ebay item "delivery late"

se2020

This is my third issue with this in 2 weeks!

Buyer purchased item at 7.45pm last Friday,
Listing had a dispatch time of 2-3 working days.
Buyer choose 'other carrier 3-5 day' (my default free-post option.
Buyer is an IV30 postcode which most carriers class as a remote part of scotland 
Booked collection Friday night and it was collected by royal mail on Saturday on the tracked48 service.

Buyer is messaging me at 6pm today asking where the item is as ebay are showing it as 'delivery overdue'
If a working day ends at 5:30pm then, technically,  it didn't even need to be posted until today!

Tracking shows it getting to his local sorting office today so I'd expect it to be delivered in the next couple of days which "should" be within the time frames on my listings.


Previous 2 issues were with a Island somewhere off scotland and one to Northern Ireland.  The scotland buyer messaged me to praise me on the good packing when the item arrived 7 days after purchase.  I apologised that it had taken so long, they said that was fine and it was normal for them to wait that long due to the location. 
NI buyer questioned where the item was as the tracking on ebay had not updated.  I checked the royal mail site and could see the tracking on there was working and the item was making progress. 

Both of those buyers left positive feedback yet I still have 2 defects for late delivery.  Probably about to get a 3rd.
I also seem to be getting late defects if I use a carrier that is not supported on the ebay tracking even though all the items are being delivered on time.

Is there any cure for this?
Doesn't seem to be anything else I can change in postage settings?
I'm currently considering adding a seller away/holiday setting for 3 days and changing it every day to give me a rolling 3 day window...

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

If you are private seller then late delivery marks don't affect your account in any way I can see, if you are a business seller the metric is used to measure whether you qualify for Top Rated status.

From what I can tell eBay are tweaking the ETA so if you post earlier than the dispatch time the ETA given to the buyer once the order is marked as dispatched is shortened.

Problems are like buses, they always seem to come in twos or threes then go away so hopefully this phenomenon of the universe will mean smooth sailing for a while now, for this particular issue at least! 

janb5

I only sell to UK and don`t sell to West Highlands, Channel Islands etc.  The late postage thing is silly because even it is tracked we are not responsible for  problems with  late deliveries.  I always ring up and ask the defect for late deliveries to be removed as I always have a tracking number and the item is packed up and ready as soon as there is a bid on it!

se2020

janb5 said:

I only sell to UK and don`t sell to West Highlands, Channel Islands etc.  The late postage thing is silly because even it is tracked we are not responsible for  problems with  late deliveries.  I always ring up and ask the defect for late deliveries to be removed as I always have a tracking number and the item is packed up and ready as soon as there is a bid on it!

My settings are for uk only but I can't seem to find any way to stop/block the channel islands etc as they all seem to be included in the ebay 'uk' list.

It's not a problem (apart from the late delivery issues) with smaller stuff that can go via Royal mail but larger items get heavily surcharged on carriers.

I'm currently listing items over-price on BIN with best offer and I take the address into account when considering offers but this method is costing me sales as the same items listed at a lower price sell a lot quicker..

janb5

Hi I have just checked mine for you.
Go to Account Settings
Then postage preferences
Exclude postage location.
You`ll see domestic and international. Edit button so press that and you`ll able to exclude the countries you want to,
Then press Save

I hope that works.  I`ve copied mine to show you.

Postage settings
Exclude postage locations	Domestic:7 International:219	Edit

Exclude postage locations

Domestic

Channel Islands

Isle of Wight

Isle of Man

Scilly Isles

Scottish Highlands

Scottish Islands

Northern Ireland

---

International

Africa(55)

Show all countries

Asia(21)

Show all countries

Central America and Caribbean(30)

Show all countries

Europe(48)

Show all countries

Middle East(12)

Show all countries

North America(6)

Show all countries

Oceania(21)

Show all countries

Southeast Asia(12)

Show all countries

South America(14)

Show all countries

---

Additional locations

PO Box

se2020

janb5 said:

Hi I have just checked mi e for you.
Go to Account Settings
Then postage preferences
Exclude postage location.
You`ll see domestic and international. Edit button so press that and you`ll able to exclude the countries you want to,
Then press Save

I hope that works.  I`ve copied mine to show you.

Postage settings
Exclude postage locations	Domestic:7 International:219	Edit

Exclude postage locations

Domestic

Channel Islands

Isle of Wight

Isle of Man

Scilly Isles

Scottish Highlands

Scottish Islands

Northern Ireland

---

International

Africa(55)

Show all countries

Asia(21)

Show all countries

Central America and Caribbean(30)

Show all countries

Europe(48)

Show all countries

Middle East(12)

Show all countries

North America(6)

Show all countries

Oceania(21)

Show all countries

Southeast Asia(12)

Show all countries

South America(14)

Show all countries

---

Additional locations

PO Box

Thank you!

Do you know if I could just do apply this on the heavy item listings that need a carrier or is it a global setting?

janb5

You`re welcome!  I think it covers everything and in reality whether it is light or heavy the difficulties with the postage overtake all the advantages.