eBay Holiday shipping delay seller survival tips!

eBay Holiday shipping delays are a major seller headache right now. What can sellers do to help buyers without losing hundreds of dollars?

I’ve heard from dozens of sellers that many of their packages have one or no scan. Those packages sit for days — even for more than a week — with no further movement. Then when a buyer reports that they have not received their item, eBay is forcing the seller to refund them.

What to do about eBay Holiday shipping delays?

First of all, if this is not happening to your packages, then lucky you! 2020’s holiday shipping snafu is not impacting every seller. Personally, I’ve had only a handful of packages in limbo out of the nearly 100 packages I’ve shipped lately. All of the others arrived in timely fashion. So if you’re not having shipping issues, don’t borrow trouble. Enjoy the Holiday rush and keep shipping!

Currently on the USPS site and in the eBay purchase sequence, buyers are warned of shipping delays.

So, if your holiday selling season is haunted by the Spirit of Christmas Gifts Yet to Arrive, then you’ve got three options:

1. Continue shipping. In all likelihood your packages will reach their destinations eventually.
2. Keep selling and shipping. Extend your handling time to 5 or 10 days. Ship same or next day. Also you can wait X number of days before shipping.
3. Use Time Away (formerly known as Store Vacation). You can block your listings from being viewed and not sell until 2021. Additionally you can sell and start shipping at the end of the year or on whatever date you set.

Here’s the bottom line: It’s your business to run as you see fit.

Right now, eBay does not reimburse sellers for funds lost due to refunds being given for items delayed in transit.

Here are some ideas for you in my video “Stop eBay Holiday Shipping From Costing You Hundreds Of Dollars!”

What can eBay sellers do if their package(s) are stuck in transit and late in arriving to the buyer?

So, there are a couple of things you can do when tracking shows that a package has gotten hung up somewhere enroute to the buyer. Sometimes logging the tracking number
into USPS.com will goose it along.

To do this, click USPS.com.  In “Search or Track Package” field, fill in the USPS delivery confirmation number. Then click “Fill in the form” to send an online service request. This often yields results within 48 hours. You can share with your buyer that you logged an inquiry for them with the USPS. Helpful customer service goes a long way to calm frustrated shoppers looking for their purchase.

Read this eBay Announcement to find out what eBay tells buyers of the current state of holiday shipping. Basically eBay adds protections for sellers’ Top Rated Status with problematic shipping scans and delivery. However, don’t look to eBay to reimburse sellers for delayed or lost packages.

To note, lost packages have always been a sellers responsibility. Furthermore, this is true on most online sites. What’s different now is how many items are stuck in transit. For some sellers it’s hundreds of dollars of products. Even with this increase in stuck and lost packages refunds for lost packages remains at the sellers’ feet.

Seller help for late eBay packages!

In closing, every seller is in unique situation this Holiday season.

Some sellers have little to no problems with packages stuck in transit. Others suffer with dozens of “stuck” parcels. eBay offers seller reputation protections but not financial reimbursement for lost packages. Every seller needs to look at their sales and chose what is best for them.