Ebays estimated delivery dates very misleading to buyers

[bargain-wells]

I've seen countless posts on this already and I've already complained a few times but I want to make another post so they know the issue has not gone away!

Its almost time for the Bank Holiday weekend and my orders being dispatched with Royal Mail 48 delivery (2-3 working day estimate) are telling buyers an estimated delivery date of Tuesday - Wednesday (26th to 27th of August), if orders are made before our 3pm same day cut off time on the Friday 22nd.  If the first working day after the dispatch day after the weekend and bank holidays is Tuesday that would mean ebays told them it might arrive in 1 - 2 working days.

There is a chance the order will arrive on Wednesday as that would be the 2nd working day but Monday is extremely unlikely. The correct estimated time would be between Wednesday and Thursday as that is actually 2-3 working days follow dispatch. Surely it's not counting the day it's dispatched in the late afternoon as the first working day in transit.

I have the postage information in every description explaining this but still have to send endless messages every week replying to customers and deal with the occasional negative feedback because of this system. It is a massive waste of all our times! 

I don't want to have to change my dispatch time as we do dispatch on time every single day.

[style_wise]

Yes, it is very confusing for Buyers. I have to constantly remind myself not to react to eBay's given dates but to stop and think about what is reasonable transit time.

[tribalgiftsuk]

Its terrible for customers to give them false hope of something arriving in 2 days when it is likely to be 3 - 5 days if using 2nd class post. It is also wrong for Ebay to show upgrading to quicker services to show THE SAME delivery dates as the slower postage options.

It makes no difference if you extend your dispatch times, ive got many items on 2 day dispatch and the delivery dates are still showing as within 2 - 3 days of order. I hand make some of my items so i need that ley way in case i get a flurry of orders but it is never taken into account on the EDD.

Ive been banging on about this for over 2 years, but nothing gets done about it. Im close to throwing in the towel and becoming just a hobby seller on here as im getting item not received cases now almost every week and the items arrive within 5 days usually.

When your only making £1 - 2 profit on cheaper items its not worth the headache anymore. I don't know why Ebay doesnt seem to take any notice of sellers about this issue. They obviously want customers to buy and if they show the real 2 - 5 days delivery window they feel they would lose the sale to other platforms.

I would prefer customers to upgrade to quicker postage if they want something quicker for the sake of £1 - 1.50 to upgrade to first class or RM24 then they can be sure they will get there items in 2 days. But Ebay doesnt think it is worth collecting this extra income for some reason 🙂 I have not had hardly any postage upgrades this last 2 years when i used to get about 1 a week previously.

[hugothecockapoo]

And the icing on the cake taking from daily mail,telegraph,guardian..

obviously the postage team do not read news or they do not communicate with royal mail. 

Royal Mail faces probe after revealing only 76.5% of its First Class post was delivered on time

Royal Mail is facing a probe from communications regulator Ofcom after it admitted failing to deliver nearly one in four First Class items on time.

Britain's postal service said only 76.5 per cent of First Class letters and parcels arrived within one working day, including Saturdays, in the year to March 2025. 

The target for First Class post - the price of which has just risen five pence to £1.70 for a standard stamp, the sixth hike in three years - is 93 per cent.

However, it failed to even meet this target after two working days, with 92.3 per cent arriving within that time frame. 

It also delivered 92.2 per cent of Second Class mail within the target of three working days after collection, short of the 98.5 per cent target. 

[retrogam3s]

eBay seems to "forget" about this bank holiday every single year with impossible dispatch-by dates, and unrealistic delivery estimates. I'm in disbelief that they still have not learned from the same mistake made year after year...but here we are again!

As a "fix" for this, I have put my shop on holiday mode until Tuesday, so the dispatch times and delivery estimates correct themselves to what is realistically achievable on a bank holiday.

[tribalgiftsuk]

I did the same as you also, put holiday settings on. After a bank holiday there are usually more delays with deliveries by RM. It usually takes a week or two for them to catch up. I have put im on holiday until midday on the 27th and Ebay is still showing them delivery 28th - 30th on  2nd class. 

So even when you put holiday settings on you need to extend it further by a day or two!

[the-nutwood-collection]

I'm finding that 2nd Class is very unreliable at the moment.  I reckon that 5-10 days is a realistic estimate.

Maybe it's the new delivery schedule or maybe all the posties are on holiday. 

Whatever it is, it's generating a lot of buyer messages.  I've found that using the RM reporting function to tell the buyer the current position for LLs is calming them down - it looks official when you can tell them what state the package is in and the time of the last scan, even though it's 'In Transit' with no indication of when it will be delivered.

[pegr-834437]

In the nicest way possible posting on these boards is pointless, its been brought up numerous times and we are told its working as planned, so another post will just do the same. I feel for the team as I'm sure they see all the evidence but are told please say its working as planned.

What sellers need to do is attend the open events/roadshows/whatever else and speak directly to the shipping team, show them with hard evidence that their system is either planned to fail or not working as planned, another post on here will sadly change nothing as the previous 427 have just been met with the copy and paste reply that the community team probably get from the department they have sent the question to.

Its crazy that eBay can have so much evidence and not see something is broken but shipping isnt the only thing that is broken with evidence but sadly the forum doesnt speak loud enough to the people who need to hear it.

[gjalp]

Likewise although I have mine on until Weds so I can avoid any backlog or ‘stickies’ as I call them following a bank holiday weekend