If your dont provide tracking, your days on ebay are numbered.

[moviemem]

Australia Post seems to be getting slower and slower in delivering packages. Buyers can leave a defect for late delivery and there is absolutely nothing you can do if you don't provide tracking. Bear in mind that you dont get notified when someone leaves a defect so check your dashboard regularly.

I hear of many sellers who send items by letter post without tracking and I think it will be virtually impossible to avoid getting defects.Too many defects will affect your ability to sell on ebay.

[davewil1964]

Apples and oranges?

If your late defects are from OS sales (easy enough to determine) then how does 'priority' postage for domestic sales relate? And as 'priority' is not tracked, how does it relate to the topic?

[moviemem]

Many sellers are using Economy Airmail which has no tracking and replaces the old airmail. They are quoting 10 business days + and the plus could mean anything. Very risky and likely to result in defects.

[lane-ends]

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@mbselections00 wrote:

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@pennyforum14 wrote:

. . . . . . . .  I am thinking of changing back to one day handling for May as a bit of an experiment as sales have been dismal over the last few months and nothing else seems to be working, so I would like to see if the shorter handling time has any effect.

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Very interesting.  I actually commented somewhere ? that on this ID my sales have plummeted dramatically - ever since I extended my handling time from 1 to 2 days and I can't help but wonder is it a coincidence or does it in fact have to do with the handling time ?  It will be interesting to hear back from you if it makes a difference   At the present time, I'm too chicken to change back .  The time & stress involved in trying to get a late delivery defect removed is just not worth it !

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Problem is if sellers are actively doing something to get around the complying with what ebays long term goal is (fast shipping with full tracking) then sooner or later Ebay are likely to tweak "priorities" to counter this, so it may not affect you now but it is not inconceiveable that it could happen anytime.

Like anything on Ebay it is always important to constantly monitor your performance and be ready to change things around if you have to. Ebay are sly buggers and they dont telegraph or own up to their fiddling.

[collect247]

Ebay make trillions in fees off sellers so how about ebay do away with this stupid late shipment/arrival garbage that could see a seller

receive a defect and potentially ruining their lively hood.

How about the seller posts the item and it gets to its destination when AP or a courier delivers it and that's it.

There is enough pressure on a seller with all the other bull**bleep** ebay throw at them.

Ebay are very happy to take your money but put bloody obstacles in your way,along the way biting the hand that feeds ebay.

[chameleon54]

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

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@themotherjewel wrote:

If you are using letter post, I think it worth paying the extra 50c for priority post ( meant to deliver within 4 postal days), so far I have been lucky and only a few late defects a month

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Priority stickers are a farce. My large letter items are not taking any longer to arrive than they used to. If anything, a lot are getting there quicker than before.

The postmaster at my local PO contacted 20 post offices around Australia and asked them to send him 2 letters. One with the priority sticker, the other without. Most arrived on the same day. The few that didn't, the ones without the sticker arrived a day or 2 before the ones with the sticker. I know 40 letters don't mean much in the big scheme of things, but it was a decent small study. He even said to me that it's just a money grab by AP and it doesn't make any difference.

Edited to add: I don't have any defects, let alone a few a month that you've got posting with the stickers. What does that tell you?

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I have only got one defect over the three selling accounts and several thousand transactions and that was for an item mailed to Canada that appears to have got held up in customs. ( I have had several other late arrival enquiries also from Canada that did not result in defects ).

I dont use the priority stickers, but I do have a three day handling time and mail most days of the week. Once again it may depend on the demographic of your buyers and the products you sell. Some product types attract more idiot / impatient buyers than others.  Think womans clothing, mobile phone accessories, computer games etc.

[digital*ghost]

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

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Priority stickers are a farce. My large letter items are not taking any longer to arrive than they used to. If anything, a lot are getting there quicker than before.

The postmaster at my local PO contacted 20 post offices around Australia and asked them to send him 2 letters. One with the priority sticker, the other without. Most arrived on the same day. The few that didn't, the ones without the sticker arrived a day or 2 before the ones with the sticker. I know 40 letters don't mean much in the big scheme of things, but it was a decent small study. He even said to me that it's just a money grab by AP and it doesn't make any difference.

Edited to add: I don't have any defects, let alone a few a month that you've got posting with the stickers. What does that tell you?

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I think it actually depends on mail volume, of both priority and non-priority letters. 

If there's still room for non-priority mail to move forward, there's no sense whatsoever for AP to sit on it, so it will go out with all the rest, and I suspect priority post usage is probably lower in some areas and higher in others (definitely would have been low all 'round when first introduced). My PO is always running out of the stickers. 

The single-use stickers you get have a QR code on them, but the metered mail or "postage paid" stamps just have a separate box saying "Priority", so I think unless handed over the counter and sorted there, mail has to be scanned into a priority post section, and the system may not be 100% reliable. 

In other words, the system is still in its infancy for the general public, and I don't think true results would be known until the number of users of priority post settles to an average (if it hasn't already), and APs sorting system is *cough* perfected (perhaps a practical impossibility). 

What I do know is that there are some letters that don't seem to be arriving in a "priority" time frame, but they more often do -  mail will often get to WA and TAS in 2 days (never happened prior to priority), and the times I've sent buyers a pre-paid envelope to return something to me, which I don't put priority stickers on, it takes 6-7 business days to get back (when they got it in 2-3). 

[mbselections00]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

---

Priority stickers are a farce. My large letter items are not taking any longer to arrive than they used to. If anything, a lot are getting there quicker than before.

The postmaster at my local PO contacted 20 post offices around Australia and asked them to send him 2 letters. One with the priority sticker, the other without. Most arrived on the same day. The few that didn't, the ones without the sticker arrived a day or 2 before the ones with the sticker. I know 40 letters don't mean much in the big scheme of things, but it was a decent small study. He even said to me that it's just a money grab by AP and it doesn't make any difference.

Edited to add: I don't have any defects, let alone a few a month that you've got posting with the stickers. What does that tell you?

---

I think it actually depends on mail volume, of both priority and non-priority letters. 

If there's still room for non-priority mail to move forward, there's no sense whatsoever for AP to sit on it, so it will go out with all the rest, and I suspect priority post usage is probably lower in some areas and higher in others (definitely would have been low all 'round when first introduced). My PO is always running out of the stickers. 

The single-use stickers you get have a QR code on them, but the metered mail or "postage paid" stamps just have a separate box saying "Priority", so I think unless handed over the counter and sorted there, mail has to be scanned into a priority post section, and the system may not be 100% reliable. 

In other words, the system is still in its infancy for the general public, and I don't think true results would be known until the number of users of priority post settles to an average (if it hasn't already), and APs sorting system is *cough* perfected (perhaps a practical impossibility). 

What I do know is that there are some letters that don't seem to be arriving in a "priority" time frame, but they more often do -  mail will often get to WA and TAS in 2 days (never happened prior to priority), and the times I've sent buyers a pre-paid envelope to return something to me, which I don't put priority stickers on, it takes 6-7 business days to get back (when they got it in 2-3). 

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The postmaster at my local PO contacted 20 post offices around Australia and asked them to send him 2 letters. One with the priority sticker, the other without.

One of the relief staff at my local PO conducted a similar but smaller experiment, I think he said he sent 12 spread over a week and from different Post Offices.  He posted within Brisbane (to himself & a friend) to street addresses and PO Box address and also two of each to friends in Sydney.

He actually found most Priority were delivered next day some non-priority took up to 4 or 5 days to both Brissie & Sydney BUT, some were delivered the same day or just 1 day after Priority . . . . . .

I think it actually depends on mail volume, of both priority and non-priority letters. 

If there's still room for non-priority mail to move forward, there's no sense whatsoever for AP to sit on it, so it will go out with all the rest

Local PO has told me that's exactly how it works, and as often as not, std will arrive as quickly as priority !