EcommerceBytes-NewsFlash, Number 2821 - June 07, 2012     5 of 5

Olympic Games to Disrupt Ecommerce Deliveries, eBay UK Warns

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With the Olympic Games coming to London this summer, eBay UK warned sellers to prepare for the "Olympic Road Network restrictions" that could disrupt deliveries. The marketplace will monitor sellers' Detailed Seller Ratings for delivery time (which eBay UK refers to as dispatch time), and if it sees an increase in the number of low DSRs that could be attributed to the disruptions, it will try to minimize the impact.

"We don't want sellers to be unfairly impacted as a result of the disruption to the road network," eBay UK told sellers. "We will be monitoring Dispatch time Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs) during this time and if we see a significant increase in the number of low DSRs which can be attributed to the ORN, we will automatically de-score the low DSRs for these transactions at a later date, in advance of your evaluation cycle."

eBay said the ORN restrictions would be in place between mid-July and mid-September, and advised sellers to plan ahead by monitoring and managing stock levels so they don't fall short from delayed deliveries.

eBay UK also warned sellers who are likely to be affected by road restrictions to manage buyers' expectations by editing their listings to include a statement warning that there could be delivery delays.

eBay UK also said that a small number of carriers are proposing a surcharge of 1 pound for deliveries to affected areas. "We can confirm that Parcelforce will not be applying this surcharge during the period for labels bought via the eBay / PayPal label flows. As this proposed surcharge is being planned by a small number of carriers we will not be adjusting shipping cost caps during the period and advise sellers to contact their carrier for more information."

About the author:

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.
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