eBay

dinomitesales · ‎10-21-2022

There definitely seems to be something wrong with the delivery estimates being shown to buyers for flat-rate shipping options.

I list on dotCA and always use flat-rate "Economy International Shipping". I remember when I started doing this it would give me a long time frame for delivery (2-3 months if I recall correctly) which was helpful because it provided additional cushioning against potential Item Not Received claims from impatient buyers. Now it seems to be consistently showing delivery within a matter of weeks instead of months.

As a specific example I sold an item to Mexico on October 19th. I have one business day handling. According to the order details the "Estimated delivery date shown to the buyer" is Oct 31 to Nov 10. That is 7 to 15 business days. This is entirely unrealistic; "Economy International Shipping" should be the cheapest and slowest option, not 7 to 15 business days. It takes longer than 7 business days for some domestic Canadian orders to be delivered, let alone orders to other countries.

To put this into perspective Canada Post's delivery estimate for Xpresspost International - a designated EMS service, and the second fastest option offered by Canada Post - to Mexico is 18 business days. So based on eBay's estimated delivery my parcel could be shipped via Express Mail (at a cost of nearly $80 CAD) and still be considered late for "Economy Shipping".

This must be a mistake, no? Has something changed? Where is eBay getting it's delivery estimates from? devon@ebay ?

marnotom! · ‎10-21-2022

I think there have been quite a few posts in the past that suggest that the flat rate shipping times seem to be a bit out of whack or inconsistent.

I just checked on one of your Game Boy cartridge listings and set my location to Iceland and the shipping time maxed out at twenty business days (one calendar month). Go figure.

38e_avenue · ‎10-21-2022

And old problem - almost all international items were "late" because of the absurd Ebay expected delivery time, so I decided not to provide the tracking any more. It helped!

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎10-21-2022

@dinomitesales wrote:
There definitely seems to be something wrong with the delivery estimates being shown to buyers for flat-rate shipping options.
I list on dotCA and always use flat-rate "Economy International Shipping". I remember when I started doing this it would give me a long time frame for delivery (2-3 months if I recall correctly) which was helpful because it provided additional cushioning against potential Item Not Received claims from impatient buyers. Now it seems to be consistently showing delivery within a matter of weeks instead of months.
As a specific example I sold an item to Mexico on October 19th. I have one business day handling. According to the order details the "Estimated delivery date shown to the buyer" is Oct 31 to Nov 10. That is 7 to 15 business days. This is entirely unrealistic; "Economy International Shipping" should be the cheapest and slowest option, not 7 to 15 business days. It takes longer than 7 business days for some domestic Canadian orders to be delivered, let alone orders to other countries.
To put this into perspective Canada Post's delivery estimate for Xpresspost International - a designated EMS service, and the second fastest option offered by Canada Post - to Mexico is 18 business days. So based on eBay's estimated delivery my parcel could be shipped via Express Mail (at a cost of nearly $80 CAD) and still be considered late for "Economy Shipping".
This must be a mistake, no? Has something changed? Where is eBay getting it's delivery estimates from? devon@ebay ?

@dinomitesales

I shipped a heavier item to Mexico several months ago by Xpresspost. Delivery took approx 30 days. Fortunately the customer wasn't in a panic and was very understanding. The shown time wasn't even close to how long it is quoted to take.

If you compare Small Packet air to the states 4 to 8 days and tracked is 4 to 7 days. Most of the time I am happy if either of those 2 services arrive at LAX from Calgary in 4 to 5 days. Plus delivery after customs. No idea where the dream world estimates are coming from or if they are truly factoring in handling time or the meter starts running on first scan. Last eBay shows an estimate for Small Packet Air Intl when CP does not. Again where are they getting the guesstimate? Sellers are getting held to these estimates when the info displayed is bad generic)limited variation based on postal code & final zipcode) input data.

-Lotz

dinomitesales · ‎10-22-2022

I ran a few more scenarios and it's getting even more absurd.

I opened one of my listings in Incognito Mode on Google Chrome. I'm in Winnipeg. I clicked on the Shipping tab and set my location to a postal code within Winnipeg. I get a delivery estimate of 2 to 17 business days for "Economy Shipping".

So it's 2 to 17 business days within my own city, but only a max of 15 business days to Mexico??

I'll also add that if I look at a listing from a buyer in China I get an estimated delivery time frame of Nov. 22 to Jan. 3 for "Economy Shipping". That's 22 to 52 business days. But if I set MY location to China and look at one of my own listings, then I'm shown that my "Economy Shipping" item should arrive in 10 to 20 business days. Huh?

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎10-22-2022

@dinomitesales

The extended 15 day option is available for Canada (letter) but the extended option variation is missing to USA. Only letter rate is 4-6 days. Nothing available for letter Internationally other than standard which doesn't give a window when listing.

-Lotz

38e_avenue · ‎10-22-2022

Two days ago I got a "late delivery" defect for an item delivered from Montreal to Indianapolis within 7 days. It's how it works - Ebay doesn't respect even its own estimates 😂

ypdc_dennis · ‎10-22-2022

devon@ebay-- message 7 in this thread seems to indicate a problem with ebay's late delivery calculation

38e_avenue · ‎10-22-2022

@ypdc_dennis wrote:
devon@ebay-- message 7 in this thread seems to indicate a problem with ebay's late delivery calculation

No doubt. I contacted the support, the defect has been removed, but the question remains - why it happens?

musicyouneed · ‎10-22-2022

This has been my complaint for years. Just wait till the XMAS rush and there are 100 times more parcels and with the shortage of staff, will take a few weeks longer. Last year in November/December, I had several parcels take a month to get to the destination in the US, many were stuck in Chicago.

I chose the method of shipping that takes the longest as I got hit with this a couple of times over the years. I used to choose surface mail for international, even though I sent airmail. I know I probably lost a few customers but too bad, I didn't get dings. Buyers are happy that they get it sooner than indicated.

devon@ebay · ‎10-24-2022

@dinomitesales wrote:

There definitely seems to be something wrong with the delivery estimates being shown to buyers for flat-rate shipping options.

I list on dotCA and always use flat-rate "Economy International Shipping". I remember when I started doing this it would give me a long time frame for delivery (2-3 months if I recall correctly) which was helpful because it provided additional cushioning against potential Item Not Received claims from impatient buyers. Now it seems to be consistently showing delivery within a matter of weeks instead of months.

As a specific example I sold an item to Mexico on October 19th. I have one business day handling. According to the order details the "Estimated delivery date shown to the buyer" is Oct 31 to Nov 10. That is 7 to 15 business days. This is entirely unrealistic; "Economy International Shipping" should be the cheapest and slowest option, not 7 to 15 business days. It takes longer than 7 business days for some domestic Canadian orders to be delivered, let alone orders to other countries.

To put this into perspective Canada Post's delivery estimate for Xpresspost International - a designated EMS service, and the second fastest option offered by Canada Post - to Mexico is 18 business days. So based on eBay's estimated delivery my parcel could be shipped via Express Mail (at a cost of nearly $80 CAD) and still be considered late for "Economy Shipping".

This must be a mistake, no? Has something changed? Where is eBay getting it's delivery estimates from? devon@ebay ?

Hi @dinomitesales! There actually appears to be a known site wide issue for the estimated delivery dates to be showing incorrect. There is a ticket open on it to have this resolved and members can reach out to customer support here to have their account added to the ticket. You can let them know that you are running into ALERT14053.

biglittleape · ‎10-25-2022

Lol so your Canada Post economy shipping to Mexico is faster than my UPS Expedited to US. Makes sense. The shipping time estimator is whacked.

38e_avenue · ‎10-25-2022

Good to know Ebay is aware of the problem. Thank you for letting us know.

Because of the problem I am always at risk of loosing my TRS Plus blue ribbon. I decided not to provide the tracking number to my international customers any more. Last Christmas most of my international shipment were "late", according to Ebay delivery estimates. Not a pleasant feeling: I ship the same day already knowing, that I will get defects - and there is nothing I can do. It kills my motivation to maintain my bleu ribbon.

pjcdn2005 · ‎10-26-2022

How will not providing the tracking number help?

regs43 · ‎10-26-2022

If you just mark the item as shipped and put the tracking number as a note (for your records), ebay doesn't relay that info the buyer. eBay also doesn't have that tracking info on file to ding you if said parcel is late. The buyer, when leaving feedback will see a box that says "did this item arrive before x date" and they can hit yes or not at that time, but the buyer would have to leave feedback for this to affect you. If they selected no to that question you would get a ding, if they didnt answer the question no issues. If the buyer were to open a claim then you have the note attached to the sale with the tracking you did use and could use it in the case to save you if the item has arrived

38e_avenue · ‎10-26-2022

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
How will not providing the tracking number help?

Simple. No tracking, no "tracking indicates late delivery" possible 😀

You can also get a defect for "buyer says late delivery", but it's extremely rare.

vtwinparts2015 · ‎10-26-2022

first off all i would suggest you either ship tracket packet international air for items under 2.lbs

if larger items use expidited service with full tracking.

i would suggest you never ship any item to Mexico i have learned the hard way.

you can get discounts from Canada post 5% right off check on line

dinomitesales · ‎10-27-2022

With respect, this wasn't a discussion about shipping costs, or how to ship; it was me pointing out the inconsistencies with the delivery estimates as shown by eBay.

I've been doing this for a while and have my own ways of shipping things and calculating risk (as I'm sure everyone does). I'll ship low-value items anywhere in the world without tracking and rarely have any issues. I'm sorry you've had issues with sales going to Mexico but I've sent many things there without any problems. The sale that acted as the impetus for this post was sent with full tracking and insurance coverage (not via Canada Post, mind you).

dhslk · ‎12-08-2022

I have tried multiple times to get a defect that was caused by ebay's completely inaccurate transit time (for a while in Oct., it was showing AIRMAIL transit time for surface mail International orders), with no luck. I never managed to connect to anyone who wasn't just following a script and didn't seem to know anything about this issue. Help. How did you connect to someone who could actually help you?