eBay's false estimated delivery dates, now several messages from buyers not happy.

[lincolnshiremarine]

I have been going on about this issue like a broken record.  I have reported it several times and even been on the community chat several times.  Ebay claim the EDD's are working fine.  They are not.

Ebay are giving buyers delivery dates as same day deliveries, next day deliveries.  Even when buyers have  have selected the free, three day delivery, they are including non working days as delivery dates being Saturday and Sundays.

I know that other sellers are being affected by this too, and have reported it too.

However, I am now spending hours replying to buyers whom think their parcel is late based on ebays estimated delivery dates. 

This leaves my business open for negative feedback and the issue of asking ebay to remove it.

The messages I am getting from buyers are:

" Hi not to pleased due to the fact I ordered this part from your company because of the delivery time and it’s not happened! Hopefully this item will turn up soon"

"parcel not arrived yet ??"

Both of those cases where when they purchased over a weekend, and they were dropped of at the parcel shop for collection the same day of purchase. However, this was over the weekend.  Ebay tracking has said to expect the delivery on Monday, which is wrong, as they included weekends as the courier collection and delivery days.

When you look on the couriers webiste the delivery dates are correct and ebays are incorrect.

We have had the same issue with Royal Mail tracked on ebay too.

How many more sellers are now getting messages like this on a daily basis, and what are you telling the buyers.?

I have been selling on ebay for 16 years and we dispatch the items on time, but, this ebay EDD are on another level now.

We look like we are fabricating delivery dates just to obtain a sale, and although we have tried tweaking the postage days etc, it does not help.

marco@ebay

Katie@ebay

Dave@ebay

[momamakes]

Its still happening. i have a one working day turn around and post via evri postable which is 2-3 working days and apparently ebay calculate that my customers will recieve there parcels in 1-2 days!! so i had 2 working days to the turn around time and then it says 3 working days but thats not a true reflection as then when it gets to the weekend it calculates that i will not poste my orders until wednesday when they will be posted on monday and gives an estimated of and not 2-3! now ebay have contacted me saying i have a high volume of item not recieved cases this month - yes because you keep telling them that 2nd class delivery services deliver next day AND THEY DONT!!!

[your.home.consoles.world.ltd]

I have exactly the same problem, we use different shipping company options ( depending on the cost or size of the order ) however each of our ads with free shipping is based on evri 2-3 business days, unfortunately the ETA suggested by ebay with maniacal stubbornness promises delivery the next day or 48h

Example from this week :
order placed on March 25 at 23:40
Shipped 26, ebay promised delivery 26-27, customer wrote today claiming his patience was over.
As we promised, the order will arrive in 2-3 working days at the latest, but so what, if he needs it for today?
Of course, the customer had the opportunity to pay for faster, more reliable shipping, but why should he do it if the free one looked so inviting?

In my ideal world, an ebay employee should have a conversation with such a customer, maybe with the 100th conversation it would finally realize that what they are doing only harms and does not help.

[johnwash1]

---

@your.home.consoles.world.ltd wrote:

...
In my ideal world, an ebay employee should have a conversation with such a customer, maybe with the 100th conversation it would finally realize that what they are doing only harms and does not help.

---

They know it harms.  They've been told for years.

Does not help?  Oh yes it does.  It helps ebay.

Make no mistake, years ago, back when this started to be flagged, the initial responses were the standard "Thanks, we'll take it to the team to get this bug sorted on some never to be revealed timescale".  But then it changed to "By design, won't fix".

It's policy.  It generates revenue.  For ebay.

Now that you know, doesn't that give you a nice warm cuddly feeling?

[your.home.consoles.world.ltd]

I've known about it since this problem has been around, but a pleasant tingling sensation is always something positive, so thank you.

[sdjwales]

Continues to be chaotic.

Either way to pessimistic and vague (Dispatch by 28th, EDD 1st-7th)

Or way too optimistic (Dispatch by 1st, EDD 30th-1st)

[banditfrenzy]

I don't see what all the fuss is about. Ebay have invested $billions of dollars in it's warehouse & distribution network & it's small amount of independent sellers can take advantage of this in what is called 'fullfillment by ebay', FBE for short. If you send off all your items to be stored in one of ebays numerous & vast warehouse complex's then your orders can be delivered by one of ebays 1000's of delivery drivers either same day or next day. This service will only cost you approx 95% of your profits so what is not to like? It's a no brainer really . . . 

[andha-21]

I just had another glance/read through the posts here and saw a set that involved screenshots of the same item where 3 different EDD's are shown.

That's deliberate miss selling, otherwise known as fraud.

Personally I think eBay do it to make them look better than they actually are. Trying to close that gap to Amazon.

So they give their bs EDD's to the buyers, knowing that most of the time the buyer will blame the seller and that eBay can just deflect everything to the seller.

The more I read here, the more I think their entire business model is simply hiding in plain site. So many different things point at fraud and when it's in so many different areas all running concurrently that's usually deliberate. They just don't think they will be caught.

[ett1954]

"That's deliberate miss selling, otherwise known as fraud." - Whereas it may be described as misleading it is not fraudulent due to the title EDD including the word "estimated".

[lucy_farmer]

😂😂

ebay Prime is next on the list......

[wjperryjaguarspares]

i too have had this problem, i have spoken to ebay customer services [dublin] many times and they just don't want to accept the problem, the last time i was told it is done by AI so must be correct. some normal intelligence would help, i now put "I WILL ENDEAVOUR TO POST WITHIN THREE WORKING DAYS" on each of my listings. trouble is people don't read the description.

[bojangled]

@wjperryjaguarspares they don’t read the description.
I’ve started to put a text image (not for EDD issue but a promo) in the photos, more likely to be seen. 
Jo

[momamakes]

I did the same added to top pf description and a photi nonody read it, and because it was didnt arrive in time i had to refund the order anyway because it wasnt delivered as advertised. To top it all off Ebay then messaged me to say I had 3 item not recieved requests in two weeks and if i didnt solve the problem my seller status would be reduced and my fees higher - i used every sweat word under the sun when i read that email!! 😂
Sent from my iPhone

[your.home.consoles.world.ltd]

This is one side of the pathology of this system, the customer basically doesn't have to do anything, why would they read the description and waste 30 seconds of their time, if they don't like the purchase, they'll just return the item because it's not as described/photos? I had a return like that 3 weeks ago (item arrived a day after eBay suggested time), so it's not as described lol

[inchi69]

Seller advertise 2/3 day delivery and you buy because you can get it in that time scale then when it doesn't arrive they tell you 7 days. This is unacceptable in my book. Deliveries nowadays happen at the least 6 days a week and many deliver 7 days a week now so working days been 5 days no longer cuts it think there is only post office that doesn't deliver Sundays as the norm.

[qualitycardsandgifts]

Firstly, it’s not the sellers who advertise 2/3 days delivery, it’s eBay.   I use Royal Mail and am at risk of losing my Top Rated status due to late deliveries.   If you are getting deliveries 6 days a week, you are very lucky, as 7 days to arrive is becoming the norm in some places.   

[momamakes]

I understand your frustration but as a seller this is what we are concerned about. I enter 2 working days turn around time to allow for any delays even though I pose my orders out within 24 hours, delivery is 2-3 working days via Evri Postable. Delivery estimates are calculated by Ebay not the seller - we have no control over that at all. Ebay estimates for my customer that they will recieve there order tue/wed if they order today (monday). How can that be if its a 2 day dispatch plus 2-3 days in the post. Then the customer gets angry because the product has not arrived in time but all the details i entered are correct it is ebays system that is at fault. 

Another big issue is that Royal Mail deliveries are estimated, not guaranteed. They AIM to deliver in that time period but it is not a guarantee. If the customer does not receive their item in time they enter an item not received case, and the seller has to refund the order. The seller can not claim from Royal Mail because Royal Mail specified in the small print that they would aim to deliver but it its not guaaranteed. Ebay then see you have an item not received case, mark you down as a seller, you receive negative feedback and Ebay increase your seller fees because you are dropped down a tier from a top rated seller. The seller is the only person who 

1.) Gave the correct details

2.) posted on time

3.) kept record of postage

Yet the seller has now lost stock, a sale, a customer, their positive feedback and a possible repeat customer - and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it because we can not alter the system. If you try to add to the description that ebay times are incorrect ebay blocks it and says you can not use language like that in the description. 

Ths issue is not the seller, it is unacceptable that you don't get your delivery on time but that is due to the courier and ebay giving you false delivery estimates not the seller.

[momamakes]

I have had to change all my orders to fully tracked delivery now and my prices have gone up by 40% due to this - my sales have halved but there's nothing else i can do, standard mail is unreliable and Ebay doesn't accept postage receipts as proof so they are pointless.

[qualitycardsandgifts]

Shocking service from Royal Mail and they have just raised their prices again.     Large letter second class has gone from £1.31 to £1.55 !

[ett1954]

Second class large letter under 100g hasn't changed it has been £1.55 since April 2024.  The higher weights for large letters (to UK only) have actually come down; whereas large letters for international post have increased substantially.

[knit-in-styles]

£1.31 was the price using business mail (second class large letter under 100g) which increased to £1.55 on 31st March.