Hurricane Ian To Smash Florida — USPS Suspends Service & eBay Seller Protections Update

Hurricane Ian has strengthened to a category 4 hurricane as it approaches the gulf coast of Florida. Due to the severe nature of the storm, both USPS and eBay have made announcements regarding Hurricane Ian and how this will impact businesses as well as the general population.

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*Here at eSeller365 we are based in central Florida, which means we are anticipating some Hurricane Ian disruption over the next couple of days. As such we may be slow posting news, or replying to emails, please bear with us and we will be back with you as soon as possible.*

USPS Hurricane Ian Update

The United States Postal Service has temporarily suspended delivery and retail operations in parts of Florida as Hurricane Ian bears down on the state.

USPS announced Tuesday night that it was stopping services in Southwest and Central Florida until further notice. Hurricane Ian was expected to make landfall in Florida sometime Wednesday along the state’s Gulf coast.

The move means more than 200 post office locations will be closed.

Cities with offices closed are in: Alturas, Alva, Apollo Beach, Anna Maria, Arcadia, Aripeka, Auburndale, Avon Park, Babson Park, Balm, Bartow, Bay Pines, Bloomingdale, Brandon, Boca Grande, Bokeelia, Bonita Springs, Bowling Green, Braden River, Bradenton, Bradenton Beach, Bradley, Brandon, Brooksville, Bushnell, Cape Coral, Captiva, Carrollwood, Center Hill, Chokoloskee, Clearwater, Coleman, Commerce, Cortez, Crystal Beach, Crystal Springs, Dade City, Davenport, Dover, Dundee, Dunedin, Durant, Eagle Lake, East Naples, Eaton Park, Ehrlich, Elfers, Ellenton, Embassy Crossing, Englewood, Estero, Euclid, Everglades City, Falkenburg, Felda, Florence Villa, Forest Hills, Fort Meade, Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach, Fort Ogden, Frostproof, Gibsonton, Glengarry, Golden Gate, Goodland, Gulf Gate, Gulfwinds, Haines City, High Point, Highland City, Hilldale, Homeland, Hudson, Immokalee, Indian Rocks Beach, Intercession City, Istachatta, Kathleen, LaBelle, Lacoochee, Lake Alfred, Lake Hamilton, Lake Panasoffkee, Lake Placid, Lake Wales, Lakeland, Lakewood Ranch, Land o’ Lakes, Largo, Laurel, Lehigh Acres, Lithia, Longboat Key, Lorida, Loughman, Lutz, MacDFill Air Force Base, Madeira Beach, Mango, Marco Island, Mulberry, Murdock, Myakka City, Naples, New Port Richey, New Tampa, Nichols, Nobleton, Nocatee, Nokomis, North Fort Myers, Ochopee, Odessa, Oldsmar, Ona, Oneco, Osprey, Ozona, Palm Harbor, Palmdale, Palmetto, Parrish, Pineland, Pinellas Park, Placida, Plant City, Polk City, Port Charlotte, Port Richey, Punta Gorda, Riverview, Ruskin, Safety Harbor, Saint James City, Saint Leo, St. Petersburg, St. Pete Beach, San Antonio, Sanibel, Sarasota, Sebring, Seffner, Sulphur Springs, Sumterville, Sun City, Sun City Center, Sydney, Tallavast, Tampa, Tarpon Springs, Terra Ceia, Thonotosassa, Tice, Trilby, Valrico, Venice, Venus, Wauchula, Waverly, Webster, West Tampa, Wimauma, Winter Haven, Ybor City, Zephyrhills and Zolfo Springs.

“The Postal Service appreciates its customers and their understanding as we temporarily adjust operations due to inclement weather,” USPS said in an emailed news release Tuesday night.

“We will continue to monitor tropical weather conditions and well restore service when it is safe to do so.”

eBay Seller Protections Update for Hurricane Ian

“We are closely monitoring Hurricane Ian, and the impact this storm is having on Florida and the Southeastern United States. Our primary concern is the safety of our community – please follow local emergency instructions and procedures to ensure your well-being. 

Because the extreme weather may delay the pickup or delivery of your shipments, we will continue to assess the situation and provide you with support and protections. 

You do not need to worry about your seller performance rating being impacted by weather-related issues. If your business is affected, we will automatically protect your seller performance rating, including: 

• Your late shipment rate 
• Your valid tracking upload rate 
• “Item not received” cases due to late delivery as long as you uploaded tracking and have a physical scan from the carrier before a case was opened 
• Defects resulting from transactions you canceled 

We will also remove any associated negative and neutral feedback and these cases will not impact your service metrics rating. You do not need to contact Customer Service at this time.  

In addition, we are anticipating delays in processing at our Authenticity Guarantee (AG) facility for Trading Cards. The safety of the authenticators is important to us, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely and contact buyers directly if there are any additional delays. We will resume processing as soon as it is safe to do so. 

Please stay safe from Hurricane Ian if you are in an affected area, and if needed, we will update this announcement as the storm progresses. As always, thank you for selling on eBay. 

The eBay Team”

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