New Shipping Templates

TM appears to be presuming we will all only be using Book a Courier
The changes also appear to be reflecting a high preference for a full commercial selling setup.
Eg: Aliexpress/ Alibaba type setups for full commercial selling setup
Not a site for the domestic market/ joe bloggs

Stuffitall

Had a lot of gripes all listed & typed out but it's all just too dang frustrating
TM has now become over 4 times more work just for the same exact items to list & manage, never mind the extra confusion sorting it all out).
The entire process is NOT USER FRIENDLY for sellers & without sellers, theres no buyers

"You’re using an outdated template

Using the new shipping template will provide buyers with transparency about delivery time and total cost of purchase. Plus your listing will get a boost in search"
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With the new template being very restrictive, it's forcing sellers to promise delivery times that they have no control over.
That message is also a clear threat that your listings won't get the same attention by using the old system

Delivery times have also been randomly badly effected by Covid workloads

Hi David. The shipping times are estimates only. Trade Me have confirmed this. Have a look at the FAQ post from Lucy on this thread. It is not a promise. Pretty sure most buyers are sensible enough to realise that anyway, especially in the current climate.

For your other comment on commercial selling. At the moment shipping templates are only available for people "in-trade" anyway, not the "Joe Bloggs" you mention.

I don't use BAC and so far the new shipping templates are working OK for me. Had a few wrinkles which I'm working on. I have noticed a uptick in sales, but I'm not going to say it's definitely because of the shipping template alone.

Yes, like Callum says, the times shown are Estimates. Even if you go specially pay extra for a Saturday or next day delivery, it's only a target. There are no guarantees.

There are 3 things that need to be sorted before I can use the new templates:

(1)  I need to be able to indicate Nationwide - Urban" and "Nationwide - Rural".  Otherwise buyers are always going to choose the cheaper option, and get grumpy when told they have to pay extra.

(2)  I need a $0.00 option or something similar so that I can allow buyers to pay via Ping but still pick up their purchase.

(3)  I need to be able to indicate different shipping prices on MQL's depending on the number of items a buyer purchases.  One or two items are never going to fit in the same size package as 6 or 8, but the whole point of MQLs was to let buyers choose how many items they wanted, and "one price fits all" shipping doesn't work here.

Callum - how are you differentiating between urban and rural costs in your template?

Yvonne. I have just set up the template using the TM generated wording. So they should see what is in the picture below.

So far I have had 3 sales to rural buyers, 2 chose the correct Rural option. 1 didn't.

Percentage wise that's worse than what I normally get, but people used to still sometimes select the wrong option even when I had my own wording. No reply from the 1 that didn't pay correct amount yet. Just wait and see what their response is I guess! Will be interesting.

Kate number 3 was one of my issues I raised earlier,  as 1 of my items where I need to use MQ,

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/toys-models/lego-building-toys/duplo/listing/3430029510?bof=WOhKP2JO

But look what Trade Me have underneath it,...... Shipping more than one item, No extra Charge??, No no no, appropriate charges by me will apply !!, I will go broke what the heck,

33% error rate is waaaaaay too high!!! Callum's templates are extremely simple, with only 2 options and yet still managed to achieve a 33% error rate, that's shocking! Just shows how the rural dodgers are going to take full advantages of this flawed template design.

flossy63 exactly!  I don't have enough margin in my items to make it feasible for me cover the shipping costs, and upping my prices to compensate will make my items too expensive. Neither is going to generate sales, or income for TM from those sales!  Somebody over there needs to realise that no sellers means no buyers and no income for them. 

It's all the time faffing around that I am concerned about. It was bad enough when you got a rural dodger under the previous system when the options were clear, but I can see it being much worse with the nationwide option not showing urban only.

flossy63 The shipping rate per order is something you have selected yourself. This is separate to the new shipping template. It has always been that way.

On my products is appears as a dropdown at the top of the shipping section. But I guess you get the same selectable box if you list something the "normal way"

"Shipping rate is per order" Select this and the buyer can pay $0 for any subsequent purchases of the same item

"Shipping rate is per item" Select this and the buyer will pay the shipping cost individually on each item

Callum  I use the $0.00 pick up only as not just an option for them to pay with Ping and collect in person (can be done contactlessly) but as a way of indicating exactly WHERE pick-up is from.  As is typical with TM's "locations", I live some 25 kms from the indicated town, so having a more accurate location is necessary.

In fact the shipping rate is per item, or shipping rate is per order, is primarily designed for MQLs. ie if a buyer buys 10 from a MQL that has "shipping rate is per order", they only pay shipping once. If the seller has set "Shipping rate is per item" and the buyer buys 10, then the buyer pays shipping on each of the 10.

It's not designed to be used as a Combined shipping option, and does not function as a combined shipping option as it applies ONLY to the specific listing.

In fact, the options for per order and per item ONLY appear when you have selected Buy Now only, which was introduced to enable MQLs. They don't appear if it's an auction.

Some people have chosen to use Buy Now only/MQLs, even if they only have 1, as it's a way in combination with limited payment options to force buyers to pay straight away.

Callum I never select that callum, once before it appeared on all my MQ auctions, and I had not selected it,

same auctions previously been listed it was not on them, there was apparently a glitch back then,

I did check the other day too, not on, ...but oops it seems I checked wrong auction, so was only on on one, thank heavens,

It's an oxymoron that you have to state how long to process an order (we have opted for 2 days as we have just relolocated and are not sure how good the Aramex service is here), but we have to give a time by which they can order and we will do same day shipping!!! We should at least have a next day option on that. 

I'm frustrated with the minimum timeframe they give on estimates. With less then one day processing selected and 1-2 business days delivery trademe now say they minimum timeframe a buyer can expect their parcel in is two business days. Yet if a customer buys something early in the morning, I pack and it's collected that same afternoon (less then one day processing), they regularly receive the parcel the next morning - within 24 hours. The minimum should be 1 day! 

Hi Kathryn. It's always better to under-promise and over-deliver so there is less chance for buyers to be disappointed. If the buyer expects it within 1 day, then odds are never in your favor. If you say 2-3 days and it's delivered in 1-2 days, then buyers will be pleased the service was above expectation.

Absolutely. But if a good thing is possible I want my customers to know it's possible. Not guaranteed, yes. Its being stated as the minimum timeframe of a range that goes up to 6 days for some couriers which in itself is stressed as an estimate. I don't like trademe saying a good service I achieve a large chunk of the time doesn't happen when in fact it can. I want the minimum low and the maximum high.

Imagine if the customer assumed there was no way the parcel would arrive the next day (as trademe has stated) and didn't make the arrangements necessary for receiving it (I've had parcels returned because no one was home and there was nowhere safe to leave it) or not checking it had been delivered, increasing the risks of porch pirate theft. 

Kathryn. Why don't you select the 0-1 day express shipping option?

The buyers then see 1-2 days on the auction itself (when handling is factored in.)

Isn't that exactly what you want?

Callum: I did consider it but I don't really want 1-2 days, I'd like 1-3 (the high end is preferable at the moment, it's just the low that's unnecessarily negative). I also believe express (the word attached to 0-2) referred to possible same day deliveries which felt misleading.  

I guess what I'd like is the packaging and postage estimates to be itemized if they must be included at all.

That being said I just loaded one of my auctions and it doesn't seem to currently mention delivery days. Maybe estimates have been removed for now? Here's hoping.

Remember shipping estimates only show on Buy Now only MQLs, not regular auctions.

They’re terrible I’m not an in trade seller so why am I being forced to use them? I can’t promise to ship in 1 day what happens if it’s a bank holiday? Honestly some people can’t take that into account automatically.  I just want to be able to differentiate between urban and rural. I’ve been trying to fill them in and they are hopeless, clunky and didn’t save when I had finished anyway. 

Yep, back to this trick for now.
Each auction must be set for the correct category it the custom options won't hold if you change the category.

Right, a tested solution at least in the short term & forget about the templates
Once you have created your listing & built the custom shipping options, Duplicate the auction & re-edit the details
(Except the warning as above hint)

This needs to show the carrier, and if the item has tracking. Both are very important.
Carriers have different rural zones for a start, in such cases it's impossible for the buyer to know if they should choose rural delivery or not. Obviously buyers will also want to choose which service they use, especially if they've had problems with one/some before.
This really is basic stuff, which should be obvious.
It shouldn't really even be the buyers option to choose rural or not(for a particular carrier), I've had buyers claim their area isn't rural(and many others clearly leaving it out on purpose), and then been charged by the carrier. This should all be handled by trademe, our addresses are already stored, it wouldn't be difficult to determine the appropriate service.

Other options would also be useful, such as the ability to add notes, particularly while the templates are inadequate to accurately list all the services.
Ideally zones/sectors would be created that match those used by the couriers, so sellers could select shipping costs to particular zones.
Simply having regions doesn't work, courier sectors don't work like that. eg: NZpost=local, local towns, 1 sector, 2 sector, Island to Island.
Considering how it took decades to even have the current extremely basic shipping template, and the general bugginess of trademe, I can't see that ever happening though unfortunately.

Michael  Everything these days is tracked, including NZ post, the days of untracked bags has gone,

I for one do not want to have to state what carrier I use, and no I don't have problems,

I want flexibility between carriers as outlined in an earlier post,

So if a customer is Rural with my main carrier when I go to book, I then can just use NZ post as an alternative if it comes up urban, My rates (set shipping templates) are set as an average between carriers for the individual sizes, so in terms if I have to use NZ post for one because Rural with my main carrier, I do not ask for extra, it is subsidized, as covered buy my set rates,

What you are asking would be a nightmare, and if you have to use an alternative carrier then seller is breaking the contract with the buyers by using a different carrier than stated,

What works for one does not work for others,

I only chase up buyers if they have chosen Urban but are in fact rural with all carriers,

There are many downfalls by disclosing what carrier you use, to the point people will not buy off you, as they don't like the carrier, because they have had issues in the past or have heard of bad things, This was said by posters on the old message boards, I will not buy off anyone who states they use Aramex etc,

But as my feedback reflects no issues,

Part of the problem with courier options, is the vast amount of options on offer within any specific courier service EXCEPT Passtheparcel
Most couriers have up to 15 options.
PTP only have 3 regions for all of NZ/ One weight rate & free bags
A little dearer but so much simpler to set up per parcel.
.
Each delivery service has different boundrys that often cross over with each other & that includes NZ Post.
Something else that makes it harder is that NZPost is the only delivery service allowed to deliver to PO box's

I forgot nzpost dropped untracked items.

There's no reason the existing options couldn't be retained for people that don't want to use it anyway, so it wouldn't make any difference for people that prefer it that way.

I don't see how it would be a 'nightmare' though.
Enter your ticket/bag prices once(for 1 or more carrier, whatever you wanted), then when listing an item select the size(ticket/bag max size, or measurements, or just a general size group if preferred-as some people were doing with the old templates, whatever)
No need to work out/estimate what it will cost as it will automatically select the matching prices.
Using one carrier or more wouldn't take any extra effort.
Overlapping delivery zones wouldn't make any difference.
No need to switch carriers for rural delivery. If multiple carriers were selected, the buyer could see which option costs more anyway.
This wouldn't be at all difficult for trademe either, they already do it for trademe shipping, it's very basic calculations anyway. I made my own version(other than address lookup) in microsoft access for 2 carriers(plus some options from a 3rd) in a very short time, just so I could get quick comparisons. Albeit I hardly sell anything now.
It's trademes address details and lookup which can give the most advantage.

It's basically how my old templates were already, and it was simple other than having to write next to each price where it delivers to, and the lack of automatic selection based on the buyers address.

A number of people probably aren't using more than one carrier, in which case switching to avoid a rural delivery charge would be difficult &/or more expensive.

People selling low value/low profit items can't afford to cover delivery costs above what the buyer paid.

The fact that numerous buyers don't want to use a carrier, seems a good reason to give them the option, and likewise supporting better carriers.

Michael   So you're saying sellers would only be able to charge the cost of the courier ticket?  no extra for packaging?

"If multiple carriers were selected, the buyer could see which option costs more anyway."  So we give the buyers the choice of choosing the cheapest option for them which isn't necessarily the best one for their address?

I think you are making it way more complicated than it needs to be.