any assistance for parcels / letters. Sure you have a person, but not much else.

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

davewil1964 — Sat, 07 Aug 2021 07:55:49 GMT

Sendle is a courier broker, not a courier company.

They don't transport any freight, nor do they have any real control over the couriers (usually the cheapest - ie Fastway/Aramex) they contract delivery out to.

I dread getting stuff sent with couriers, and I definitely wouldn't use them to post.

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

bmanly3 — Sat, 07 Aug 2021 23:13:05 GMT

I got an offer from ebay for free postage for 1 item and I was going to use it and then I read the fine print and it said for Sendle postage only so I didn't do it.

Most of my customers use a PO BOX and couriers can not deliver there unless the PO BOX holder pays and extra fee to Aust Post to accept these parcels. I have seen couriers in the queue at my local PO be turned away with their parcels with the CSO saying we don't take couriers parcels. Here is what it says on Sendle's website:

A physical street address is required for all Sendle deliveries

If only ebay offered an Aust Post free bee I'd snap it up in an instant.

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

springyzone — Sat, 07 Aug 2021 23:59:42 GMT

@sugar249 wrote:

Remember the review site you are using, is built for complainers. Maybe thats why you like it

😁Hey, that's a bit harsh. I'm an ambassador reviewer on there. I think it is a good site.

BUT, like any feedback site (including ebay), I think the tendency for a lot of your average people is to only bother writing a review when they are hopping mad about something. It isn't as common to go in and write a good review, not unless you're the sort of person who likes to write anyway.

The best way to use any review site (in my opinion) is to pick a product you are interested in and look for common themes/comments that run through a number of reviews. That review site saved me quite a bit of money(thank you, paypal!) on one product I had paid for as when I had trouble and looked up the reviews, I found everyone was having trouble and the company had gone into receivership. Similarly, a fridge I had to have replaced, I found almost every review after mine had the same problem. Had I been in the market, that would have been a red flag.

So I wouldn't knock the site as such, but I would realise that just because Aust Post or sendle might have 90% bad reviews, it does not mean 90% of customers are necessarily unhappy with them. Lots of customers just won't bother writing a review.

As a seller, what i would do is i would be willing to try out both services but if I consistently had trouble with one, I would definitely switch to another. Digital ghost mentioned that the service uses different carriers. I don't blame JohnW for switching as it sounds very much as if the Sendle service in his area is causing grief.

Sellers on ebay can't afford to have items delayed too often. A glitch now and again, sure. But not consistently, it could hurt your ebay account or at least your feedback.

Re: Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

sugar249 — Sun, 08 Aug 2021 00:52:32 GMT

I don't think that because you are an ambassador reviewer, makes my comment harsh,

An Ambassador doesnt say that the majority of reviwers are complainers, you narrative just confirms that mainly complainers write reviews.