Estimated Delivery Dates - Incorrect

[milly*fiory]

Just noticed that one of my listings has Next Day Delivery against it (from a Buyer's perspective.)

I don't offer this service up front, so I checked behind the scenes.

My postage options under my business polices are set up correctly, i.e.

- dispatch within 1 working day of sale

- default option - 2nd class Royal Mail - delivery in 2-3 days

- 2nd option - 1st class Royal Mail - delivery in 1-2 days 

But when looking at my listings from a Buyer's perspective, 2nd class and 1st class options both say delivery in 1-2 days. (Although 2nd class postage price is obviously less.)

I've just contacted eBay Customer Support about this and they're going to raise with their IT Dept, but has anyone else solved this problem?  

[therenewalworkshopltd]

This is actually a long running complaint.

Have a search of the forums and you will find multiple threads dealing with it.

[milly*fiory]

But has anyone found a solution or a work-around?

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Why do you think it's a long running complaint?

[milly*fiory]

Hi @therenewalworkshopltd 

Thanks for your replies and well ... I guess it's a long-running complaint because this situation has been happening for a while? 😉

But ever optimistic, I hoped somebody might have found a solution or a workaround. 

I suggested to the guy at Customer Support that I add a day to my dispatch time, but he said not to do this for now as when eBay IT look at my account they wouldn't see the current problem. 

[5216elisabeth]

The other reason is it may show correctly later or tomorrow! 

It's immensely annoying and somewhat stressful when the algorithims do this.  It's been happening for a very long time and always seems to be worse over bank holidays, Friday afternoons etc. It can happen any time though.  I often send the buyer a nice message letting them know that the eBay system has given them an overly optimistic delivery date and telling them when I expect the item actually will arrive.  It seems to prevent issues arising and buyers often appear to appreciate it.

[marco@ebay]

Hi milly*fiory, thanks for your post. 

If you confirm the item number of the listing in question, we can review that for you no problem. However, please note the we've reviewed similar cases and due to the multiple factors that our estimated delivery dates take into consideration, the results are coming back as no problems/fault found.

Thank you,

Marco

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Which in reality makes a mockery of whatever factors are being used.  As they are obviously incorrect.

I think pretty much everyone has seen this at one time or another.

How on earth in any way, can it be possible to have a delivery day, the same day as the day you send the item?

Yes, if the customer is a couple of doors away from you this could happen, but in the real world, it is farcical.

Or even worse, 2nd class is showing as faster than 1st class delivery and even on some occasions special delivery.

[the-layer-laboratory]

"Working as intended" = designed to deceive.

[magpiecorner1]

There must be faults somewhere.  All our business accounts show 2 days despatch.  At the moment all are showing time away until the 30th May.  Everything sold is showing a despatch date of 3rd June.  On one of our accounts 4 items, including one paid for yesterday, all showing 3rd June.  A 5th item sold on that account, paid for yesterday, is showing despatch today, estimated delivery from 28th May, second class letter.

An excellent example, I think, of a problem!!!

If the OP is reading this, only workaround I can think of is to ask for feedback showing item arrived in time.  Fortunately, I'd messaged buyer between purchase and payment checking that she had noticed we were away!

[milly*fiory]

Hi marco@ebay  Thanks for picking up this query. 

I'm glad to say that the item in question has now reverted to the correct estimated delivery time of 2-3 days. But all is still not correct. If a Buyer then clicks on the Postage Details link, they will see as below:  

£1.75 delivery in 2-3 days

Royal Mail 2nd Class Letter / Large Letter

Estimated between Thu, 29 May and Fri, 30 May to PE32 2AG

£3.30 delivery in 2–3 days

Royal Mail 1st Class Letter / Large Letter

Estimated between Thu, 29 May and Fri, 30 May to PE32 2AG

2nd and 1st Class both say delivery in 2-3 days. 1st class should say (and used to say) delivery in 1-2 days which is the Royal Mail target. A buyer would think, why pay more for a 1st class service when it is no quicker than 2nd class? 

I'm still in correspondence with the Customer Support Team. I didn't understand the reply that the IT team gave them to pass on to me. This included the phrase "the history calculations may outweigh the display to the buyer"  and two examples "enhanced with eBay's EDD formula" which showed the variations that can occur in the EDD depending on the carrier and the buyer. This is probably the 'multiple factors' that you refer to above. 

You mention that eBay has reviewed similar cases and the results are coming back as no problems / faults found. But my example above clearly shows that there is a fault. And other contributors to this post said this is a long-standing, on-going problem.  

Could it be possibly be that eBay's EDD formula is just a little too complicated and has developed a glitch or two? Please could you ask the IT Dept. to review it again. 

[marco@ebay]

Thanks for your reply, milly*fiory.

If the tech team reviewed this already and no faults were found, please note that I might get the same update. However, I am still happy to send this for further review, but I would need you to please confirm the item number, so we can look into it for you.

Thank you,

Marco

[milly*fiory]

Hello marco@ebay

Thanks for your reply. 

I've not actually had a reply from the Tech Team yet to say there are no faults. The last message I had was from Customer Support on 27 May which included this,

I have escalated details to our IT team again for clarification regarding what you have shared here today. 

If you would like to contact the Tech Team too, that might be helpful. 

All my listings have the same fault but if you'd like a specific example, please look at item number: 267196708910.

On the listing 'page' a buyer sees:

Postage: £1.75 delivery in 2-3 days

Estimated between Sat, 31 May and Mon, Jun to PE32 2AG.

Click on the See Details link, and a buyer sees:

£1.75 delivery in 2–3 days

Royal Mail 2nd Class Letter / Large Letter

Estimated between Sat, 31 May and Mon, 2 Jun to PE32 2AG

£3.30 delivery in 2–3 days

Royal Mail 1st Class Letter / Large Letter

Estimated between Sat, 31 May and Mon, 2 Jun to PE32 2AG

Thank you. 

[santlache_sales]

People have been reporting this as broken since day one when eBay introduced it.

Don't expect any change, ebay don't like being told sometying doesn't work, which is most things after they have changed it.