When holiday settings turned on, should postage overdue appear on sales

[needsome12vbasics]

When you have holiday settings turned on with a return date displayed, should sales made in between before you get back, show postage overdue notice from eBay?  If it shows overdue at my end, the customer would also see overdue?  I always wonder how many customers buy without reading the holiday away banner, and if they didn't see it, seeing the postage maked by eBay as overdue could make it worse.

[brerrabbit585]

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wrote:

The banner stating the seller is away until X date is quite clear when it is on a listing . It should not matter if the seller is away on the moon or away next door. Away should mean away

Sorry for thinking it is common sense that if a seller's page is on holiday mode and it states they are away until X date that means things will not be posted until after that date

Especially when ebay's estimated delivery dates are bulldust at best

Ebay is always all for the buyer no matter what the seller does

As I say, I do not have a store, I do not have thigs listed that will end if I am going to be away so I am not talking about 'me' or how it impacts on 'me'

I am just sick of it always,always being the seller who has to do a-z and 100% perfectly or they are howled down no end  (and even when they do, do every single i dot and t cross, buyers can lie through their teeth and get away with it) and the buyer does'nt so much as read the listing and is told "it's not your fault" the seller did'nt do x good enough 

Ebay is suppose to be for buyers AND sellers

Rarely see anything but 'it's the seller's fault' thu

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As a buyer, commonsense would dictate that a seller wouldn't have their items available for sale if they really were away.  The fact that the return date doesn't show on all away notices doesn't help this situation.  

You say ebay's delivery estimates are bulldust at best, but that statement itself is bulldust.  They may be a day or two earlier than they should be if delivery runs smoothly, and it's really only the minority of items that don't arrive close to the estimated dates, so to call them bulldust at best is a gross exaggeration.  If they were as bad as you say there'd be so many defects issued that there'd be very few sellers left on ebay, yet many sellers still post untracked and have no problems.  

As to your first comment that I've highlighted, why shouldn't sellers take responsibilities for their own actions and act in a professional manner? 

Why shouldn't buyers expect to get what they pay for?

Why shouldn't sellers pay for their own mistakes instead of expecting someone else to?

Why shouldn't sellers post when the listing says they will? 

Why shouldn't sellers make the effort to check their items thoroughly and list them accurately? 

Why should near enough be good enough?  

Prevention is always better than cure and if a seller can't be bothered to take a bit of time to do things properly in the first place then they can't complain when they spend a lot more time trying to fix things afterwards.  It's usually a lot quicker to do things properly in the first place - and a lot less stressful.

Yes, there are a few scammers (buyers) on ebay but they tend to be worse for certain items than others, and I think the number of dodgy buyers is still a lot less than the number of dodgy sellers, or sloppy ones who can't be bothered to do things properly.  A lot of sellers could lower their stress levels substantially by just putting a bit effort into their listings and other practices.

Re your last comment that I highlighted, what's wrong with putting the blame squarely on the person who's at fault?

[springyzone]

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wrote:

The banner stating the seller is away until X date is quite clear when it is on a listing . It should not matter if the seller is away on the moon or away next door. Away should mean away

Sorry for thinking it is common sense that if a seller's page is on holiday mode and it states they are away until X date that means things will not be posted until after that date

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The problem is with the mixed messages.

A banner might say a seller is away, but the ad still shows an estimated delivery date & buyers, especially those new to ebay, have a right to assume the details in an ad are correct. These days with so many people having internet access from anywhere, buyers could assume it just means the item will be sent from a location further away or whatever. point is, it leaves the way open for confusion, never a good thing with ebay ads. You can assume ebay buyers are silly if you like. It's probably best to, actually as we all know there's nowt like folks. 

If you were a newbie buyer, you could be forgiven for thinking-the seller still has the item listed so it must still be on sale. If they didn't want anyone to buy it while they are away they wouldn't leave the ad up.

What needs to happen is the expected delivery date needs to reflect reality-the approximate date a person will receive it after the seller returns. So for instance if the seller was away for 2 weeks, delvery might need to show a date 2-4 weeks hence. That way, if a buyer saw the ad with the banner, it would be perfectly clear when the item would arrive.

In a perfect world, ticking the away banner should trigger an ebay program where whatever date the selelr types in is used for forward estimates of arrival.  But it doesn't. so I think the seller who goes into holiday mode is best off to adjust their delivery dates to suit.

Cuts out any confusion & headaches till such time as ebay gets its act together.

[needsome12vbasics]

It would appear I have touched on a delicate subject.

I have several times previously begged eBay to make the away notices more prominent and change the postage dates, even suggesting they insert an extra tick box at checkout so before paying, they confirm the buyer is aware that the seller is away and postage will be delayed, possibly until the date advised.  But even though sellers are the ones who pay eBay for the service, so if we all get annoyed and close shop, there will be no eBay, eBay don't seem to want to make the selling easier and clearer for both seller and buyer.

To suggest the seller change postage time is not at all practical, but buyers may not realise this.  To change postage time, we have to go into EVERY postage policy we have, I only have 6 at present, but imagine some sellers may have lots more, and manually change each one, then on return change them all back, PLUS they only have increments of 1 day for first 5 days, then 5 day jumps, so can't customise sufficiently. 

The seller should not have to keep changing the postage time, instead if eBay provided a better service and automated the extended postage time, then everyone would be happy.  

I have tried inserting very large notice at the top of my listings as well as the eBay away notice, and some buyers say they saw notice and wanted to buy while they remembered and were happy to wait for postage, while others with same listing say they didn't see and ask to cancel, so this means it is the buyer who just didn't read.  Sellers can't be made responsible for buyers not reading.

If I block all sales while away, all buyers including my regulars, don't even get given the option to wait for postage, they simply can't find my listings anymore and think I have closed shop.  I have previously encountered this when wanting to buy something I saw listed, but could not find again, so settled for something not as good, only to see the listing again a week later, so was NOT HAPPY!  So you can see, it works both ways. 

Also, think if it this way, if a web site has a holiday notice saying they are away, as I have seen many times over the holidays, would you expect them to shut the web site down so you can't find them, or still have the web site up with their products so you can browse and return to when they are open again?   Would you be more annoyed to read they are away or more annoyed if you couldn't even find them?   EBay is a similar platform to us businesses.

It is eBay who need to improve and automate obvious functions like this.

[melbourneclearance]

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wrote:

To suggest the seller change postage time is not at all practical, but buyers may not realise this.  To change postage time, we have to go into EVERY postage policy we have, I only have 6 at present, but imagine some sellers may have lots more, and manually change each one, then on return change them all back, PLUS they only have increments of 1 day for first 5 days, then 5 day jumps, so can't customise sufficiently. 

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You can bulk-modify all the listings, of course.

For me, if I go on a long holiday and nobody is available to take care of the shops, then I don't show the listings. If I go away only for a long weekend or almost a week, then I show my listings with a holiday note and try to make things as smooth as possible, e.g. Send the parcels just before going and right after coming back. I never had anyone notice I was away.

[needsome12vbasics]

As far as I know, you can't bulk modify postage policies, you have to edit each one individually.  You can only bulk edit the text in listings themselves.  Which brings it back to eBay should automate this to link with away notice entry.  We pay eBay to provide a good easy usable service.

[davewil1964]

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wrote:

It would appear I have touched on a delicate subject.

I have several times previously begged eBay to make the away notices more prominent and change the postage dates, even suggesting they insert an extra tick box at checkout so before paying, they confirm the buyer is aware that the seller is away and postage will be delayed, possibly until the date advised.  But even though sellers are the ones who pay eBay for the service, so if we all get annoyed and close shop, there will be no eBay, eBay don't seem to want to make the selling easier and clearer for both seller and buyer.

To suggest the seller change postage time is not at all practical, but buyers may not realise this.  To change postage time, we have to go into EVERY postage policy we have, I only have 6 at present, but imagine some sellers may have lots more, and manually change each one, then on return change them all back, PLUS they only have increments of 1 day for first 5 days, then 5 day jumps, so can't customise sufficiently. 

The seller should not have to keep changing the postage time, instead if eBay provided a better service and automated the extended postage time, then everyone would be happy.  

I have tried inserting very large notice at the top of my listings as well as the eBay away notice, and some buyers say they saw notice and wanted to buy while they remembered and were happy to wait for postage, while others with same listing say they didn't see and ask to cancel, so this means it is the buyer who just didn't read.  Sellers can't be made responsible for buyers not reading.

If I block all sales while away, all buyers including my regulars, don't even get given the option to wait for postage, they simply can't find my listings anymore and think I have closed shop.  I have previously encountered this when wanting to buy something I saw listed, but could not find again, so settled for something not as good, only to see the listing again a week later, so was NOT HAPPY!  So you can see, it works both ways. 

Also, think if it this way, if a web site has a holiday notice saying they are away, as I have seen many times over the holidays, would you expect them to shut the web site down so you can't find them, or still have the web site up with their products so you can browse and return to when they are open again?   Would you be more annoyed to read they are away or more annoyed if you couldn't even find them?   EBay is a similar platform to us businesses.

It is eBay who need to improve and automate obvious functions like this.

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Perhaps you could be like a retail store - when there are no staff in the shop, then the shop is closed and nothing can be bought.

Hide your listings, if you don't want to end them, then almost nobody can buy them.

I can understand the attraction of having a holiday and still making sales, but that is a choice YOU make, and the consequences are down to you.

[digital*ghost]

I think there are solid arguments on both sides.

On the one hand, it's actually not logical at all to me when there is an away notice and an advisement there could be delays in shipping, to dismiss that and expect the ETA is still applicable. Delays in processing orders = delays in posting = delays in receiving. It's also not logical to me to see conflicting information but to assume the most appealing information (arrival date before seller resturns) is the correct information. 

It's difficult to know for sure how many sellers are aware of their options when they set things to away - they're not in control of the message on listings, but they can create an annoucement message shown on the store page, which is where a lot of sellers clarify the away message (eg no shipping at all until X date, or intermittent shipping during break). They can also set up an out of office message that auto-replies to any inquiries, and I wouldn't be surprised if a notice + second notice + auto-message feels like the bases have been covered to a lot of sellers. 

On the other hand, it really is in a seller's best interest to stem the flow of unhappy buyers, and understanding what a lot of people see and think when they're shopping on ebay and see these notices, then taking as many measures as possible to counteract that, is paramount to that, whether a seller agrees with what buyers think about it or not. By which I mean a seller can try to change the tide one buyer at a time, expending a great deal of energy to do so, or go with the flow instead and cater to or for  whichever common expectations they are willing and able to. 

I don't really feel like it has to be an either or situation, though. A seller should be able to accept that a buyer didn't see and / or understand everything, and all the things that go along with that, and a buyer should be able to accept that a seller took actions to try and advise people of the current situation; there doesn't have to be a "I thought what I thought, everything else is wrong" kind of thing going on when there's a failure on one or both sides to see or understand something. Ah, but it is eBay.... 

The CNY break is underway and most (if not all) seller's located in China will now be away until late Feb - early March. Some adjust handling times, some don't, but what's interesting is that eBay don't consider it the seller's responsibility to alert buyers about the delays. At least, in years past there would be unmissable alerts telling buyers about extended delays before they were allowed to even commit to buy an item - clicking BIN would redirect to a full page alert, and if you continue on from there to checkout, there's be an alert there too. (I haven't bought anything from China on eBay for a while, so don't know if they still do it). Beats me why this kind of feature can't be a default for all stores with holiday settings activated. 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[needsome12vbasics]

There is no attraction in some holidays - some of ours being hospital admissions or other short reasons to have to be away.  But I should not have to explain any of this to you!  Reasons to put a store on holiday are not always enjoyable.  But bills still need to be paid.

Do you really think all business should close their web sites when they are away?????!!!!!  That would be madness!  Yes, when a shop front is closed they cannot sell, most close every night - would you like eBay to close every night too?  I've seen heaps of on-line purchasing web sites, not connected to eBay, that say they are away and postage will be after such and such a date.  Over the Christmas holidays there were many.  Do you really think all those small business should shut down their web sites?? 

It is the buyer's choice if they want to order and wait for delivery, or go elsewhere.  You are suggesting that choice be taken away from buyers!  I certainly don't want choice taken away when I look to buy.  Not everyone needs things by yesterday, some of us plan ahead and can wait for delivery.  

I personally will even order things that are put on backorder - Surely most people have done this too?  Are you not happy to order knowing it is on backorder?  This is the same thing......

Why are you making excuses for eBay not providing a required function in their service? 

Why are you putting it back on the small retailer trying to make an honest living?  Remember, we pay eBay to provide this platform.

The original question I inoccently posed was only asking if eBay was supposed to mark listings as postage overdue, as in the past, it never came up with overdue, but suddenly this last week, when we were away for 1 working day, it did.   Yes, I am a very responsible seller, and if I think there even might be a 1 day delay, I let try to let buyers know. 

The main point here is just to make sure the buyer is aware of the expected dispatch date.  

[melbourneclearance]

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wrote:

As far as I know, you can't bulk modify postage policies, you have to edit each one individually.  You can only bulk edit the text in listings themselves.  Which brings it back to eBay should automate this to link with away notice entry.  We pay eBay to provide a good easy usable service.

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In bulk-edit, pick Handling Time in the drop down.

[needsome12vbasics]

Just checked, no option for handling time in any drop box I can find.  Exactly where is it please?

Still doesn't take away from the need for eBay to automate the delivery date to correlate with the away return date, as educating only a few to find how to change the handling time won't fix all sellers, most sellers think displaying the away notice is sufficient.