Sellers who refuse to send items to PO Box.

[lotzrgood]

Due to so much mail theft and identity theft, both Australia Post and the Police advise people to get a Post Office Box for safety and security. Then WHY do so many Ebay sellers now say they refuse to deliver to a post office box? 

A few years ago, I had some very important mail stolen from my home address mail box. Why? I had an Australia Post approved mail box, but mail delivery people would always leave mail half out of the (spring loaded) mail flap. When I complained to Aust Post I was told this rediculous reason - 'delivery people will not use 2 hands to put mail in boxes'. To put mail into my box you need one hand to prise open the strong flap (strong so as to stop people putting their hand in) and other hand to put the mail in. But our dear posties will only deliver mail with ONE hand. So they leave mail hanging through the slit. I was told that if I wanted to get my mail securely, to get a Post Office box. So I did.

So now many Ebay sellers will not deliver mail to my post office box 'due to security reasons'. HOW? WHY? When I go to my post office box I have to sign for many items. And as my work sees me away from home for many days at a time, I know my mail is held safely. Many items I buy from Ebay don't need to be signed for - so why can't they go to a safe post office box? What annoys me is that if I do give my home address, and I do need to sign for the item - if I am not home, they leave a card. And I have to drive down to the SAME post office where by box is, and wait in the queue for nearly 20 minutes, just to sign for the parcel. Something I would have to do if it was sent to my PO Box!! My incoming mail is FAR more secure sitting at my post box.

Also, my brother works doing FIFO in very remote sites. These sites do not have physical addresses - all goods go to a box at the nearest local post office. He is finding it increasingly hard to get things sent to him due to this silly seller requirement. Alot of sellers will lose buyers with this rediculous request. I can understand if a buer has nil or low feedback count, but with well established, good reputable buyers, why the problem?

[247newdeals]

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

Nice to see nothing has changed since you graced us with your presence last. Can you not post a helpful post without having a dig at other forum members? You do realise it's a violation of policy to harrass and badmouth other members don't you? Maybe you should read the policy.

I had a delivery sent via Fastway before Christmas. Took 2 weeks to get from Qld to NSW. It was SOD and we got back from the city to find it sitting at the front door. When I checked the CCTV, it had been sitting there for 8 hours and the delivery driver didn't even knock on the door. They just dropped it and left. I was considering offering courier as a postage option since we had a few new ones open up here, but after that, no way!

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I am having a dig at who exactly? I came here and posted a post that could be useful to other sellers but of course, your right nothing has changed as soon as I post there is a little group who I upset and have to attack me so yes your right nothing has changed.

2 weeks I have had parcel take way longer than that with AusPost during the year never mind Christmas.

it is funny how I have not been here for not sure how long but about 6 monthsish and last time I was here you had just had a bad experience with couriers and couriers were terrible and sellers who used then hated buyers and you would never use couriers again seems they do not like you. I have sent over 3000 parcels with couriers and so far only 1 problem I was getting problems every week with AusPost from very late deliveries to missing and damaged parcels

[gewens]

Hello, everybody. Just want to remind you that interpersonal dispute is not allowed here. Try not to get too overwhelmed in discussion. Thanks. 🙂

[digital*ghost]

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@247newdeals wrote:

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so comparing my sales when I posted using just auspost and watching my sales increase when I swapped to couriers getting nothing but positive feedback from them customers and having a lot less problems than when I used auspost means nothing sorry I forgot I am on ebay Aus where the words of only a few matter and you can not say couriers are better than AusPost even if they are. As a matter of fact the OP proves my point complaining because sellers do what is best for them and that is pretty typical of the 5% @davewil1964 is another perfect example of that expecting sellers to pay more money take more time posting but it is unfair to charge him for that. All they do is cry they want this they want that but they do not want to pay extra for it well they need to get real the world does not work like that. The fact is using Auspost is costing a lot of sellers money for an inferior service and personally I do not care about that 5% who whine and cry if they want a more expensive service and me to do more work easy they will pay for it if you do you not like that mister digital well here's a shock I do not care, I do not work for free you can if you want to that is your choice but do not try to pretend it is what is best for other people because it simply is not.

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Having sales increase happens to many (many) sellers, the vast majority of which never change postal services at all. I'm not saying it couldn't have been a contributing factor, nor even that it wasn't the only one, but correlation does not = causation. You increase in sales and the possibility that it may be due to offering free courier postage as the default option rather than Australia Post, is - near as I can tell - a theory that hasn't been fully explored and/or tested. 

Secondly, I understand you didn't have the easiest time when you first came to the forums, but I'm getting really tired of seeing post after post where you seem to prioritise taking pot shots at the forum rather than offering any genuine, constructive advice, assistance, or contributing in other positive ways. If you actually think back to all of the discussions that were (shall we say) hotly debated between yourself and others, you maybe might be so kind as to recall there were several of them where I spoke out in support of your position and/or perspective, including your decision to switch to couriers. Better yet, if you can't remember that, you can dig them up and take a jog down memory lane. 

There's a good reason why this time, I chose to provide what I thought was a reasonable and logical counterpoint to your post. 

I don't appreciate the tone of your reply. I know you won't care about that, but that is a reflection on you, not me. 

[lyndal1838]

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it is funny how I have not been here for not sure how long but about 6 monthsish and last time I was here you had just had a bad experience with couriers and couriers were terrible and sellers who used then hated buyers and you would never use couriers again seems they do not like you. I have sent over 3000 parcels with couriers and so far only 1 problem I was getting problems every week with AusPost from very late deliveries to missing and damaged parcels

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You last posted on the boards on the 17th October so certainly not 6 months.   I would say it is still an appropriate time frame for Tippy's experience of couriers to be recent enough for her to mention it.

And she certainly did not carry on with all the nonsense that you are indicating.

[davewil1964]

I don't expect sellers to spend more, but I also don't expect to have to wait around home or drive 20km to a depot to collect a parcel.

I mainly sell, and MY customers are perfectly happy with AP.

I assume you are now using this as a posting ID. Which is fine - I and many others do.  Otherwise it would mean you no longer sell on eBay, which would tend to lessen the relevance of your 'advice'.

Ps: d*g is not a mister. If you're going to slag off at one the most neutral and knowledgable posters on the boards, at least try to get some facts.

[brisbane3d]

While you guys discussing who's right who's wrong some couriesrs have similar statements on their websites:

Fastway Couriers

[lyndal1838]

There is only one courier company which can deliver to PO Boxes and Parcel Lockers.....StarTrack which is owned by Australia Post.

Any other company has to pay a premium of $16 I believe to Australia Post if they want to deliver to PO Boxes.  As far as I know that does not apply to parcel lockers though.

None of the companies are prepared to pay that premium because they could not recoup it from their customers.

[bsirgunas]

It not only the Seller that make it difficult... but eBay...

It is not until you buy the item that you recieve a message...

Why does ebay withhold this information until after you buy...

Why doe ebay not provide in their postage description information that the seller will not post to a PO box....

ebay has the information....

I live in a country where there is no home postal service

Sending messages to sellers is time consuming...

[digital*ghost]

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@bsirgunas wrote:

It not only the Seller that make it difficult... but eBay...

It is not until you buy the item that you recieve a message...

Why does ebay withhold this information until after you buy...

Why doe ebay not provide in their postage description information that the seller will not post to a PO box....

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It is actually all there in the listing, it's just not glaring.

At the top of a listing, where the postage cost is displayed, you will see text that says (for example) Posts to: Australia, See Exclusions.

Click "see exclusions", and if the seller doesn't post to PO boxes, it will be the last one in the list.

Also, if you use the cart (as opposed to the 'Buy It Now' button), and try to checkout something that can't be posted to a PO box, you'll get an error message and can't continue to purchase or pay for the item. 

[dazzledayz]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

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@bsirgunas wrote:

It not only the Seller that make it difficult... but eBay...

It is not until you buy the item that you recieve a message...

Why does ebay withhold this information until after you buy...

Why doe ebay not provide in their postage description information that the seller will not post to a PO box....

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It is actually all there in the listing, it's just not glaring.

At the top of a listing, where the postage cost is displayed, you will see text that says (for example) Posts to: Australia, See Exclusions.

Click "see exclusions", and if the seller doesn't post to PO boxes, it will be the last one in the list.

Also, if you use the cart (as opposed to the 'Buy It Now' button), and try to checkout something that can't be posted to a PO box, you'll get an error message and can't continue to purchase or pay for the item. 

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Digi, It's this sort of thing that just gets up my nose about eBay.

If they can run a conditional script out of the cart, they should be able to run the same script off the buy button.

An error should be thrown as soon as the buyers address is read, not some time later and certainly not via email.

Bad programming alienates both sellers and buyers.

Every other webmaster agonises over how to make checkout seamless, accessible, accurate and most of all EASY.