eBay

lucitabby · ‎01-14-2016

I know it has been discussed before but I'm still trying to get a grip on how ebay comes up with their estimates.

Today I mailed two items, both had "Standard International Shipping" on my listings - one day handling.

One is going to Scotland - ebay's estimated delivery is Mon Jan 18 - Jan 26.

One is going to SD, USA - ebay's estimated delivery is Mon Jan 25 - Feb 1.

Curious.

mr.elmwood · ‎01-14-2016

Has a lot to do with where you are and exactly where they are going. South Dakota is pretty non-specific, as is Scotland. Depends on how many times the parcel has to be sorted.

Say, Rapid City SD. For me, I mail in Dauphin, goes down to Winnipeg that night, except for weekends, that would push it to Monday. Winnipeg to Mississauga, then to Chicago, next to probably Minneapolis, another re-sort in SD, then sent to Rapid City, then sorted to the local PO. Mostly by truck.

Say Glasgow Scotland: Dauphin, Winnipeg, Mississauga, Glasgow. Fewer stops, fewer truck rides.

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maximus7001 · ‎01-14-2016

Don't use standard anymore. Use economy instead. You will get more days. Also stop using 1 day handling time. Use 2 day instead and you another extra day.

If you don't do as above you will open yourself up to premature INR claims.

pjcdn2005 · ‎01-14-2016

Has a lot to do with where you are and exactly where they are going. South Dakota is pretty non-specific, as is Scotland. Depends on how many times the parcel has to be sorted.

eBay's estimated delivery times are not that specific. For example, if you listed standard shipping for U.S. buyers, the estimated time is going to be exactly the same for all buyers in most or all cases, regardless of where in the country you or they are located.

decal-fx · ‎01-14-2016

@maximus7001 wrote:
Don't use standard anymore. Use economy instead. You will get more days. Also stop using 1 day handling time. Use 2 day instead and you another extra day.

If you don't do as above you will open yourself up to premature INR claims.

On .ca for International shipping there is no Economy option listed (is is however available for domestic)
The two nondescript options are "Standard Int'l Shipping" & "Expedited Int'l Shipping"

pocomocomputing · ‎01-14-2016

@lucitabby wrote:
I know it has been discussed before but I'm still trying to get a grip on how ebay comes up with their estimates.

Today I mailed two items, both had "Standard International Shipping" on my listings - one day handling.

One is going to Scotland - ebay's estimated delivery is Mon Jan 18 - Jan 26.
One is going to SD, USA - ebay's estimated delivery is Mon Jan 25 - Feb 1.

Curious.

I did some testing on delivery estimate times shown in eBay.ca listings when they came out 2-3 years ago. I just retested them all in the fall when eBay decided to start rating us on delivery times.

The Scotland one above should be 4 to 10 days but shows 2 to 8 days. which is shorter than when I tested. The USA one should be 7 to 11 business days and it seems to be correct.

I wonder if ebay has revised the estimates. They said they would be doing this but my testing from 3 years ago and the past fall showed no changes in estimate times. Perhaps eBay is revising times based on the feedback they are getting since asking the question "Did the item arrive before date xxxx?"

When I have time, I will spot test some of my times, especially the UK.

Where did you see the dates above? In the listings on eBay.ca the listing only shows days, not dates.)

lucitabby · ‎01-14-2016

Yes, I am trying to remember to change to 2 days handling on new listings.

eBay.ca just has the standard international shipping option.

lucitabby · ‎01-14-2016

When I have time, I will spot test some of my times, especially the UK.

Where did you see the dates above? In the listings on eBay.ca the listing only shows days, not dates.)

On my sold items, I clicked on "see order details" - the shipping information comes up along with the estimated delivery dates.

pocomocomputing · ‎01-15-2016

I just remembered that I just sold an item yesterday to London in the UK and I was using Std Int'l Shipping but the item was listed on ebay.com. I did not clue in until now because you said you shipped to Scotland. LOL. So easy to befuddle my old brain.

In order details it shows the same as you,

Estimated delivery Monday, Jan 18, 2016 - Monday, Jan 25, 2016 which is 2 to 8 days

In the listings, the shipping tab estimate shows 5 to 10 days which is what the UK delivery estimate always showed in the past 3+ years I tracked it..

So it seems the estimate shown in order details has is showing a shorter number of days..

If a seller is setting up delivery estimate times based on what the listing description shows in a live listing and eBay changes it to a shorter one in the order details page after it is sold, does this not undermine what a seller is doing in choosing shipping options to give themselves the most time to avoid a defect if late?

This may be why Raphael in the weekly sessions says that ebay is adjusting delivery time estimates for years. As mentioned I have been tracking delivery time estimates show in listing shipping tab for many options and none have changed as far as I can tell in 3+ years. It appears there are two estimates being shown, one in a listing that I can see in the shipping tab and what a buyer sees after purchase in Order Details and possibly in emails sent by ebay?

What are we rated on? The short one or the longer one?

I recall some topics in the eBay.com forums (possibly their weekly sessions) discussing something like this with two estimates. I never understood. So perhaps this is what they were talking about. I also remember the eBay reps saying the seller would be rated on the longer time.

I know you listed on eBay.ca and I did on eBay.com. The similarities are very interesting to say the least.

Confused here. A good question for the weekly sessions. Too bad we just missed it for this question. I will email raphael to look at this topic.

pocomocomputing · ‎01-15-2016

@pocomocomputing wrote:
I just remembered that I just sold an item yesterday to London in the UK and I was using Std Int'l Shipping but the item was listed on ebay.com. I did not clue in until now because you said you shipped to Scotland. LOL. So easy to befuddle my old brain.

In order details it shows the same as you,

Estimated delivery Monday, Jan 18, 2016 - Monday, Jan 25, 2016 which is 2 to 8 days

In the listings, the shipping tab estimate shows 5 to 10 days which is what the UK delivery estimate always showed in the past 3+ years I tracked it..

So it seems the estimate shown in order details has is showing a shorter number of days..

If a seller is setting up delivery estimate times based on what the listing description shows in a live listing and eBay changes it to a shorter one in the order details page after it is sold, does this not undermine what a seller is doing in choosing shipping options to give themselves the most time to avoid a defect if late?

This may be why Raphael in the weekly sessions says that ebay is adjusting delivery time estimates for years. As mentioned I have been tracking delivery time estimates show in listing shipping tab for many options and none have changed as far as I can tell in 3+ years. It appears there are two estimates being shown, one in a listing that I can see in the shipping tab and what a buyer sees after purchase in Order Details and possibly in emails sent by ebay?

What are we rated on? The short one or the longer one?

I recall some topics in the eBay.com forums (possibly their weekly sessions) discussing something like this with two estimates. I never understood. So perhaps this is what they were talking about. I also remember the eBay reps saying the seller would be rated on the longer time.

I know you listed on eBay.ca and I did on eBay.com. The similarities are very interesting to say the least.

Confused here. A good question for the weekly sessions. Too bad we just missed it for this question. I will email raphael to look at this topic.

I was looking more into this and checked my sale date in order details and it was Jan 12. In Selling Manager, it shows a sale date of Jan 12 with the ship date of Jan 13. So the order details estimate of Jan 18 to 25 is 3 to 8 business days when I check a calendar and start counting from the 14th as I assume you do not count the day you shipped. This does not match the listing 5 to 10 days estimate.

lucitabby · ‎01-15-2016

Yes, it is confusing. Thanks for checking, Poco.

Today, I sent a light packet to Denmark - again marked Standard Int'l Shipping on the listing. This time, on order details it says "Estimate Unavailable"

So, when the buyer is asked, did it arrive on time, how would they know, since ebay doesn't know. I sent an email to the buyer as I do on all International sales, advising a generous, approximate delivery date.

snoopwiz · ‎01-15-2016

Today, I sent a light packet to Denmark - again marked Standard Int'l Shipping on the listing. This time, on order details it says "Estimate Unavailable"

So, when the buyer is asked, did it arrive on time, how would they know, since ebay doesn't know. I sent an email to the buyer as I do on all International sales, advising a generous, approximate delivery date.

Is it possible/probable that when "estimate unavailable" is shown, there just will not be a "Did it arrive on time" box as part of the feedback process?

pocomocomputing · ‎01-15-2016

@snoopwiz wrote:

Today, I sent a light packet to Denmark - again marked Standard Int'l Shipping on the listing. This time, on order details it says "Estimate Unavailable"

So, when the buyer is asked, did it arrive on time, how would they know, since ebay doesn't know. I sent an email to the buyer as I do on all International sales, advising a generous, approximate delivery date.

Is it possible/probable that when "estimate unavailable" is shown, there just will not be a "Did it arrive on time" box as part of the feedback process?

I bought an item last week on another eBay id and it had no estimate for shipping time, it showed the time as "Varies for items shipped from an international location". When I left feedback today, there was no question asking if the item arrived on time.

So I would say that the question is only asked when an estimate in days is shown in the listing for the country of the buyer. Which makes sense despite the crazy way eBay does things.

momcqueen · ‎01-17-2016

I just got dinged for a premature estimate. First defect ever.

i had assumed the miscount was due to a missed Stat for New Year's Day.

Also, I'd like to note that since mid-December, Canada Post had a banner running on top of every page that stated that 'due to high volumes they were delivering items late and hoped people would be patient'. I suppose that means everyone should be patient except for ebay sellers who should somehow achieve the impossible.

maximus7001 · ‎01-17-2016

The last 2 times that happened to us we called ebay and they removed both.

momcqueen · ‎01-17-2016

Oh, that is interesting. On what grounds did you plead?

rainbow71113 · ‎01-23-2016

thank you for reminding me of that banner on Canada Post, I have 7 defects that all straddle the Christmas/New Years holidays and I just called ebay and the rep was kind enough to remove 5 of them, one hasn't shown up yet in my stats but she told me to call back. This one that hasn't shown up straddled New Years but the buyer said she was confused and didn't know how to ask where her item was and of course it opened a case, so the rep said I can probably get that removed as well.

momcqueen · ‎01-23-2016

But how....?

I thought those defects were a permanent stain? On what grounds were you able to have them removed?!

hlmacdon · ‎01-23-2016

The standard international shipping option is broken, as far as it related to estimates. As you've discovered it erroneously populates international shipping times with shorter ETAs than US shipments. If memory serves, ground based options to the US also display a faster ETA time than air based shipments. These are manually assigned ETAs by ebay and they do not tie into any shipping API that references shipping zones. It is simply sloppy work.

rainbow71113 · ‎01-23-2016

she removed them due to the Canada Post saying they were not able to keep up with the volume, I've had others removed, especially when the positive feedback says fast shipping but then it's one day after the estimate. I had one buyer that I contacted after she left a low item as described mark which gave me a defect and she emailed back that everything was fine, Then she bought ANOTHER item and did the exact same thing so the rep removed both of her positive feedbacks to get rid of the defects.