Huh? 10 Business Day Handling Time Equals August 01 "Estimated Delivery Date" here on eBay.

[go-bad-chicken]

I am currently away on a business trip, and will be gone for the next two weeks.  Whenever I travel I have always just extend my handling time to cover the time that I will be away and unable to ship. I do not use eBay's vacation settings as I like to have the ability to make sales while I am away. Since I primarily sell books with this account, I tend to offer two types of domestic shipping services within each of my listings.

USPS Media Mail is the first shipping method.
I then also offer USPS Priority Mail shipping as a second shipping service for a nominal fee.
But a few of my listings exclude Media Mail all together and only offer USPS Priority Mail.

I bulk edited all of my listings and changed my handling time to 10 Business Days. So if someone made a purchase from me today (Tuesday 05-14-19) I would be obligated to ship that item no later than Tuesday 05-28-19. Here is the problem. I have already had two customers asking me why it will take 2 1/2 months for them a book should they choose to make a purchase from me.

These are the "Estimated Delivery Dates" that eBay is currently displaying to my prospective buyers who look at one of my listings.

A - Economy Shipping (USPS Media Mail 2 - 8 business days) - Estimated between Thu. Jul. 25 and Thu. Aug. 1

B - Expedited Shipping (USPS Priority Mail 1 - 3 business days) - Estimated between Wed. Jul. 24 and Sat. Jul. 27

C - Handling time - Will ship within 10 business days of receiving cleared payment. The seller has specified an extended handling time for this item.

What I am trying to understand is why are these "Estimated Delivery Dates"  that are being displayed so ludicrous? I thought that eBay had a super secret high speed go-bot that had mastered the art of estimating delivery dates.
Is this some unintended glitch or am I just doing something wrong?

[tunicaslot]

I have no answer and would suggest it's another coding error - and maybe call Ebay or check on the Technocal Issues board to see if anyone else has the same problem.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I seem to remember ebay saying at one point that sellers with extended handling times get very long delivery estimates, regardless of the actual handling time. But I don't have time to try to find that.

[orangehound]

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@go-bad-chicken wrote:

What I am trying to understand is why are these "Estimated Delivery Dates"  that are being displayed so ludicrous? I thought that eBay had a super secret high speed go-bot that had mastered the art of estimating delivery dates.
Is this some unintended glitch or am I just doing something wrong?

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Aside from what tunicaslot suggested (software glitch), the only thing I can think of is that eBay may be considering that 10-day handling time to imply irresponsibility ... perhaps, other sellers  on eBay who have such long handling times may sometimes have shipping as much as 45 business-days after purchase.

I'm curious what you might see if you dropped it to 9-days.

[frodobagginskennedy]

this is weird.  I just returned from a 2 week absence.  I have 20 business day handling time.  My delivery estimates are inline with the 20 days.  It has to be a glitch,  

Have you tried bulk editing them back to normal and redoing them?

[myangelandmyprincess]

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@orangehound wrote:

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@go-bad-chicken wrote:

What I am trying to understand is why are these "Estimated Delivery Dates"  that are being displayed so ludicrous? I thought that eBay had a super secret high speed go-bot that had mastered the art of estimating delivery dates.
Is this some unintended glitch or am I just doing something wrong?

---

Aside from what tunicaslot suggested (software glitch), the only thing I can think of is that eBay may be considering that 10-day handling time to imply irresponsibility ... perhaps, other sellers  on eBay who have such long handling times may sometimes have shipping as much as 45 business-days after purchase.

I'm curious what you might see if you dropped it to 9-days.

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I have a 10 day handling time on several of my listings because I'm sometimes gone for two weeks at a time.  At no point have I ever seen them extend out delivery as long as the ops.  

Op do you have a lot of packages arrive late?   If your service metrics are over the allowed limit eBay will extend your estimated delivery time.  

[goodluckselling]

@go-bad-chicken  

I do not know your answer but it is possible if you are not signed in and just browsing as a guest the estimated date might be showing the longest time frame based on the fact that you ship worldwide?

Also in the first picture shows it ships from Idaho but the second pictures (shipping and handling) is showing a default buyer location is somewhere in Connecticut?

I looked a few of your listings and they all are showing very long estimated time frames.  The listings I looked at all show you revised the handling time twice in the last few days.  Is it possible you mistakenly input 30 days handling time?  I think 30 days is the longest handling time eBay allows?

I think the estimated dates are still not adding up right even if you had 30 days handling time.  Are your service metrics below the VERY HIGH area for INR?

Good Luck Selling!

[berserkerplanet]

Every one of the 8 or so of your listings I viewed at random have something like
"Estimated between Wed. Jul. 24 and Sat. Jul. 27
Includes 10 business days handling time after receipt of cleared payment."
on them.

That isn't right, even if your delivery estimates were being extended for atrocious shipping history and you were below standard (which I'm sure isn't the case)

Batsignal: @Anonymous

[brian@ebay]

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@berserkerplanet wrote:
Every one of the 8 or so of your listings I viewed at random have something like
"Estimated between Wed. Jul. 24 and Sat. Jul. 27
Includes 10 business days handling time after receipt of cleared payment."
on them.

That isn't right, even if your delivery estimates were being extended for atrocious shipping history and you were below standard (which I'm sure isn't the case)

Batsignal: @Anonymous

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Hi @berserkerplanet, tyler@ebay and I have been looking into something similar for another member. I'll be sure this example is reviewed as well. Thanks for letting us know! 

[go-bad-chicken]

@tunicaslot, @my-cottage-books-and-antiques, @orangehound, @frodobagginskennedy, @myangelandmyprincess, @goodluckselling, @berserkerplanet, brian@ebay

Thank you to all for taking the time to take a look at my listings and verifying that you too are seeing the same thing that I am regarding my extended Estimated Delivery Dates with 10 Business Day Handling time.

"Estimated between Wed. Jul. 24 and Sat. Jul. 27"
"Includes 10 business days handling time after receipt of cleared payment."

I apologize for not getting back sooner. I made my OP right before I checked out of my hotel on Tuesday morning. For the past 3 days I have had limited data service in rural Massachusetts. But from here on out for the remainder of my business trip I should have solid data service and be able to respond now on a regular basis.

I wanted to share this with all of you. During the the first leg of this trip I was traveling with a family member who is also an eBay seller, and was experiencing the same extended Estimated Delivery Dates with 10 Business Day Handling time as I was but they have access to eBay's concierge service. So we called the concierge on Tuesday after my OP and spoke with a woman named Tabitha.

Tabitha was able to confirm on her end that she too was seeing the same extended estimated delivery dates of "Estimated between Wed. Jul. 24 and Sat. Jul. 27" with 10 business days handling time. She stated that she would look into it and get back to us. Yesterday Thursday May 16 Tabitha sent an email to the other eBay seller making a short vague reference to "Unfortunately, this is not an eBay technical issue." without any further explanation.

The meat and potatoes of that email are below.

Hello XXXX,

This is Tabitha from eBay Concierge. I hope that you had a pleasant drive and safe arrival to your destination yesterday!

I heard back from my tech team regarding estimated delivery dates showing extremely far out. Unfortunately, this is not an eBay technical issue. With that being said, I and one of my teammates do believe that this is something that we can resolve with some more research. ...........

..... I am leaving the office here in just a few moments and will not be back in the office until this coming Sunday May 19th. ..............

I'll be in touch soon,

Tabitha

eBay Concierge

So it appears that this extended estimated delivery dates is by design and not a glitch; when 10 business days handling time or longer is utilized by a seller. But I still do not know this for a fact.

I ship from 2 locations. Columbia, Missouri and Boise, Idaho. Today I was able to switch all of my listings which are located in Columbia, Missouri back to 3 business days handling time, since someone will be there to ship any items that have sold this past week on Wednesday May 22. All of those listings immediately reverted back to normal estimated delivery dates that one would expect to see.

But all of my listings and inventory that is located in Boise, Idaho is still showing the same extended estimated delivery dates of "Estimated between Wed. Jul. 24 and Sat. Jul. 27" with 10 business days handling time. I my business trip progresses I will shorten my handling time when the window within eBay's bracketed handling time (10, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Business Day Handling Time) opens up, and becomes available for me to use given my first date available to ship for any of my inventory located in Boise.

I will be able to ship any items that are sold during this business trip and that are located in Boise on Tuesday May 28. So next Tuesday May 21, I will shorten my handling time from 10 business days to 5 business days to make my listings fair better within eBay search. I will continue to shorten my handling time each day after next Tuesday until I reach 1 business day and I am back home. This has always been my approach when I travel, and what I normally do. Since I like to continue selling while I am away.

But this newer unexpected extended estimated delivery dates of "Estimated between Wed. Jul. 24 and Sat. Jul. 27" with 10 Business Days Handling Time has thrown both myself as well as prospective buyers for a loop. I have already had to field 3 separate messages from prospective buyers asking me why they would not be receiving their item until late July or early August should they choose to make a purchase from me. I am fortunate that after I have explained the situation that 1 buyer has a chosen to make a purchase and a couple are considering doing the same, all though they may feel unsure and a little skeptical. Only they know. But, I can not help but to think about how many buyers are seeing eBay's late July early August estimated delivery dates for those listings and choose to hit the back button, never to be heard from again.

[orangehound]

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@go-bad-chicken wrote:

I heard back from my tech team regarding estimated delivery dates showing extremely far out. Unfortunately, this is not an eBay technical issue. 

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So, if it is intentional, then this is another of those hidden internal eBay policies ... either they must have some reason to not trust the 10-day handling time, or they are doing this to discourage buyers who are looking at listings with long-handling times.

[go-bad-chicken]

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@orangehound wrote:

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@go-bad-chicken wrote:

I heard back from my tech team regarding estimated delivery dates showing extremely far out. Unfortunately, this is not an eBay technical issue. 

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So, if it is intentional, then this is another of those hidden internal eBay policies ... either they must have some reason to not trust the 10-day handling time, or they are doing this to discourage buyers who are looking at listings with long-handling times.

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@brian.t

It is very possible, but like I said earlier I do not know that for a fact at this point.

Maybe Brian brian@ebay is able to elaborate.

[tunicaslot]

I don't see how it can not be a technical difficulty - but we have many technical difficulties that Ebay hasn't fixed.

I just signed out and checked my listings but it seems everything is good although I do have 1 day handling. I do still see the extended ship time on your Boise items.

I don't see how this benefits Ebay as they make their money off of our sales and if something like this is making buyers push the back button - they've lost money.

[brian@ebay]

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@go-bad-chicken wrote:

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@orangehound wrote:

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@go-bad-chicken wrote:

I heard back from my tech team regarding estimated delivery dates showing extremely far out. Unfortunately, this is not an eBay technical issue. 

---

So, if it is intentional, then this is another of those hidden internal eBay policies ... either they must have some reason to not trust the 10-day handling time, or they are doing this to discourage buyers who are looking at listings with long-handling times.

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@brian.t

It is very possible, but like I said earlier I do not know that for a fact at this point.

Maybe Brian brian@ebay is able to elaborate.

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Hi @go-bad-chicken, I don't have any new information at this time.  I'm not sure where the customer support agent got their info. I'm sill looking into this on my end and when I have more to share the I'll update this thread.

[reda3615]

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brian@ebay wrote:

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@berserkerplanet wrote:
"Estimated between Wed. Jul. 24 and Sat. Jul. 27
Includes 10 business days handling time after receipt of cleared payment."

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Hi @berserkerplanet, tyler@ebay and I have been looking into something similar for another member. I'll be sure this example is reviewed as well. Thanks for letting us know! 

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Hi brian@ebay this is an exploit used by non-domestic sellers listing on eBay.com, showing a range of an earliest estimate within 2 weeks and a latest estimate exactly 1 day just beyond 60 days, because after 60 days:

- Feedback cannot be left

- an MBG request is allowed, but ultimately eBay cannot reverse the payment