eBay offers automated seller protections after Sendle service stalls

eBay Australia has pledged to protect sellers on its platform from negative consequences that could arise from using Sendle after the courier abruptly halted its operations.

Sendle notified customers of the service freeze on Sunday, cancelling booked parcel pickups from January 12 and leaving existing deliveries “at the discretion of the delivery partner”.

The service used a network of third-party courier contractors to move parcels between locations and for last-mile delivery.

eBay sellers were among the largest users of Sendle's service domestically as it parcel handling charges were typically cheaper than Australia Post's, especially for deliveries within the same metro area.

An eBay Australia spokesperson acknowledged the issues with Sendle and said that the ecommerce provider would be “supporting affected sellers through this transition.”

Quizzed on how the it planned to support them, eBay Australia told Digital Nation that a range of actions, many automated, would be initiated.

"We’re putting protections in place to support sellers affected by the Sendle disruption, including removing late delivery defects, excluding impacted ‘item not received’ cases from service metrics and removing negative or neutral feedback linked to delivery delays,” the spokesperson said.

“Where possible, these measures will be applied automatically, so sellers don’t need to contact [eBay] customer support unless they have a specific issue.”

eBay is “encouraging” sellers to switch to Australia Post to fulfil new orders.

Sendle, meanwhile, has reportedly closed after being unable to secure new funding from investors.