Sellers marking items as dispatched when not

[doorengineer]

My gripe is, frequently when ordering online with eBay I seem to get an automatic “Dispatched” and often a tracking number as if the seller is on autopilot, yet it seems days before the parcel is in the care of the delivery firm/couriers, is this due to the courier not collecting in a timely manner? or the seller not dropping the parcel off at the courier's collection point for days? or really the fault of the delivery firm? should courier protect their reputation if the delay is due to the seller by stating on the tracking information the reason for the delay??? my thought is that sellers raises a dispatch invoice, postage, and tracking number automatically and use it as a picking sheet next time they go to their storage units which may be many days after the item has been marked as dispatched.

[fotherbale]

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@insidethe93 wrote:

......... post offices don't open on Sunday........

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Some do - my local PO is in the village shop and the PO counter is open whenever the shop is open: 7 am to 6pm six days a week, and from 9am to 1pm on Sundays.

[insidethe93]

The local newsagents, which also sold food, had the post office for a year or so.  The p.o. section was closed Sat. pm to Monday am. You could use it 6.30 a.m. to 4.30pm (less a lunch hour) when the shop was open, if the proprietor (half of the staff) could spare time from the shop side. Quite common for many people to be queuing (very patiently).

Then 18 months ago they demolished the building. Nearest p.o. with proper facilities is 14 miles. For 2,000 people spread along a valley (so for some it's 34 miles away) that's a lot of inconvenience. They're erecting a Co-Op instead. The local consensus is "we don't need another Co-Op, we need a post office".

Royal Mail should increase the number of post offices. eBay alone supports the sending of thousands of parcels and Large Letters. Buyers should be encouraged in the FAQ to read the discussion boards, to get an idea of the hoops that many sellers have to jump through just to get a parcel on road.

[wyntersemporium]

I give eBay postage a miss and print labels off via Royal Mail. Missing out EBay altogether. I mark mine down as sent after midnight as get mine collected by Royal Mail. 
ebay postage caused me confusion and buyers complained. 

[adamfranka2012]

100% agreed 

[fotherbale]

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@insidethe93 wrote:

Royal Mail should increase the number of post offices.

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The number of Post Offices is not within the control of Royal Mail.  Royal Mail Group Ltd has been a (privately owned) completely separate company from Post Office Ltd (Government owned) since 2015, and Post Office Ltd merely acts as an agent for Royal Mail. 

The number of Post Offices has reduced over the years because they were not profitable to maintain in operation - Post Offices recieve a reasonable proportion of the postage that they sell on behalf of Royal Mail, whereas they only recieve a very much smaller amount for handling the very substantial quantity of parcels and packages for which ebay sellers are buying the postage direct from Royal Mail (either from the RM website, or through the ebay system). 

[cheekychippy210]

Agree, and very annoying. Buy labels is greatly pushed on this site and once purchased I guess thats where it all goes south. A label means nothing, it just tracking  details, it does not mean the seller has indeed posted it and for all you know it could be waiting days for a courier to collect! Seems to be the norm nowadays, lazziness of people sat on their backsides wanting it all to come to their door. Moreover, why do ebay have to stick their noses in??? Awaful system, winds me right up, and for me this site has become a really unpleasant shopping experience now. Sales, ive shipped over to other free to use platforms and as regards purchases if they dont turn up within a week is negative feedback left. No excuse, those who sell get off your backside and get item off to shop.

[ile136yz]

eBay marks the item as dispatch, so they can put a quicker delivery date.

[tech-and-tools]

Whereas I agree that when label is printed it gets marked as dispatched I have progressively seen this system essentially being abused time and time ago usually by medium-large businesses operating on ebay and also often on the cheaper/smaller items. I have a feeling they are either selling stock they dont actually have either dropshipping or literally ordering more as orders come in which means the buyer essentially thinks they will get an item in 3,4,5 etc day but in reality it often drags on for more than 2 weeks. Ive spent lots of time selling online through various accounts, sites and even my own websites and so have a pretty good understanding of Royal Mail and have found that when you see item marked as dispatched but then never actually gets marked at a post office/sorting office there is like a 80%+ chance that the seller has not actually sent the item although they almost always try and play it off as if they have.

Sure sellers who are actually sending the items on time should not be penalized but those who are essentially gaming the system should receive warnings, loss of seller privilliages and then ultimately bans. This has been going on far too long. There was a time when eBay was really customer focused but since they moved away from the auction/small seller vibe to catering for businesses this has got out of control. Around 50% of my orders under £10 I now have this issue and because when getting a refund there is no visible mark or ability to leave feedback to everyone else all looks fine when really there are a lot of bad apples

[tech-and-tools]

I have to disagree yes an option to manually mark as dispatched should be put in but lots and I do mean lots of sellers use this system to appear as if the item has been sent whereas either they dont actually have the stock or they have not bothered to actually send it. Probably a good idea that rather than just marking as dispatched when label is printed sellers should be posting the proof the item has actually been taken to post office/or collected. This has been going on for literal years now and sellers take full advantage of it and because no feedback can be left for refunds no one else can even see that they are doing this frankly put I AM SICK OF THIS so many orders I end up spending ages tracking them down which puts me off using ebay for certain orders more and more

[tech-and-tools]

Then the listing should be stating this but very rarely is this the case they will have 2 working days to dispatch on a 24/48 hour royal mail service yet I have had numerous instances of waiting 5-10 days and nothing and usually after 5 days which is plenty of time to dispatch and arrive on these services I begin chasing up. Sellers abuse this feature likely selling items they do not actually have in stock or being lazy. Until they are punished for doing so will continue to do and eroding the user experience. If they put "will take 5 days to dispatch" many wouldnt purchase given there is likely sellers who take 1/2. Doesnt help that refund system doesnt alert other buyers that a seller is doing this so all looks fine on the outside

[tech-and-tools]

Problem is many sellers has 1/2 day dispatch times but I am pretty sure after encountering this years over and over again over literal years that many are not dispatching the item very likely they do not even have it in stock and only order more when orders come in meaning you are waiting for them to place a wholesale order, have it processed, sent, delivered, sorted, packaged then if you are lucky actually taken to a post office other times you will just have a useless tracking number doing nothing and seller almost always tries to play off the "its royal mail im chasing them up" at this point somehow eBay sellers manage to lose like 50% of tracked parcels when untracked 1st/2nd class turn up no problem. Go figure

[cheekychippy210]

leave negative feedback stating item not desptached as stated, anything to do with buying label through ebay???

[papso22]

Are you suggesting buyers neg sellers because of an ebay system issue?

[cheekychippy210]

indeed, believe it or not couriers do have a purchasing system outside ebay. This "issue" has been created by ebay, no need for them to stick their noses in. I have purchased goods on here in the last month and most have arrived at my door within three days, two companies it was next day. They did not buy a label from ebay or give the buyer false hope it when it was arriving as that is what this stupid system does. In the days of me selling on here if an item sold I printed hermes label on day and took around to collection point. No excuse, you sell you send. Sellers, it would appear to me, are just too lazy rellying on couriers now collecting.

[papso22]

I think that's extremely out of order. 

 It's nothing to do with courier's collecting, as soon as you buy postage through ebay, ebay  marks it as dispatched, the seller can't help that.

You are suggesting sellers are punished for buying postage through ebay when as long as they post as put on the listing, they have done as the buyer was promised.

[cheekychippy210]

the old days a buyer would clearly see "item despatched within x amount of days" that no longer appears.

I think that is extremely out of order. Estimated delivery thats all adverts say now and that gets longer the more time the item is waiting for the courier. Awful system, indeed leave negative feedback to encourage seller.

[cheekychippy210]

of feedback, business sellers can apply to get negative feedback removed and do.

[nat_pol]

I used to work in warehouse some time ago and they system was similar,  when order was picked and scanned,  it automatically send notification "your order dispatched", but phisicly it has been collected only following day after it has been processed.  So many businesses use this system,  but not blamed for that.

[tech-and-tools]

Its not just an eBay issue though part of it is but then the sellers
have for years now been using this quirk of the system to do one or a
combination of the following. Selling items not actually in stock, not
dispatching within their listed time frame, often dragging a transaction
out to 1-2 weeks and after opening disputes you will more than often get
a package post stamped right on the tail end.

If it was just a one off but I have literally lost count how many times
I have had issues with numerous different sellers of all sizes although
generally it is the bigger sellers that pull this and usually items
under £20. The reason whether negative feedback or action on a site
level is warranted is currently not a single seller who employs these
tactics can be spotted because refund disputes get no feedback or
because the item "arrives in the end" rarely leave even a
positive/neutral that actually says what happened. Its an issue I have
watched grow over the years and have encountered so much to the point I
only use eBay if I really have to for price because I am so fed up of
dealing with the same issue with sellers over and over.

[yardbroom]

 I find it annoying and confusing when I get a message to say to the item has been dispatched when it clearly hasn't. I bought an expensive item last week and got a message to say it had been dispatched. There was no tracking number and I still haven't heard anything several days later. A day after I purchased this item I bought something else from a different seller, free postage and it arrived within 24 hours.