Ebay's Estimated Delivery Date Window seems aggressive
Summary: shoppergurl08 raised concerns about eBay's aggressive estimated delivery windows for Canadian Economy shipments, leading to increased 'Item Not Received' (INR) claims. Other sellers like john_koenig99 and chicweb have noticed the same issue, with inconsistent delivery date estimates impacting their operations. Some have resorted to increasing handling times as a temporary solution. regs43 mentioned a strategy of extending handling times to avoid undue INR claims, though chicweb notes this isn't a viable long-term fix. Others, like wowthatscheapca and an_709184, continue to express frustration, urging for a resolution from eBay to prevent further disruptions.
Hi,
Has anyone else noticed much shorter estimated delivery windows on Canadian Economy shipments recently?
EBay's delivery estimates seemed to allow reasonable time for normal postal delays, ie around a 10 day or so window for economy shipping.
Recently I've had several orders with very aggressive estimates, I have a 2 day handling time on my listings. For example:
1)Markham ON to Woodstock ON - Purchased June 01, Shipped June 03, Estimated delivery window June 03 to 05.
2)Ontario to Calgary - Purchased June 06 Shipped June 08, Estimated June 10 to 12.
3)Ontario to Ottawa - Purchased June 13, Shipped June 15, Estimated June 17 to 19.
4)Ontario to Quebec - Purchased June 13, Shipped June 15, Estimated June 17 to 19.
The problem is that buyers are opening INR cases immediately after these short windows expire, even though the items were shipped on time and may only be a few days delayed in transit.
Has eBay changed how estimated delivery dates are calculated for Canadian Economy shipments, or are other sellers seeing the same thing?
I ship most items untracked so in these situations I'm refunding these INR claims and they seem to be increasing in frequency. I had two additional INR claims this morning. It's getting to the point of where I might have to ship same day or might have to increase my handling time to 3 or 4 days to account for the shorter estimated delivery date window.
john_koenig99
·2 days agoI certainly hope this gets fixed. I had a (rare) sale to a buyer in Brazil, so no eIS but Xpresss tracked packet. Buyer is seasoned, has good reviews and knows well what info he needs to include for customs - we had a good chat about this before ii accepted his offer!
Buyer ordered and paid on Jul 24, I shipped the same day. The estimate given to the buyer is August 4 to 7 (this is, 6 to 9 business days), so it does not account for my 3 day handling time or holidays. The tracking shows that the parcel arrived in Brazil on July 30, it was presented to customs the same day and now it shows that they are examining the info submitted to them before releasing it (as of yesterday). It may get delivered by Friday (considering the buyer lives in São Paulo, where the parcel arrived) but it may not...
chicweb
·4 days ago · EditedStill not fixed.
I chose Economy Shipping for a reason: 1 to 10 business days.
Estimations are still way off. August 3 2026 still not fixed.
Been a few months and no reply from @devon@ebay about this VERY important problem for eBay Canada.
A lot of us uses lettermail. With this bug, we receive INR after 3 to 4 business days. This can destroy completely some Top rated sellers and making sellers lose a lot of money.
Can we have someone PLEASE at ebay to look at the estimated dates problems? 1-10 business days shouldn't be hard to calculate.
THANK YOU
chicweb
·4 days ago · EditedI tried setting the handling days to 4 days = No changes.
When I set to 5 days, then the estimated move.
This is such a mess of a bug... crazy.
Why handling days are not taken into account for 1 to 4 ?
Why does Economy Shipping (which should be the slowest) is the one with the most aggressive shipping estimate for some postal codes?
So weird.
devon@ebay
Hi @chicweb ! The Shipping team is working hard on this as they have had many sellers share similar concerns. As I know this is not a quick solution, I will do my best to keep you updated as I hear more from them.
chicweb
·2 days agoAs an exemple of how bad this bug is.... a user didn't receive in the first week of us sending the item (Economy shipping 1-10 business days)... they opened a INR... they didn't wait for the refund delay before writing a negative feedback....
it's been 6 business days since we sent the item.... Now we are stuck with a negative.
It'S very bad.
chicweb
·2 days ago · Edited@devon@ebay another INR received for an item sent 28th of july.
Can we please see if sellers can have any form of protection while this bug is active.... We cannot refund everything we sold because of this bug. This can hurt our account a lot.
Customer told us it was supposed to arrive 30th of July. Two days shipping?
wowthatscheapca
·3 weeks agoJust received an economy shipping order, 1 business day handling time, order is going from Manitoba to Halifax
Ship By Date: July 20th
Estimated Delivery Date: July 21st July 23rd
wowthatscheapca
·3 weeks agoIssue is still not fixed.
chicweb
·3 weeks agoAs of July 14 2026, still not fixed.
phc64
·3 weeks agoFor me, after several weeks, as of the evening of July 14, the issue has finally been fixed: "Estimated delivery date shown to buyer: Jul 20, 2026 - Jul 31, 2026".
apmtrade
·1 month agoUntracked shipment.
Info.
2 days handling time.
" Expected post/transit time to USA +_ 30 days."
lotzofuniquegoodies
·3 weeks ago@apmtrade
For USA/Intl shipments it would be nice to confirm that any disclaimer eBay puts about delays by customs are factored in. The way INR are allowed it does not appear that is the case. Any customs delays are out of a sellers control and even more so if item is being sent with eIS.
Note: Those disclaimer messages have been modified/updated and or visible have changed sooo many times in the past 10 to 15 years it's difficult to know what is going on under the ebay hood.
regs43
·1 month agoI noticed this a while ago, I cranked my handling to 10 days, and I haven't looked back. Rather have a few less sales then have to give away free money for items that will arrive but people panic from an estimate. I wish ebay would do away with the estimate or fix it.
chicweb
·1 month agoThat's not really a solution. That's basically hurting our own sales because of a eBay bug... They need to fix it.
regs43
·1 month agoIts not, but I havent had to give away free money since around November when the Strike ended, which is when I noticed the economy/lettermail was showing a very short window for an item to be delivered. I had like 6 INR in a week, that was enough to say, no thanks. 0 since
lotzofuniquegoodies
·1 month ago@regs43
@shoppergurl08
@chicweb
Or stop blaming sellers for something that is totally out of their control. Kinda like a buyer taking issue with an eIS shipment that takes longer than almost everything else. It still appears that customs delays are NOT factored into the equation or buyers expectations.
chicweb
·1 month agoYes, having a special seller protection would be useful.... INR in those cases are entirely out of our control and can hurt badly our account....
lotzofuniquegoodies
·3 weeks agoEvery couple of weeks with packages sent by letter mail I will get a customer asking where is the tracking info or if it was even shipped. The 10 day for letter with 1 day handling for ANYTHING going east is wishful thinking at best. Pure fluke if it arrives on time.
an_709184
·1 month agoYea, they need to stop with these aggressive ETAs. Especially for CP Lettermail and now Economy.
shoppergurl08
OP1 month agoLooks like I will be increasing my handling to at least 3 days now to account for these unrealistic ebay delivery windows. I'm up to 3 INR claims this week plus messages from 2 other buyers asking where their items are as the delivery window has passed. The latest INR claim was for an item purchased 06-15 with 2 day handling and an estimated delivery window of June 17 to 19. I shipped it on June 17th (dropped in red box early afternoon so most likely not being picked up up by postie until June 18th). It most cases it's probably not making it from Ontario to Edmonton by June 19th. Day after June 19th buyer opens INR.
phc64
·1 month agoIt has been going on for about a month now that Ebay is falsely placing on my listings and in searches (in green type) that the free shipping option I offer provides 'Free 4 Day Delivery'. It does not. The free shipping I offer is 'economy shipping'.
I also have 2 day handling (although I almost always ship within one day). So it seems to be only affecting those of us that offer free 'economy shipping' with 2 day handling.
As a result, I have kept my Ebay store closed for most of the past month, waiting for Ebay to rectify the issue. What is very strange is that when my Ebay store is closed and I check my listings, they give the correct estimated delivery range (4 to 17 days), but then when I re-open my store, the listings once again erroneously state 'free 4 day delivery'.
flipistics
·1 month ago@phc64 Have you tried creating a new shipping policy and applying that to your listings? Have you tried ending and relisting a few of your listings to see if it corrects the error? I have no idea if it'll help, but it's worth a shot.
ricarmic
·1 month ago · EditedSome of our client base overlaps.
I've always sold flat rate "standard shipping".
Because I'm trying to slow down and I was worried about being constrained by short times away, I changed my handling time from 2 days to 5 days a couple years ago. Normally I still ship within two days. I did not notice any slowdown in sales moving from 2 days to 5 days handling time.
I've always sent a message to buyers upon shipping. These are the two current versions, feel free to use whatever works for anyone reading this:
For a new customer:
Thank you so much for your purchase, your business is so very much appreciated! Your parcel has been shipped via Canada Post today, Monday XXXXXX. Note for folks in the USA, postage stamps have zero tariff, however the tariff implementation may impact delivery times. As well, delivery times elsewhere are still sometimes impacted by weather events or other causes. Most parcels are moving at normal speed, but some are slowed down significantly. Once the parcel arrives, I hope you will find everything satisfactory. If you are not completely pleased with this transaction, please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to resolve any issues. Thank you very much in advance for your extra patience while the parcel makes the journey. Regards, RICARMIC (Ron)
For a repeat customer
Thank you for your most recent purchase and quick payment. I am pleased you decided to purchase from me again. Your parcel has been shipped via Canada Post today, Monday XXXXXX. Note for folks in the USA, postage stamps have zero tariff, however the tariff implementation may impact delivery times. As well, delivery times elsewhere are still sometimes impacted by weather events or other causes. Thank you very much in advance for your extra patience while the parcel makes the journey. Regards, RICARMIC (Ron)
I hope I am not cursing myself but I so far have not had problems with premature INRs. Note that mailorder has been in use in the "stamp world" for over 100 years so my customer base tends to have a realistic expectation of delivery times.
chicweb
·1 month ago · EditedI was about to create a topic. I see that I'm not alone.
From Quebec to Vancouver: Let's say a sale today, 24 to 26 june estimated... What??
I have 2 days handling. Monday will be the 22. Logically, the system should calculate 22 + 2 days handling = Must ship before the 24.
Not even counting the national holiday in Quebec the 24 where everything is closed.... It is impossible to fulfill this estimation. If we add the holiday, we would ship the 25 (Even worse.. after the estimation)....
@devon@ebay There seem to be a problem.
For our account, we are using "Economy Shipping" in Flat rate table.
chicweb
·1 month ago · EditedBy the way, the configuration in Business Policies shows "Economy Shipping - 1 to 10 business days".
I really don't know where eBay takes that 24 to 26 june. That's far from 10 business days.
I just notice that this problem might have started maybe 2 days ago? Orders on the 17th shows Jun 22, 2026 - Jul 6, 2026 as estimates from Quebec to Manitoba, which seems more realistic.
chicweb
·1 month ago · EditedMonday 22th of June... This is still a problem. So this is not a weekend problem.
This is very problematic, everything is closed the 24th in Quebec.
Sale today, 2 days handling = Ship before 24.
Estimation: 24 to 26 of june. Impossible to fulfill.
That's very not good and becoming a urgent bug to fix. Lot of problems can come from this.
I realise that not all destinations within Canada causes this bug. On my items, using a postal code within Quebec (same province) gives that bogus estimate. Same with Vancouver (at the entire other part of the country).
Some postal codes in Ontario seems to be estimating correctly. Maybe not all, I'll have to do some more testing.
reallynicestamps
·1 month agoSeems to be usually when the purchase was a Friday or Saturday and the shipping on Monday?
When an INR is opened, the first defence is putting the tracking number into the Claim. This usually gives the seller a day or two of grace during which the shipment arrives.
But (like me) you send a lot of shipments untracked.
You could use the losses as a tax deduction. They are a business expense. (sigh)
But your suggestion that you increase our handling time seems most reasonable in the circumstances.
john_koenig99
·1 month ago · EditedI've noticed the same. The dates seem unrealistic when it comes to local shipping, but for eIS shipped items the window is very generous...go figure! lol
That's the big caveat of untracked shipping...The seller has little recourse but to give a refund, even if the order is actually on its way and soon to be delivered. With tracking, at least you have some backup.
shoppergurl08
OP1 month agoThanks for the reply. It doesn't seem consistent as well. Ie I had a sale this morning ON to ON (Buyer lives 30 minutes away from me) with economy shipping, estimated delivery window is June 24th to July 8th. That would be 10 days which is used to what I've seen in the past. However my first example above was also ON to ON and it had a 3 day window.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·3 weeks ago · EditedSent a piece of letter mail on Thursday to Edm from Calgary (300 km). It arrived today (following Wednesday so just short of a week). Seems like the more the postage increases the slower mail is.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·3 weeks ago · Edited@shoppergurl08
@devon@ebay
In testing a current listing for intl shipping (bypassing eIS) eBay is showing delivery by Small Packet Air and Intl Tracked in under 10 days. This is not accurate to the point of being next to impossible 99 times out of 100!!! Economy is not the only displayed service with incorrect delivery windows.
In making a purchase using coupon delivery time mid August. Due to whackadoodle eBay estimates this is causing sellers to increase their handling time substantially. (15 days seems excessive to my mind.)
lotzofuniquegoodies
·1 week ago@devon@ebay
Follow up on this kerfuffle of a situation.
So even when an item is sent to the eIS warehouse by letter and arrives IN TIME in the 10 day window it still gets graded as late because there is no actual tracking EXCEPT the processed scan at the hub.
Sent one on the 17th of this month that was processed at hub on 24th.
Uploaded late 2 66.67%
According to Luke on this subject this is NOT how untracked parcels to the hub are supposed to be treated. Canada does NOT have a tracked letter service rate comparative to what US sellers have and they most likely never will.
devon@ebay
Hi @lotzofuniquegoodies ! Let me share this with Luke and I will let you know if there is any additional context that I can share.