Delayed shipping

[smm333]

Hello,

I'm a long time ebay buyer, and something I am finding more and more are ebay sellers who deliver items a lot longer after the expected delievery date. For the last 15 years for me the Auspost system has been outstanding. I can't remember the last time an item was lost.

For example last month I ordered an item from Sydney to be posted to me in Melbourne which should have taken 2 - 3 days. It turns up 2 weeks after I pay for it. When I query the seller he swore he posted it when it was marked on ebay as posted, but used an untrackable Auspost service.

So, in hindsight, I know the item was out of stock or never in stock and ordered from overseas - probably China (1 week delivery at least) and then posted it on. It was the fact he lied to me (and other users no doubt) and hid behind ebay's estimated delievery time and an untrackable Auspost service that annoys me.

In fact the seller in question shows the 'Fast N Free' speeding truck option on his items which seems to guaranty arrival within a week by ebay.

Basically I was wanting ebay to make sellers more accountable for there claims of fast shipping. Negative feedback doesn't really bother them either - I don't want to give negative as it does not seem like the correct course of action. A more appropriate action would be something along the lines of an 'Item not as described' for the shipping service. What do you think?

Btw, I'm all for shipping from overseas, I buy from US, Hong Kong and China. Its just when it takes longer than the promised time is when I get frustrated with the whole ebay thing - the whole reason I buy locally is to receive the item fast in the first place.

[harley_babes_hoard]

Negative feeback is to let others know of your experience of the transaction. why would you not want to leave a neutral or a negative? it wasn't a positive transaction otherwise you wouldn't be here. By not leaving feedback you are not helping at all in fact you are encouraging the exact thing you want ebay to make sellers be more responsible for. Sorry I don't get it. you have tools use them.

I might also add if you are talking about shipment times given by ebay then they are only estimates not promises or guarantees.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

parcels from Melbourne to me used to take 2-3 days.  Sometimes, I would get them the day after they were posted, but only if they were posted in the morning.

Recently that time has blown out to 5-7days.  It is not the fault of the sellers, it is Aust Post that has lowered its standard and caused longer posting times.  DO NOT punish sellers for Aust Post slowness.  I'm inclined to believe your seller that they did post promptly and that Aust Post were slow.  Did your package have any postal datestamp on it?  That would help in determining the truthfulness of your seller more than judging them by your past experiences with other sellers.

[falconsportspack]

As harley said, eBays' postage delivery estimates are just that. Estimates. They are not promises or guarantees of the delivery date.

You say in your 1st line in the OP, and I quote "ebay sellers who deliver items a lot longer after the expected delievery date."  Sorry, but sellers do not deliver the items, they take them to the post office & Aust Post delivers them. There's a big difference. 

I live out in the bush, 300kms from Melbourne, & once had an item take 8 days to arrive from there. When I received the item the date stamp on the parcel showed the seller posted it the day after I paid. BUT it took Aust Post 6 days to deliver it to me, where it should have only taken 2 days. I gave that seller 5 stars for postage time because that's what they did, posted quickly. It's not the sellers fault that AP took their time getting it to me.

And that's one of the problems with that star rating. Too many buyers give low stars or negs & neutrals for that because of the time AP takes to deliver, instead of it's original intention of how long the seller takes to post.

[lyndal1838]

Have you taken into account that Australia Post has now implemented their new sorting system....the PO now has to sort mail into slow and fast delivery items.  If the seller (and by default the buyer) has not paid for express or fast delivery you can expect AP to be using their famous snail mail.

[thecatspjs]

Don't be too sure that it is a seller mucking you around. 

There are lots of problems with particular AP distribution centres at the moment. 

Check the tracking out on this parcel posted on Wed 10 June going from Vic to NSW :

[smm333]

Hey there and thanks to the regulars that have chimed in.

An interesting thing as happened for me today RE shipping. I live in Blackburn South, I received a small parcel that was sent from Brunswick on the 24th June (both suburbs of Melbourne for you non-natives). I had actually contacted the seller about it as they had estimated 2 days shipping time. I also received a small parcel from Tenterfield NSW sent on the 24th.

The Brunswick parcel has no date stamp so I am going on the sellers claim. I also had another seller from Melbourne post something yesterday for me and that did not arrive today. 

Looks like the more and more items Auspost are processing, the more of these regular parcels are being delayed. When I sell an item I only use the trackable 3kg & 5kg Auspost satchels so have no experience with the regular mail system.

I find negative feedback should be used as a last resort when an item is never received - or for an unresponsive seller. Usually high volume sellers receive negative feedback but this barely dents their 12 month overall feedback rating. If i'd given the seller today negative feedback, then received the item when I got home would definitely not have be the best thing to have done.

Also ebay today recommended me to open a Paypal dispute as I had not received the item on the estimated delivery date. Once again I find this a little excessive, as with the case of the Brunswick item looks like the regular post was just extremely slow.

I just want a fairer system for both buyer and seller, a more realistic delivery date which will result in a happier buyer and less negative feedback and open Paypal disputes for the seller.

Looks like I'll have to start springing for Express shipping for anything time sensitive next time and stop relying on the estimated delivery. If more buyers have these issue in the future maybe ebay could give buyers a separate feedback option, rating how close to the estimated date it actually came and making that info then available for other potential buyers.

[davewil1964]

You got the daily weekly-at-best double. Chullora AND Sunshine West.

[wendshees-rocks]

On average it takes 2-3weeks for me to get an item from NSW to Victoria. I live in the city but as has been shown on the tracking example left above, it's a double whammy as far as sorting centres go. Those 2 are dreadfully slow and people have a lot of issues when their mail goes via one or both of them. 

Ebay puts those unrealistic estimates in the listings. The seller has no control over them and are at the mercy of eBay. It's the seller that suffers when ebay get it wrong.

[pierfas]

here is my opinion ordering from Ebay it does not take that long from Auspost to deliver , then I get a message from Australia Post  ( how did we do , expecting  5 star ratings ) , I reckon some sellers  you buy from anywhere in Australia  ,they get your money order from china get it delivered to them repack and send to you ,earn money at no risk to them , as most items are maid in china ,where I have ordered from Australia and it was in the country it got here in two 3 days and when ordered from china it got here in 7 to 14 days less time than when I have ordered from Australia , ( my opinion only ) to me this  makes sense