Seller responsibility for postage delays during pandemic

[michael_cullis]

I have had four or five official complaints from buyers overseas whose purchases have not arrived after 4-5 weeks. I have asked them to be patient but offered a refund and suggested that if they get a refund they could pay me when their purchase arrives. Australia Post quotes delays of 4 - 6 weeks on air mail delivery. Am I obliged to give refunds under these circumstances or can I simply ask buyers to be patient?

[chameleon54]

Once ebays estimated delivery date has passed without arrival of the item, the buyer can open a case and seek a refund. Ebay almost always sides with the buyer in these cases and their communications with sellers regards the impacts of Corona virus on ebay sellers confirms they are sticking with " business as usual " regards the disputes process.

I have had several international items not arrive in time. Most buyers have been pretty understanding, but I have still had to refund in the end, because the items simply are not arriving in any sort of reasonable time frame.

It has got to the point where some destination countries are simply not accepting international mail deliveries at all and in other countries the mail is being sent by sea instead of air mail, as planes are simply not flying. ( AP is still charging full air air mail price though ! ) The chaos got to the point several weeks ago where I removed international delivery from all of my listings on my largest selling account and I'm cancelling most international sales on the smaller selling accounts.

This has cost me sales, but the refunds had got to the point where international sales where costing me more than they where worth at the moment. Once things settle down I will re-instate the international delivery option.

[asporty]

I am dealing with this on a case to case basis. A few were happy to wait, while two got uppity so I refunded them with a promise to pay when they receive the items.

Once they open a case then ebay will side with them, so better to negotiate your way out as best as you can.

[michael_cullis]

I think that a case by case basis is the best way to go. I have suggested to the complainants that they be patient, pointing out that overseas mail from Australia can take 4 - 6 weeks. I have offered them the opportunity to get a refund then pay me once their purchase has arrived. When I first learned that there were going to be delays I added a warning in red on all my listings. I figure that if people still elect to buy things from me they have done so knowing of possible delays which means that I can delay giving refunds. Unfortunately the complaints I have received probably arose fro items I listed before I added the warning.

[digital*ghost]

What postal service do you have set up for international orders? Just checking options available on eBay and there's a generic economy service you can select with deliver time of 11-35 business days, which is just over 2 weeks - 7 weeks.

If you switch your international postage option to that it allows you to provide a somewhat more realistic delivery timeframe without blowing out handling time too much and adding too much to the ETA of domestic orders. This would also mean an international customer wouldn't be able to open a case until the day after the last ETA eBay gave, so you could get around 8 weeks before an official request through eBay can be made.

[michael_cullis]

I use Australia Post. What is the generic option? I haven't looked at the options and I'd like to know what the generic option is called.

[padraicpaul91]

For my part, from today, I am offering only Express to international customers, about 70% more than Standard, but given priority on precious planes. I will do this  until there is a clearer picture of what is really happening. It will certainly cost sales, except for those who really want my items in a reasonable time.

Australia Post has yet again revised estimated time frames for delivery. Now that it has reached up to 35 business days to the US for Standard, it's time to call quits on it. The US represents 25% of my total sales.

This decision is also based on the apparent near collapse of the tracking system. I have items having no tracking events between acceptance at my local post office, 5 weeks of nothing, and then a delivery scan, which may appear some days after the delivery.

Also, ebay appears to have delayed the ability of customers to lodge an 'item not received' complaint until 30 days after the estimated delivery date. Not sure if that applies if they choose to lodge the complaint via paypal.

[digital*ghost]

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@michael_cullis wrote:

I use Australia Post. What is the generic option? I haven't looked at the options and I'd like to know what the generic option is called.

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They are at the very end of the list in the dropdown menu, just above the one highlighted in blue in the screenshot below (this is with having flat rate selected - if you use calculated postage rates, they probably don't appear as ebay connects with the actual service when doing calculated post).

[michael_cullis]

If I sent something by Economy Speedpack From China/Hong Kong/Taiwan how would I post it from Sydney? Excuse my denseness!

[digital*ghost]

I'm talking about the options listed just above the highlighted one.

International Economy (3 different options) - 11 - 35 days. It's a generic shipping option that denotes long delivery timeframes.