Coming soon: eBay guaranteed delivery

[7800fan]

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Coming-Soon-eBay-Guaranteed-Delivery/ba-p/26768417

 

and

 

http://cc.ebay.com/guaranteed-delivery/

 

Basically if the seller is slow to ship, he will lose money for shipping refund or even full refund (including return shipping).

 

if the seller is in the program and ships on time or early, and it arrives late, the buyer gets shipping refunded by eBay, or if it was free, $5 coupon. So if you wanted something by specific date and it's late due to bad weather, inconvenient USPS strike, lazy seller, or some other weird incident that can't be explained other than full moon problem, you get some money back.

 

This could benefit the buyer some. Since eBay can see tracking info already, it'd be hard for buyer to abuse this unless they have someone who handles delivery intentionally delay packages to get free money.

 

For you sellers, if you consistently ship fast and delivery is always on time or early, getting in this program will improve your listing when buyer searches. Sellers who are not in the program may find their stuff get listed a little lower in the results.

[Albert]

I don't even understand why this is needed, and it's not something eBay can even really guarantee. Seems like a great way for buyers to take advantage of sometimes slow delivery that's beyond the seller's control. And more complexity for sellers to have to deal with. Just read through the pages of comments in the first link and you'll see how popular this will be with sellers.

[Keatah]

More ebay tedium..

[AtariLeaf]

I didn't read the link but as a Canadian who sells a lot to the US and can't control customs, how does this affect me? I don't see the point of this.

[icemanxp300]

My ass, Drop my views, I could care less. This is just an open door for scammers.

 

Step 1. buy item.

Step 2. set-up instructions at PO to keep item for pick-up.

Step 3. pick-up item after guaranteed delivery date.

Step 4. Force a return all paid by seller.

Step 5. Send back a FU you got scammed note.

Step 6. Rinse and repeat

 

"If a guaranteed item is delivered late, the buyer can request one of the following recompense options:

1. Keep the item and get a refund on the ship cost. Or, if shipping was free, the buyer can get a $5 coupon instead.
2. Get a free return label for a full refund of item cost (item cost refund is always paid by the seller) and ship cost."

[eightbit]

I think it is time to really stop using ebay. I have used it much less and less over the years....but this may be the nail in the coffin. No respect for the sellers which baffles me. They are the reason ebay exists.

[Keatah]

No one is going to stop using ebay.

[Blazing Lazers]

I've always included free shipping on all my listings exactly to have one less way to get screwed over in terms of feedback, and always insure all packages above $50. Yet, I do have a 2 business day shipping time notice due to being at work normally while local post offices are open, or often away from home when items sell. That's before weather like storms and snow, both here and wherever the buyer might live, particularly if they're in a rural area or on the other Coast thousands of miles away. Or, as can happen, an item sells on a Friday or a Saturday, and the soonest it can be gotten to a post office is a Monday. These are perfectly normal conditions that can affect delivery times, before theft, postal incompetence, etc, are factored in. There's also the threat of bad buyers, in which I include overly picky, insistent, and/or impatient buyers who have unreasonable shipping expectations (for example, one guy wanted me to have his package notarized-wtf,dude???), and that's before the newly increased danger of scammers that can use this new option of full refunds requests due to allegedly slow shipping to commit online shoplifting and rip me off. Just one more thing to worry about, and yet another reason to simply not sell on Ebay.

[eightbit]

No one is going to stop using ebay.

I should rephrase my statement:

 

"I think it is time to really stop using ebay FOR SELLING". I have to believe that all of the moves like these are intended to push out the small time sellers.

 

I actually took great pride last year in not using ebay and finding all sorts of great stuff locally, selling locally and using the AA marketplace only for buying and selling. I got better deals, better product, and *working* product...

[krslam]

No one is going to stop using ebay.

I stopped selling on ebay the day they started including shipping cost in the fee calculations, and haven't regretted it. Now I just laugh every time they stick another knife into their sellers.

[Tanooki]

I don't have much of a choice but to use them as amazon is as evil if not worse in how they handle small time marketplace sellers who don't deal in large volume to eat abuses. Amazon will tank you over pretty much anything to protect themselves, and already like ebay will do, all costs come out of your hide, and worse Amazon holds your money for like a week or two before even unlocking it for you to have which is why I won't do it.

 

Now ebay is mostly getting in on the same scam to screw small sellers. You either get on board, or now you're TWO layers behind other sellers. Already if you don't do all their preferred things such as the guaranteed 2 week returns at your cost, ship by X date (you pick handling), and allow the GSP to screw with your as well...you're a second class citizen that shows up AFTER the BEST MATCH get viewed first (which it defaults to for year now.)

 

Throw this on, you're basically steerage on the Titanic. Now you either allow people to scam the shit out of your and steal your money if you can't ship by a date AND have it show up by a date that you have zero control over or they can steal money from you to pay return shipping and steal your money on the return irregardless if the item is as described or not. And then good luck proving someone didn't send you back something you didn't ship in the first place. Might as well be a used sex toy as you'll be taking it in the ass either way.

 

 

I guess I'll go steerage. I refuse to make myself a pawn to lazy people, impatient babies, and just scammers in general which this new plan really opens the gates wide to. As if the GSP shenanigans and their other garbage to qualify into the 'best match' weren't bad enough this really sucks.

 

I've been trying to sell some hot item gameboy games (new battery installed into Pokemon Yellow and Silver) since last September and it never sells, doesn't get a lot of looks either, yet time and again 'best match' types sell their copies in crappier shape than mine with used old batteries for $5-10 more. It pisses me off. I've had problems moving all sorts of stuff in the last year when they ratcheted down on that garbage in 2016 and unless people filter for a certain price I'm screwed, or I run a gamble and sell well off the average and maybe then it moves. You can't win on ebay anymore unless you play the bullseye.

[Mulletino]

and they may be blocking us Australians from buying from overseas buyers too.

[eightbit]

Personally I am in recent years *afraid* to sell rare stuff on ebay due to the extreme scamming/bait and switching. Last big electronic I sold on ebay was a Denon surround receiver that was mint and worked great. Buyer said it would not turn on and filed for a return which ebay of course accepted as they always side with the buyer, and it was returned to me all hacked up. Pried open and components missing...and smelled like moth balls. Obviously this scumbag had the same model already and either needed parts or a complete swaparoo. I contacted ebay not expecting much help, and I was right...I received no help. I can't take that chance again so items on that level (receivers, vintage computers, etc) I will never sell on ebay. I have been very cautious as to what I actually do list, and it has gotten to the point that I have no desire to list anything at all. I think my ebay selling days are just about done to be honest.

Edited April 20, 2017 by eightbit

[glazball]

I agree this looks like it will suck for sellers, but it looks like ebay is trying to stay competitive with Amazon. Specifically, Amazon Prime because everyone seems to think they need things now, now, now. I don't and won't pay for Amazon Prime but I know a lot of people who love it. Recently, my co-worker purchased a variety of Keurig coffee K-cups and creamers and had them shipped to our office the next day. I'm thinking "Really?? You couldn't just go to the store, you need coffee shipped overnight??"

Edited April 20, 2017 by glazball

[Ransom]

Same-day delivery is the future, my friend. All the common items you need will be staged nearby in special storage locations, ready for someone to bring them to you the same day. Or, to get a $2 digital credit, you can choose to go to one of these storage locations and get the things yourself. These storage locations will be known colloquially as "stores" and it will be revolutionary!

 

That's for new merchandise, of course. When it comes to places like eBay, they'll have you ship all the items you're going to sell to a central location, and then distribute them to their own "stores" based on purchase patterns. There will likely be a charity element, and to garner Goodwill amongst the public, they will probably open up their own "stores" for people to browse through.

 

The future's gonna be awesome!

[Keatah]

I agree this looks like it will suck for sellers, but it looks like ebay is trying to stay competitive with Amazon. Specifically, Amazon Prime because everyone seems to think they need things now, now, now. I don't and won't pay for Amazon Prime but I know a lot of people who love it. Recently, my co-worker purchased a variety of Keurig coffee K-cups and creamers and had them shipped to our office the next day. I'm thinking "Really?? You couldn't just go to the store, you need coffee shipped overnight??"

 

<sarcasm>

Don't you get it??!?!? WTF?!?! Everything is instant now now now, gimme gimme gimme as fast as I point and click. If its not, it's a failure and a big loss.

 

It's good to be old-school, when having to wait more than a day for something to arrive was the norm.

[Keatah]

Same-day delivery is the future, my friend. All the common items you need will be staged nearby in special storage locations, ready for someone to bring them to you the same day. Or, to get a $2 digital credit, you can choose to go to one of these storage locations and get the things yourself. These storage locations will be known colloquially as "stores" and it will be revolutionary!

 

All this twisting and churing and gyrating, perverting the old-ways by shoving a smartphone in there somehow, it's not good and I do not like it. The industry really needs to stop shoehorning smartphones into everything we do.

 

I'll convert my body-fat into negative mass before I get on that bandwagon!

[Omega-TI]

I guess I'm one of 'those guys' who'll order something online for delivery a day or two later. When time is scarce, and you don't want to make a special trip into town for one or two items, it's far easier to order it and have it delivered. I mean if the mailman is going to be coming by my house anyway, better his gas and time than mine.

[Omega-TI]

 

It's good to be old-school, when having to wait more than a day for something to arrive was the norm.

 

The old day's? (Expect 6-8 weeks for delivery)

[Tanooki]

I guess I'm one of 'those guys' who'll order something online for delivery a day or two later. When time is scarce, and you don't want to make a special trip into town for one or two items, it's far easier to order it and have it delivered. I mean if the mailman is going to be coming by my house anyway, better his gas and time than mine.

I'm one of those who has been using Amazon for that too. It's not that I'm not patient, but let's be honest for $100 Prime shipping was a big factor but also Prime Music was huge for me as I had in the past used that sketchy XM radio that would constantly drop out. I figure the cost of that alone along with the 20% off on any preordered (or bought without 14 days of release) item it was a money maker. You're right, if it's going to waste a good 30-60min of my time, gas, wear on my car to go pick something up, and have to pay MORE for it, I'd feel like i'd need my damn head examined for brain damage than let the mail man drop it off for me within 24hours for free. It's really common sense and not being lazy. That hour you saved just bought you an hour on your life for your kid(s), woman/man, hobbies, exercise, or whatever else that's vastly more useful.

 

I don't think ragging on the k-cups thing was fair, they are expensive enough as it is, and if you buy them on amazon in a decent number the price drops considerably. The fact that it shipped overnight and for free is just icing. That's not being impatient, that's just not being a moron and paying full price and shipping charges on top.

 

 

 

All that though, what's this got to do with ebay screwing private non-business (official or not) sellers who aren't a business with set practices and overhead to deal with whatever form of blowback from anything to fraud to daily life to bad weather. It's pure crap and you get hosed for it, and if you don't sign on, your stuff gets delisted down to the bottom of the pile which is really classy.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Tanooki

[icemanxp300]

Ebay is NOT Amazon

Ebay does not have shipping deals set-up for next day shipping

Ebay does not have warehouses set-up that ships items that are already in stock sitting in a warehouse packed up just waiting to be tossed on a truck for instant delivery.

 

Maybe what Ebay is trying to do here is force more drop shipping on sellers, such as send them your stuff and let them sell for you.

 

Ebay is an auction site, Amazon is not. Amazon has already made it quite clear they only cater to business's and not people selling small stuff like a yard sale, juts look at the BS referral fee. Sure ebay has some sellers that sell the same product over and over but majority of ebay is normal people selling a few things and that's it.

 

If Ebay wants to cut-out the little guys who made them what they are and change from an Auction site to a retail site like Amazon, be my guest. There are more sites available these days to sell stuff on, Ebay is no longer needed. I already persuade every customer of mine to go to my etsy and I see they do.

 

I already sell on ebay as a last resort. They are pushing us away and it will likely bite them in the ass.

[eightbit]

I have actually purchased on Etsy and I like the site. Maybe I'll try selling there instead...

[krslam]

Regardless of which online site you sell through, if you take Paypal you're open to the same buyer scams as on ebay, since Paypal's policies for returns, refunds, and shipping pretty much mirror ebay's.