Hi guys.

Can you please explain to me, why eBay marks items as “Dispatched”, when all I have done is purchase the postage?

I have a 3-day dispatch set on my listings, as I usually only get into town twice a week to drop items off at the Post Office or Courier Shop. Despite packing and labelling on the day of the sale, say, Monday, actual dispatch may not occur until Thursday morning.

This is most confusing for my customers, as I frequently have to message them, and tell them to ignore eBay's “Dispatched” date marking, as actual dispatch will only happen in another 2 or 3 days time, as I state in my listings, which they knew when they purchased.

I am perfectly capable of ticking the “Dispatched” box myself, when the item actually IS dispatched.

I've even tried buying labels direct from Evri/P.O., but when adding the tracking numbers on the actual day of dispatch, the items STILL gets marked, retrospectively, as Dispatched on the date I bought the label!

Ebay are over-promising, on my behalf, a service which I do not provide, that can only end with a negative buying experience for my customers.

Plus, this is making even more of a mockery of the already seriously flawed Estimated Delivery Date algorithm, as the basic “start date” is wrong from the outset.

TIA

Steve