Does this delivery timeline seem right or fair???

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone -- I just sold a plush toy right now to someone in the UK.  It is very light and so am sending it Airmail Post (untracked, cannot afford the tracked packet on this under $20 toy!),

anyhow I noticed on the invoice it says this for the delivery timeline!! : 

Sunday, Dec 6, 2015 - Sunday, Dec 13, 2015

wth?  So with my 1 business day handling time,  the minimum time is 4 business days and the max time it has to arrive is 8 business days.  This is the timeline decided by eBay for Canada Post to ship this there -- I know most times it takes closer to 3 weeks to get to the UK, 2 weeks is a good timeline!

this new defect system is going to be the end of me shipping overseas :(, just crazy.

[triber]

I don't know how successful  this is, but I always let buyers know that there package will be mailed ***** and it can take up to *** days from Canada to the US, or wherever is it headed. I get a lot of feedback saying that the delivery was quicker than expected, I think because I allow an extra few days in my estimate.

[dutchman48]

I send every buyer in the US an email with 7 to 14 business days, and 14 to 21 business days to other than US international. Ebay is unbelievably optimistic intentionally so they can purge more TRS status to save 20% or eventually get rid of more sellers.

[pjcdn2005 · Accepted solution]

I have to agree that the saying an item mailed today or tomorrow might arrive on Friday in the Uk isn't very realistic.   I notice that you use standard int'l shipping overseas (5-10 business days to UK) and economy int'l shipping to the U.S. (8-15 business days) You might want to change it so that both show economy.

Like triber, once I mail an item, I send them a message confirming that it has been sent and give them a realistic arrival time although that will probably not help me if the item is late and they answer the question given in feedback.  I thought that last time I checked the arrival time it was longer to Europe for standard int'l so I might have to change my listings.

[dutchman48]

Funny, when you look at your shipping details it says 5 to 10 business day so even Ebay is inconsistent with themselves

[pjcdn2005]

I honestly don't think that ebay has some vendetta to get rid of TRS sellers but you're right, their delivery times aren't consistent. It's as if they want to convince the buyers to make a purchase by saying that delivery will be ultra fast but that can just lead to disappointment. 

I just checked on canadapost .ca and delivery standards for small packet air is 6 - 10 business days so if you are selling on .ca, that's how long they should estimate for that service but I haven't checked to see if that's what they do. 

On .com I use standard int'l  which is supposed to be 5 - 10 business days. But  I sold an item to the UK on Saturday and mailed it today. I just checked now and on my order details page the estimated delivery is Dec 3 - Dec 10th. If I mail an item on Monday they are estimating that it might be in the UK at the buyer's house on Thursday. Seriously? Obviously I don't look at their eta very often but that is just 3 - 8 business days, not the 5 -10 that it says before the item is purchased.

I have a listing on .ca and use standard int'l with an eta of 4 - 10 business days. But when I look at that listing on .com, it gives an estimated arrival of Dec 4 - 13. The last number is fine but if someone purchased the item right now and I mailed it tomorrow, they are not going to get it in the UK by Friday so why suggest that it might be there?

On the OP's example, the arrival times are on a Sunday. Perhaps they have delivery on Sunday but if they are counting business days, shouldn't the arrival time be on a business day?

[zee-chan]

4 business days is actually possible as I do have some UK and Germany buyers giving me feedback after 6 actual days.

But like many others mentioned, I send the buyers a message after shipping stating that it takes 2-3 weeks (adjusted to 2-4 weeks now for holiday season) to get there and I think that's what most of my buyers expect.

PS. I use 5 days handling time to "stretch" that eBay delivery estimate so that it's more realistic...

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for the reassurance that I was not over reacting AND for the great tidbits of advice ---

and so now I am going to :

~ Send emails after payment to International buyers with the 14-21 business day time expectation,

~ Change my International flat service from "Standard" to "Economy" to stretch out the delivery timeline,

~ Change my handling time from 1 day to 3 and maybe 5 (even tho I think you lose TRS without the 1 day thing, but ~sigh~  you gotta do what u gotta do!)

It would be a shame to have to lose out on International sales because of this so again, thanks so much for the great tips!

cheers

[zee-chan]

No you don't lose TRS by changing to 5 days handling time (I'm TRS) but I think it does affect your search placement... can someone verify that?

[cumos55]

With a 3 day handling time I am TRS with a 20 % discount on eBay.com

but not a TRS plus....

There are some very specific differences  for TRS on eBay.ca as opposed to eBay.com.... Use these differences to advantage  to maintain the 20 % discount

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Once a buyer pays I forward an email to the buyer in response to the email announcing the Paypal payment.

To all US buyers my email states..

"Thanks for purchasing this book.

Your purchase will be in the mail on .... Tuesday, December 1.

Should take about 10 to 14 days, and sometimes longer if it gets caught up in the postal system or in customs..."

My US buyers are quite happy  as I get fast delivery as a feedback comment from MANY US Buyers.

Tracked Packet to the US was always airmail delivery...

and ...  It appears that Expedite USA is now airmail delivery as well

All of my delivery options to the US.... including lettermail...  are now airmail delivery

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One almost gets the impression that buyers.   more important with US buyers.... pay more attention to what I say than what eBay states as a delivery time... 

and if that is so  it is more important to comment directly and honestly to the buyer.....

in a manner ....  better than eBay could ever  follow up on a sale...