I just dipped below the 90% top rated level for shipping out within 24 hours and am now in grace period before I lose top rated benefits.  My mistake?  I had a buyer buy an item from me, ask about adding another of my items to combine shipping, and proceed to add 2 other items after that.  She wanted it all shipped together to save on shipping.  This was done in the space of 4 days and I got the shipment out immediately after she was done buying stuff.  Now even though I have a paper trail of this conversation, shipping times are apparently not something ebay customer service can adjust or remove.  Because it was past the 24 hour shipping window (even though it was what the buyer asked for) I still get dinged.  Naturally I asked how to avoid this in the future when someone wants to combine shipments or delay shipment.  Ebay's answer?  Cancel the transactions (but make sure it's buyer initiated cancellation or you get dinged) and redo it when the buyer has everything figured out and is ready to go.  *sigh* 

I assume these were auctions. To that I say use BIN that way the buyer can just get them all at once.

The other option would be to marke them as shipped as the person buys and then hold until the last purchase.

Edited October 23, 201411 yr by Migration

I assume these were auctions. To that I say use BIN that way the buyer can just get them all at once.

The other option would be to marke them as shipped as the person buys and then hold until the last purchase.

They were BIN.  The lady was in the process of negotiating lower prices for the other items one by one.....would marking them as shipped work if there is not a valid tracking number?  The cruddy thing is that it counted as multiple defects because theoretically only the last item she decided on was shipped within the 24 hours period.

I assume these were auctions. To that I say use BIN that way the buyer can just get them all at once.

The other option would be to marke them as shipped as the person buys and then hold until the last purchase.

 

This doesn't always happen either though. Some people have you hold them, forget to pay for one item, etc. I can attest it happens a lot.

 

What I do is, if someone says they are buying more, or will, or whatever else I will just ship one item at the lowest rate (1.93). I put that tracking number for everything until they decide and are ready to be done.

 

I then create a real one, add that to the items and just void the other. Generally it works fine.

 

But once again, something simple and obvious that Ebay just ignores for the most part.

Not sure. You can add the tracking from the last item to the others manually, not sure if that would count towards TRS or not. You can also just say that the buyer has 24 hours to add items before you will ship. It really shouldn't take that long to haggle over prices. It's not like we're selling real estate or other contract heavy items.

This doesn't always happen either though. Some people have you hold them, forget to pay for one item, etc. I can attest it happens a lot.

 

What I do is, if someone says they are buying more, or will, or whatever else I will just ship one item at the lowest rate (1.93). I put that tracking number for everything until they decide and are ready to be done.

 

I then create a real one, add that to the items and just void the other. Generally it works fine.

 

But once again, something simple and obvious that Ebay just ignores for the most part.

 

Hmm, wouldn't you still get dinged for not having USPS scan the tracking within 24 hours ?  

We sell a lot of jewelry and have a lot of people combine.  I just tell them to bid for the 7 days we allow combining for and request the invoice for all at once.  If they pay for a few ahead I tell them they will ship due to the 24 hour requirement and as  a 1 time courtesy I will give them the amount off they paid on the 2nd order.  From there on out they have to combine all at once or they ship out.

 

What DNIIM said would work also but they just changed it to verified upload within 24 hours so I believe it still dings you.  They wanted to eliminate the "phantom" labels so now its 24 hours to have it scanned which constitutes the "verified" part.

 

They also just changed the cancel transactions which makes getting your ebay fees for returns back much harder as there are only 2 options now.  1 that says you can't fulfill the order and will ding your account and the other that says the buyer wants to cancel the transaction.  Seems they don't want to give you back your fees for returned items anymore.  They want the customer to use the returns and hopefully choose one that dings you.

 

All of these changes are definitely after the TSR status as they were giving away to much money in there mind.  Probably going back to listing under 1 account even though its such a variety of stuff.  I preferred to seperate it by more like items but its harder to hit TSR with less transactions.  I average about 1800 feedback a month and scores were constantly under the old system and with the new system defect rate is 1.97 on 1 account and 2.22 on the other.  The new report they dropped to 1.62 and 1.64 but think the 2nd one will still be hard to maintain due to the products I sell.

Edited October 23, 201411 yr by ravenb99

Hmm, wouldn't you still get dinged for not having USPS scan the tracking within 24 hours ?  

yes you will now, it just changed in the last updates.

Hmm, wouldn't you still get dinged for not having USPS scan the tracking within 24 hours ?  

 

Time limit doesn't apply to the scan - just has to have a scan eventually. time limit is upon uploading the tracking.

yes you will now, it just changed in the last updates.

 

Which update are you talking about? The Spring one definitely make the scan have to be there, but its not within a Business day - just eventually. Only thing within handling time is providing tracking. 

Which update are you talking about? The Spring one definitely make the scan have to be there, but its not within a Business day - just eventually. Only thing within handling time is providing tracking. 

Just happened with fall, if you click on the chart thing it now states the following

 

 

Adding tracking information lets you and your buyer check an item delivery status at any time. You should add the tracking number within your stated handling time in the Sold section of My eBay. We consider tracking "validated" when tracking updates from the carrier - USPS, UPS, FedEx, or DHL - show that the package is in transit or has been delivered.

I had one that didn't get out yesterday but I had printed it and it dropped from 99.02 to 98.84.  So it seems to be knocking it down even though it was printed and uploaded in there system but not verified by them as it wasn't scanned.

 

Just happened with fall, if you click on the chart thing it now states the following

 

 

Adding tracking information lets you and your buyer check an item delivery status at any time. You should add the tracking number within your stated handling time in the Sold section of My eBay. We consider tracking "validated" when tracking updates from the carrier - USPS, UPS, FedEx, or DHL - show that the package is in transit or has been delivered.

 

 

 

I had one that didn't get out yesterday but I had printed it and it dropped from 99.02 to 98.84.  So it seems to be knocking it down even though it was printed and uploaded in there system but not verified by them as it wasn't scanned.

 

I still read that as being the same as last time. Just it eventually has to be.

 

Your validation is always like 5 days behind so it will go down as you ship stuff. Its not reliable and it doesn't update quickly.

 

I'll check through but thats a pretty major change that I feel like would have been mentioned more.

We sell a lot of jewelry and have a lot of people combine.  I just tell them to bid for the 7 days we allow combining for and request the invoice for all at once.  If they pay for a few ahead I tell them they will ship due to the 24 hour requirement and as  a 1 time courtesy I will give them the amount off they paid on the 2nd order.  From there on out they have to combine all at once or they ship out.

 

 

This is a good idea, thanks!  I guess it'll also be easier if I remove the immediate payment setting on my BIN listings.  It'll mean more unpaid items cases, but I think it's the only way to avoid this in the future.

One silver lining, if you want to call it that. If you loose the TR Plus 20% off FVF due to this, you do not have to worry about participating in the holiday return policy.

Edited October 23, 201411 yr by Darth_Raichu

I still read that as being the same as last time. Just it eventually has to be.

 

Your validation is always like 5 days behind so it will go down as you ship stuff. Its not reliable and it doesn't update quickly.

 

I'll check through but thats a pretty major change that I feel like would have been mentioned more.

True, you can never pinpoint there numbers 100%.   They designed them that way.  Holidays are the worst when it drops from 99 down to 93 or 94 then they fix it and goes back up to where you were.  

 

I am pretty sure though that they changed the working from tracking uploaded to tracking validated by carrier from spring to fall.

 

Could be wrong though.  I always read them and come away with a headache and realizing its one or more things they are making harder to maintain lol!

One silver lining, if you want to call it that. If you loose the TR Plus 20% off FVF due to this, you do not have to worry about participating in the holiday return policy.

 

Lol, I would be mad if I did over this because i am on an unprecedented non-defect run. My distribution center for USPS is awful. they lose packages all the time. Its weird, like they have been doing their jobs in the past 3 months.

 

I have, since the new system, had more "items not received" cases than all other cases combined. All because USPS lost packages (or delayed them enough that someone was able to open the case).

True, you can never pinpoint there numbers 100%.   They designed them that way.  Holidays are the worst when it drops from 99 down to 93 or 94 then they fix it and goes back up to where you were.  

 

I am pretty sure though that they changed the working from tracking uploaded to tracking validated by carrier from spring to fall.

 

Could be wrong though.  I always read them and come away with a headache and realizing its one or more things they are making harder to maintain lol!

 

Lol exactly - truer words have never been spoken. Im checking with some others. I saw someone say the wording changed but they asked and the CS rep said it was still the same way.

 

Ill let you know when I get more info. Mine hasn't started to go down, but I don't get scans all the time at my USPS. they just don't do it in time a lot.

Lol exactly - truer words have never been spoken. Im checking with some others. I saw someone say the wording changed but they asked and the CS rep said it was still the same way.

 

Ill let you know when I get more info. Mine hasn't started to go down, but I don't get scans all the time at my USPS. they just don't do it in time a lot.

The CSR I was talking with today mentioned that the numbers will fluctuate while waiting for tracking to be validated and that sometimes it can take 5 days to reflect the validation.

The tracking just has to be updated within stated handling time, the timing of the actual scan doesn't matter. If you read the statement from eBay posted earlier carefully, that is what it's saying. The only change recently was that they actually validate that the tracking number you entered is real (meaning it has to get scanned at some point), whereas before I think people were just entering random numbers to get credit for uploading a tracking number.

The tracking just has to be updated within stated handling time, the timing of the actual scan doesn't matter. If you read the statement from eBay posted earlier carefully, that is what it's saying. The only change recently was that they actually validate that the tracking number you entered is real (meaning it has to get scanned at some point), whereas before I think people were just entering random numbers to get credit for uploading a tracking number.

I think you and DNIM are both wrong but maybe I dont fully understand it I thought it had to be scanned within our handling time also...It is very clear now that dropping below 90% will lose your top rated seller. 90% is having tracking uploaded AND scanned but it does not have to be scanned within your handling time? We just lost ours after our grace period because are we are at 99.% tracking uploaded but 87-89% uploaded and scanned within our stated handling time. The idea to print a label then void it is horrible you only have 48 hours to void and this would cause more confusion with the buyer.

 

The wording they use in our seller dashboard is TRACKING UPLOADED WITHIN HANDLING TIME AND VALIDATED BY CARRIER

OP you are not alone we lost ours yesterday after our grace period..Good Luck you make another valid point on why the defect system is f'd up

Edited October 23, 201411 yr by Brickshopper

I just dipped below the 90% top rated level for shipping out within 24 hours and am now in grace period before I lose top rated benefits.  My mistake?  I had a buyer buy an item from me, ask about adding another of my items to combine shipping, and proceed to add 2 other items after that.  She wanted it all shipped together to save on shipping.  This was done in the space of 4 days and I got the shipment out immediately after she was done buying stuff.  Now even though I have a paper trail of this conversation, shipping times are apparently not something ebay customer service can adjust or remove.  Because it was past the 24 hour shipping window (even though it was what the buyer asked for) I still get dinged.  Naturally I asked how to avoid this in the future when someone wants to combine shipments or delay shipment.  Ebay's answer?  Cancel the transactions (but make sure it's buyer initiated cancellation or you get dinged) and redo it when the buyer has everything figured out and is ready to go.  *sigh*

for me i just dont do ship within 24 hours ... i ship when i want, more like when i can ... i have a 5-7 days shipping and handling time as stated in my auctions ...

for me i just dont do ship within 24 hours ... i ship when i want, more like when i can ... i have a 5-7 days shipping and handling time as stated in my auctions ...

I think increasing handling time is a good idea if you lost TRS no reason to have the 1 day handling for toys at least.. I checked the ebay boards more and it looks like you are correct the validation can be at any point along the way and does not have to be in the stated handling time only the tracking number uploaded. This is great news

The wording they use in our seller dashboard is TRACKING UPLOADED WITHIN HANDLING TIME AND VALIDATED BY CARRIER

 

 

DNIM and others are correct, and so is eBay's wording above. If eBay wanted both upload and validation within 24 hours, it would be written: Tracking uploaded and verified by carrier within handling time.

 

The way eBay has written the requirement is consistent with uploading tracking within the handling time, and then validation by the carrier (at some point) along the journey.