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

[tick-tech]

I did see your multiple posts on other threads and it was clear to me what you were demonstrating to eBay, they just obviously don't understand that it's impossible to deliver an item the day before you ship it.

I think it's now a case of requiring everybody to compain about this. Because it must be affecting any sellers who ship with economy (2-3 day) delivery services.

eBay clearly want the EDDs to work this way, so it needs a constant stream of sellers complaining for them to take any notice of it. 

I've already contacted them and got the same canned response of "working as intended", and have also provided feedback on the 'tracking experience' page.

Until it's sorted I will just continue to message any new customers highlighting the inadequacies of eBay's EDD system so the buyers know it's not us letting them down.

[tribalgiftsuk]

It is driving me nuts too. Every single 2nd class order recieved showing as arriving next day. I had one customer order over the weekend wanting the item by Wednesday for a birthday gift. I had a 1 working day dispatch (so Monday) 2nd class free postage. Ebay showing her Tuesday to Wednesday to arrive. (fine if it was 1st class but it was listed with 2nd class).

Because she had said it was a gift for Wednesday i sent it 1st class out of my own expense so Ebay cost me an additional 40p in postage because of these ridiculous EDD's. 

It is clear to me it is definately being done to compete with Amazon and i laughed today when i saw other sellers saying the same. But who suffers in the end, the sellers and the customers and at the end of it all so will Ebays profits if it keeps this up. It leaves no one happy at the end of the day.

Something changed last Autumn because before then the EDD's were still short but a lot more realistic.  It seems even worse since this New Year began.

I said in another similar thread that when i ordered something  on here last week the EDD's were showing as the same for 1st and 2nd class shipping. So Ebay are also technically losing money by doing this. Be realistic and honest with the customers and they will pay for faster delivery if they want it.

[qualitycardsandgifts]

Another INR opened.   Posted Saturday 24th by second class post.   eBay forecast 27th - 28th.  

However, Panorama "Where's my post" they posted 51 large letters by first class.    21 arrived on time, 16 within 2-3 days, 10 within 4 days to a week, and most of the rest took more than 11 days, two never arrived.   They were talking about relaxing the delivery forecasts, so will eBay reflect this ?  

[ebeegeebees2006]

I explained all this to my buyer and he was great, going on to say that eBay were misleading buyers and he wasn't happy about it. I buy a lot from another well known platform beginning with V. When parcels are shipped I get a notification saying that I should expect my parcel in 2 to 5 days. Perfect. I have never had a problem with this until very recently, so something has been tinkered with.

[litp*records]

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@qualitycardsandgifts wrote:

Another INR opened.   Posted Saturday 24th by second class post.   eBay forecast 27th - 28th.  

However, Panorama "Where's my post" they posted 51 large letters by first class.    21 arrived on time, 16 within 2-3 days, 10 within 4 days to a week, and most of the rest took more than 11 days, two never arrived.   They were talking about relaxing the delivery forecasts, so will eBay reflect this ?  

---

1st, 2nd and signed for are a complete scam.  Why does anyone still use them?  Royal Mail only wants you to use Tracked 48/24.  

Remember during the strikes, posters allegedly went up in sorting offices advising workers to prioritise Tracked mail over everything else.  Then that is what I shall stick to as well.  1st/2nd and signed for are referred to as "legacy" services by RM.

[qualitycardsandgifts]

When you are selling items for less than £3, tracked is not an option.   That's why Ian running down my card stock. 

[theelench]

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@ebeegeebees2006 wrote:

I explained all this to my buyer and he was great, going on to say that eBay were misleading buyers and he wasn't happy about it. I buy a lot from another well known platform beginning with V. When parcels are shipped I get a notification saying that I should expect my parcel in 2 to 5 days. Perfect. I have never had a problem with this until very recently, so something has been tinkered with.

---

To me what you write shows perfectly what a 💩 ebay has created.  Until your buyer needed an explanation of ebays fantasy "next day" delivery estimate they were quite happy with your  handling time and the delivery service on your listing.  If ebay didn't tell buyers  to expect their parcel Next Day most would be perfectly happy with  "2 to 5 days".

I've received over 500 FB on ebay and 80 more on ebid.  There are many on both that mention "Quick delivery or dispatch", what you (or ebay) will not find is a single FB complaining about slow delivery.

I've achieved that using RM 2nd Class with Next Day dispatch on ebid and 3 day dispatch on ebay (only lengthened on ebay when they started their Late Delivery Metric in an attempt to give myself a days grace).  The other site doesn't even give a delivery estimate, all the buyer sees is my Dispatch Window and the service I'm offering.

It doesn't really matter how much ebay tries to bully me into doing things differently with threats of defects and extra fees, I know that my buyers are happy with the compromise between lower cost and slower delivery.  I will always up-grade if they ask, but very few ever do.

If further proof is required that my buyers are happy with what I do, ebay can look at my numbers of Defects received from buyers who said that their delivery was late. --  ZERO.  Even though ebay has been telling them they will get one or two day delivery all last year and some time before that.  As ebays FDDs have been impossible to achieve for over a year, some should have marked my FB as Late Delivery, but none have.

To me this obsession with DDs is nothing to do with buyer satisfaction, or improving seller dispatch times (ebay reps. have refused several times, when asked directly, which service I should use that will deliver Next Day for the price of a 2nd class stamp).  Probably because there isn't one.

It's all about skimming extra fees off more expensive postage costs and hitting the jack-pot of even more fees for failing ebay's rigged metric.

[best-range]

Here we go again, same day delivery as dispatch day & 2 different sets of EDD depending what page the buyer is looking at. I wander which set of EDD's are used when buyer open INR case ? 

This particular item was bought late yesterday & I only just printed the label from Click & Drop, RM48 economy post, to be collected by Royal Mail later on this afternoon yet apparently my customer can expect it to be delivered either today or on Sunday !

Yet there is no such delivery service provided by Royal Mail nor there is any such service in ebay's list of couriers for economy delivery, not even for express paid for delivery, yet eBay insists that such service is being provided by me via Royal Mail & misleads all customers.

This is simply crazy!

[ett1954]

@theelench   "I've achieved that using RM 2nd Class with Next Day dispatch on ebid and 3 day dispatch on ebay (only lengthened on ebay when they started their Late Delivery Metric in an attempt to give myself a days grace)."

Spot on, that's exactly the system I use  - minimum 3-day dispatch and increase this according to my future commitments; especially as I do not have a convenient daily access to a postal service being out in the sticks.  No issues nor worries in having to drive and find a post office open on those days I don't have access and no problems with customers.

[tick-tech]

This is almost more of a problem than the far-too-soon EDD.

I think you've already mentioned this on another thread, but I will mention it here too...

1) Before buyer buys item: EDD on listing page is 2-3 days (slightly optimistic, but pretty much as it should be).

2) Once buyer has bought it, but before it is marked as dispatched: EDD changes to 1-2 days.

3) Once item is marked as dispatched: EDD is same day, or Next day (including Sundays).

So the buyer potentially sees 3 different EDDs, but the one they will see when they open a INR claim is the most unrealistic one.

[theelench]

I don't alter my dispatch window at all,  I must have last changed it when some on here were suggesting that lengthening it and marking as dispatched on the last day, would fool ebay.  It didn't work for me as 2nd class is scanned at the post office, so ebay still decided it should arrive the day after posting.

I've got better things to do than pander to ebay's stupidity.

The point I didn't make very well is that my buyers are HAPPY with what I do, to the extent that when I can hazard a guess that none of my parcels arrived the day after purchase or posting and probably only a minority arrived the following day, so on time by ebays warped standards.  Then it follows that most  of my buyers who left FB lied to ebay and ticked the "Arrived on time" box.

So who does ebay think they're fooling?

Sellers know the whole "Dynamic Calculation" thing is , my buyers (and probably many others) are lying to ebay on the FB page to help me out because they're probably also sellers.

Ebay is only fooling itself if it thinks no-one realises that the "Late Delivery Problem" was invented by ebay solely to make money by 'solving' it with sellers frightened into paying higher postage costs that ebay skims more from and higher penalty fees.

[best-range]

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@tick-tech wrote:

This is almost more of a problem than the far-too-soon EDD.

I think you've already mentioned this on another thread, but I will mention it here too...

1) Before buyer buys item: EDD on listing page is 2-3 days (slightly optimistic, but pretty much as it should be).

2) Once buyer has bought it, but before it is marked as dispatched: EDD changes to 1-2 days.

3) Once item is marked as dispatched: EDD is same day, or Next day (including Sundays).

So the buyer potentially sees 3 different EDDs, but the one they will see when they open a INR claim is the most unrealistic one.

---

Thanks, exactly!  3 different EDD's for the same transaction - 1 pre-purchase EDD for your postcode & then 2 different ones post-purchase, each showing a completely different sets of delivery dates.

Surely this situation creates a lot of confusion for buyers as many make purchase decision  based on the EDD's displayed on the Item Page pre-purchase & then to their surprise once item is bought they see completely different,  2 sets of additional EDD's & none of them match !

I didn't know that the INR case can be already opened based on the "same/next day delivery as dispatch" fantasy EDD's for economy RM48 service, why not use the other sets of EDD's ? & then no help from eBay?

I wonder how much longer this farce will continue? will it ever be fixed? as none at the Towers are listening nor doing anything about it.

[solo-silver]

Exactly the same thing is happening to me. I have had ro refund a few customers because of unrealistic deliver dates. of the next day. All of my post gwnerally goes 2nd class now which should be 2 or 3 days. (often takes loger because RM are not up to scratch these days either!)
Though I can also add Royal Mail ineeficient tracking services too. They are not bothering to update Tracked postage at all in some cases. Even after I have receied custoer feedback, I still have the message saying RUNNING BEHIND So I do not know if customers have received their items or not unless they leave Feedback (which hardly anyone bothers to do these days). This is also causing problems
So between eBay and unrealistic DDD's and Royal Mail's lack of tracked services updates, we sellers are under ever increasing pressure!

[solo-silver]

Oopa. Sorry about the typos. Having to type in a hurry

[vintagechinashop]

And there lies the problem eBay think they can aspire to Amazon prime. There's only one problem with that Sellers do not have the luxury of access to a network of delivery couriers.   If we did I'm sure we could match the next day service.  Whilst eBay say they will protect us they don't protect us against neutral or negative feedback where the buyers expectations have been raised by these ridiculous estimates. I've tried and the script by the robots is that feedback is the buyers opinion. Well actually not when it's been affected by the fantasy EDDs 

[bravergrace]

I don't work Wednesdays.  Occasionally post stuff, not always.

eBay semi-ignores this - tells me not to post stuff till Thursday, but promises buyers it will be delivered Thursday, anyway.

Dispatch by: Thursday.

Delivery (2nd class post): Thursday-Friday.

This week, I had an important trip, and tried a belt-and-braces approach by ALSO marking Wednesday as a holiday (as well as a non-working day).

No effect at all.

Dispatch by: Thursday.

Delivery (2nd class post): Thursday-Friday.

It really is disheartening.

[ebeegeebees2006]

As promised, here is my update in relation to my response from eBay. I asked the question why is my EDD the same as my despatch date, and they said...nothing at all. I didn't get a reply. Says it all really.

[vonchief]

This is causing such problems.

3 day dispatch set and buyers selecting 2nd class

 

Dispatch by 12 Mar at 11.59pm GMT

Make sure you send your order within the dispatch time you specified in the listing.

Estimated delivery date shown to buyer: 11 Mar 2024 - 13 Mar 2024

Customers are expecting their orders to arrive the day before we post them !

[4_bathrooms]

For the benefit of eBay (who clearly don't care) here is a perfect example of just how stupid the estimated delivery dates are. In my cut-off settings I have selected Monday to Friday as my working days:

In the postage policy I use for large items - by large I mean things sent on a pallet - I have the following policy set up:

The free shipping option states "Other courier (3 to 5 days) (3 to 5 working days)"; it is indeed a "3 to 5 working day" service. Note that in the postage and payments section that buyers can see on listings using that policy it states "Economy delivery (Other courier (3 to 5 days))" - there is no mention of them being "working days". 

So, if a buyer purchased something after 10.00am yesterday and chose the free shipping option when would their estimated delivery be? Well, as the item will be sent today (Thursday 7th) three working days from today would be Tuesday 12th and five working days from today would be Thursday 14th. That should be simple enough, right?

Here is - apparently - what eBay has chosen to show to the buyer:

Of course, it is not going to be delivered tomorrow and it is not going to be delivered Monday 11th either. The earliest date it will actually be delivered - Tuesday 12th - is the first day the buyer will be able to open an INR case!

This is how eBay claims the estimated delivery dates are calculated:

"The estimated delivery date shown to buyers on your listings is based on various factors. These include, but are not limited to, the time it takes you to pack and send items (your dispatch or handling time) and the delivery services you offer. It also takes into consideration your past delivery performance (on the aspects of delivery that you can control) and other criteria such as carrier performance, the location of your item and your buyer's delivery address."

Which is utter rubbish. I don't upload tracking for anything sent on a pallet because the first scan that appears in the tracking is usually one to two working days after the goods have actually been collected. As eBay treats the first scan found in the tracking as an acceptance scan I would end up with automatic late delivery defects for everything sent on a pallet because eBay would deem them all to have been despatched late. Also, the buyer is located in a town I don't believe I have ever sent an order to via eBay (at least not within the last 90 days). The only factors eBay had to calcute their estimated delivery dates were the handling and delivery times I specified above - factors they clearly chose to ignore.

Additionally, there is this asinine recommendation:

"To help manage your buyers' expectations, make sure the handling time and carrier services stated in your listings are accurate and that you can reliably meet them." 

I can't manage my buyers' expectations because you won't let me! What am I supposed to do when no matter what I enter as the carrier and/or handling time if that crucial information is completely ignored? I can reliably meet the timescales I specify; it's the timescales you specify to buyers that I can't possibly meet!

[tick-tech]

"To help manage your buyers' expectations, make sure the handling time and carrier services stated in your listings are accurate and that you can reliably meet them." 

I can't manage my buyers' expectations because you won't let me! What am I supposed to do when no matter what I enter as the carrier and/or handling time if that crucial information is completely ignored? I can reliably meet the timescales I specify; it's the timescales you specify to buyers that I can't possibly meet!

Yes, this perfectly sums up just how ridiculous the E.D.D. system is now. 

eBay stop our ability to manage the buyer's expectations, then punish us for not meeting it!