Quick eBay Postage question

[namesweb]

Hi,

I've got an item with multiple variations for sale, all of which are fast & free, 1st class next day or same day dispatch where available.

The product is handmade, in house, in small quantities at the moment, and I've rather fortunately gotten myself into the situation where sales have been good, and I'm now down to only 1 type of a variant left in stock.

I'm currently in the process of moving house (completion this week!) with removals happening this coming weekend. Almost everything is in boxes, and whilst it's possible to make more products to fulfil these orders, I also need to get the house ready for the removals.

For those orders I've been unable to fulfil I've informed the buyer that I'm out of stock, and that I expect to have stock soon (and that I'll email them to let them know when their order is ready). They seem really reasonable, so I'm happy to maybe make a handful of items to fulfil short term demand, and still have time to pack boxes.

However, my listings are on GET IT FAST & FREE, which means I need to give a max dispatch time of 1 working day. Does that mean that if i don't mark as dispatched by tomorrow that I'll be negatively affected for not having hit that deadline?

Or is that negative impact only if the buyer put's the star rating down as less than 5*?

Please can someone help? I need to figure out whether I'll be packing tomorrow evening or making products!

Thanks!

 

[IanG]

Yes, if either you, the buyer or where applicable the courier reports that the item was late compared to Ebay's reckoning, this will count against you.

 

[silvermusic]

You're playing with fire, items not arriving on time is a biggie in eBay's world now, forget feedback and DSR's they don't count anymore. If you're going to have problems delivering orders on time put your holiday settings on your eBay shop, hide listings and block sales or you're risking your account. No matter how understanding people might be when/if they leave feedback they're asked a simple (seemingly innocent) question. Did your item arrive by xxxx date Yes/No. Which people will answer truthfully without realising or knowing the implications of selecting "No". It doesn't take too many of those to trash your account nowadays either.

 

[namesweb]

Jeez... That's incredible. I understand the importance of that but I'm not surprised there is this level of scrutiny. I'll spend some time today and do production and get orders out asap.

Right now there aren't too many options.

Isn't hiding or putting holiday settings also risk losing placement in search? Why would they prominently display products where the producer isn't available?

 

[namesweb]

Jeez... That's incredible. I understand the importance of that but I'm not surprised there is this level of scrutiny. I'll spend some time today and do production and get orders out asap.

Right now there aren't too many options.

Isn't hiding or putting holiday settings also risk losing placement in search? Why would they prominently display products where the producer isn't available?

 

[silvermusic]

Losing a few sales or a few places in search is small fry compared to losing your account, sadly I've seen it happen, just last month a 43,000 feedback seller seller got severely limited because of this. Like it or not right now delivery time is the only metric eBay care about.

In the holiday settings you can select whether to have your products available to buy or not. Given the way eBay currently works if you can't send stuff out hide the listings and make them unavailable to buy. i can't stress enough how important this is nowadays.

 

[namesweb]

If I've already had some sales yesterday, and I explain to the buyer to please leave us on time delivery feedback, and in exchange we offer an additional free product (minimal loss in margin, but seems like a non issue comparatively), the vast majority of people would be reasonable enough to accept that additional favour in exchange for good on-time feedback right? I can then mark them dispatched today and explain that I must to comply, and the product would be dispatched tomorrow.

How else should I deal with products that have now been sold, that I need to send out?

It seems ridiculous that a persons livelihood could be ruined over such an innocuous question where the ramifications of the answer aren't even outlined for the person leaving feedback..!

 

[Paul Norman]

As above, do not apply your own thinking to Ebay. Delivery time metrics are absolute. If you cannot dispatch, do not list.

Ebay is too big, and too impersonal, of necessity, to get into looking at the individual circumstances.

 

[namesweb]

Thanks Paul; going forward I realise how essential it will be to have adequate stock, it's just really annoying that it's coincided with my house move days, but thats my fault for not setting holiday, but i also didn't want to miss out on sales.

What can I do about those that were purchased yesterday, that I will 100% dispatch tomorrow? There are only 2 orders suffering, and I've explained the expected dispatch times to the buyers, and apologised profusely. Am I basically just screwed because I'm now exposed to someone giving me a negative mark?

Is there anything I can do further to mitigate any issues?

Thanks,

 

[Paul Norman]

Given where you are, I would dispatch tomorrow. Just two orders falling foul, even if they both say so, is not going to get your account closed. And not if they are only out by a day or two.

Dispatch, delist, move house, get product in stock, relist. You will most probably be fine. We didnt mean to over alarm you! I rather thought you were about to keep folks waiting for a week.

 

[silvermusic]

It seems ridiculous that a persons livelihood could be ruined over such an innocuous question where the ramifications of the answer aren't even outlined for the person leaving feedback..!

This is exactly why so many ebay sellers were up in arms when it all kicked in some time back. Feedback and DSR's don't count for anything now, so don't worry about them. Late delivery is top priority No1 sin in eBay's world now.

The buying general public don't realise the gravity of saying an item wasn't on time, it's just another stupid question to them. Personally I think it's a nasty sneaky underhand move by eBay, but I can live with it, sadly it still produces enough money that I can't do without it, but i'm working on it.

However, there is something positive to come out of the changes. As DSR's no longer count you don't have to worry about stars getting dinged because people think your postage is too much. I put my prices on P&P up to actually cover everything and a make small profit on the P&P charge, something I was cautious about doing for a long while when DSR's were king.

Just to add that the percentage of people leaving feedback has dropped considerably over the years, more so now that many use smartphones. At it's peak feedback rates of 80% were quite common, today it's around 30-35%

 

[IanG]

do not apply your own thinking to Ebay

Excellent advice!