Late delivery defect

[ameliardcottage]

Just checked my dashboard and discovered 2 new buyer reports late delivery defects. One was over the Xmas period when my store was on holiday which is annoying in itsself. A bit hard to post when the post office is closed.

The second nealy knocked me over, it was during cyclone Debbie. Whilst we were not flooded we were cut off for a couple of days so instead of posting on Thursday and Friday it was Monday befor I could safely get to a post office.

I find it hard to understand what people think sometimes.

[snowbunnies2016]

Some buyers expect you to post their item yesterday. I had one the other week. Paid at 9.00pm on a Sunday night. At 11.30am the next day I get a message from the buyer "have you posted my item yet?" Obviously a nuffy who failed to read the handling time, which I increased to 10 days because of eBays stupidity in not recognising weekends or public holidays and was copping a couple of late post defects. Although I generally post within 2 days of payment, one day to package (after work, and feeding the crew, and helping with homework, doing the dishes and washing and tidying up) the second day I post!

[springyzone]

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@ameliardcottage wrote:

Just checked my dashboard and discovered 2 new buyer reports late delivery defects. One was over the Xmas period when my store was on holiday which is annoying in itsself. A bit hard to post when the post office is closed.

The second nealy knocked me over, it was during cyclone Debbie. Whilst we were not flooded we were cut off for a couple of days so instead of posting on Thursday and Friday it was Monday befor I could safely get to a post office.

I find it hard to understand what people think sometimes.

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How exactly does ebay calculate a defect?

I was wondering if it is based at all on those questions ebay asks about a transaction eg did it arrive on or before such and such a date?

If so, then buyers might simply tell the truth and if something did arrive after the date, say so. To me, ebay should never class that as a defect, as long as the item was posted in the advertised time frame.

If you are talking about star ratings that people give-some buyers are unreasonable & if they are not personally affected by a cyclone, they are unlikely to even consider it, may not even remember when it was later on, by the time they get around to doing feedback.

To be honest, no matter what sellers put in their conditions, I think a lot of buyers expect items within Australia to arrive within a couple of weeks.

[kopenhagen5]

That was my thought too springy.

It's possible the defect was issued if marked as posted after handling time expired.

I had one where the buyer asked to wait to send for 1 week because they were away.

Received my first late defect.

So OP, could be nothing to do with the buyer.

[digital*ghost]

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@ameliardcottage wrote:

I find it hard to understand what people think sometimes.

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They either think 'yes', or 'no'.

Buyer-reported late shipments are not a result of a buyer being vindictive, or a buyer's lack of understanding of current events and how they may affect handling and / or shipping times, they are the result of the buyer being presented with the question "Did your order arrive by (latest estimated delivery date)?" and ticking 'Yes' or 'No'. 

eBay do not indicate to them why they are asking the question, nor what happens if the item did indeed arrive after the ETA they were given and answer the question honestly. 

They are also not defects, not in the way actual defects are, which affect your seller standing (i.e. they can not cause you to go from Above Standard to Below Standard). At 5%, a seller will lose Top Rated Status, but unlike defects, they can not result in any selling restrictions. 

[redders_60]

My postage stars are @ an all time low of 4.6 - despite me posting the same day or next day (except on long weekends) I even post on Saturday mornings! Admittedly my sales are slower than slow. Even new listings get few lookers.

I think I may extend my 2 day handling time to cope with Ebay's unrealistic expectations of AusPost's delivery times - just to counteract that little Yes / No tick box! I cannot post any faster than I already do; So something is haywire somewhere! So much for an honest seller who actually states their real handling time!

[gec2002]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

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"Did your order arrive by (latest estimated delivery date)?" and ticking 'Yes' or 'No'. 

eBay do not indicate to them why they are asking the question, nor what happens if the item did indeed arrive after the ETA they were given and answer the question honestly. 

They are also not defects, not in the way actual defects are, which affect your seller standing (i.e. they can not cause you to go from Above Standard to Below Standard). At 5%, a seller will lose Top Rated Status, but unlike defects, they can not result in any selling restrictions. 

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To understand why eBay ask the question this way you have to think eBay US.  Top Rated Sellers in the US get a 10% discount (Just dropped from 20%) on fees, so eBay have a vested interest in removing as many TRS sellers as possible, and late delivery is one way of doing this without to much effort on their part.  Buyer says late Bang, mark against you, more than 3% and your 10% discount goes.  The US boards are full of complaints about loss of TRS due to mail delays and eBay just tell them to suck it up.

[lane-ends]

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@redders_60 wrote:

I think I may extend my 2 day handling time to cope with Ebay's unrealistic expectations of AusPost's delivery times - just to counteract that little Yes / No tick box! I cannot post any faster than I already do; So something is haywire somewhere! So much for an honest seller who actually states their real handling time!

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If you dont counter lodge an item with tracking you should extend your handling time. If you do counter lodge with tracking it doesn't matter as it is not dependent on arrival time, that only matters when you have no proof of lodgement.

TBH many buyers leave FB sometime after receiving it so whether it did or did not arrive by a set date may very well come down to perception rather than accurately remembering facts

[davewil1964]

So if a seller claims they sent the day after the order (which happened to be a public holiday. The despatch date, not the order date) and I still haven't got it a week later, I should defect them?

If they are AP and they are sending an AP product, and they can't manage their own items? Which reflects on how us plebs can expect them to service when they can't even manage to get their own stuff, using their own facilities, out on time.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@redders_60 wrote:

@My postage stars are @ an all time low of 4.6 - despite me posting the same day or next day (except on long weekends) I even post on Saturday mornings! Admittedly my sales are slower than slow. Even new listings get few lookers.

I think I may extend my 2 day handling time to cope with Ebay's unrealistic expectations of AusPost's delivery times - just to counteract that little Yes / No tick box! I cannot post any faster than I already do; So something is haywire somewhere! So much for an honest seller who actually states their real handling time!

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I extended my handling time to 5 days when the postage thing came in. I still post same or next day. Most of my items are parcels lodged over the counter, so no problem with them. The last few weeks most of my sales have been large letter items. All (except one) gave positive feedback with 5 stars for everything, and I assume answered yes for the question as I'm still sitting at 0%. The other one hasn't left feedback, so I'm hoping it has arrived. I've not heard otherwise.

Since extending my handling time, I've not had one single "where's my item" message. The buyers can see that it arrived before the first estimate date and think that's just wonderful. I have had a few numpties contact me asking why they haven't received their item yet. Probably because it's Sunday night and you only bought and paid last night. I'm not a miracle worker and they wouldn't be able to afford me to hand deliver by private jet. I remind them that it's the weekend and the PO isn't open on Sundays.

I would definitely extend your handling time if you're having issues with defects and whatnot.