WTF, eBay promising delivery?

[Lost in the Supermarket]

I have gotten so many headaches lately because ebay has this thing showing "expected delivery date". I process ALL of my orders in the 2 days marked on my listings. I ship by First Class Mail. USPS says 2-9 days "usually".

So why is eBay showing a delivery date 7 days from time of sale? Don't they realize that just enough buyers are so stupid they take is as a commitment? I don't know how many times in the last month I have had to hold a noobs hand through the tracking process and try to cover for eBay's bad promise. The USPS and I both do what we have to do in our promised timeframes.

For ebay to promise something to go coast-to-coast in 7 days including 2 day handling time is just causing me problems and potential DSR dings.

So........when this happens enough I guess it is good job security for the stealth guide guys because we will be getting more and more traffic here.

Here is what I try to do:

1. promise 2 day handling but actually provide next day shipping almost all the time.
2 say shipping is by 1st Class but if my stuff is over 13 ounces it is usually cheaper to send by Priority Mail, so I do that.

Any ideas on how to trick the system so ebay does not over-promise on delivery?

[wtfebay]

When you list your item, it shows different shipping options, such as Priority Mail, First Class, FedEx Ground, etc. Next to those, it shows how many days it usually takes for each one. Example, look at Priority Mail and next to it, it says (2-4 days). If you click priority mail as your method of shipping with a 2 day handling time, it automatically adds the two (2+4) and shows estimated delivery is 6 days. It puts in whatever date is 6 days....so if the auction ended today, it would say they will receive their item between the 10th and 12th. I generally just put "standard shipping" as my method and 2 day handling time. I will ship out same day or next day first class or priority. This gives allowance for any USPS screw ups, and I will still be within the estimated delivery dates, so no complaints.

[Lost in the Supermarket]

Originally Posted by wtfebay

When you list your item, it shows different shipping options, such as Priority Mail, First Class, FedEx Ground, etc. Next to those, it shows how many days it usually takes for each one. Example, look at Priority Mail and next to it, it says (2-4 days). If you click priority mail as your method of shipping with a 2 day handling time, it automatically adds the two (2+4) and shows estimated delivery is 6 days. It puts in whatever date is 6 days....so if the auction ended today, it would say they will receive their item between the 10th and 12th. I generally just put "standard shipping" as my method and 2 day handling time. I will ship out same day or next day first class or priority. This gives allowance for any USPS screw ups, and I will still be within the estimated delivery dates, so no complaints.

..........my point being that ebay is mis-calculating the days for expected delivery and usually having noob buyers looking for an item based on ebay's guess versus the tracking system (USPS). Ebay is killing me here.

[MM78]

Originally Posted by Lost in the Supermarket

..........my point being that ebay is mis-calculating the days for expected delivery and usually having noob buyers looking for an item based on ebay's guess versus the tracking system (USPS). Ebay is killing me here.

I agree, Ebay is a bit over-optimistic on the shipping times. Bad Weather, USPS issues, Packages getting lost, and numerous other issues are not taken into affect of the delivery time.

3 weeks ago I shipped out a package to Oklahoma from California with Priority Shipping...well needless to say it took 12 days to arrive. My package had traveled all the way to NY and back to Oklahoma, thank god it was to a family member and not some pissed off Ebay customer.

[dallis]

This is standard operating procedure for EB, not much you can do about it. It's worse now USPS is slowing down first class, and even Priority can take closer to a week now sometimes.

[Sausage]

It is a problem, I had talked to CS about it and nothing you can do.

My shipping is set to 11-23 days when the USPS are taking 14-21 days to clear items through customs at the moment. Its a constant battle getting defects for slow shipping overturned............. but I battle on!

[Lost in the Supermarket]

Originally Posted by Sausage

It is a problem, I had talked to CS about it and nothing you can do.

My shipping is set to 11-23 days when the USPS are taking 14-21 days to clear items through customs at the moment. Its a constant battle getting defects for slow shipping overturned............. but I battle on!

Good luck with that....

I hesitate to raise too much trouble with a bad mark for shipping time because I am using stealth accounts. So my fallback position is that I hold the buyers hands all the way through the postal tracking process once I am contacted about a "where's my thing" issue. I have even gone to the trouble to contact their local postmaster and beg him to call the customer and smooth it over.

I may be wrong, but I am afraid to contact ebay with a complaint about a rating because I might have to answer questions for which there is no legitimate answer.

[Ebayorbust]

It's the exact same problem here in the UK.

If you put 1st class, either standard or recorded, the estimated delivery is next working day when Royal Mail states 1st class delivery is 1 to 3 working days.

[Sausage]

Originally Posted by Lost in the Supermarket

Good luck with that....

I hesitate to raise too much trouble with a bad mark for shipping time because I am using stealth accounts.

I may be wrong, but I am afraid to contact ebay with a complaint about a rating because I might have to answer questions for which there is no legitimate answer.

I agree, if I was a US citizen in living in the US they can easily check online who you are.

It would be impossible to check a foreign national living in Thailand as they would have to have co-operation with immigration and that would never happen.

IF I do get asked for ID I produce it and in the 8 years I have been doing stealth I have only been asked for ID once with ebay.

As I said, if I was in the US or UK then, yes, I would be reluctant to call.