What’s changed since the eBay Paypal divorce?

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In July 2015 eBay and Paypal split, I penned a long blog post about the changes I was hoping for. Today I’m looking back to see what has changed, what’s the same and what’s better or worse then when I wrote the post:

Dispatch and Delivery

On the dispatch & delivery part of the previous blog …

Quote from eBay. ‘In general, a defect occurs when part of a transaction, such as how long it takes to dispatch an item, doesn’t match what the seller described or promised in the listing.’ Please note the word ‘dispatch’ this is not the same as delivery.

This is delivery time, not only have you got to make sure you dispatch on time, you have to make sure the order is delivered on time. While it is the responsibility of the seller to get the item to the buyer in a reasonable time, should it really affect seller metrics if the carrier doesn’t deliver on time? Particularly a problem for non-tracked items.

Add another day to expected delivery time across the board it’s unrealistic it gives an unrealistic expectation for buyers

It’s now better to add the day to your processing time if this is a problem, do you think eBay’s postal estimates are realistic?

Proof of Posting / Delivery

Please accept certificate of postage as a valid proof of posting of non tracked items, again if it goes missing for whatever reason I’ll replace immediately but don’t give me a defect for missing items with reasons out of my control.

Perhaps a barcode to use similar to that used when a customer returns an item via the Managed Returns Flow that is scanned in the post/parcel office again ‘proof’ of postage on a non tracked item, this is dispatch time.

If I’m a Top Rated Seller (TRS) with eBay Premium Service (EPS) badge It’s unlikely I’ve not sent the order and I shouldn’t have a defect if Royal Mail/courier has lost it or my buyer is making a fraudulent claim, I will replace it as it’s my duty as a business seller to get the product to the buyer, if I replace in these circumstances remove the defect.

Hopefully the new 2D barcode will be rolled out for all mail regardless of how it’s posted or it’s size eg collection, post office or post box. Are you using the 2D barcode? How is that working for you? Cases will no longer give you a defect if you can work it out with the buyer quickly or refund. Metric still scored on delivery time though, not really dispatch.

Address Verification

You should already have a list of suspicious addresses, please act on them, their are too many Item Not Received (INR) claims, you can cross reference them with Royal Mail who also have this information, this can aid the decision when siding with a buyer who continually claims non receipt.

Has anything changed here? Are you still getting INR claims from buyers who seemingly lose a lot of mail?

Buyers are claiming INR by just going through messages now not via returns flow so it isn’t as easy to trace, sellers will not direct buyers through the returns flow for fear of another defect, this needs to change, let me direct them through the returns flow without fear of a defect and replace the item. eBay can track this with ease and act on those who repeatedly claim INR.

Again cases not giving you automatic defects so this is a real bonus, I direct all of these types of messages through the case system now hoping that any fraudulent buyers will not make it so ‘official’ as to open a case with eBay.

What’s next?

Things are moving in the right direction it seems, what other changes re postage and delivery would you like eBay to make?

8 Responses

  1. the new royal mail free tracked and scanned on delivery should be enough to show an items been delivered. eBay accept a scan of delivered for returns so why not on delivery??

  2. Ebay still haven’t got the basics working. Site broken. So slow, it’s like the old days of Dial-up. Unless of course i am in the catchment of sellers they don’t want to list items so make it that difficult and time consuming we give up.

  3. I no longer add tracking, if the customer is not in to sign I usually get punished by ebay for lateness.

  4. “It’s now better to add the day to your processing time if this is a problem, do you think eBay’s postal estimates are realistic?”

    I’ve noticed that if you post 2nd class/royal mail 48 as your free P&P option, ebay generally gives a 2 day spread for the estimated delivery date. eg. from our current crop of sold items awaiting dispatch today, (Fri 24th March) most have Mon 27th to Tues 28th as the estimated delivery date. However, some of the items just have Mon 27th.

    While the items are different, they’re all sameday dispatch if ordered before the cut-off point. They’re all the same postage method as well. But ebay tells some of the customers that it will be just 2 days, and other customers are told it is 2-3 days.

    Now we can use Royal Mail delivery confirmation to see when an item actually arrived, we can see that a good number of the defects in our late delivery report are arriving on day 3 of a 2-3 day delivery service. It shouldn’t be on the late delivery report, but because ebay told the buyer it would arrive on day 2 and are asking them if it arrived by then, day 3 counts as late.

    So, not only are ebay delivery estimates not fit for purpose half the time, it could potentially lead to sellers dropping below TRS status when the goods are actually arriving on time.

  5. Why does this article have hardly any punctuation at all but just a series of separate sentences all joined together in one giant sentence like I have just now written it confuses expections thought I’d just lob it in like in the article stylee?

    Seriously, Tamebay, this article is incredibly poor and reflects badly on the website.

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