eBay Gives Buyers Unrealistic Shipping Delivery Estimates

by: Bloggo

I've had this issue come up many a time. For some wacky reason, eBay estimates same day delivery for International shipments.

by: DonC
Web Site

Typical Ebay incompetence. I run into this as a buyer all the time. Someone at Ebay land apparently can't do simple math. It doesn't bother me. I have a reasonable idea of how long shipping takes. Unfortunately some buyers may expect miracles.

FWIW,few people read the Q&A. If this becomes too big a problem you might consider including estimated transit times in your listings.  

by: comet

I am pretty sure this is a "Planned mistake"  on ebays part as they have been informed over and over again about this and they---once again!!!!--do NOTHING.

Once again the seller---the small seller of course---gets screwed and the big guys don't care!  

One more way for ebay to try and destroy small sellers business by damaging their credibility and getting the customer hyped on unrealistic promises and then when the seller gets ding'ed they say------Too Bad Soooo Sad Not Our Problem!

The seller obviously should have had one of those Amazon drones do the delivery FOR them---what a bunch of slackers ebay sellers must be!    

by: djavusydney

There is solution to this. You can add more handling time in the listing to match your service. For example, if eBay display 3 January and your average delivery 10 January, you can add 7 days extra handling time, this way, eBay will display delivery by 10 December.

You can also include the delivery timing in checkout message.

Not sure what kind of postage type available from your country, but correct postage type is provided as what my national post provide, eBay does provide the correct timing, probably not in everybody case.

by: mindelec

are you looking at your item page and seeing this? or is it what the buyer is seeing.  the reason i ask is i noticed the same thing, then i saw that it also said "ships to" and my zip code.  the estimate was for shipping within the same city.  your buyer might be seeing a more accurate time.

by: Marie

All sellers are having the same problem the OP is.  It doesn't matter what country you are in, however some are worse than others.  Many of us have tried talking to Ebay about this since the day they started stating estimated delivery dates.  I understand why they do it, but it sure would be nice if the dates were realistic.

by: candy7122

I ship from the US and have the same problem.  Ebay keeps giving a 3 day turnaround time for First Class Mail and the estimated delivery on the USPS website is 3-5 business days.  I have 1 day handling so I keep my top rated seller status.  How I fixed my problem was to list my shipping as ''economy shipping'' this adds time to the expected delivery date.  The only issue I run into now is buyers will email me and ask why it will take so long to get their item.  I just email them back and tell them that is the way my account is set up to counteract Ebays unrealistic estimated shipping time and tell them they should have it in a few days.  Most of my feedback states how fast I ship.  Since I only have a few buyers email me to me this works better than having a customer ding my dsr's or leave neutral/negative feedback.

by: Bebe

I was just complaining about this yesterday.  Most buyers think WE the sellers put the ''On or Before date'' on our listings. They see this as a guaranteed delivery date. I had a customer buy something yesterday and tell me if it wasn't there by the ''on or before'' date they wanted a refund! I really think Ebay should rephrase that to an estimated delivery.  

I ship the same or next day and many times twice a day during the holiday season.  Despite my frantic trips to the PO, the USPS has been taking their sweet time with my Priority mail, with many items taking a week or more.  And guess who pays for it??  Very frustrating!

by: Bidonmine

I have the same issue with times.
For a Media Mail item from NJ to CA, Ebay says they will receive it in 2 to 8 business days (the Post office says a lot longer)...

They, Ebay, also states that they can receive it by Friday if they order today, Tuesday (even though they state 2 to 8 days)... Shouldn't it just say you will receive within 8 business days if you order today?

There is no way to get Media Mail delivered from NJ to CA in 2 days.

by: FREDDY

ebay does this intentionally. It means a sale. Which means FVF. Buyers are upset with sellers not ebay. Negative feedback, DSR etc.. Buyer wants a refund due to delay - no problem - ebay still makes money from the transaction and just another way that they can say they are weeding out bad sellers. When in reality they create the situation to make the seller look bad.
One way to HELP with the problem is that before you ship - contact the buyer and tell them the realistic USPS or UPS delivery estimate - NOT ebay guess.

by: monkey

I have never experienced a problem with this. As a seller I try hard to be proactive regarding shipping.

When a sale closes, of course I send an e-mail confirmation to the buyer. In the e-mail I plainly state my ETA.

For example:

"Thank you for your fast payment for the Widget Book!"

"I'll ship your book today (Tuesday) via USPS Media Mail."

"Your package should arrive to you in about 7-8 days."

"Thanks again for your purchase!"


In this way, as a seller, you are overriding the eBay estimate with your own, more accurate, ETA.

Then I stay on top of the delivery, and check tracking. If the package will be delayed longer than my original ETA, I e-mail the buyer and let them know that.

And I put the blame for any slow delivery squarely on USPS. I use the line, "thank you for your patience with the Postal Service".

By doing this, I generally get very positive feedback and high DSR scores for communication and fast shipping.

by: thehosst

eBay Gives Buyers Unrealistic Shipping Delivery Estimates. Really? How abut same day delivery to NY or some other cities confusing buyers like crazy, but then again, some of those buyers use their abusive powers to take advantage of sellers. What about the Free-Store-Pickup?? We have a lot of people asking for this and even having us to personally deliver it since eBay now offers that in many cities. eBay thinks that they can be Amazon, but if they were to use any brain cells, they could see that Amazon in fact, loses hundreds of millions a year, the only profits come from the stock market. Did you ever read about the Amazon Prime guy selling an 800 lbs Safe with Free Shipping? Search and read, you will see in that article how many millions Amazon ( and eBay ) make sellers lose every day.  

by: JackieBlue

I've had a few comments from purchasers but no issues as I list shipping times in our listings and explain that eBay sometimes gives estimates that are bit agressive. We have the same issue with Amazon.

by: iheartjacksparrow

I think a lot of sellers have figured out the "economy shipping" trick. Recently, there were a couple of items I purchased listed with "economy shipping" which were in actuality sent by priority mail.  

by: auctionguy

iheartjacksparrow, the discounts sellers get on Priority Mail shipping labels when purchased through ebay, and no discount on Parcel Post, sometimes make it cheaper to ship Priority than Parcel. I have many buyers select Parcel because it is cheapest, but then I ship Priority because it ends up being cheaper with the seller discount on Priority, especially if the package weighs a pound or two, Also, I can use a free USPS box in many cases If I ship Priority. So, I save on shipping and the cost of a box, and the seller gets their item faster. Win-win.

by: FREDDY

We only ship inside USA - no international.  
All items under 13 oz. go 1st class. Everything else goes Priority as mentioned earlier can be cheaper. Plus the small difference would rather get it there faster.
No longer sell on ebay. When they go back to the original way of doing business, we may go back on that site. For now, Amazon and Etsy. The only problem with Amazon is when someone orders an item and asks if there is a faster way to get the item. Seems they do not read or understand in my description that it will be shipped Priority Mail. Probably confusing when Amazon tells them something else. Amazon showing 10 day or so delivery date. Respond with all shipments in that category go out within 24 hrs and via Priority Mail. Makes the buyer happy.
ebay will say anything to get the FVF at the sellers expense. When ebay screws up they came out and said no longer any refunds regardless if they screwed up.

by: karb13

I just noticed today that eBay had somehow changed all of my listings from First Class Mail service to Priority Mail. I have been selling on ebay a long time and never ship priority for free, only first class. I changed it back but that is really concerning they can do that.

by: the paper gallery

E-bay is fix stated on this and continue to ignore the REAL seller needs , like the cost of doing business on e-bay and the policies which hurt sellers now…but they will never get it….STOP BEING AMAZON