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mail holiday slowdown driving me nuts
 

I'm seriously debating stopping all of my operations till Jan.

I'm getting double digit complaints everyday saying that their item they ordered later Nov hasn't arrived yet.

This is a nightmare for me, as 95% of my customers are in the US and I ship out of southern Canada.

According to what I calculated, shipping that used to take 5-8 days but now takes 2-3 weeks. It's only gonna get worse with the amount of days-off coming up. People on eBay are too stupid to realize that there is a huge holiday season slowdown in the mail system. I explain this to them, they reply and yell at me in all CAPS. :doh:

/end of rant

Since 95% of your sales are going to U.S. why don't you simply adjust your price and offer free shipping? Ship promptly and make sure the tracking is inserted into Ebay and it should help you out. Of course if you are shipping by First Class Mail International then there is no tracking.
Just thought this might be a better option than stopping your business altogether.

This is a good time of year to have multiple accounts. Some can 'rest' and therefore be safe from DSR troubles & silly buyers. Others can be gently used. I change some accounts' details so the (would-be) buyer hopefully understands the possibility of delays.

Spent 80 minutes on the phone trying to find a parcel missing in transit.....80 minutes of my life I'll never get back :pop2:

I feel ya with the blues...shipping 2 states away has taken freaking 1 1/2 weeks going FLAT RATE!!!

Any orders I receive now, [Wish I did this 2 weeks ago] 3 days after shipped I send them an email and a message through eBay thanking them and reminding them mail is slow this time of year. No long 8 paragraph email like some people send out, short and sweet so they read it. i wait 3 days so the 57 emails they get when they buy wont bury it. Just a quick thank you and a polite "this is slowest time for mail of the year"

It wont help much with the full on idiots. But the short minded may actually make the connection

I'm losing my Patience too. I'm getting where is my stuff messages after 5 days. And I'm sorry, but thats plain stupid. And from buyers with 100s of feedback. They know better and need to smarten the hell up.....

LOL i feel you guys im in the same situation i got people complaining about stuff that i sent out two weeks ago, and since their only £9 items i just refunded to avoid negative feedback. Its a nightmare. My sales where through the roof too!! arghh

Well that sucks, cause in a few days they'll get the stuff in the mail and they'll have it for free.

I usually try to milk buyers for as long as I can, till I feel a neg/PP dispute coming on, only then I cave in.

I am losing bit of profits to expedite my shipping - I am depending on volume to make up but I hear you - I am going to shut down this time next year - fug it.

thats exactly what i am going to do next year, build up a good few accounts and keep the smaller ones for xmas rush and get kicked of after if it has to be

shame i didnt think of that before losing one of my best accounts this year

I came real close to a full on snap today.

I had to apologize to a buyer over and over because:

They did not see the paypal tracking email
They did not see the tracking number right beside eBay item
Because they were not home last week when they tried to deliver
Because they didn't see delivery card left in thier mailbox
Because they did not check one of the 3 copies of tracking sent to them at one point or another

I had to beg for forgiveness because clearly, its all on me. Nothing on that list would have anything to do with the buyer, at all....

The idea of a throw away account for the holidays is bloody brilliant. Man I wish this was a throw away....

I've completely shut down. Did my last withdrawal for 2010 today. That's it, I had enough of this crap.

Cya in 2011. :yar:

I thought EVERYONE was doing throw aways for the holidays?!?!

That is why I made 20 acts THIS MONTH just to do this crap. You know how many people are like...well where is my package (sry I don't control weather/usps/you being home/etc)

So I just toss the act and say ello to the next customer.

Here is a good one I got today form a UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR who purchased form me. Their paypal email ends in .EDU for f**k sakes.

All because I didn't INSTANTLY respond to his previous email. BTW, its been 7 day's since he paid, and he's freaking out.

Goes to show even university professors are STUPID as f**k.
I'm so furious right now... :mad2: