Knowing that business sellers may have encountered delivery problems lately, eBay UK don’t want lower than normal COVID shipping metrics to impact your otherwise well run eBay operation. To help, eBay have put three steps in place both to try and prevent issues in the first place and then to protect your account from any adverse COVID shipping metrics.
COVID shipping metrics protections
- Extra Time
eBay have announced that time is already added to buyer-facing delivery estimates to account for any delays that may arise as and when required. We’d already spotted that Royal Mail 48 has an extended delivery estimate making it more akin to what we dubbed ‘Royal Mail 120′.
This is a double edged sword, while it’s totally right that eBay set realistic expectations for buyers hopefully stopping them bugging sellers, on the other hand buyers who are in a hurry to receive their item might be put off from clicking the buy button in the first place.
Our best advice would be to ship as quickly as possible – it doesn’t matter if you set a two-day handling time, if you can ship in one-day or even same-day then there’s that much more chance that the item will arrive before the buyer wonders where it is.
- Removal of COVID shipping metrics
Your Late Delivery rate will be automatically adjusted. eBay will automatically remove Late Delivery counts and any related Negative or Neutral feedback received for transactions between the 5th of November to the 21st of November 2020.
- INR
Your item not received count (INR) in Service Metrics and any related Negative or Neutral feedback will be automatically removed for transactions between the 5th of November to the 21st of November 2020. eBay will remove these metrics on the condition that you uploaded valid tracking before the delivery was scanned.
“We’ll be processing Defect removals and any related Negative or Neutral feedback as quickly as possible. Please be aware that it may be a short period of time when this information appears in your account before being removed.
At the same time we want to reassure you we will keep monitoring the situation and implement additional protection if and when it’s required.”
– eBay
5 Responses
Delivery times don’t seem to be any better in the run up to Christmas, so will eBay also remove poor feedback related to delivery after 21st November too?
I have never had so many buyers contact me to say there item hasn’t arrived, this could be 14 dys late in many circumstances and some haven’t turned up at all. Enay need to take this into the equation after 21st November too as its still happening now on 11th December!
Looks like eBay are NOT honoring this promise to remove negative feedback relating to slow deliveries.
We had an order for £1.69 purchased with delivery set as 3 days dispatch + 5 days for delivery, total 8 working days.
We dispatched immediately on 21st November.
A couple of complaints, then negative feedback received on 1st December about slow delivery, wasting time, etc.
Refund given on 1st December.
Item was delivered on 4th December.
No acknowledgement from the customer of the refund or that they now have the item, and negative feedback remains.
After requesting feedback removal from eBay, they just responded saying “We’ve looked carefully at this feedback and see that it doesn’t qualify for removal.” and then a load of rubbish about asking the buyer to remove feedback.
So much for eBay having our backs! This was within the time period that we should be covered. I wouldn’t believe anything eBay tells Tamebay – they just don’t do it.
Still getting these issues not just through November, but all through December too – now 14th December.
Seller Help is useless! 90% of the time you will not get the negative feedback so you must re appeal it by calling customer service (or have them call you!)
Explain the reasons and importantly ensure you can justify the reason you want it removing. As long as you provided substantive evidence you should have a good chance of getting it removed on second appeal!
Customers just as always leave purchasing for last minute and then with Royal Mails “assistance” they will receive late or not receive at all. They complain and eventually if you don’t give in will they leave negative feedback. It gets harder and harder to have these negatives removed now.
The automatic system is crap, I agree most of the time calling them they will remove the feedback if it qualifies, but the new trend I’m seeing is as long as the feedback have any info from the buyer about the transaction they will not remove it, which I find outrageous. The buyer could say something like, “not arrived, not happy” eBay will not remove it – even if you have valid tracking showing delivery. True story.