- Hi, guys, Neil Weaterhouse.
This week's video is about how to
dramatically reduce eBay defects.
And also, how to fully automate the process,
so it's a "set and forget."
Now, one thing to know here is,
every full-time eBay seller gets defects.
And eBay knows that. And eBay knows how many defects
an average eBay seller gets in relation to
how many transactions that they do each month.
So all we have to do as eBay sellers,
is get less defects than the average seller.
And this is exactly what this strategy I'm going to
show you now does.
Now, one of the biggest reasons eBay buyers leave defects,
is defects in relation to delivery times.
Now this is very often because buyers feel that
their delivery's taking longer than it should have taken.
But very often buyers have very unrealistic expectations
about delivery times. Especially since COVID-19.
And of course, never have we seen such an increase
in delivery times, as we all now see since COVID-19.
Now, before COVID, and before we implemented this strategy,
which I'm going to share with you now, we would see
the same scenario every Christmas. We would see
a spike in defects every year around Christmas.
When the postal and courier system got overloaded
with a huge volume of parcels.
Therefore, parcels take longer than usual to deliver.
Now, to reduce the number of defects we'd receive
around Christmas every year, we experimented using
different buyer emails, so sending emails to buyers
with different scripts, figuring out which ones
got the lower defects.
Now, what we learned each year, was to
automatically email buyers twice after their purchase.
Explain the delays caused by the huge volume,
caused by the Christmas rush, and explain that
the postal system was currently delivering
over double the amount that it normally delivers,
which is causing delays for everybody.
And we always use the word "everybody."
We also try to add measurable and specific numbers
whenever possible like, you know, Australia Post is
currently delivering 2.5 million parcels per day.
Of course, you know, it's easy to think that everybody
who posts on eBay or online around Christmas,
would take into account the Christmas rush,
and therefore delays. But they simply don't.
To reduce eBay defects, it's our job as sellers
to set up realistic expectations with our buyers
as soon as they purchase.
When you email buyers after they've purchased from you,
explaining why there is a delay, and also explaining
where the delay is coming from, either the courier
or Australia Post, whatever, buyers are much happier,
because they feel like you're taking the time
to personally email them and keep them continuously updated.
But again, this is all automatic, as I'll show you.
Now these lessons that we learned from Christmas every year,
now apply every day with COVID-19. Or since COVID-19.
Australia Post, for example, has a record volume
since COVID-19, with more people posting online than
ever in the history of mankind.
There's also far less flights available for Australia Post
and other couriers, couriers all over the world,
which has forced most national deliveries
to be sent now by road.
There's also delays caused by borders closing.
you know for the international deliveries,
there, again, is very limited flights,
due to far less passenger flights.
You've only got to look up in the sky to see this.
There's also new parcel spacing requirements in warehouses.
Again, like Australia Post,
this is again causing further delays.
This is exactly what we need to tell all our eBay
and online buyers, straight after they purchase,
So they can set up their own realistic expectations
about their deliveries.
And if you want to find more reasons why
there's delays from a courier, or your postal service
that you're using, simply just Google the name
I.e. Australia Post, + COVID, and your Google will show you
the site and the COVID section there and
you can pluck out more reasons.
Now, the more reasons you can put on the emails,
the more empathetic and realistic buyers are,
and that equals far less eBay defects.
So a way to dramatically decrease eBay defects
is to simply create two or more emails,
which get sent to all of your buyers after every purchase.
Now, you can send these emails manually through eBay,
after each sale, or you can use an automated program,
like Scarcity Manager, for instance, where you can simply
paste in your email, and Scarcity Manager
will automatically send out these emails for you,
to all of your buyers, after every purchase,
all automatically.
I'll put a link on the screen below to Scarcity Manager.
Now also, when it comes to Christmastime,
to reduce your Christmas eBay defects, you can quickly
swap out the COVID-19 delay emails
to Christmas delay emails. And then, after Christmas,
of course you can just put them back.
Anyhow, that's all for this week.
Please leave me a comment below, and while you're there,
make sure you hit the subscribe button
to the no-fluff channel that teaches how
anyone can make a full-time living, from their home,
drop shipping, using less than a hundred dollars.
Until next week, stay safe, list more, sell more.
This is Neil Waterhouse