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How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

I know I'm not the only one who's being eaten alive by eBay's new "late shipment" standard. I just checked my dashboard on my most active account and my late shipment rate is now at 3.02%. Meaning I have 15 days to bring it up by .02% or I will lose TRP status and benefits. I know that doesn't seem like much but I get 100+ orders per day on this account, so even raising the % by .02 will be challenging.

I'm just curious as to what the other powersellers around here are doing to maintain Top Rated Plus on your accounts?

I just went into my business shipping policy and changed all of my listings from "USPS First Class" to "USPS Retail ground". I don't even know how to print postage for that mail class but I'm hoping since the delivery time is slightly longer, this will help me bring up my late shipment rate in 2 weeks.

I know this new metric has already been extensively discussed on Aspkin. Just looking for any useful advice I can use to maintain my account's status.

Thanks in advance for any input. This officially sucks, eBay.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

Shipping has always been one our biggest challenges... Pricing, speed, accuracy, lost, stolen, etc... The list goes on and on...

That is my 2nd biggest peeve besides wrong item packed...

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

I have an employee who does nothing but package my orders all day, so I've never had a problem getting orders shipped out on time. In fact all of my listings have a 1 day handling time but 98% of orders are shipped the same day. I get commercial plus pricing from stamps.com and all of my listings have free shipping, so everything is competitively priced.

I can say for a fact that 3.01% out of that 3.02% is due to things being lost by the postal service. I do absolutely everything I possibly can to give my customers the best service, which no longer means anything to eBay.

I mean, seriously eBay, what am I supposed to do? Ship all my orders Priority so they will arrive by your deadline? Even then things get lost, and there's nothing we can do as sellers to prevent it.

This "late shipment" thing is just very frustrating. I seriously hope they are still working on their new standards because they are becoming increasingly impossible to meet :(

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

This is how I'm handling it:
http://www.entertainmentavenue.com/c...k/kr020201.jpg

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

This is how I am handling mine:

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam...-story-top.jpg

eBay can suck it

But in all serious, I am getting pummeled. I had USPS lose 2 of my packages this week. >=(

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

Same here, I'm literally now taking all my packages in and having them scan them all!

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

My "lost shipments" are always scanned in and lost somewhere in transit. Which didn't used to count as a defect, but now it does.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

Simple, I have 2 day handling on all my items. Theoretically my ass is covered even know I ship same day as payment as received or the very following day. Done, no issues. Plus my post office is exactly a half mile from my house and I go to the store another half mile past that every day for coffee and smokes. So everything is handed in in person and scanned.

Then I hang onto all reciepts. If a item comes up late, I can forward the reciept to ebay proving the post office ****ed up. And then they elimate the ding in most cases.

Just wish I could figure out how to get around ebay mentality the buyer is always right when they are wrong lol.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

I've kept 1 day handling on all my listings because I don't want to lose the 20% discount I get on FVF for being Top Rated Plus.

If you don't mind me asking, how do you forward those receipts to eBay? I was looking through my "late shipment report" yesterday, and a good bit of them were fraudulent purchases which were later chargebacked in Paypal. I don't know why those show as a "late shipment", but they do, and I know I can get at least 25 of them removed if I find out who to talk to.

Please let me know, thanks.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

its not even a deal to me. i offer same or next business day shipping and always get stuff shipped in that timeframe. granted im not shipping lots every day.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

Re-read the thread bud. I have no problem at all getting orders shipped within my handling time.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

I lost over 15 packages during Christmas holiday till this day no word on what happened

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

I have 1 day handling also and often ship same day. However I have started changing the "shipping date" to 1 day forward and still shipping same day. This moves the whole timetable one day forward giving you one extra day buffer. Naturally this only works with same day shipments that have 1 day handling.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

I appreciate your response but I'm a bit confused.

How can you modify the "shipping date" without changing your "handling time?"

I may be missing something obvious here but I've never seen any option to specify the shipment date. Do you mean that you post all your orders the same day, then upload tracking the next day?

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

could you just mark as dispatched and add tracking later, when you actually send it?

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

I think that would do the opposite of what I'm trying to accomplish. My problem is eBay's estimated delivery date not my handling time. If I were to mark orders as shipped before I uploaded tracking I think eBay may start estimating an ever shorter delivery time frame for my orders.

Just to reiterate, what is killing me is eBay's new late shipment metric. This is an entirely different animal from the old "tracking uploaded and validated by carrier" metric, which I am at 100% for. It now counts as a defect if you ship with tracking and tracking shows the order arrived after the date eBay estimated for your customer. USPS losing orders or delaying delivery for seemingly no reason has caused me to drop to 3.02% on the new late shipment metric, while 3% is the threshold for being Top Rated.

So I'm doing everything I can to get eBay to estimate longer delivery times, even though I know it will have an impact on sales.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

why not just change your handling time to 2 days instead of 1 to give you an extra day? I don't think buyers see this or pay attention to it, but buyers diffinitely look at your shipping method to see how fast an item will come, so be careful.

A potential buyer may shop with someone shipping Priority rather than First Class or slower.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

The 20% discount I get on final value fees is part of what allows me to stay a major player in a highly competitive niche. You have to have 1 or same day handling in order to be Top Rated, and if I lost my Top Rated plus badge on this account, I'd lose half my customers or more right off the bat.

I've definitely considered increasing my handling time but that is a last resort. This account is a Gold powerseller and has been TRP since it was 3 months old. It would be detrimental to lose that top rated status on this one. :(

In regards to the shipping method, I know, but my hands are pretty much tied. It's a highly competitive niche this account is involved with and if I started including Priority shipping costs in my prices, I'd lose ALL of my customers, LOL. I've started to implement the best thing I can think of, which is telling eBay I'm using "economy shipping" but making a note in my listing that all orders ship first class with tracking. This way eBay estimates a later delivery date and hopefully less orders are considered late. It will have an effect on mobile users buying from me since they rarely take the time to look at a listing's description. But I don't know what else to do. I'm open to suggestions.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

Have you tried a different post office? I realize orders do go missing but it shouldn't be so frequent where its effecting your business. If items are disappearing that often file a formal complaint because someone is stealing at your post office.

I also been using USPS the last 5 years, the only time i had items not even scan and just disappear was two week period a couple years ago where i tried their pick up service, I had like 6 or 7 orders disappear in that 2 week period. I quickly ended that.

Now every once in a while an item will show in transit and just be stuck for a week and finally start again and get delivered.
But this is like 1 every 1500 orders, an amount that doesn't effect business.

You sound like your dealing with russian post or something, i would change post offices if i were you

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

If you ship using the eBay shipping page, there is a drop down menu at the bottom center of the page, under where you select the shipping service, that let's you select the shipping date from one of the next three - four days. I don't know how this affects the expected delivery date though.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

This is what is often happening with my orders. It's only maybe one out of every 300 orders or so but it's happening enough to have an impact. I go out of my way to help those customers and end up taking a loss most of the time be reshipping the order.

Everything is always scanned in. The ones getting lost will be scanned 3 or 4 times, then they'll sometimes be scanned again in a few weeks like you mentioned, and sometimes they just disappear. So unless someone at a sort facility is targeting me I don't know what's up. But I don't think my mail carrier/local post office have anything to do with it. Her and I have a great relationship. She's actually the one who requested that I started scheduling carrier pickups because she gets credit on her route for my mail (whatever that means, lol)

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

I had the same problem you have, just more often. It was like 1/100. I changed all my shipping to Priority and doesn't happen anymore. I had to add the increase price to my listing, however didn't have much impact. The "I want it now" generation has been spoiled by amazon 2 Day delivery. Now I get feedback "better then Amazon" every so often... So it has a lot to do with your margin and what can be afforded to make customers happy.

There are a few item Big and heavy I simply cannot ship them Priority. Naturally today get one of those buyers telling me "great item, but took 5 days from order, you could do better"... smh

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

As of today I'm up to 3.01 from 3.02, so there is hope! I think I'll be back under 3% by the 20th for sure :)

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

Simple called them and they sent me a link where i can upload photos to. Then waited few days, heard nothing, and called back. They revied it and removed the dings!!

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

I do not really need 2 day shipping. Best Buy free 3 day shipping for spending $3500+ a year fast enough or too fast most days. I switched to Best Buy from Amazon as they always use UPS and 95% of time they cheaper than Amazon if buy movies day released. I not buying as much as Amazon. Only reason keep prime is Walmart refusal be dependable restocking must have items in store i.e. over-counter drugs for allergies. Mean some items they take 3-6 months before back in stock. Amazon got better prices if do not mind buying enough last lot people over a year. I hate ebay as must use PayPal now 12-15 years ago I bought there like used do at Amazon back when did not have to use PayPal. I am leaving my current server company as they had real merchant account when first went with them but they dropped it soon there after. Only mom and pop places only take PayPal in server world you look like joke if do not have real merchant account. I stayed with them a year as I hate wasting a month moving couple hundred sites from server to server. On plus side new place half off and going from unmanaged to fully managed not that I need it but nice knowing if do do not need pay hourly rate for help. Only taking PayPal is a death wish but alot refuse to change it. What I love when they got real merchant accounts but refuse take time add them. I understand if using script only allows PayPal as can always take other stuff when someone ask about it. Another thing love about Best Buy I got exclusive toll free number which has less wait time for if need talk to human.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

Hold on, Hold on, Hold on. WHAT??!?

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

Congratz so far

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

He said every one expects 2 days packages I rarely do but when want fast usually when Amazon slow. If need it that bad I go look for it in real world.

Most my stuff do not need fast and if Amazon bribe better people take slower like offer 5-10% discount not just $1 credit on something never use.

I hate post office they love trying fit stuff in box that main reason use Best Buy they only use UPS. I love it when take me half hour try get something out of box my old person did route would bring them to door but new people are awful.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

But I mean, who are you talking to?

Your ramblings seem completely irrelevant :(

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

Please try again with grammar Johnson.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

The buyers always right is only for business but not the fact :)

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

Amazon who need copy. Check few daily emails with items based on viewing/buying patters. Nice but tired all games due buying them for Nephew as local stores not having ones he wants. I buy my games on steam.

Never get emails like this from Ebay. Problem is the fools the big box stores hire run there facebook accounts refuse take my advise so I stop giving it. Weekly I see best buy half new releases still no info or no pictures year after keep menting that. they expect me to post URLs of all the ones talking about when if they did 5 min browse weekly on Tuesday they get that info themselves. So I stop telling them.

Amazon there listings have great descriptions with nice photos. So Best Buy fails on even lowest requirement.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

Keep in mind that some people may not be native English typers/talkers

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

In my case had a stroke

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

Ouch. Way to make EW look like a douche.. hahaha.

Sorry to hear that though. How old are you?

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

At the moment I'm not fussed about the late shipment thing, most of the time with my sort of product I know I deserve it, and its encouragement to step up my game.

However, when it comes to Christmas I know I'm going to hate it. Xmas 2015 was a nightmare for me in terms of shipping, especially exporting to the US. USPS took over 2 months to deliver some items, and I had shipped them well in time for the recommended last post dates for a pre xmas delivery. I spent far too long fixing issues with buyers that were not my fault and sending replacements that were not necessary.

This year I will be removing my standard post services and only selling items on tracked and signed for, hopefully should remove a few headaches and reduce my workload to something more manageable this year :p

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

killing me, its my worst metric.

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

Welcome to the party!

It's the most frustrating metric I've ever dealt with. I was at 3.02% then it dropped to 3.01 which made me hopeful. But now I'm at 3.06%

:ahhhhhh:

Re: How is everyone handling new "late shipment" metric?
 

I've been doing this recently...

I have been offering free shipping on everything (and including the shipping cost in my starting price).

On the shipping options, I choose "Charged a Fixed Cost"

Then I select "Economy Shipping" for the free option. It has a range of 1-10 days, so the expected delivery date range is large.

I offer another shipping service and select Priority Mail with the price of however much the item would cost to ship via Priority.

It still usually ends up being cheapest to mail via First Class for anything under 1 LBS and Priority for anything over 1 LBS, but the "Economy shipping" option gives me a large cushion to avoid late delivery, and most people never select the paid option for priority mail anyway (actually no one has selected it so far)