I had to SELF-ISOLATE due to COVID and unable to dispatch my orders on time. Now my account will be.

[allwallpapers]

Hi All.

I hope that someone will be able to help.

In short.

I have sold some items on ebay over Firiday and weekend.

Unfortuntely I had to self isolate due to COVID (someone from my household had to do COVID test), so we all could not go out until test results confirmation.

I have informed all my customers about that.

When on Wednesday COVID test results came negative and I was told that I can go out I have immediately dispatched all late orders on that day.

Now I have received "Late dispatch defects" on my ebay account and my account will be downgraded on the end of the month to Above Standard from Super Seller.

Of course it is totally out of my control so I have asked ebay to remove these defects for mentioned transactions but ebay replied that........they can not remove these defects and decision is final.

So what? Does ebay expect me to go outside and prepare and dispatch orders when I have been adviced by government to self isolate?

It is how sellers and buyers on ebay are protected against COVID?

Next time when I will have 20 orders to dispatch and I will be contacted by NHS trace and track and instructed to self isolate due to possible "COVID infection" should I ignore this and go to work? And send parcels to my customers? It is insaine. 

Any help on this would be appreciate.

[what-a-divided-country-we-live-in]

Some of the decisions being made by e-bay are outrageous and do not make any sense at all. One of my many beefs about e-bay is the fee they charge on postage.

[m25jet]

It's completely out of order of eBay to treat you in this manner when you're following government guidelines in relation to isolating due to coronavirus, but if you still intend to sell on the site then it would be useful to try to think of ways to prevent a repeat of this problem.  In addition to the advice about getting a courier to collect items from your home if you get any sales whilst self-isolating, do you have any friends and/or relatives who live within a reasonable distance from your home who would be willing to help you out and collect the items from you and post them out for you?  If the answer to this question is "Yes" then when you next get any sales if you're still having to self-isolate arrange with your assistant to collect the items at a certain date and time, and have the items all packed up and ready to go.  Ask your assistant to give you a quick phone call just before he/she knocks on your door, the reason being that if you do that you'll know that it's your assistant knocking on your door, as opposed to somebody else.

Once you get the call from your assistant just thank him/her for letting you know and ask him/her to stand at least 6' 6"/2m away from your front door whilst you put the parcels outside for him/her to pick up.  Once you've done that and have closed the door again your assistant can then pick the parcels up and post them on your behalf.  It would also be beneficial to work out the costs of the postage beforehand and either leave the money in an envelope with the parcels when you put them out, or transfer the funds into your assistant's bank/building society account in order reimburse him/her that way.  If you could arrange for somebody that you know well to help you out in that way then you wouldn't have to pay for a delivery company to pick up your goods, and you would have the peace of mind of knowing that the posting out of the items is being done by somebody you can trust.

If you do indeed decide to try out my suggestion then perhaps it would be worthwhile providing your assistant with an empty envelope and asking him/her to post the envelope back to you with the Royal Mail receipts inside them with the tracking numbers on them for each item.  If you write the item listing number on each package and ask your assistant to do the same on each receipt relating to each package then it should make it easier to identify which receipt relates to which transaction.

Finally, just because you got through to an idiot the first time doesn't mean that you should just throw in the towel.  Contact eBay Customer Services again and plead your case as strongly as possible.  If you get through to somebody with an ounce of sense and a degree of compassion then hopefully he/she will agree to remove the defects for you and restore your account to its previous standing.  If you don't stand your ground then you stand no chance at all of being able to get eBay's initial decision reversed; however, if you do decide to fight the original decision and do so convincingly then there's a possibility - if only a small one - that you may be able to get the original decision reversed and have the defects removed.

Good luck with getting this matter sorted out, and I hope you remain free from Covid for the duration of the pandemic.

[allwallpapers]

Done - my account has been downgraded today because when I have been on self-isolation I did not dispatch orders.....

[rusticrye]

Hi there.

I feel for you, but I imagine Ebay refused to remove the defects because there is no valid reason for the shipping delays. You could have bought postage online from a carrier that will collect from your premises (which most will do). If you'd already printed postage labels, you could simply have cancelled them as 'unused' to get your money back.

Glad to hear the test proved negative. 🙂

[allwallpapers]

Thanks for reply but:
- I could not book courier to collect parcels from my home where I was self isolating because I do not keep stock at home - but in office and warehouse.
- To prepare parcels I would have to go out from home (Which I could not as per GOV and NHS order),
So like you can see I had to wait for COVID test results to be able to go out to office that I could prepare parcels for couriers.
In this case is it not a valid reason why I could not send orders on time?