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

[ice.cold.drip.camden]

I’m having the same exact issue for a while, I’ve got a 0% rate on cases unresolved, 0% rate on cancelled orders, but getting defects and risking losing my eBay top rated seller status because eBay is giving defects because the items are not being delivered within their unrealistic delivery dates. I dispatch all my items in the same working day, couldn’t do it any quicker, still apparently that’s not good enough for eBay. This is quite frustrating and when I’ve contacted eBay about it they just didn’t care. eBay should care about their business sellers, I pay a monthly fee for my eBay store, I provide an excellent service, but their unrealistic estimated delivery dates are affecting my performance and that is not fair. eBay is nothing without their sellers so they should listen to us. Many people are moving out of the platform and I am seriously considering taking my business elsewhere.

[your.home.consoles.world.ltd]

Unfortunately, but from time to time you will lose your top rated status because of this, (it's enough that one day something goes wrong, some system crash or other accident and that's it) 

Of course, you can do what you usually do and in the end you will reach 3.01% (in my case it happened several times even without a failure at work)

Personally, I'm looking for other platforms myself, but I haven't found anything yet that could compete with Ebay, Amazon is out, not with our stock.

[knit-in-styles]

I have my time away on this week until this Sunday 6th May. I have just sold an item today 29th April with Royal Mail second class delivery and notice in the sale the estimated delivery date given to the buyer is 7th May - 10th May.  I have to dispatch by  9th May.

How on earth in a million years can my buyer get this item on 7th May? OK I can package and post on Sunday 6th May when I get back but there are no Royal Mail collections and even worse there are non Monday as it is a bank holiday. The earliest my buyer can get this item is Thursday 10th May IF Royal Mail deliver in their two day expectation.

Honestly this is an absolute joke .😠

[the_book_seekers]

Hi. I've just had a look at one of your listings and it says you are away until the 4th not the 6th.

[knit-in-styles]

Oh me, away to boil my heid 🤣. I have an excuse, I am another year older today 🎂. I was looking at the wrong month on the calendar thinking Sunday was the 6th. No you are quite right Sunday is 4th so my settings are correct. If only I could delete my silly post. Never mind, time for a birthday drink after all it is 5pm somewhere and 5.02 here in the UK 🍷Thanks for checking and posting.

[lucy_farmer]

Happy Birthday Knit! 😊

[crowbarman1970]

Having the same problem, my last few purchases have been needed urgently and only after i purchase do i get the dreaded delay email, happened 3 out of 4 times now

Ive looked at my order and while my purchase date is correct the delivery date has changed

I feel this is being done to conceal non UK stock as it is coming from elsewhere so to get the sale the seller promotes a false date to conceal point of origin

I dont care where it comes from, i purchase based on delivery date

[your.home.consoles.world.ltd]

We know that customers couldn't care less about it, we encounter this several times a week, EVERY WEEK.

I don't know how it was in your case, but almost every seller who has spoken on this topic had nothing to do with it.

[johnwash1]

@crowbarman1970 

It's not about non-UK stock.  Or even within the seller's control.   It's evil ebay using a so-called proprietary algorithm to disregard our settings and give falsely optimistic dates.  Presumably they think it increases sales.

Sellers have been complaining about it for years and ebay says it's not a fault, it's as designed.

[your.home.consoles.world.ltd]

The fun with delivery times continues, at least it's not a negative opinion. Happy eBay stated that an order purchased after 10 PM on May 22, Thursday, would be delivered on Friday morning or at the latest on Saturday, the photo is the conclusion after a long and very unpleasant conversation.

[alpha-pods]

The way i cope with it is never enter tracking info.

just mark items as shipped and message the buyer with the tracking number.

it saves so much eBay BS from their automatic systems.

tracking has just become another stick for eBay to beat sellers with.

[a45heaven]

100% agree - leave long lead times to give more breathing space too, my buyers seem OK about the way i work with them.

However,  somehow i doubt ebays customers will have warm feelings about how they are treated by ebay.

[johnwash1]

---

@alpha-pods wrote:

The way i cope with it is never enter tracking info.

just mark items as shipped and message the buyer with the tracking number.

it saves so much eBay BS from their automatic systems.

tracking has just become another stick for eBay to beat sellers with.

---

Yes, it's also what I've done for the last few years.  Of course now, that gives ebay a chance to delay your payout.

[theworldismyoyster11]

This is obviously still going on from Feb 2024, I have constantly been on the phone about estimated times which sometimes are the same day of purchase & the amount of rude customers that don't want to look at a sellers listing to check timescales for delivery. If this has been happening this long and still not solved I think more sellers need to keep calling to get them to change this

[a45heaven]

@theworldismyoyster11 

@johnwash1 

Can you not include in each of your item narratives that it is ebay who insert the EDD without any reasoning or consultation with the seller?

Any way you can to show where the liability lies.

[safereachsystems]

I am still constantly dealing with messages of “where’s my items” it’s getting beyond the joke. I offer 2nd class and if I post on a Monday, eBay say it will arrive Tuesday-Thursday. There’s no way it’s arriving the next day. I had a look through some listings and noticed that some show that 2nd class arrives before 1st class! Why would anyone upgrade to quicker postage when 2nd class is quicker and free! 

[johnwash1]

---

@a45heaven wrote:

@theworldismyoyster11 

@johnwash1 

Can you not include in each of your item narratives that it is ebay who insert the EDD without any reasoning or consultation with the seller?

Any way you can to show where the liability lies.

---

@a45heaven    The buyers I have for my kind of items, and with the settings I have and good communication, I rarely have this problem myself.  It's not as though I'm selling drywall screws that someone needs to get hold of ASAP for their ongoing DIY project.

But I agree it's a good idea to add that to ones descriptions.  Though in my own case I'm unsure whether I'll be listing anything on ebay any more.  I'm not yet on SD, but I fear it may not be long now.  I'm already trying out other venues.

[a45heaven]

@johnwash1 

wise one  !!!! 🙂 

I have a high repeat buyers rate ( although that is not reflected in what ebay count as such - but its been a long time since i trusted ebays massaging and adding of numbers).

Are you ever curious as to how much damage was done with BPF being added to Private sales ?

There was zero communication to Buyers on the subject from those who made the folly, but my thoughts is that it has tainted buying / bidding generally and exhibited as lower activity now.

[johnwash1]

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@a45heaven wrote:

@johnwash1 

wise one  !!!! 🙂 

I have a high repeat buyers rate ( although that is not reflected in what ebay count as such - but its been a long time since i trusted ebays massaging and adding of numbers).

Are you ever curious as to how much damage was done with BPF being added to Private sales ?

There was zero communication to Buyers on the subject from those who made the folly, but my thoughts is that it has tainted buying / bidding generally and exhibited as lower activity now.

---

And another recent thread is in essence asking "Why haven't I had any sales the past 6 months?".

I don't have access to the data and wouldn't be expert enough to analyse it even if I did.  I can guess though.  And it's been high in my thoughts the past few months.  A year ago I sometimes had a dozen parcels to pack at a weekend.  Since then my selling success has gone down and down and down.  I didn't sell a single thing in April.  There could be all sorts of reasons:

* In October the selling fees were abolished.  That demotivated my decluttering.  I used to frantically list for a weekend when I got the 70/80% offer.

* Maybe I have fewer attractive (?) items to offer now, perhaps the best of my hoarding has already sold.  I don't really believe that.

* It's a year since the change of government.  And Trump is screwing with the world's economy.  So a lot of people may be thinking of cutting down their discretionary spending.  Let's face it, it's only people with discretion and taste who'd fancy my items!

* I don't use promotion.  I suspect search is now so rigged that even if I'm the only seller of a certain item, and someone uses the right terms for that, ebay would prefer to show a few pages of irrelevant results rather than give me a hit.

* I used to end and relist at least once a month.  I daren't do that now, because I fear if I did I'd go onto SD.  So that's another reason I'll be low ranked in the search.

* People are seeing that there are alternative sites.

And probably plenty of other reasons too.  As Patrick Moore used to say: We just don't know.

Ebay probably know.  Do they care?

[a45heaven]

@johnwash1 

I see you are only selling thru Set Sale.

I used to have a few thousand items for set sale along side regular weekly auctions. - In the early days it was a benefit to have the time for a buyer to consolidate any auction wins, with set sales to gain postage savings - ebay killed that one off, so i now have Set Sales on a different platform at just 8% final fees only, no insertion fees. 

With auctions, as you have a dedicate time slot for them, you can attract buyers by self advertising on social media or web sites.

I dont feel ebay are serious about attracting Buyers for me, unless i pay extra for the promoted privilege (morally that doesn't sit well with me, when those offering to sell you a promotion are the same folks who can hide your items), and as you say Search functions are severely flawed. 

Selling despite ebay seems to be the approach now.