eBay

momcqueen · ‎12-06-2016

So this is interesting. I saw this for the first time this afternoon. On my own listings but only when viewed on ebay.ca and ebay.co.uk and NOT ebay.com or ebay.com.au.

Here's the thing, though:

Canada Post says the deadline for Tracked Packet International service and 2016 Holiday Delivery passed on Friday, Dec. 2. It's Dec. 6 now. Will those items arrive to the UK within eight business days? Probably, but Tracked Packet is NOT a guaranteed service.

My concern is that this is setting dangerous expectations for certain buyers overseas whose CPC-assigned deadline has passed while ignoring completely for some reason our USA buyers who are actually still within the CPC comfort zone.

So, er, what the heck?

This one from ebay.ca as shown to a Canadian address for delivery.

This one from ebay.co.uk as shown to a buyer with a London address:

For the record, these are the actual Canada Post deadlines and I put them in the Payment Instructions on all my listings mid-November:

Seller's payment instructions

CANADA POST DEADLINE FOR 2016 HOLIDAY DELIVERY: WITHIN CANADA EXPEDITED PARCEL is DEC 12 and XPRESSPOST is DEC 21 /// USA TRACKED PACKET is DEC 12 and XPRESSPOST is DEC 16 /// OVERSEAS (EUROPE ASIA AUSTRALIA) TRACKED PACKET is DEC 2 and XPRESSPOST is DEC 9. PLEASE SELECT YOUR SERVICE WISELY

around_again_records · ‎12-06-2016

I noticed that today too, and just shook my head. I didn't research anything but the way things are going these days, I was pretty sure it would not be applicable in all situations, and I was also pretty sure (the way things are going these days) that it was not likely that eBay programmers had calculated anything out or programmed it to apply everywhere.

It's so easy to plop a little notice on the page, and SO COMPLEX to actually make sure it is relevant for all situations.

It's very scary to think that this kind of programming seems to be the norm these days. Ohhhhh, look what I did.... is this a good idea, look isn't it nice, who gives a **bleep** if it works or not. Someone has a bright idea, and all of a sudden the user interface has a whole new LOOK, but guess what, nothing works any more....It's easy to muck around with a GUI but a lot more difficult to get all the actual working calculations functioning... sorry, I really needed to vent. I'm a little tired of STUFF NOT WORKING, or STUFF being inaccurate. It's just not right and if it's not right it's wrong

i.am.vivian · ‎12-06-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:
Canada Post says the deadline for Tracked Packet International service and 2016 Holiday Delivery passed on Friday, Dec. 2. It's Dec. 6 now. Will those items arrive to the UK within eight business days? Probably, but Tracked Packet is NOT a guaranteed service.

I would be curious to see when (if?) the "delivery promise" vanishes from the page.

I agree that to promise that now to an overseas buyer, yikes. Worse is that buyers don't know any better, might believe it, and think it is the seller and not eBay who set the date.

That would bug me. EBay making a promise that on the page of a toy seller that the seller may not be able to keep. And if the seller can't (due to mail volumes), how will they help?

Maybe the US eBay feels it is not needed if they post an expected date, like Dec 16:

momcqueen · ‎12-06-2016

Yes, possibly, but ebay.co.uk like ebay.com (and unlike ebay.ca) posts the Delivered By calendar date as well. Ebay Canada is one of the only sites that makes us count the business days ourselves without providing an actual calendar date.

I don't like that ebay is promising overseas buyers that it's absolutely set-in-stone going to be Delivered by Christmas when Canada Post Corporation itself says that ship sailed four calendar days ago. CPC deadlines for holiday delivery are cautious but exist for a reason. At least i am assuming they picked those dates from invite wisdom and not from a magician's tophat.

Whereas the deadline for parcel and packets to the USA don't cut-off for a few more days yet and could safely say Delivered by Christmas, they do not.

This seems rather dumb to me.

momcqueen · ‎12-06-2016

The plot thickens. That ebay.co.uk tag is gone now. I wonder if it only lights up during the business day.

momcqueen · ‎12-06-2016

It's still on all my Canadian ebay listings. Like the ones viewed on ebay.ca by a Canadian buyer.

momcqueen · ‎12-06-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:
... At least i am assuming they picked those dates from invite wisdom and not from a magician's tophat.

Whereas the deadline for parcel and packets to the USA don't cut-off for a few more days yet and could safely say Delivered by Christmas, they do not.

This seems rather dumb to me.

Speaking of dumb, I meant to type 'infinite' wisdom. Eyeroll.

i.am.vivian · ‎12-06-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:
Yes, possibly, but ebay.co.uk like ebay.com (and unlike ebay.ca) posts the Delivered By calendar date as well. Ebay Canada is one of the only sites that makes us count the business days ourselves without providing an actual calendar date.

OK, so if I'm getting this right, all those other sites have on them "Delivered by Dec ##", but not Canada. The Canadian eBay just says "You do the math". I wonder why that is. I would never have thought of looking for that. Is that just eBay again, or does it have anything to do with our mail service being Canada Post?

I see what you mean, though (I think). All we get are the guestimate dates.

i.am.vivian · ‎12-06-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:

...., I meant to type 'infinite' wisdom. Eyeroll.

It's that built-in no-escape spell-check. We all have to do a little 'translating' now with that thing. I am a terrible speller so it helps, but sometimes we would be better off with the typo because the auto-correct replaces it with a real correctly-spelled word but which makes no sense.

But about the disappearing promises. I have 2 guesses First, others noticed that from around the world and made enough noise to get it taken out, or else it was programmed to vanish at a certain time (cutting it pretty close though) and you saw it the instant before it was wiped from the slate.

Check again tomorrow during the day and see if it is back up. I think the one on Canada will linger a while because it is suggesting I could get delivery in as little as 2 days. I am also wondering if the US will get one later, like next week.

momcqueen · ‎12-06-2016

Speaking of the Brits, what do you guys think of this recently-published eBay-sponsored piece in British media?

http://metro.co.uk/2016/12/04/15-types-of-man-you-see-shopping-online-at-christmas-6249096/#mv-b

maximus7001 · ‎12-07-2016

Stop being truthful about exactly how you are shipping or you will get defects. The solution is to just pick economy shipping (which will display 4-18 business days) for all your listings and this will not happen. Then actually ship by tracked packet or expedited when the time comes.

cumos55 · ‎12-07-2016

Today... December 7 my listings say

Located in Canada ... on eBay Canada

Get it in time for the holidays .....on eBay.com

pjcdn2005 · ‎12-07-2016

@maximus7001 wrote:
Stop being truthful about exactly how you are shipping or you will get defects. The solution is to just pick economy shipping (which will display 4-18 business days) for all your listings and this will not happen. Then actually ship by tracked packet or expedited when the time comes.

There no standard time for economy shipping, the time varies for each country.

Plus, in mj's Cade, she posts on .ca so there is no economy int'l option and she uses calculated shipping.

momcqueen · ‎12-07-2016

I'm not terribly worried about the defect aspect of it due to 85 per cent of my items shipping via tracked services, it's more the 'you'll get it by Christmas' promise that worries me.

This morning, I'm seeing Delivered by Deccember 25 on eBay.ca listings when a Candian address is shown and Get it in Time for the Holidays on eBay.com with an American address, like cumos says.

Interesting.

momcqueen · ‎12-07-2016

momcqueen · ‎12-07-2016

momcqueen · ‎12-07-2016

The Christmas promise is back on eBay.co.uk for residents of UK. Interesting that this changed with the business day.

momcqueen · ‎12-07-2016

And on eBay Australia the same delivery estimated date but no tag. Shouldn't the EDD for Australia be longer than the EDD for uk?

momcqueen · ‎12-07-2016

It SHOULD be a different Estimated Delivery Date for Australia than it is for UK.

By Tracked Packet, UK is delivered (no guarantee) in eight business days.

By Tracked Packet to Australia, meanwhile, is delivered (no guarantee) in ELEVEN (11) business days which is Thursday, Dec. 23 at the soonest with same-day dispatch. So the EDD is flat-out wrong and I've an order to send to Australia right now.

Look, the Order Details for it show an even more incorrect EDD: