Sendle as eBay's preferred carrier

[1076johnw]

Sendle has been the default postage method for local eBay sellers for some time now.

Sellers should be aware that Sendle are not couriers, they are courier brokers who farm out a vast proportion of their parcels to Aramex (formerly known as Fastway) and Couriers Please. At the moment, I have two separate parcels that are 

“currently being processed at a sortation facility” by Aramex for the seventh day in a row.

Aramex are not so much couriers as an invitation to grief.  Here is their feedback .

https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/aramex-courier

94% of the 1,446 reviewers rated them one star out of five (and many of those lamented the lack of a zero star option) Pretty impressive, huh?

And if you’re wondering how they went in their previous incarnation as Fastway Couriers, well here you go:

https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/fastway

93% of the 7,929 reviewers rated them one star.

So, my question to sellers is, do you care enough about your buyers to refrain from using Sendle or is it a case of  hey, they'll pick up my parcel and they’re cheap – who cares?

For my part, as a seller, I'll use Australia Post every time - they're not perfect by any means but still a whole lot less likely to result in complaints from buyers over postage time. As a buyer, I'll be checking the seller's postage details to make sure they're using Australia Post and not Sendle or Aramex.

[digital*ghost]

Horses for courses.

The best courier I personally deal with (DHL) has a similar rating via online review sites, but I've never had a problem with them myself, in several years of using them. People are motivated to trash businesses they have dealt with (like you're doing here) if they had a bad experience, but - typically - are significantly less motivated to leave glowing reviews, even for years of great service (I've never left a review for the aforementioned courier, though I have recommended them to others in appropriate circumstances).

Most people already know they are brokers for Fastway / Aramex, and Couriers Please, and the thing about that is it makes Sendle only as good as the designated courier service that's used in specific areas, quite a few of which are franchises, and service quality varies greatly. Which is why any time Sendle are mentioned in various seller groups I visit, there's plenty of people saying they use them successfully with no issues at all, and of course some who say they're awful and to not use them. 

I won't use them,  I don't particularly like the way they operate,  and because consistency is efficiency as far as I'm concerned (i.e. my buyers tend to know what to expect with AP, and I don't have to exclude any addresses like PO boxes, and / or use multiple carriers / pricing models.

As for "do you care enough about your buyers to refrain from using Sendle or is it a case of hey, they'll pick up my parcel and they’re cheap – who cares?"   this is a false dichotomy.

If I put my most cynical hat on, let's say a seller's only concern is their own interest, which means they have to decide if it's worthwhile for them to use a specific carrier to get their products from them to their customer. I don't think any seller in their right mind would continue using a carrier if even 20% of their sales resulted in complaints, let alone 90-odd %. Even if they didn't care about their customers, they'd definitely care about the time-suck from sorting out problems, bad feedback ratings etc that these things often result in. 

[gutterpunkz05]

Obviously  the millions of recipients and senders, who did not leave a review, were satisfied with the service.

Hence  the services continue to operate.

Hopefully you do not decide to buy something, that AP refuse to deliver.

[1076johnw]

Millions? Really? What's your source for this estimate? 

And what would Australia Post refuse to deliver that Aramex would otherwise deliver weeks later, pray tell?

By the way, Fastway were the first business in Australia to receive over four thousand negative reviews, but if you want to believe there's no issue with them, go ahead. 

[davewil1964]

My source is that a courier that has been operating for decades would not still be in business if they averaged less than 30,000 parcels per year.

Admittedly, that's logic, rather than Aramex's figures, but gp's estimate is likely true. And under actuality.

[1076johnw]

Of course, any company will have the odd bad feedback from time to time. However,  in Aramex's case they average at least five a day - hardly a drop in the ocean.

It's all about percentages - and of the three packages sent via Aramex to me in recent weeks from eBay purchases, one took nine days to deliver after sitting in a processing depot for three days straight, and the other two mentioned above have been 11 days in transit, both spending their seventh straight day in a processing centre.

Am I just an unlucky sod? I think not. 

[sugar249]

This same thing had a go on these boards a while back,  interesting you are suggesting Australia Post,  Take a look at their ratings.

8011 out of 10792 rated them 1 star.   Similar type odd's, slightly better but still shocking.

At least if you are going to compare 2 services, make sure the the one you are recommending has much better averages. 

Remember the review site you are using, is built for complainers.  Maybe thats why you like it

[1076johnw]

So your response to what I believe are valid and concerning issues is "You must like complaining".  That'll do me. By the way, are you all people eBay plants??. (P.S. This is the last time I'll access this community page. Thanks for making me feel welcome!!)

[sugar249]

Oh they are valid and concerning,  but when you try to use a site which in itself is just a complaints site, and the business you are saying we should be using has almost as bad a rating on that site.  Well what else can we assume.

LOL, when you don't like what you hear we must be plants.

[digital*ghost]

The issue is not whether Sendle is right for you, it clearly isn't and I don't think anyone here is contesting whether or not you had a bad experience (or 3) with them. I fully believe it, and I have heard plenty of other stories that certainly don't make me feel very confident they'd be a good alternative to Aus Post for me.

The issue is that you can't be authoritative about these kinds of things based on your experiences, and / or the experiences of those that choose to post their complaints elsewhere. You can, of course, choose what is right for you, but you can't choose what is right for anyone else, and imply sellers don't care about their customers if they don't adopt your personal preferences. If they (Sendle) are working well for a seller, no complaints from their customers, etc etc, then all this post is to a seller like that - if they even see it - is "I won't buy from you". This means you've announced yourself as someone who is not a customer of theirs, and if all their other customers are happy, why should they care about this post? To put it another way, sellers tend to make business decisions like using courier services knowing full well that it means some people won't buy from them, for various reasons. 

It's got nothing to do with defending Sendle and their associated couriers, like I said I don't use them and don't feel inclined to, and I know plenty of other sellers who refuse to use them as well, if just because they are a courier, as that entails limitations Aus Post doesn't. 

I for one did not intend to make you feel unwelcome, though to be fair I did not have any specific intention of making you feel welcome, either - I don't tend to put up the happy banners for anyone who posts, be they new or not so new, rather I just respond to the content of what they post, if I see something I want to respond to.