3 day delivery not possible for all sellers depending on location not fair

[theantennacompany]

it is not fair for all sellers especially regional sellers like my self to have to compete with 3 day guarantee delivery, it takes 3 days for an item to get to major depot. ebay are pushing 3 day option to sellers and this impacts my sales. i tried to offer this but was penalised by ebay for not delivering, i feel it needs to be thought out a little better. its bad enough small Sellers get pushed to the end of the pile , and now being able to promote your item for an additional fee how much money is enough? very frustrating, keep it simple like it used to be fair for all, this is just my opinion.

[countessalmirena]

@theantennacompany,

If you are not in a location that makes 3 day guaranteed delivery possible, it's definitely not something you should even contemplate offering on your listings. The risk of late deliveries - or rather, the certainty of late deliveries - is too immense, and the effect of them upon you as a seller would be a quick way to commit seller suicide on eBay.

Since guaranteed delivery within 3 days isn't possible, just let your listings stand out for other things: excellent products, fantastic after-sales service, friendly professionalism, enough information without being too overwhelming, superb photographs so that buyers can clearly see what they are buying, excellent packaging, same-day postage.

I won't say that not having super-fast postage isn't important, because I know that some buyers do look for fast postage above all. (I don't; I look for good quality items and good service, but buyers do differ from each other.) But it's also clear that plenty of buyers look for the cheapest price overall, since we see Chinese sellers proliferate - and their items are not likely to arrive speedily. Still other buyers do look for Australian sellers who provide good value and good service. You will just need to tailor your listings to appeal to the demographic you are most likely to attract.

After all... one seller will not attract every single buyer within a certain category or for a certain item. Rather, the distribution will be spread among the various sellers in ways that reflect each buyer's separate buying criteria. You still have the option of focusing not on the buyers you won't attract, but upon the buyers that you will attract.

Spoiler

I would make one suggestion immediately, from looking at an item in your store. You have the following text in the description:

Dear customer, please note.

all my listings (except normal envelope mail posted items) now carry insurance,it is peace of mind for all parties, Aus post deny all responsibility and i cannot keep paying for their failure to deliver.

Thank you
john.

That is going to strike a lot of buyers as off-putting, I think - not because there isn't a risk of items going missing, but because you're expressing to the buyer your frustration with that risk. I see that your postage is free, so presumably you pay for the insurance. What about rewording that text to be more buyer-friendly and buyer-reassuring?

Insurance is included with tracked parcels for your peace of mind.

Your description for the item at which I'm looking is written in a friendly down-to-earth way. I don't think that the hit-and-miss punctuation detracts much, as it's a nice blokesy honesty sort of style. Good photos. You also have a 30-day return policy for change-of-mind, which is very generous of you. (Do you find that buyers take advantage of that to use a tool and then send it back when they're done, citing change of mind?)

(I'd also suggest that, if you do leave replies to neutral feedback, you make it very very polite and calm, even when the feedback comment seems to be a bit on the ridiculous side. You could, for instance, have made a subtle point by replying to that last feedback about the weather and pixelation with something like this:

    Reply by [your username]
    So sorry you're disappointed that bad weather affects digital signal - occurs universally.

That spells out with great delicacy that the buyer's comment doesn't relate to the product sold, without your having to spell out anything further, and it also shows professional objectivity.

Best of luck in your selling.

[digital*ghost]

If your current location means you can't offer guaranteed delivery, you either have to move, or send your items to a third party distributor if you want to compete on eBay.

.....before everyone rips me to shreds,  I'm not offering that as serious advice, but it also probably won't shock anyone (too much) to learn that this was (allegedly) the advice given by a certain person formerly emplyed by, and still closely related to, eBay. 

Honestly, I think the guaranteed delivery thing has ruffled a lot of seller's feathers, but not much else. If your location and handling time means eBay's ETA is 7+ business days, that will remain true compared to another seller's item if their location and handling time means an ETA of 3 business days. The only difference with this, is that buyers can click to show only items that have guaranteed delivery, if it's that important to them - and if it is that important to them, they won't buy something that has a 7-day ETA anyway. 

[countessalmirena]

---

@digital*ghost wrote:

If your current location means you can't offer guaranteed delivery, you either have to move, or send your items to a third party distributor if you want to compete on eBay.

.....before everyone rips me to shreds,  I'm not offering that as serious advice, but it also probably won't shock anyone (too much) to learn that this was (allegedly) the advice given by a certain person formerly emplyed by, and still closely related to, eBay. 

---

I'm only surprised that the "certain person" didn't suggest that sellers buy their own aeroplane to ensure guaranteed fast delivery...

[digital*ghost]

---

@countessalmirena wrote:

---

@digital*ghost

I'm only surprised that the "certain person" didn't suggest that sellers buy their own aeroplane to ensure guaranteed fast delivery...

---

I'd be happy to oblige  - just as soon as I get my Batman training, income, and all the toys...

[countessalmirena]

SuperCourierWoman to the rescue?

Or shall it be the ones who control the children of the night, for some bloodcurdling fast deliverry?

[davewil1964]

I just did a search for 'Children of the Night' and found at least half a dozen authors. As all of these presumably control their own creations, to whom are you referring?

[digital*ghost]

As a former goth, it's gotta be the vampires, I'd be like a creepy santa, the dull but recognisable thud of Docs plodding across rooftops as I scamper gleefully about, and all through the night the chorus of "Vun parcel, two parcels, three parcels delivered, ah ah ah!" could be heard.

[countessalmirena]

Davewil, it's a reference to Stoker's Dracula, where the dread Count himself refers to the “howing of many wolves” in the night just before dawn with this: “Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!”

(And of course, Dracula himself controls the wolves.)

Just a little fang-in-cheek jokey reference which is probably only funny to me in my coffee-deprived state. I've got to make some coffee or I'll be laughing like a loon over the financial budget next.

[countessalmirena]

... and instead of a glass of sherry, a vial of blood?

While I'm not a goth, I am an admirer of Stroker's only masterpiece!