ebay shipper game

cuse

Ebay must reward sellers for "shipping" within their specified time frames. What I'm experiencing and not liking is sellers who immediately add a tracking #(to meet shipping time frame)....but wait 4 or 5 days to actually mail your item.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Does Ebay care??

Thanks for listening to my bellyaching. Misery loves company.

LarkinCollector

I think that used to be the case, that adding tracking info immediately helped your seller status, but I think now eBay looks at when the item was first scanned. I have seen it happen a lot, both in the past and recently.

charrigan

eBay does care. They track acceptance times, not when labels are created.

vintagefun

I've also noticed that now when giving feedback, I'm often asked if package arrived by a certain date. Not sure if that's related.

cuse

Not sure Ebay goes beyond seeing that a tracking # has been added to a sold listing. Does Ebay tie in with the Post Office to check actual shipping dates??

It's frustrating to repeatedly view your tracking info, only to find out the item still hasn't been shipped. I was wondering if anyone actually contacted Ebay about this???/

Sorry if earlier repliers have formally asked and got the responses they provided. No grief or harm intended towards them on my part.

mlbfan2

Originally posted by: cuse
What I'm experiencing and not liking is sellers who immediately add a tracking #(to meet shipping time frame)....but wait 4 or 5 days to actually mail your item.

Check their handling time and feedback before you bid. If someone only has 4.0 or 4.5 stars for "shipping time", then you can probably expect them to be slow to ship.

charrigan

Originally posted by: cuse
Not sure Ebay goes beyond seeing that a tracking # has been added to a sold listing. Does Ebay tie in with the Post Office to check actual shipping dates??

Acceptance the first status update. The system detects when that occurs.

miwlvrn

I'm not certain, but it was my understanding that if it was scanned as accepted (not delivered) within the timeframe stated in the auction, then the ebay system automatically sets the feedback for 5 stars on shipping time.

arex

Originally posted by: mlbfan2

Originally posted by: cuse
What I'm experiencing and not liking is sellers who immediately add a tracking #(to meet shipping time frame)....but wait 4 or 5 days to actually mail your item.

Check their handling time and feedback before you bid. If someone only has 4.0 or 4.5 stars for "shipping time", then you can probably expect them to be slow to ship.

Not necessarily. Some people dont get the 5 star system from eBay. For some oeople 4 out of 5 means above average. But to eBay that means substandard.

And eBay does care about more than just when the shipping label is printed. In your seller dashboard there is a rating that includes both when the label is printed and also when it is scanned.
All mail is scanned in upon receipt so eBay tracks that to give ratings to their sellers.

JBrules

I hate when the seller does the shipped but does not put a tracking #. What I started doing is to contact the seller and asked if it has been shipped. I am always very polite and say "I see you have shipped my card but do not seeing a tracking # have you shipped the card yet?". I usually give them 2 days before contacting. I usually get a quick response and either the tracking # OR the item shows up in the next day or so. I think some sellers take the buyers for granted. When they receive a question about the shipping they pretty much have to respond if they do not want to get a low feedback score for shipping/communicating. That has been my experience.

cuse

Without printing a label, I can add an insurance # via the stack of labels available at the Post Office. No Ebay created label would be involved. This is where I thought the hole in the Ebay system might be.



I'm not familiar with the seller board content.



Thanks for input from all. I guess I'll just gig the seller's for slow shipping if they paly games with my orders.

jfkheat

Earlier this year I created a priority mail shipping label and it was a couple days before I was able to get to the post office to drop off the package. The post office would not accept the package because it was two days since it was supposed to be shipped. I had to cancel the shipping label and do a current one. Their reason was that if they accepted the package two days after the label was created it would look like the post office was late delivering the package.

James

thebaseballcardkid

jbrules +1...usually the sellers immediately register the tracking number with label. Then some take their time taking it to the p.o. Seems like they're gaming the system.



jfkheat..interesting point. i wonder if that applies universally.

mtcards

The problem is that the USPS does NOT scan packages at 100% when picked up/dropped off. I have had it picked up at my business and not get scanned until it reached the destination PO and the same if I dropped it off at my local PO. Just another ebay screw to seller. The whole star thing is a joke as well. It would take a one week delay in shipping before I even consider star dinging. Nothing I buy is so important that a day or two is going to get me worrying about tracking info.

ndleo

I am both a seller and buyer on ebay. This "game" that some posters are referring to was created by ebay. For some reason ebay wants all sellers, most of which a small part timers like me, to ship next day. That forces sellers into the game if they don't want to get dinged by ebay. Even PWCC takes a couple of days before the card is dropped to the Post Office and Brent has bigger operation that 99% of ebay sellers. I paid for a card on Sunday, it gets here on Friday or Monday.

If you ever buy anything from Amazon it could take up to 9 days to receive your package if you choose the free shipping option and depending on the item. That seems to be OK with most people, but if it takes a week to get a card, an ebay seller gets dinged.

charrigan

Seems to me like many (including some here) just don't understand how the rules work. Creating a label and uploading a tracking number within 1 business day does NOT make you compliant with eBay procedures. Yes, eBay wants to professionalize their market and quick shipping is part of the rising expectations that come with that, but they track acceptance, not label creation.

LarkinCollector

Originally posted by: charrigan
they track acceptance, not label creation.

This would be acceptable if the USPS scanned packages at acceptance 100% (or very close) of the time. Unfortunately, this is not the case and sellers near a PO that doesn't scan acceptance even 50% of the time are then dinged by eBay. I shouldn't have to stand there and watch them scan every package, but it's gotten to the point where I have to.
There is no good solution.

charrigan

BTW -- it should be noted that this only applies for those with Top Rated Seller status. eBay will not punish you for delayed acceptance if you are not TRS. Buyers, I'd assume, should be OK when their package updates at their neighborhood sort facility 3 days after paying, even if your PO sucks at scanning.

mtcards

Just a quick note on this topic. I had a few items sell over the weekend, printed out shipping label on Sunday PM, took to the post office early this morning - 12 hours later, they still arent scanned. Not worried at all as this is standard OP for our post office, but points again to the problem of tracking uploading vs. tracking shows accepted issue.

vladguerrero

I've been experiencing a lot of "fake" tracking numbers (someone's tracking number but not mine), even from big sellers. I always get my item but it's obviously done to trick Ebay into thinking it's been shipped, when it hasn't.