About to blow a gasket! Shipping time estimates are WAY TOO LONG!

[dhslk]

I just logged on to ebay.com and looked at a few of my listings. They are showing a yellow flag near the top, warning buyers that the item will take more than 4 days to arrive. This is not, in itself, inaccurate, as most of my shipments to the US typically take in the 4-8 day range. However, there is also a yellow banner estimating that US items won't arrive until Oct. 15-Nov. 1 . Maybe 1 in 100 parcels take that long, if tnat. And the Canadian estimate is Oct. 9-18! Items almost always get as far as Manitoba in 2-4 days, farther east in 4-7 days; the occasional item to some little hamlet up north might take 10 days.

WHAT IS GOING ON? ebay has years of my tracking numbers proving that these estimates are RIDICULOUS! Yet another way that ebay has found to screw the seller.

Anyone else seeing these insanely long shipping estimates?

[mr.elmwood]

Estimates are based on the information you input. 6-11 business days to the USA? Those dates fall within that range.

Ya don't like what eBay is estimating based on what you have put in for standard shipping, change what you put in. Customers want an estimate, however inaccurate of when the parcel may arrive. What is so wrong about that?

[dhslk]

Huh? I have not put in any estimate anywhere.

[mr.elmwood]

Under the shipping tab I selected USA and put in a Zip Code and got:

US $9.00

United States

Standard Int'l Shipping

Estimated Delivery within 6-11 business days

That is information you put in when you set-up shipping. eBay bases their estimates on that.

[dhslk]

This is NOT info that I put in. There is no mechanism to do this, at least if you list via ebay.ca

[mr.elmwood]

I list on dot co and put in my shipping price, select standard shipping, select the time period just as it shows in your listing.

Well then, who is selecting the $9, standard shipping, and delivery time in your listings if it isn't you?

[i*m-still-here]

elmwood............ I list on .com as well and I have never been given an option for shipping times.

There is an option for handling time and shipping method, but shipping time is estimated by the system.

What are you trying to say?

[i*m-still-here]

Are you trying to say that he should change the method of shipping he chooses to decrease the shipping time estimate?

If so........ Then you're not being clear.

[mr.elmwood]

I list on dot com. I just went there. For Domestic Shipping, ie USA, I select standard shipping with 5-10 business days.

[i*m-still-here]

dhsik:  How were you able to list this as Small Packets International ground/surface to the States?

There is no longer any surface shipping to the States and hasn't been for quite some time.

Is that where the problem stems from?

[007steveb16]

I think the confusion here is the way Mr. Elmwood is wording things it's making it seem like you can uniquely select a estimated shipping time.

The shipping estimate is of course apart of whatever shipping method is selected and is based upon "common" service standards.

That being said I get what the OP is upset about as cutomers quite frankly ignore the word "estimated" and see it as some sort of guaranteed service.

It's a loaded situation that works against the seller.

[pjcdn2005]

I checked a few of your listings and the ones that have expedited parcel USA are showing estimated delivery Oct 9-17. The reason that the listing in your screenshot is showing a longer time is because you chose small packets international air rather than small packets USA air so the listing is giving a time estimate for an overseas delivery rather than to the US..

[mr.elmwood]

Steve and PJ are on the money. I get a tad uppity when folks start posting about how angry they are with what eBay is doing to them, when, a little investigation shows they alone made those choices. The resulting estimates flow from the seller's choices.

Op's title is: About to blow a gasket! Shipping time estimates are WAY TOO LONG!

OP's title could have been: I'm not understanding the shipping time estimates in my listings? Can anyone help?

Which is more accusatory and which is more inquisitive?

[i*m-still-here]

---

@mr.elmwood wrote:

 I get a tad uppity ........................

---

Is that what that was?   

If you go to the listing: 310759674573 you will see that it has something to do the way you selected your method of shipping.

How can the listing quote a shipping time from Canada to the US via small packets surface? That method of shipping no longer exists.  Must be some kind of glitch in the system.

That's probably where something went wrong.

Try pulling the States out of the mix and quoting separately for the States.

[i*m-still-here]

I just looked closer......... it looks like you did quote separately for the States but somehow chose a shipping method that is meant for overseas.

That's an interesting glitch.

I'm surprised the system allowed you to do that.

In that case, just plug in the appropriate methods of shipping for the States as the listing is showing International shipping times rather the US shipping times.

Yikes!

[rose-dee]

'pj' and the others are correct that not only does the estimated delivery time change depending on the type of service that is input by the seller, but I thought I'd point out (while we're on the subject) that the estimates do change depending upon which country is selected from the drop-down list under the "Shipping" tab.  

I always use flat rate shipping (things may be different with calculated shipping), and I've attached two screen shots below, showing what happens when you input "Canada" as your location (shot #1), and "United States", for the same listing (this is one of mine on which I've provided two shipping options, which I usually don't do, so the estimates are different for each service type).  Sorry - I couldn't figure out how to place a nice link to a screen shot like the OP did!

- Estimates when "Canada" is selected in the shipping tab: 

************************

and for "United States":  

One other point:  the estimate shown on the listing (under the price) also changes, depending on the service and the location selected.  You'll notice, if you look closely, that if you have a higher service available, eBay even suggests to the buyer that they can get their item faster by choosing that service.  I don't find these estimates are too much out of line for the services I use.  

I do understand why the OP assumed this was something eBay foisted on him unwittingly -- eBay has been making a lot of arbitrary changes without giving sellers any notice.  However, this one is controllable.