How do you handle 1 Day Handling time on Shipping?

[Karen]

I was wondering how others manage One Day Handling time to qualify for Seller Discounts. I don’t have a job to get to. So for myself its not a problem. Yet for those that work, how do you get your items packed and out the door to the Post Office in one days turn around time?

For instance I live on the East Coast. Lets say I go to bed around midnight on Feb. 1st. I will wake up to one or two sales, from buyers that are three hours behind. So it will say that I sold these items on Feb. 1st. Even though they purchased the items at 2:50 a.m. my time. Which means I have to have them shipped by the end of USPS closure on Feb. 2nd. How do other people do this when they work and have a life? With the time differential, do you have to Feb. 3rd?

• This topic was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by Karen.

[Marjean28]

I handle it by having a 3 day shipping time! LOL! I just got top seller status for the first time ever and I have a 3 day handling time on all my listings. But to your point, I think you just have to print the shipping label by the next midnight within those 24 hours, and get it to the post office when it’s next open.

[Karen]

So it doesn’t have to be scanned within the 24 hours. Just the label printed.

[shortandstout]

I’m on the East Coast and work for a traditional job M-F. I typically just factor in a few minutes each morning for packing since I offer the 1 day shipping. My normal routine already has some downtime built in so I just check my phone for sales before I hop in the shower. If I sold something the prior day/evening, I just use my downtime to get the item(s) packed up. I then drop them into my oversized mailbox on my way out or swing by the post office on my way into the office if the package doesn’t fit into the mailbox. This would be MUCH more stressful if I was go-go-go in the morning. Yesterday I mailed out two packages and it took a whole 20 min which doesn’t impact my morning schedule.

[Karen]

I can see some items being real easy to quickly ship. Yet I have had other items that has taken me an hour to package. Doesn’t happen often, but does happen.

[shortandstout]

That is why I check my phone before getting in the shower. I have a few items that will take a little bit longer than the quick 10 min. I typically have about an hour and a half between when I get out of the shower to when I head out the door so, for me, the buffer is there in time, but I think if I was always rushing to get out the door, I wouldn’t offer the 1 day shipping.

[Liz]

If I had an item that was complicated to pack and limited time to do so, I would probably have it semi-packed and ready to go, right after listing. I do that for complicated items or things that require odd shaped boxes, so I don’t have a last-minute scramble.

[shortandstout]

I may look into doing that for some of my larger items. Plus, it will help protect them during storage.

[Karen]

I always make sure I have the right box for an item that I list. Pre-packing is out of the question. I have a 10 x 10 room to do EVERYTHING IN. Not happening. Oh and a tub with a shower curtain to cover all the boxes inside of it. Two bathrooms in a tiny single wide mobile home. Ya that’s helpful… NOT 🙁

[nowwhatdave]

I work full time, and what I do is pretty simple. I drive by my local post office to get to work, and I just stop there every morning to drop off my shipments (prepaid of course). I also tend to wake up around 5 to 6:30 each morning and leave for work at 8, so that gives me lots of time to pack anything that sold overnight.

I also simplify by keeping to pretty consistent box sizes. I use a lot of 10x8x6, 8x6x5, 6x5x4, and padded envelopes of a couple different sizes. I keep a few other sizes too that I use less often. It makes packing go much more quickly than picking through my pile of scrap boxes. Anything more complicated I pack after work.

So far I haven’t had any problems with this system, and all of my items are listed 1 day shipping.

[Jay]

Yes, if you can dedicate a couple hours every morning to shipping, you can usually get it all done. Smart.

[Winchester38]

Like many others, I get up way earlier than needed most mornings for my M-F day job. I generally get up around 5:00am, but leave the house around 6:30. If I’ve got stuff to pack, I have the time, if not, I sit and drink coffee and surf the internet/etc for an hour or so.

With that said, anything that sells during a given day gets packed that night before bedtime. That way, in the mornings, I’m only packing items that sell through the night.

[shortandstout]

Sounds just like my mornings! Coffee and packing or coffee and internet for an hour. My sales volume is still low so I pack in the morning, but once I get more sales, I’ll switch to doing it at night and then catching things in the morning if need be.

[pythonesk]

We both work full time and have never had a problem with this. We tend to only pack in the evenings. If anyone buys something at 11pm, after we’re in bed, then we still have until 11pm the next night to print a label, right? Do I have it wrong?

We leave everything on the porch for the mail carrier unless it’s a first class package in which case I can drop it at the mail room at work. From what I understand so long as you’ve printed the label it is considered shipped. Not that we ever delay getting things to the P.O.

[Karen]

For whatever reason, the majority of my sales happen after midnight my time. That gives the West Coast another three hours to buy before the end of day. I just know that if I was working a regular job, there would be many times I couldn’t manage the one day handling time. Course I have health issues that make it hard to get anything done.

[MyCottage]

I think there may be a little confusion here. Yes, as long as the label is printed within a certain time frame, you can meet the TRS status requirement. But remember that there is a different requirement for seller performance. The package must actually be mailed the day you say it will be, so if the purchase is made on Monday, and you have one day handling time you’ve actually got to get it into the mail Tuesday (not just print the label). HOWEVER, if you are a day late, let’s say, but the item shows delivered within the estimated time frame anyway, or the buyer answers affirmatively that it arrived within the time frame, then you will be OK for that transaction.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

That is the way we understand it also. One thing that can be of a help is we have Parcel Post as a first shipping option. It is usually the least expensive and most customers just leave it at that. BUT, as a TRS Plus, we get such a large discount, we can ship 99.5% of the time less cost to us for Priority than the Parcel Post rates. And the Priority delivery time is 1-3 days tops, usually 1 & 2 days. So even if we, for some reason, didn’t get our package out, it is usually delivered two days early anyway. But we get up early most days and our packages are ready to go by the time of USPS. But in case we run late, we know our ladies so well and they both gave us their personal cell number, we just call them and they swing by for a late afternoon pickup before they head back to their home base USPS. How’s that for service. We always remember to give them both a Christmas gift card and sometimes during the year as a special thank you. In turn they will pick up any time we call if they are still out on there route.

Of note… We include a quick hand written note on the PL that says we upgraded your shipping to “Priority” at no additional cost to you. We have even gotten feedback that mentioned we did this for the customer.

Just a little trick to pass along if you are a TRS.

mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta

[shortandstout]

I often do the same in terms of offering Parcel Post first and using my discount to upgrade to priority.

[TrunkFullOfJunk]

I work a full-time job, 4pm-2am and I don’t get home until 2:45am most nights. My wife gets most of the sold items together so they are waiting for me when I get home. I then proceed to package and ship everything. Clothes of course go quickly, but large items and fragile items do take time. Most nights I have somewhere between 5 and 80 items to ship. Shipping can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 4 hours on busy days. It’s tough but this is one of the sacrifices I make to keep this business going and one day make it my only occupation.

[Karen]

I am always impressed by anyone that works full time and does that many sales!

[eCommerce411.us]

A few other suggestion… A little bit of forethought could certainly help. It also helps to remember all PO don’t operate the same. So your mileage may vary.

Don’t forget to change your cut-off time for orders. Even though this is for same day processing, eBay uses this to start the clock on your handling time. You can add to your advantage the difference between your cut-off time and midnight if that would help.

Also remember, the clock starts and ends on ebay time (PT). Regardless what time zone your in, so you use the following for your strategy.

EB doesn’t’ just look at when the tracking # was created or uploaded, they also look at when the package was first scanned (this stops the handling time clock).

If you’re not willing to wait in line and get your packaged scanned and decide to just drop it off instead, ask your PO when their cut-off time is. For myself, it’s 4p at my closest PO, even though the office is open until 6p. My other goto PO the cut off is 5p

And lastly, this has help me a lot. See if you have a processing center close by. They typically have longer and extended hours. Mine is open until 9p on weekdays, 8p on Saturday and Sun until 6p. A huge +

Like I mentioned earlier, each PO will operate differently. I’ve tried pick-up, but because the carrier didn’t return until late that day, my packages were not being scanned in until the following day.

Hope this helps.

[pythonesk]

I think our mail carrier scans the bar codes when he picks up the packages at our house. Maybe they don’t all do this. Whether Pacific time or not, 24 hours is 24 hours right? So long as we purchase shipping within 24 business hours (weekends are excluded) I think that meets the criteria. Correct me if I’m wrong.

[Jay]

Correct. It’s 24 hours, but its based on PST time.

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