topic Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates in Business Seller Board

I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

lincolnshiremarine — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 11:15:21 GMT

Hello Everyone

I see eBay under selling announcement dated 18th November 2025, have made a statement about their unrealistic and inaccurate delivery dates.

As you know, I have been providing eBay with extensive evidence for quite some time to show that the delivery dates they display to buyers are false.

I am also aware that several other sellers have done the same in an effort to make eBay recognise the issue. Despite how obvious the problem has been to us as sellers, eBay still insisted on multiple pieces of evidence, which required many hours of my business time to gather and submit.

I hope that this recent announcement means progress is finally being made, and that our feedback is being taken seriously.

eBay's statement

Delivery plays an important role in shaping your buyers’ experience, and we know how important it is for you, our sellers, that expectations are set accurately and fairly. As we head into the year’s busiest period, we want to give you a clear look at how estimated delivery dates (EDD) are calculated, why they may change, and the protections in place to support you.

What buyers see

We show buyers an estimated delivery date range on your listing so they know when to expect their item. The range is dynamic and reflects real‑world conditions to set accurate expectations.

How we calculate the EDD

EDD is tailored per order based on factors you control and broader delivery signals:

Handling time typically set by the seller (how quickly you pack and hand items to the carrier).
The carrier and service you offer (including service speed and coverage).
Your past delivery performance on aspects you control (e.g., dispatch speed).
Carrier performance, item location, and the buyer’s delivery address.
Seasonal patterns (peak trading vs. quieter periods) and operational conditions.

Please visit the site page estimated delivery dates for sellers for more information.

Why the EDD can include dates within your handling time

During peak periods, buyers may receive items later; at quieter times, sooner. To avoid a one‑size‑fits‑all estimate, we adjust EDD dynamically. This can create EDD ranges that overlap with dates inside your dispatch time, especially if you’ve set longer dispatch times to manage your workload.

Your protections against late delivery defects

If an item arrives after the end of the estimated delivery date range but tracking shows you dispatched on time you're protected from late delivery defects. We also encourage you to use the service and carrier specified in your listing so not to drive any dissatisfaction with your buyers.

If a buyer opens an Item Not Received (INR) case

You have 3 business days to resolve the issue. Respond to the case and explain that tracking shows the item is on its way to avoid a “case closed without seller resolution” defect.

What “dispatched” means

An item is fully dispatched when the carrier has collected it from you or you’ve dropped it off with the carrier and there is an Acceptance scan from the carrier to confirm they have it. Printing a label, generating a tracking number, or marking the order as dispatched does not count as dispatch on its own.

When a delivery is counted as late

We assess lateness using carrier scans and buyer feedback (even if no INR case is opened):

If you uploaded tracking within 24 hours of dispatch: a delivery is late when the delivery scan occurs after the buyer’s EDD range (e.g., EDD 11–13 Nov; delivered 14 Nov or later) and there is no carrier scan within your handling time.
If no tracking is available: when the buyer leaves feedback, we ask if the item arrived on time. If the buyer confirms it arrived after the EDD, it is counted as late.

Why upload tracking (and when)

Using end‑to‑end tracking reduces “where’s my item?” contacts and INR claims, lets buyers self‑serve, and supports seller protections. Always upload tracking within 24 hours of dispatch (not after an INR case is opened).

Automatic removal of delivery‑related defects

Eligible delivery‑related defects are removed automatically within 7 days. Until removal, they’ll still appear in your seller standards dashboard. After removal, allow up to 2 days for your predicted seller level to update. You don’t need to contact eBay.

We automatically remove defects and adjust late delivery rate in cases including (but not limited to):

The listing’s delivery estimate was shortened, and tracking shows delivery within the carrier’s longest estimate.
The defect, feedback, or late delivery resulted directly from an eBay site issue or program error.

To reduce business impact during broader disruptions we may apply seller protections for the affected period:

Your late delivery rate is removed for orders whose EDDs fall within the affected dates.
Your Item Not Received count in service metrics is removed for the affected dates.
We remove negative and neutral feedback related to late or non‑delivery during the affected period.

For a full list of circumstances where defects are automatically removed, see our Seller performance and Feedback policy.

Best practices to stay protected

Keep handling time and carrier service details accurate in your listings.
Dispatch on time and use the service and carrier you advertised.
Choose tracked services and upload tracking within 24 hours of dispatch.
Monitor eBay announcements for network disruptions (e.g., severe weather, strikes, peak backlogs like Black Friday/Cyber Monday) that may affect EDD calculations.
If you need to update listings, see our page on revising a listing.

Final note

We continuously factor in unexpected carrier network conditions when calculating EDD (e.g., severe weather, natural disasters, strikes, and major peak backlogs) to set realistic delivery expectations and apply appropriate seller protections.

Thank you for selling on eBay.

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

books-from-sharon — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 11:24:02 GMT

I'm sorry but nothing about that says that they are taking note of feedback. That is a 'we don't get it wrong' reply.

2 days handling time and 3 days delivery makes 5 and showing buyers an estimated delivery date has the same effect as telling them that it will definitely be delivered by that date. Buyers don't seem to understand estimates.

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

bojangled — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 12:22:59 GMT

@lincolnshiremarine

Sadly I don’t think there’s much difference in that one and the one issued on the 4/10/24.

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

arc3110 — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 13:08:17 GMT

I agree with @books-from-sharon, I read it exactly the same 'we don't get it wrong'.

Like you @lincolnshiremarine and numerous others, I have approached ebay numerous times, presented numerous pieces of evidence to varies employees and even shown the shipping team face to face as well. But after all the promises, and like with everything at ebay, the promises come to nothing, you simply get fobbed off, practically gaslighted. However if you look it from ebay point of view it is working as designed, designed to punish and penalise sellers and now simple delivery is here it all becomes clear.

What buyers see

We show buyers an estimated delivery date range on your listing so they know when to expect their item. The range is dynamic and reflects real‑world conditions to set accurate expectations.

In reality the buyer sees what ebay want them to see, and all my experience of this it has never set a "accurate expectation" for a buyer.

Monitor eBay announcements for network disruptions (e.g., severe weather, strikes, peak backlogs like Black Friday/Cyber Monday) that may affect EDD calculations.

Every year we (and others) lose the Top Rated status after Black Friday or Bad weather or strikes occur when Royal Fail suffer with backlogs because the "Dynamic" EDD still shows a buyer a Next Day delivery for Tracked 48/ RM48 items.

Best practices to stay protected

Keep handling time and carrier service details accurate in your listings.
Dispatch on time and use the service and carrier you advertised.
Choose tracked services and upload tracking within 24 hours of dispatch.
Monitor eBay announcements for network disruptions (e.g., severe weather, strikes, peak backlogs like Black Friday/Cyber Monday) that may affect EDD calculations.
If you need to update listings, see our page on revising a listing.

Protection is non-existent even when all of the above are met, they insert a 'get out clause' of no carrier scan within your handling time, knowing full well that this is outside of the seller hands. There are numerous other posts about it.

How we calculate the EDD

EDD is tailored per order based on factors you control and broader delivery signals:

Handling time typically set by the seller (how quickly you pack and hand items to the carrier).
The carrier and service you offer (including service speed and coverage).
Your past delivery performance on aspects you control (e.g., dispatch speed).
Carrier performance, item location, and the buyer’s delivery address.
Seasonal patterns (peak trading vs. quieter periods) and operational conditions.

Our business:

Handling Time = Same Day 2pm cut off - EDD does not change after cut off, it only changes after midnight when it rolls over.
Carrier and Service: (As advertised on their site) Royal Mail’s delivery aims: Tracked 48® / Tracked Returns within 2 to 3 working days.
Dispatch Speed = Monday to Friday which has remained the same for 15 years (without fail from our side), yet order on a Saturday and expect your order to be delivered by Monday!
Carrier Performance = This is Royal Mail do I need to say any more!
Seasonal Patterns = Peak periods have never been taken into account

So taking this into consideration how does the system still provide our buyers with Next Day estimates, even Same day in some situations in the past for Tracked 48 items? The only conclusion I can come up with is that it is working as designed, designed to increase fees and push sellers to use simple delivery. It was never designed to help buyers or sellers, if it was they would’ve listened to numerous feedbacks and complaints and made changes. After all it's clearly written in the "statement" yet many have proved otherwise with factual information.

As mentioned in the 1st reply, and as many other have mentioned, "Buyers don't seem to understand estimates", many of them don’t even read listings, they see the 1st date that ebay show them and expect to receive their order by then. Sellers are in a no win situation and face the INR's that roll in through no fault of their own.

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

pegr-834437 — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 13:54:09 GMT

Its working as designed, we've been told this for years and this again is just another example of eBay ignoring all the flags and telling us its working as designed.

What I would love to pull them up on is how the estimate it, in their own words they say;

Handling time typically set by the seller (how quickly you pack and hand items to the carrier).
Your past delivery performance on aspects you control (e.g., dispatch speed).

I might be being stupid here but dont these 2 work agaisnt each other, if I extend my handling time to 5 days the estimated delivery date doesnt change, this has been highlighted to head of shipping who acknowledged it makes no difference. Surely you can only take into consideration either the current handling time (what we the seller knows is the case) or historic data which could be way off what we the seller currently can give.

It really should be the easiest thing to get right, handing time (as set as the item being sold no historic data) + shipping service = estimated delivery time, there is no need to add in anything historic at all and only adds a level of confusion which is not needed.

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

artpoint2000 — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 13:56:10 GMT

Blows my mind that something which should be so simple, can be made so unnecessarily complex.

My delivery estimates are all over the place, weekends are counted as business days & listings show completely unrealistic delivery dates - sometimes advertising potential delivery within 2 working days even though my handling times are set at 3 and delivery at 48hrs.

This should be the easy part of selling as its hard enough running a business these days without dealing with nonsense like this. No doubt the idea of an idiot who has never ran a business in their life! 😠

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

vintage-emporium-jedburgh — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 15:53:48 GMT

Suck it up and shut up

is the clear message

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

rainbowtrax — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 16:02:48 GMT

Yeah, all that statement is is a doubling down of the "we're not listening and we really don't care that we're provably wrong" attitude. All they're saying is that they know their dates are complete fantasy but they'll never openly admit it and their expectation is really to deliver several days before the despatch date - preferably before the buyer's even bought it!

I don't look at my Service Metrics or Seller Level from one month to the next as they're both complete fabrications and you have no control over what figures ebay invent so they're best ignored. I know that I post everything well within my stated despatch time and that the true delivery estimate is equal to my stated despatch time + the carrier's stated delivery time. That's just basic arithmetic which is irrefutable - even though ebay continually show their lack of basic arithmetic by attempting to refute it with this repetetive mantra.

Them saying it yet again still doesn't make it correct and never will. Amazon have Prime so ebay feel they have to try and make buyers believe that ebay sellers are all as quick as Prime. That's all it boils down to.

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

lincolnshiremarine — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 16:04:57 GMT

Hi bojangled

Just trying to be positive. 😀

Best wishes

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

jlovie — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 17:09:56 GMT

Carrier performance, item location, and the buyer’s delivery address.

As I was mentioning in another thread, the distance between item location and delivery address isn't necessarily related to how far the item may travel.

Items have to travel via sorting hubs.

e.g. this week I posted something to an address about 20 miles away, but it went via a hub about 130 miles away in the opposite direction.

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

leadhills_scot — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 17:48:57 GMT

As I'm no longer selling but am buying this is the part that really annoys me.

Carrier performance, item location, and the buyer’s delivery address.

Evri only deliver to my address on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday unless he is ill then there are no deliveries until he is well. Recently RM sent an item to the wrong delivery office so their performance is going down hill. Ebay really need to scrap the EDDs altogether. While I know they are inaccurate and tend to leave it longer before contacting the seller, other buyers won't.

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

the-nutwood-collection — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 19:26:16 GMT

I don't care what fantasy EDD puts on the listing. They can make up whatever crazy date they want.

However, the buyer shouldn't be allowed to open an INR until 10 days after the date of despatch. That's RM's criteria for 'lost and never to be seen again', the earliest date when the seller can lodge a claim.

Also, eBay should use it's whizzy new AI to intercept messages from buyers whining about non delivery. AI should respond with a message to tell them that they can open an INR on [date] and they should keep schtum until that date has passed. Also, repeated non-delivery whines will result in a strike on their buyer account and, if they get too many strikes, their buyer's premium will increase by 4% and could lead to suspension of their account.

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

14061994 — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 20:33:01 GMT

Only Ebay could make something so simple, so complicated.

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

tribalgiftsuk — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 21:26:06 GMT

They could use this problem and be innovative and let the business sellers set the estimated delivery dates as we all know the 'real world' situation and how long our deliveries normally take on a daily basis and we are usually up to date of problems in our country such as adverse weather etc.

We also know that if we say we are going away or taking time off for three days that the delivery dates should never show an earlier delivery date or next day unless the customer is paying for faster delivery services.

We also know that 2nd class or tracked 48 deliveries are not going to arrive on the same dates as 1st class and tracked 24 or next day delivery.

Once again a clear dismissal of the paying sellers on this platform who have been raising these issues for years now. But also a disregard for the paying customers who are regularly getting disappointed as they think things are coming late when they are actually not but more than that they will only put up with it for so long and will shop elsewhere where as they will be feeling often let down by this platform and will also think it is the sellers fault if they don't sell on here themselves.

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

jonatjonatjonat — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 21:28:54 GMT

No - Amazons guess work is just as bad.

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

bojangled — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 06:07:45 GMT

@lincolnshiremarine

I appreciate that, really quite an effort at the moment.

I’m with @rainbowtrax that they can create and show all the metrics and levels they want, with so many glitches reported on these tools is it really trustworthy.

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

the_book_seekers — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 22:02:25 GMT

I really don't see anything different to past statements on EDDs. It's just a restating of ebay's position. The calculation doesn't change. I used to post every day and where possible the same day as I was a 2 minute drive from a post office. I moved to a rural area nearly 4 years ago and changed my posting habits which hasn't been reflected in the EDDs, so the dynamic element doesn't work. The system also can't allow for the difference between RM 1st and 2nd class. If ebay shows the same EDDs for both then buyers will select the cheapest option but expect 1st class service. That's not managing buyer expectations.

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

lord_and_lady_m — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 23:00:27 GMT

A great edition to the comic book series. I've update a few bits:

EDD is tailored per order based on factors you control and broader delivery signals:

Handling time typically set by the seller (how quickly you pack and hand items to the carrier). BUT if you the seller changes this based on your own current availability, changes in demand etc, we will ignore it and go with what we think.
The carrier and service you offer (including service speed and coverage). We often ignore that too, especially for anything that is not a tracked service. Hell, we'll even throw in a guess that snail mail will be as fast if not faster than guaranteed next day. Some posties have a delorean too, so we know it's possible to delivery before you dispatch it.
Your past delivery performance on aspects you control (e.g., dispatch speed). If you've somehow dispatched an item really quick, once in the last 20 years, we know it'll be exaclty the same speed for all orders, no matter what the item is, how it might need packing, and where you need to drop it off to.
Carrier performance, item location, and the buyer’s delivery address. Royal mail says 2-3 days for 2nd and 1-2 for first. They never meet their targets but lets be optimistic, and promise everyone, a same day service. Your customer only lives a few miles away, so surely the postie will not bother putting it in to the system, travelling through a sorting office 70 miles in a different direction, before going to a local depot, to be sat in a pile of not priority stuff. Everyone has posties just like that that has nothing to do bar twiddle thumbs until so post need zooming to it's final destination.
Seasonal patterns (peak trading vs. quieter periods) and operational conditions. We absolutely know that everything go $£%^ up from end of november due to black friday, but we know it'll maybe take an extra day for carriers to sort out their backlogs, so no need to amend any dates, Geez we'll even remind your customers they should already have their order by now, and if not, open a case and get a refund, and keep your item when it arrives.

IT'S Late if:
If no tracking is available: when the buyer leaves feedback, we ask if the item arrived on time. If the buyer confirms it arrived after the EDD, it is counted as late and as we control the dates, we may decide we don't like you this month or our coffers are running dry so we;ll stick a few more unrealistic dates and soon be coining it in again when your fees have to go up

Finally
Best practices to stay protected
- Keep handling time and carrier service details accurate in your listings. it makes no difference and we won't protect you hahahha
- Dispatch on time and use the service and carrier you advertised. it makes no difference and we won't protect you hahahha
- Choose tracked services and upload tracking within 24 hours of dispatch. it makes no difference and we won't protect you hahahha
- Monitor eBay announcements for network disruptions (e.g., severe weather, strikes, peak backlogs like Black Friday/Cyber Monday) that may affect EDD calculations. we don't however monitor the community forum which gives more realisitc info on network disruptions.
  
  So yeah - it makes no difference and we won't protect you hahahha

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

cbennissupplies — Sat, 22 Nov 2025 11:46:22 GMT

could not stop laughing !!!!!!!

Re: I see eBay have issued a statement regarding Estimated Delivery dates

cbennissupplies — Sat, 22 Nov 2025 11:47:54 GMT

that actually sound accurate