eBay.com listings delivery estimate totally wrong

[biglittleape]

For those selling on eBay.com how accurate are your delivery estimate dates?  I'm getting annoyed at how wrong they are for me.

My listings are set to same day handling/shipping with UPS 3-Day shipping.   All my orders to US get delivered in 2 business days, from time to time 3 days if there's some issue on the way.  But, eBay is showing all my listings as about 10+ day delivery which for sure is costing me sales.

Even using the shipping calculator, entering a US zip code it still shows that silly date range:

(Today is May 3rd)

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Free shipping

Free

United States

Expedited Shipping (UPS 3 Day SelectSM)

Estimated between Wed, May 11 and Mon, May 16 to 90210 

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Like what the heck, May 11 to 16 delivery date from May 3rd order date using 3-day courier service?  If I shipped a package today it would be delivered on May 5th.

Any ideas how I can correct this?  I tried chatting with eBay but they were totally useless.  Kept telling me because it's international delivery even though its listed in US and the shipping settings come from "Domestic" section and I'm picking a 3 day courier delivery service.

[recped]

I'd look at your listing and the way your shipping is set up in case there is something wrong......

Can't do that since you didn't post with your selling id.

[biglittleape]

Here is an example of how my listings are setup.  Domestic is the US shipping.  International is Canada + additional locations with custom cost based on shipping rate table.

How in the world is this setup translating into 10+ day delivery time for US customers.

[recped]

Not helpful!

I would need to see an actual listing page.

[biglittleape]

Here, this is the last shipping related info you can see on a listing. 

[biglittleape]

eBay still hasn't fixed their BS delivery estimate dates.  How hard is it to follow what the listing shipping settings specify.

My packages to US get delivered in 2 business days, maybe 3 if something goes wrong with UPS.  eBay is saying in all my listings that delivery is up to 3 weeks.  This is costing me sales for sure.

"overnight" shipping option has a delivery window of over 3 weeks, what the heck!

[marnotom!]

What advice have you received from the eBay customer service reps working through Facebook or Twitter (not the outsourced phone workers)?

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@marnotom! wrote:
What advice have you received from the eBay customer service reps working through Facebook or Twitter (not the outsourced phone workers)?

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@biglittleape 

Passed this on to devon@ebay recently. Last word was  looking into it.

-Lotz

[biglittleape]

Today chat support said that it's a temporary technical issue.  This has been going on for a long time so I think it was just a response to get rid of me.

[marnotom!]

Going out on a limb here, but I suspect the crux of the problem is that eBay.com simply isn’t set up to deal with calculated shipping options for items originating from locations outside of the United States. I’m actually surprised and a little impressed that it can generate accurate UPS shipping rates for your sales if all it has to work with is that your items ship out of “Ontario, Canada”. (Not saying it does have that to work with but our inability to see your listings makes it difficult to come to other conclusions.)

This is going to sound crazy, but what could be happening is that the shipping calculator is calculating the shipping time based on how long it would take the item to arrive in a typical Ontario location after being shipped from a typical US location, and then adding how long it would take to reach the buyer’s location from that Ontario location, in effect doubling the shipping time estimate.

[devon@ebay]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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@marnotom! wrote:
What advice have you received from the eBay customer service reps working through Facebook or Twitter (not the outsourced phone workers)?

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@biglittleape 

Passed this on to devon@ebay recently. Last word was  looking into it.

-Lotz

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Hi @lotzofuniquegoodies! I am still waiting to hear back from the shipping team on this issue. I will reach back out to them today to see if there are any updates on this. 

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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devon@ebay wrote:

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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@marnotom! wrote:
What advice have you received from the eBay customer service reps working through Facebook or Twitter (not the outsourced phone workers)?

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@biglittleape 

Passed this on to devon@ebay recently. Last word was  looking into it.

-Lotz

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Hi @lotzofuniquegoodies! I am still waiting to hear back from the shipping team on this issue. I will reach back out to them today to see if there are any updates on this. 

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The following blurb is from Shift4Shop Blog. It puts this into perspective perfectly.

https://blog.shift4shop.com/understanding-real-time-carrier-calculated-shipping-rates

What are Real-Time Carrier Calculated Shipping Rates?

Using shipping rates calculated in real-time directly from your shipping carriers is the best method for determining shipping costs. This method precisely and reliably determines how much shipping from one place to another will cost your company. That way, you can be confident that you will not overcharge or undercharge your customers.

There are several other methods for determining an appropriate fee. Given the risk of taking from your profit margin and dissatisfying customers, you will want the one that is most accurate. Depending on the company’s structure, inventory, and needs, flat-rate shipping can be helpful. However, an online company would be wise to base their shipping fees on distance and time.

Due to long reported issues with delivery time estimates, flat rate shipping became the go to option for many sellers (Canada & US). Causing both sellers and buyers grief for years. The consequence being  sellers using generic, inaccurate shipping options to protect themselves from lates and INR's. To my mind there is no reason why eBay shouldn't be able to offer correct calculated shipping options and remove this confusion for N. American sellers. All that is required is the to/from, the pkg weight/size and the shipping services. 

-Lotz

[biglittleape]

I don't use eBay label creator, I use a 3rd party shipping label service.

If a listing uses "UPS 3 Day Select" as the shipping method, eBay should say up to 3 business days delivery, not 3 weeks.  Not to mention "Overnight" which it estimates takes even longer.

It's like stating in the listing params that something is new but ebay decides to say its used.  Makes no sense.

eBay has hundreds of my tracking numbers historically with delivery time of 3 days or less, mostly 2,  if they want to analize my avg delivery time.  I'm surprised they don't do something like that actually.

[marnotom!]

I’m not sure what a label service has to do with what we’re talking about here. What I’m referring to is the shipping calculator somehow being able to calculate shipping prices on the listing page for a shipment that appears to be out of Canada when the UPS shipping options on the .com site are for the American UPS service, not the Canadian one.

As far as I know, the only Canadian shipping method that’s even remotely supported on the .com site is Canada Post and it’s just as a flat-rate shipping descriptor anyway.

[biglittleape]

Not srue what you mean, I pick the UPS service for shipping and it shows up correctly on the listing page when delivery address is in the US.  It just shows totally wrong delivery time estimate.  If I select "Expedited Shipping (UPS 3 Day SelectSM)" I mean it will be delivered in 3 days by UPS, not 3 weeks.

Even if I were to ship from the moom, if I say it will be delivered in X number of days than show X number of days as the estimated delivery.   Where the item is being shipped from should not be part of the equation especially with courier services.

Here is how my listins show up to US buyers, it makes no sense since it even shows 3 day service in the description:

Free shipping
Free
United States
Expedited Shipping (UPS 3 Day SelectSM)
Estimated between Mon, Sep 12 and Thu, Sep 22 to 97251

[marnotom!]

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@biglittleape wrote:

Not srue what you mean, I pick the UPS service for shipping and it shows up correctly on the listing page when delivery address is in the US.  It just shows totally wrong delivery time estimate.  If I select "Expedited Shipping (UPS 3 Day SelectSM)" I mean it will be delivered in 3 days by UPS, not 3 weeks.

Even if I were to ship from the moom, if I say it will be delivered in X number of days than show X number of days as the estimated delivery.   Where the item is being shipped from should not be part of the equation especially with courier services.

Here is how my listins show up to US buyers, it makes no sense since it even shows 3 day service in the description:

Free shipping
Free
United States
Expedited Shipping (UPS 3 Day SelectSM)
Estimated between Mon, Sep 12 and Thu, Sep 22 to 97251

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What I think you're seeing on .com is the American UPS Three Day Select option, not the Canadian-based service.  If you're shipping out of Canada, that three day estimate is going to get blown to pieces by the shipping bot because--as far as I can tell--you're not shipping out of the United States and you're not initiating the shipping through the American UPS.

If the .ca site had UPS as an option and you ship out of Canada, you probably wouldn't have this problem as the shipping bot would have the Canadian UPS service information.

[biglittleape]

Whatever eBay is doing it's wrong and is costing me sales.

UPS is not like regular post where you get delays at the border.  If UPS says something will get delivered in 2-3 business days it will get delivered in 2-3 business days.  The only exception is if there is a mechanical failure, bad weather or missed flight.

I do a ton of shippign to US using UPS, delivery times are spot on 99% of the time.  Most of my shipping is using Expedided service and its 2 business days 85% of the time, 15% 3 business days.

I don't get why they won't follow what the listing says especially for sellers with hundreds and hundreds of on-time deliveries for which they have tracking numbers with drop-off/delivery dates.

Also, how can "one day" service estimate take longer than 3 day service.  Bizzare.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@biglittleape wrote:

Whatever eBay is doing it's wrong and is costing me sales.

UPS is not like regular post where you get delays at the border.  If UPS says something will get delivered in 2-3 business days it will get delivered in 2-3 business days.  The only exception is if there is a mechanical failure, bad weather or missed flight.

I do a ton of shippign to US using UPS, delivery times are spot on 99% of the time.  Most of my shipping is using Expedided service and its 2 business days 85% of the time, 15% 3 business days.

I don't get why they won't follow what the listing says especially for sellers with hundreds and hundreds of on-time deliveries for which they have tracking numbers with drop-off/delivery dates.

Also, how can "one day" service estimate take longer than 3 day service.  Bizzare.

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@marnotom! 

As per @biglittleape  delivery estimates should be driven by Shippers zip and or Postal Code and buyers Zip/Postal Code. Services displayed are based on package min/max as per the postal services. As eBay has expressed for eons the system flags situations where parcel measurements are over the max allowed and does not show if parcel measurements are under minimums. (To add to the silliness system lets you create labels for under the limit when item sells.) Only reason I was able to confirm this was many years of testing and Tyler confirmed this has been an ongoing KNOWN issue that eBay refuses to address.

If eBay is going to have a calculator AND offer deliver estimates they need to be displayed correctly.  Something eBay just refuses to properly address/repair. Bots should not be contraditicting the information system or information that postal service/courier is displays at their websites.

-Lotz

PS. Regarding customs delays, they are noted on an eBay's front page of a listing but do not show with the check rates dropdown. If/when customs occur and they CAN happen with both mail and courier they are displayed within the tracking history. Internal delays like mechancial/weather/system backlogs can show up in the history but not always.(A usual clue is multiple location scans over several days that confirm little.) Any of those situations should be caught by the bots when they show.  They should not affect the seller because they are out of that sellers control.

[marnotom!]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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@biglittleape wrote:

UPS is not like regular post where you get delays at the border.  If UPS says something will get delivered in 2-3 business days it will get delivered in 2-3 business days.  The only exception is if there is a mechanical failure, bad weather or missed flight.

I do a ton of shippign to US using UPS, delivery times are spot on 99% of the time.  Most of my shipping is using Expedided service and its 2 business days 85% of the time, 15% 3 business days.

I don't get why they won't follow what the listing says especially for sellers with hundreds and hundreds of on-time deliveries for which they have tracking numbers with drop-off/delivery dates.

Also, how can "one day" service estimate take longer than 3 day service.  Bizzare.

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@marnotom! 

As per @biglittleape  delivery estimates should be driven by Shippers zip and or Postal Code and buyers Zip/Postal Code. Services displayed are based on package min/max as per the postal services. As eBay has expressed for eons the system flags situations where parcel measurements are over the max allowed and does not show if parcel measurements are under minimums. (To add to the silliness system lets you create labels for under the limit when item sells.) Only reason I was able to confirm this was many years of testing and Tyler confirmed this has been an ongoing KNOWN issue that eBay refuses to address.

If eBay is going to have a calculator AND offer deliver estimates they need to be displayed correctly.  Something eBay just refuses to properly address/repair. Bots should not be contraditicting the information system or information that postal service/courier is displays at their websites.

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The only thing that I see that eBay could be doing better here is clarifying that the courier options are for the US-based services only.  If a seller from France were to try using the UPS options on the .com site, they'd likely get wonky results for delivery time estimates and pricing, too.

UPS Canada may be an operation of United Parcel Service of America, but it the two are considered separate companies with separate shareholders, presidents, infrastructure, databases and so forth.

Just like Canada Post and USPS are separate national postal services even though we consider both to be "the postal system."

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@marnotom! wrote:

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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@biglittleape wrote:

UPS is not like regular post where you get delays at the border.  If UPS says something will get delivered in 2-3 business days it will get delivered in 2-3 business days.  The only exception is if there is a mechanical failure, bad weather or missed flight.

I do a ton of shippign to US using UPS, delivery times are spot on 99% of the time.  Most of my shipping is using Expedided service and its 2 business days 85% of the time, 15% 3 business days.

I don't get why they won't follow what the listing says especially for sellers with hundreds and hundreds of on-time deliveries for which they have tracking numbers with drop-off/delivery dates.

Also, how can "one day" service estimate take longer than 3 day service.  Bizzare.

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@marnotom! 

As per @biglittleape  delivery estimates should be driven by Shippers zip and or Postal Code and buyers Zip/Postal Code. Services displayed are based on package min/max as per the postal services. As eBay has expressed for eons the system flags situations where parcel measurements are over the max allowed and does not show if parcel measurements are under minimums. (To add to the silliness system lets you create labels for under the limit when item sells.) Only reason I was able to confirm this was many years of testing and Tyler confirmed this has been an ongoing KNOWN issue that eBay refuses to address.

If eBay is going to have a calculator AND offer deliver estimates they need to be displayed correctly.  Something eBay just refuses to properly address/repair. Bots should not be contraditicting the information system or information that postal service/courier is displays at their websites.

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The only thing that I see that eBay could be doing better here is clarifying that the courier options are for the US-based services only.  If a seller from France were to try using the UPS options on the .com site, they'd likely get wonky results for delivery time estimates and pricing, too.

UPS Canada may be an operation of United Parcel Service of America, but it the two are considered separate companies with separate shareholders, presidents, infrastructure, databases and so forth.

Just like Canada Post and USPS are separate national postal services even though we consider both to be "the postal system."

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If a French seller checked postage using dot com and programming was done correctly they should get/see exactly the same response back as a seller anywhere else on the globe. Again the rates and transits times are shared info between UPS world offices. (As for any available discounts those require negotiations so a whole different can of worms.)

As far as it goes for eBay USA and eBay Canada, eBay claims that the 2 are 1 entity working symbiotically but going by many of the recent improvements/updates/lack of dedicated support it really doesn't seem like it from a Canadian perspective. When it comes to the relationships  eBay Canada/USA etc with the sub-agents (CP/USPS/UPS/Fedex etc) their company contacts would most likely be on speed dial  and "should" be in the loop when it comes to future upgrades and/or glitches..As they arise.    

For the CP/USPS comparison majority of time tracking mirrors between the 2 sites. Maybe a bit of lag but fairly close. The concerns happen when eBay's info doesn't jive with the  related postal services/couriers which has been reported for years.

 It always made me wonder over the past number of years continuously hearing suggested workarounds for the stream of problems. Maybe fixing the problems would be a better solution vs saying it is what is or just deal with it!!!

-Lotz