Star Seller Satus Effected by Canada Post Strike Due to Week + lock out on shipping labels

[NicDaStickCreation]

Hello, 

I had several orders for overseas [Europe and Australia] that could not be filled through other shipping methods. [All other shippers wanted more than 4 times the cost to ship overseas]. And yes I looked into all shipping methods available to me. I ended up with shipstation so I had multiple options but the overseas shipping was beyond ridiculous.

Each customer was contacted right away and informed of the strike and given the option to wait for the Canada post strike to end or I could issue them a refund. I had  refunded more than 4 orders and the rest agreed to wait. 

Had Etsy unlocked the shipping labels a day or two after the strike was resolved all orders would have gone out in time. But because they locked it for more that a week after the strike was resolved the system marked me as delinquent for those orders.

All other Canada and US orders went out in a timely manner. 

I do not think it is fair to have this impact my score as it was a decision on Etsy's part to delay the release of the shipping Labels. 

I would like either those orders not to be counted on my Star Seller rating. This caused my rating to drop to 88%. My shop is a small one and I do not get a lot of sales on it and I was just starting to get some traction and was quite please that I had finally managed to get the Star Seller Status for December. 

All my other scores are 100% and it is going to take me months to get my delivery one back up and make the $ sales to get it back. If my customers where happy with the wait and understood the delay then I should not have to suffer penalties for something outside of my control. 

[dippeldiundscribble]

@NicDaStickCreation 

You could have purchased the shipping labels on the Canada Post website…

Even if this would have been rather counterproductive due to the existing massive backlog, which will take until mid/late January to process.

[NicDaStickCreation]

I could not purchase them through the Canada post web site. I did look for alternatives through all the shipping options avaiable but the costs to ship out a 80 g 22 cm package was more than 4 times the cost to ship overseas then Canada post. 

All Canadian and US orders I was able to ship through alternate means and I had to absorbe the cost of the shipping increase which thankfully was under a $ difference until it got closer to the holidays and they to raised the cost of their shipping. 

Those for overseas I did give the option to either ship at the new cost or I would refund or they could wait till the strike was over. 

I issued several refunds and a few were happy to wait for the strike to end. Once the strike was announced that it was ended I did reach out to those who had asked for a refund to let them know about the status and some replaced their order. What was not counted on was Etsy still locking out the ability to purchase shipping orders for more than a week afterwords. This is what resulted in the delay. 

[dippeldiundscribble]

@NicDaStickCreation 

I was referring to this part (I should‘ve quoted it):

„Had Etsy unlocked the shipping labels a day or two after the strike was resolved all orders would have gone out in time. But because they locked it for more that a week after the strike was resolved the system marked me as delinquent for those orders.“

From what I understand, Canada Post began accepting domestic parcels on December 19 and international parcels on December 23. 

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/our-company/news-and-media/corporate-news/news-release...

So the first possible date to buy a shipping label on Canada Post‘s website and ship your international orders was December 23

[CraftyCornishMaids]

When Canada post was on strike, if you did not want to ship with other shippers, then stop selling where the costs were too high

once Canada post was off strike, etsy didn't want sellers putting post into a massively backlogged system, because they don't like disappointing customers with post held up in backlogs,
however, you could take the risk yourself, if you had contacted your customers, and they were happy with the big backlog delay, and ship using Canada post labels bought online, or at the post office,

It's all in your control, your choice, and your consequences

[NicDaStickCreation]

I understood that there would be a delay in the packages going out to the customers and that was indicated to each one effected by this. 

All my post offices were closed. There was no way to purchase the shipping labels through them. Trust me I tried. 

I was able to get all Canadian and US orders out on time using alternative shipping methods but shipping overseas from Canada to Europe/Australia the price was more then exuberant. 

Eg. Canada post would be $12 shipping for air post. All others was a minimum of $45 to ship that same parcel. I did give my customers the choice of either hold, refund or pay the extra shipping. Non chose the extra shipping. And for those who say why did I not eat the cost of the extra shipping? Because the products in question where under $20. I am not in the habit of giving away my products. 

Etsy also indicated that they would not effect your Star Status due to the effects of the strike. 

I went the extra to ensure that non of my customers would be adversely effected by this strike. 

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@NicDaStickCreation 

Etsy said that orders you had shipped, that were affected by the strike would not affect your star rating

once the 15th happened, and they went on strike, it was all down to you what you decided to do, your choices, your consequences.

....

If canada post was still selling labels online, and accepting them for posting, then you could do that

But if they weren't, then there would be no point buying them on etsy either, if you couldn't post them at the post office

[BagmakerSupply]

@NicDaStickCreation: "I had refunded more than 4 orders and the rest agreed to wait." Did you also update the scheduled to ship by date on those orders?

[NicDaStickCreation]

I though I did

[CatsWhiskersCurios]

You could have cancelled the orders or pushed out the shipping dates. It was all completely under your control 

[NicDaStickCreation]

I did do that.

[NicDaStickCreation]

If I had note done any of that then yes that was on me. But when I did do all of what has been suggested and still ended up getting effected negatively by it, that is where I have exception to it . I am posting here as I was instructed to by chat support. So I am hoping to get a resolution to this issue. 

[Adorabilities]

How far did you push out the shipping dates? You can only do that once, so it makes sense to use the maximum allowed time for those orders. 

[MrsDsHandKnits]

Too much emphasis is put on this star seller program...

If sellers would simply provide the best customer service they can and be the best that they can in all aspects of business, without thinking about this star seller status symbol that hangs over their every move, their lives would be so much less stressful...

Star Seller status is a status symbol, and nothing more...truly means very little to a buyer...

Mind over matter...

[Adorabilities]

@MrsDsHandKnits 

It shouldn't be just about Star Seller. Shipping late goes against seller standards as well.

[MrsDsHandKnits]

agreed! if sellers are lax in their shipping methods, that is on them but way too many sellers  stress over their star seller status like it is a requirement to be a successful seller...

just like many sellers believe everything Etsy says, they believe Etsy needs to do the "right thing"...what Etsy says, and what Etsy does are not necessarily same based upon interpretation of any given circumstance...

Etsy gives sellers advice, recommendations, suggestions and how sellers act upon that is on the sellers. Much also depends upon common sense, best judgment applied to any given circumstance.

[NicDaStickCreation]

**Edit for clarification**

I was instructed to post here by the chat personal. 

All Canada Post employees went on strike. There were no offices open at all

My Canadian and US orders were sent out through alternative means of which the carriers had to come to my home to get the packages to ship out. 

Orders effected were Overseas eg. Europe, Germany and Australia. Each customer was contacted directly and given the choice to cancel the order and get a refund, have me hold on to the order or pay the difference for the shipping and I would send it out. Due to the difference offered by more than a half dozen different shippers the lowest cost was $45 to ship out. None of my customers went with this options.

Delivery dates to the best of my knowledge were changed. 

I used a Ship station as an alternative to being able to send out parcels so I had a large variety of shippers to choose from. I did my homework. 

Etsy indicated on their posts that the strike would not effect the Star Status which in my case it did.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

Etsy indicated on their posts that the strike would not effect the Star Status which in my case it did.

no they did not, only ones that were delayed by the strike they said they would look at, so that would be those already posted off, and caught in canada post backlog

those after, they said to use alternative carriers

if you hadn't already posted them off before 15th, it was all down to you 

[cindylouwho2]

"I am posting here as I was instructed to by chat support. So I am hoping to get a resolution to this issue."  - Chat does that to sellers when there is no fix available. We're just other sellers here, and cannot provide you with any solutions now. 

"I had several orders for overseas [Europe and Australia] that could not be filled through other shipping methods. [All other shippers wanted more than 4 times the cost to ship overseas]. " You are in Kitchener, meaning you had Stallion Express available. I shipped to Denmark with them for less than $12! The buyer was very pleased. 

Unfortunately, your choices were to cancel the orders or ship them using other methods. Those were your only options if extending the shipping date wasn't enough. Etsy does not want people shipping late, and only protected orders that had already shipped before the strike started. There were many threads here on this. 

Be thankful that Etsy hasn't put you on reserve 
: - (