posted on December 1, 2005 07:19:08 PM new
I read a thread about febay's recent addition of estimated shipping times to listing's. I was bored this evening and thought I would harass a Live Help rep about this. Here's a copy of my chat with them. I did get a mailing address from them and I plan on mailing them a complaint and a monthly bill for the time waisted in replying to buyers email's about "Where's my item, your listing said the shipping time was ** day's".
Any idea how much I should bill them for??
Here's the transcript of your conversation
Your chat session started.
mikes4x4andtruckrepair: Hello, I was woundering when ebay got in the business of shipping??? I noticed you have added estimated shipping times to the shipping options section of my listing's. Could you please give me the ebay email address I can forward buyers complaint's about not receiving their items in a timely manner. You do realize (I hope) that not everyone ship's 7 days a week and some only ship 1 or 2 day's of the week. The times you give are to say the least outragous. THIS IS THE HOLIDAY SEASON!!!!! Also could you provide a name and address to who I can send a bill for my time that it will take me to now answer email's about the shipping times that I provided in """MY""" listings. Since I did not put the calculated times the cost for my time in responding to emails will be charged to """YOU""" ebay.
Anh D.: Hello and thank you for connecting to eBay Live Chat! My name is Anh. I apologize for the long delay. I'll be one moment while I review your concerns.
Anh D.: I'd be more than happy to help you with this.
Anh D.: Just to confirm you would like an email address to forward buyers complaints?
mikes4x4andtruckrepair: I would appreciate it since your calculated shipping times are not possible in the holiday season.
Anh D.: You can forward these emails by clicking on the Email link on this page here, http://pages.ebay.com/help/contact_us/_base/result_6_2_11.html
mikes4x4andtruckrepair: I also need a address to send my bill to each month for my time spent re-routing email's.
Anh D.: These will be directed to our Trust & Safety team.
mikes4x4andtruckrepair: This is not a trust and saftey concern. It is a ebay made a promise that sellers can not control.
mikes4x4andtruckrepair: Do you now run the US Postal Service, DHL, UPS and FedEx?
Anh D.: We only will refund for credit for services for Over payments our our services render.
Anh D.: I'm afraid that we do not provide credits for time render while using our eBay site.
mikes4x4andtruckrepair: No I will need to send you a bill for time lost that you have created for the sellers trying in vain to explain to buyers that ebay made a hollow promise.
mikes4x4andtruckrepair: I JUST NEED A MAILING ADDRESS FOR YOUR FINANCIAL DEPARTMENT.
Anh D.: We do not actually run these shipping companies, but we offer an option for Sellers to use these shipping companies on our site, if you use the Shipping calculator the costs for shipping will be automatically calculated on the shipping calculator.
mikes4x4andtruckrepair: The cost are fine. You did not add changes to the cost. YOU ADDED ESTIMATED SHIPPING TIMES.
Anh D.: I'm afraid that I that I cannot access this information for you here in Live Chat, please understand that we charge our members for using our site, but we do not pay members to use our services.
mikes4x4andtruckrepair: Please provide me with the phone number for your legal department so I can file a class action law suit then.
Anh D.: this is the mailing address you can send there information to,
Anh D.: eBay Inc.
Anh D.: Attn: Corporate Counsel
Anh D.: 2145 Hamilton Avenue
Anh D.: San Jose, CA 95125
mikes4x4andtruckrepair: Ok, that's what I needed. Thanks You. I'm not mad at you, just your upgrade people that are making a promise on the part of the seller.
Anh D.: I understand your frustration, that's okay!
Anh D.: Is there anything else that I can help you with today?
mikes4x4andtruckrepair: Thanks, that was all I needed.
Anh D.: Your very welcome!
Anh D.: Thank you for contacting Live Chat support please feel free to come back anytime. Have a great night!
posted on December 1, 2005 07:40:22 PM new
I guess this is really a non-issue for me. When someone pays, I send them an email message, it tells them I will be shipping within two business days, and I give an estimate of how long it will take to get there. I still get people asking 2 days after paying that they did not get their item, when I tell them it will take a week or longer to get there. They are going to ask whether ebay lists it or not.
posted on December 1, 2005 08:16:12 PM new
Personally I ship every day. If payment arrives early enough I ship the same day. It's just the point that ebay in their infinate wisdom has decided to tell the buyers how long it will take a item to get to them. Last time I checked they didn't run USPS, UPS, DHL and FedEx (at least not yet), yet they feel fine giving estimated shipping times. I have had items that I shipped from PA to either FL or CA via USPS Priority Mail that took a week and a half and on the flip side had items ship to the UK or Japan via Airmail Parcel and take only 6 or 7 day's. UPS, DHL and FedEx in my opinion have their act together and their shipping times are 99.9% of the time dead on for me. It's the US Postal Service that has the drastic flucuation in delivery times.
I to give shipping time estimates in my shipment notifications that state shipping times and that shipping times via USPS vary widely. It's just that now I have a contradicting time listed in my auction listing (thanks to febay).
It is a small problem in my opinion but this is ebay we are talking about and that's all they seem to do is create small problem's. All those little problems add up to make the sellers life more difficult and less fun (oop's, I forgot, we are not allowed to have fun anymore).
Here's a suggestion for ebay. Open a second ebay. One that they never make changes to and one they can screw up all they want. I bet the majority of people would use the one they don't fiddle with. I myself don't need any more features in ebay. It has to many already.
What would the answer to this question probably sound like coming from a ebay design employee?
Question: What is your job with ebay?
Answer: I work for a giant corporation that has no customer service and spend most of my day's designing what we call system upgrades (laughing as they say it) to annoy our paying customers with time consuming expensive and unneeded features.
Question: Do you like your job?
Answer: Are you kidding? Who wouldn't. I get over paid to make peoples lives more difficult and never have to worry about them complaining to me. God, life is good.
Now ask ebay sellers what they think about all the "system upgrades" that ebay likes to launch at the begining of the holiday season. I won't even answer that one because it would be nothing but a bunch of *%@@* to censor the colorful words.
Speeking of which, shouldn't ebay and vendio be launching major system changes soon?? Seem's like they alway's do it around the holiday season. Maybee they are just trying to launch them in little bit's in hopes that we won't notice.
posted on December 1, 2005 09:03:56 PM new
I don't know about the rest of you, but during the summer, when people can get outdoors and travel a little, I actually get quite a few requests to delay shipping so it won't arrive until after a certain date when they will be home. I would think having a cut and fast delivery schedule on the auction page could turn off a few potential bidders. I don't fool with Ebay's shipping options anyway. I rarely ship via the Post office anymore and never use UPS. Most everything I ship goes FedEx Ground. They have a money back guarantee on their transit schedule. If they're a day late on delivery, all shipping charges are refunded on request. I deal directly with my customers. I'll tell them when their item will arrive. I don't need Ebay putting in their 2 cents worth on shipping time.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on December 2, 2005 05:35:26 AM new
I actually don't have a problem with the estimated shipping times during the holiday season - I had already put it in my description that during the holidays I would be shipping within 1 business day of receipt of payment.
People don't want to buy a Christmas present online and worry about not receiving it in time for the holiday. Put yourself in their shoes - I wouldn't want to worry about a slow shipper this time of year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on December 2, 2005 05:38:35 AM new
I ship everyday, too. With the USPS picking the packages up, the only time I go to the PO is for Int'l packages. I tried the Int'l package label through PayPal and all it prints are the large labels with the large customs form attached. My packages are small and require the green customs forms so that option doesn't work for me.
As for estimated shipping times, yes, eBay should keep their nose out of that one. They have no idea. I had a package get from Ohio to California before one got from Ohio to NJ. The one to NJ took two days longer and both went Priority Mail.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
posted on December 2, 2005 01:54:07 PM new
WTF????
UPS Ground 1 to 6 business days
Yeah? Ye would foist see MEG-O-MATIC flying over the WHITE CLIFTS OF DOVER, singing "Have You Seen The Muffin Man" before you'd see UPS GROUND deliver that quick...DURING THE HOLIDAY SEASON...
BIOYA, feeBay!
"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you." —George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss., Sept. 20, 2005
posted on December 2, 2005 02:22:30 PM new
Tom...Ebay stepped in it, and they keep sinking deeper. Many buyers have no concept of what a "business day" is. Even with FedEx Ground, there are two different meanings for "business day" depending on whether it delivers to a business or residence. Only the seller, after he has all the delivery information and has set a shipping date, can give the buyer an accurate delivery date.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on December 2, 2005 02:43:38 PM new
Time to bring out the ever popular FEEPAY game :
http://www.ioffer.com/feepay/
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posted on December 2, 2005 03:30:23 PM new
Tom...Ever notice they do it every year at the start of the peak sales time? It's probably a secret agent from Yahoo or OS that was sent to sabotage Ebay.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on December 2, 2005 03:42:28 PM new"That Meg woman is a...FOOL"
"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you." —George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss., Sept. 20, 2005
posted on December 2, 2005 08:24:36 PM new
I called ebay yesterday on the magic powerseller line....I told them they had 2-9 days delivery on my parcel post and media mail and there is not possible way that's happening from Alaska. She put me on hold for awhile and came back on and said she agreed it was a problem and would find out what she could do and email me today.....
Here is the message she sent...
Hello Amy,
This is a follow-up to our conversation yesterday.
As you are aware, the eBay estimated shipping time is new. We have updated this and made it an option on the auctions.
As you list future items, you should be able to to unclick a box in the shipping information to not have the extimated time shown.
You can also increase the shipping time if you need to by adding a Handling Time duration in the Sell Your Item form for each item, under the Payment and Shipping page. The Handling duration will be under the shipping fields.
I appreciate the opportunity to assist you. Thank you for your participation in the eBay community.
Marilyn P.
eBay Customer Support
Also....They seemed to have removed the estimated shipping from some of my book listings too!
Since her instructions appear to apply to listing thru ebay I'm wondering if I have to do anything special when listing thru Vendio?
posted on December 2, 2005 08:49:52 PM new
I have a better question ....just who really gives a $hit. Just something else for Buyers to *itch about. What about bad weather,and things the Sellers can't control like the Post Office dragging their butt everytime there is a Holiday. I just got a shipment that was to be a one day ship,it took five days to get here.
**********************************
Two men sit behind bars,one sees mud the other sees stars.
posted on December 3, 2005 08:43:48 AM new
"Why does ebay think they have to provide a shipping time estimate ?"
Same reason they sent out that stupid Holiday Catalog a few weeks back. They want more buyers.
If the bidder sees "2-3 days" on the listing, they are more inclined to buy. The details don't matter, because many (most?) buyers don't read.
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Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum sonatur.
posted on December 3, 2005 08:46:42 AM new
Here's a rant copied directly from the eBay boards. I just love this one! It's in response to a stupid answer from one of the Pinks:
Shane. Dude. Don't you feel even just a quiver of embarrassment having to mouth patronizing crap like that to hundreds of actual adult business people? Does Ebay, speaking through you, think that we're morons and don't already KNOW the very instant that we read this enhancement to OUR listing pages, that ebay would talk down to us as if we were a roomful of first-quarter Jaycee trainees looking up with big, sparkly eyes and saying, "Ohhhhh....I see.....Ebay isn't using wording to imply brief, impossible shipping delivery times to bidders; they're just HELPING show the shipper's stated transit times! Ohhhhhh....THANK YOU for clearing that up for us! We're so STUPID; we thought you were implying to bidders that they will win something and get it two to three days later! Sorry! You've never enhanced us before, you see, and we were confused!"
I know, you know, every last seller knows, that this was done with the express intent to lure buyers to make purchases on Ebay when on-line sales have been flat-lined with NO growth for the second year running despite ad blitzes and every other enticement. It costs NOTHING except paying the code-writers to create this tasty lure which functions as free, seller-paid-and-hosted advertising to entice a buyer into buying it on Ebay. Not only that, BUT the true beauty of it is, other than the near zero price tag to Ebay, that all anger on the buyer's part will be directed at the naughty, naughty seller who didn't do what Ebay said they would. They've already been told that the seller is a naughty, naughty entity who will, without the fierce protection of the buyer through ebay, Paypal, Square trade, etc., etc., cheat their pants off and never deliver unless forced to by these noble agencies. (Who are paid by us the sellers, by the way, to imply this. The buyer does not pay ONE DIME to ebay or Paypal, yet they are "protected" left, right, and center from the evil, drooling, scurrillious seller, who - by the way - pays every last dime that ebay and Paypal make, NOT the buyer.)
Now, Shane-channeling-ebay; of COURSE we all know that Ebay doesn't actually promise the 2-3 day Priority delivery! Nor does the seller! Why, if we all just read the words together, we can see that. BUT the buyer, as we all know, reads what they want to, especially when cleverly worded in the exact way that Ebay spent time coming up with and that now appears on our listings, unwanted, unasked for, unwelcome, and unremovable. Ebay FORCED it there on the listings we paid for, but gets to say, "Now, now, silly sellers; it's just a guideline!"
No, it's not. Not really, not at all. I'LL tell you what it is - it's hours of time that sellers who are already busy will now be spending having to politely word e-mail after e-mail after e-mail from rude, peremptory buyers who paid for an item Saturday afternoon and want to know WHERE THE HELL their item is after the mail comes on Tuesday morning. And they will say, "It says in your listing two to three days!"
Why, yes. Yes, it does. It DOES say that in my listing, doesn't it? Right there in MY listing that I PAID for, that I authorized, that I reviewed, and that I clicked "Submit Listing" for. I can't argue that point! And ebay doesn't have to! I alone am responsible for the content of the page. If I add something to that page that Ebay shall find Naughty In Their Eyes, my listing is ended - BAM! If I happen to find something that EBAY added that is Naughty In My Eyes, that's just too freaking bad for me, eh? Even though I PAID the just-a-venue to carry MY listing.
Now, not only will we be dealing with an avalanche of irritated, aggravated, misled, threatening buyers who are to a person laden with the entitlement issues that Ebay enabled them into (oh, I know - they were nasty whiners to begin with, but Ebay's where they REALLY raised it to an art level) but the negative, helpless, uspet feelings that the seller will be forced to surround themselves with in dealing with this inevitable fall-out, negates the whole reason we work for ourselves - for a better, happier, saner work life. We work hard so that WE can call the shots and control our income, destiny, and quality of life. This un-asked for nastiness is going to spill over onto our families, our decent customers, and eat up time and energy.
Looking at this crap got me so aggravated that I couldn't effectively list today. 60 listings should be going on; 17 will. BUT, in order to empower myself and get a little of my own back, I checked out godaddy, and GUESS WHAT, kids - for the price of a couple of weeks of my ebay fees, I got me a whole YEAR of website support services like a shopping cart, merchant account, and secure site participation, and auto submitting to search engines. Woo-hoo! And I can say anything I want to MY customers (and that's who they are; my customers - not ebay's customers - customers are people who pay you )- they buy from ME, buy MY goods, comply with MY selling terms. Woo-hoo-hoo!
So once again, I've been enhanced by Ebay! Thank you for your wonderful enhancement! It has enhanced my life, but NOT like you intended it to; it has enhanced my non-ebay income yet further, and soon, I can move Ebay from my "income" category" allllllllllllll the way over to my "advertising" category. Woo-hoo!
Now I'll know just where to spend that money that might SOMEDAY be released from the SNAD complaint that an Ebay spree spender who sobered up after three weeks and then panicked and filed every last thing she could to dig out of it (with ebay and paypal's handy HELPFUL buyer tutorials on SNAD, INR, etc, don't you know) irregardles of the facts of the transactions. Assuming that I GET the money, it'll be spent on another venue, for sure.
Thanking you for YET ANOTHER enhancement that I, the stupid seller, am just too silly to understand.
--------------------------------------
Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum sonatur.
posted on December 7, 2005 08:40:45 AM new
They now have first class mail as estimated to be delivered in 1-3 days.
Thanks ebay for helping my customers to expect shipping "miracles." I know that text was added to indicate that this excludes weekends and holidays, and that the delivery time isn't guaranteed, but if the xbox scam auctions are any indication, we're lucky if bidders read the description at all, let along the fine print.
posted on December 7, 2005 11:55:17 PM new
neglus I have never checked out the iOffer website. Very interesting. I must say I like their fee schedule.
COPY FROM iOffer's WEBSITE:
No charges for buyers. Free want ads. Free to search and browse items for sale.
For sellers:
* Free store.
* No listing fees.
* Free notices of buyer want ads.
* You don't pay unless your item sells!
We charge a Final Value Fee to your account upon the completion of a successful transaction. There are optional charges for premium listing services as shown below. To learn more, visit our Seller Help section.
**SPECIAL** No Final Value Fee on Transactions $4.99 and Less (on iOfferLite)
To promote the launch of iOfferLite we will be waiving these fees until January 1st, 2006
Effective May 1st 2004
Transaction Amount
Final Value Fee (FVF)
Up to $4.99 (on iOfferLite) $0.50 FREE
Up to $4.99 (on iOffer) $0.50
$5.00-$9.99 $0.75
$10.00-$24.99 $1.25
$25.00-$99.99 5% of the total transaction amount
$100.00-$1499.99 $5 + 2.5% of the transaction amount over $100
$1500.00 and over $40.00 + 1.5% of the transaction amount over $1500
Wholesale Lists, Catalogs, Product Information $5 fixed FVF per transaction
Aircrafts, Boats, Cars & Trucks FREE
Real Estate FREE
Premium Listing Services Fees
Get more promotion for your listings and your store with our premium listing services. These include:
Home Page Featured
$19.95 Feature your item and your store on our Home Page. It will be rotated on our Home page with other featured items and stores.
Featured Plus
$ 9.95
Feature your item and your store on top of our category browsing listings
Highlight
$ 2.00
Your item and your store will be highlighted with yellow on category listing pages
Bold
$ 1.00
Displays the title of your listing and your store in boldface type on category listings and page
List your item in 2nd category
$ 0.10
Reach more buyers with this feature.
Additional pictures
$ 0.05
each
Enhance your listing with additional pictures.
I also like the fact you can pay them with Paypal. I might just have to check them out and try a couple of items. I sell from low price (couple of dollar's) to medium price ($500-1,000) range items and the low price items I get killed on with all the fee's.
As for the shipping subject, it still burns me and I agree 1-3 day's for first class. Come on guy's, give me a break. Maybee the post office found out how to make worm holes in the last few weeks or something. I know the normal postal service transportation service is slow. Shoot, it took 16 day's to get a Parcel Post item about 80 miles in the same state. The buyer just emailed me today and said it finally arrived. What else can one say other than grumble, grumble, grow, grow.
posted on December 11, 2005 07:02:21 AM new
Is this below new wording? I don't remember it saying sellers weren't responsible for shipping delays before. It looks a little better with that little sentence below.
'Sellers are not responsible for service transit time. This information is provided by the carrier and excludes weekends and holidays. Note that transit times may vary, particularly during peak periods.'
posted on December 11, 2005 10:42:03 AM new
I just noticed that 1 - 3 business days on my listing for First Class. However, when you are listing the item through eBay and are selecting shipping methods, it gives the estimated time of 2 - 9 business days for First Class. It changes when your listing appears. That's a crock of you-know-what. It's an error I think they need to correct ASAP.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
posted on December 12, 2005 08:28:57 AM new
[b]THERE IS NO WAY[/]b eBay can begin to estimate shipping times during the holidays. We have discovered that over the years by trying to go by what the USPS or UPS sites themselves say.
#2 BUYERS buyers do not read – tell them shipping days include “business days” only, and that goes right over their heads.
eBay has no business in making/providing shipping times.
~"It does not matter what I think, it does not matter what you think. The only thing which matters is: What is the TRUTH!"~
Caroline 
