The last week has been a disaster for me in terms of items not arriving or arriving later than eBay's estimated delivery dates. I have had 10 messages or items not received cases from buyers in NSW and Queensland (I am in Melbourne). And whist I continue to communicate with buyers to try and minimise the damage, I have received 3 late arrival defects this month (compared to nil for the rest of 2016) and will refund the 3 item not received cases by the due date if the item has not arrived. My business model exists on posting at large letter rates so there is no need to recommend tracked postage for me as I can't affort it (nor can buyers for most of my low cost items).
Is anyone else noticing an increase in late arrivals?
What are seller's experiences in using the 50 cent priority stickers for letters expecially for destinations in galaxies far far away?
I have avoided increasing my handling time from 1 day basacially as I have not needed to do this. But the increases in late delivery defects and the grief (and time) being caused by late deliveries has made me rethink. I know most sellers who have increased handling times would say heir sales have not been affected but are there any sellers who have noticed a negative consequence? Additionally how far can you stretch out handling time before there is an effect on things like Top Rated status or best match placements or anything else?
In saying all this, my late arrival defects are an 0.5% and I can never see them reaching 5%. So this may all be an over reaction for one bad week!!
