eBay said it would offer protection to sellers whose packages get delayed by the severe winter storm hitting much of the country this week. The announcement came Wednesday afternoon as the National Weather Service was forecasting a “significant and disruptive storm system” followed by plunging temperatures.
FedEx said on its website Wednesday that it was “closely monitoring the severe winter weather expected across much of the country” and said it contingency plans in place. However, it noted that the severe weather forecast for its hub cities of Indianapolis and Memphis could cause delays throughout the network.
UPS said severe weather was impacting service in areas of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska, on its website – the message does not appear to have been updated (as of Wednesday evening) since Monday.
Sellers are vulnerable to delivery days that are outside of their control at the best of times. But with delays coming in the days before Christmas, shoppers could take out their frustration on sellers by leaving negative feedback or, as what happened in the infamous travails of Christmas 2013, return items that arrive after December 25th, a costly problem for merchants.
eBay told sellers if their business was impacted, it would automatically protect their seller performance, including:
- Your late shipment rate
- Your valid tracking upload rate
- “Item not received” cases due to late delivery as long as you uploaded tracking before the case was opened, and have a physical scan from the carrier
- Defects resulting from transactions you cancelled
eBay said it would also remove any associated negative and neutral feedback and said those cases would not impact sellers’ service metrics ratings.
