Listings show handling times but weird ETAs.

[bigdeals.etc]

Yea so I was actually shopping around for stickers for my kid and noticed the listings there actually show handling times. But they also have totally far off ETAs. Take a look.

How come these listings show handling times but mine don’t? And how is it that with 1 day handling and USPS Priority Mail, the ETA to me is May 30 if I buy today (May 16)?

[cynthealee2]

It's based on recent history of the seller.  His/her items must be taking forever to get anywhere (being in Jersey may be the issue) so the arrival time has gone way out like that.

[bigdeals.etc]

Here’s one from a competitor of that seller. It’s also just as slow but not from NJ. What I also notice from this new one is that they were also able to keep the return policy to 14 days. I thought 30 days is the minimum sellers can set now... wait I just checked and 30 days is only to be TRS or TRS+ right? Correct me if I’m wrong. Also this new seller was able to display handling time.

[bigdeals.etc]

@cynthealee2 

So here’s a weird update. I bought it on that day of my OP... the one from NJ.

Turns out it arrived to me on 5/20. See, for some odd reason the ETAs were way off... and not just for this seller but others as well.

Another thing... this seller didn’t even use Priority Mail like he advertised... he used First Class.

[inhawaii]

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@bigdeals.etc wrote:

Another thing... this seller didn’t even use Priority Mail like he advertised... he used First Class.

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A little off topic but 20+ years ago this was the first dispute i ever had on ebay. I paid extra for Priority Mail.  The item was shipped First Class Mail.  I demanded a refund for the extra a paid.  I ended up losing the case. 

[dhbookds]

The shipping date is becoming ludicrous........

I printed a label today 5/24, changing the mailing date to 5/26 (Tues)

 At the top  of Order details page shows mailed 5/24, expected delivery 6/1

In teeny tiny letters on the label (just under the barcode) Estimated Delivery date 5/28 (2 days to PA to Fl) is shown on the label.  It only shows on priority labels not lst class.

@Anonymous 

Item #124165285858       why doesn't the order detail page show the date I specified for mailing  (5/26) instead of the date I printed the label??.........If I have to go back and look for the label by date.....that's going to throw me off.........

I thought maybe I hadn't "updated" after choosing 5/26, but just did another label and made sure........same result.

[hillbillymedia]

I have a similar issue via 1st class(see screenshot). I was always told holidays and weekends don`t count so why is the ETA so short? I have 2 packages with the same ETA 1) is from TN to WA and 2) is fromTN to AZ Now....both MIGHT get to their destinations within ebay`s ETA with a little luck but why are they pushing it so tight? I`m feeling like I`m being set up for failure.

[cynthealee2]

@bigdeals.etc 

LoL I give up then... that was and should be the technical answer.  Dunno what Covid, and bored eBay techs are doing with the shipping times and what not all else.

I HAVE seen a few threads here and there where the sellers are wondering why HOW they are shipping has changed.   I'd ask the seller why the difference between first class and priority.

[bigdeals.etc]

Yea your answer was very valid and would have made sense. For some reason something still felt off about it. That was one reason I bought from them, just to see.

About the priority... meh. I received the item not just quicker than 5/30, but even quicker than I estimated (4 business days). So I’ll leave it be with the seller. They might get dinged by a future buyer about this discrepancy. As for me I’m fine with it and my kid is happy with this stickers.

[hillbillymedia]

Years back the PO considered FC and Priority equal and delivery time (ETA) used to be the same. At least that is what I was told by my postmaster.

[bigdeals.etc]

They should just demote all Priority Mail to First Class then. While theyre at it, call “Priority Mail Express” just “Priority”.

[Anonymous]

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@dhbookds wrote:

The shipping date is becoming ludicrous........

I printed a label today 5/24, changing the mailing date to 5/26 (Tues)

 At the top  of Order details page shows mailed 5/24, expected delivery 6/1

In teeny tiny letters on the label (just under the barcode) Estimated Delivery date 5/28 (2 days to PA to Fl) is shown on the label.  It only shows on priority labels not lst class.

@Anonymous 

Item #124165285858       why doesn't the order detail page show the date I specified for mailing  (5/26) instead of the date I printed the label??.........If I have to go back and look for the label by date.....that's going to throw me off.........

I thought maybe I hadn't "updated" after choosing 5/26, but just did another label and made sure........same result.

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Hi @dhbookds, the label flow asks for the date you intend to ship for the benefit of the courier, not for eBay. For us, when the label is printed we consider the process of shipment to have begun. Your buyer is notified that a label has been printed, the estimated delivery date is still based on your shipping method, handling time, and location of both parties, so the date you print vs. the date you state to the courier that you plan to ship would not have an impact on what is shown to your buyer. 

Can you elaborate on your process to help me understand how this might throw you off? What situation do you run into where you are sorting by the date you stated you would ship vs. other pieces of information. Having more details on this could help me pass along suggested improvements for the site.

[go-bad-chicken]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@dhbookds wrote:

The shipping date is becoming ludicrous........

I printed a label today 5/24, changing the mailing date to 5/26 (Tues)

 At the top  of Order details page shows mailed 5/24, expected delivery 6/1

In teeny tiny letters on the label (just under the barcode) Estimated Delivery date 5/28 (2 days to PA to Fl) is shown on the label.  It only shows on priority labels not lst class.

@Anonymous 

Item #124165285858       why doesn't the order detail page show the date I specified for mailing  (5/26) instead of the date I printed the label??.........If I have to go back and look for the label by date.....that's going to throw me off.........

I thought maybe I hadn't "updated" after choosing 5/26, but just did another label and made sure........same result.

---

Hi @dhbookds, the label flow asks for the date you intend to ship for the benefit of the courier, not for eBay. For us, when the label is printed we consider the process of shipment to have begun. Your buyer is notified that a label has been printed, the estimated delivery date is still based on your shipping method, handling time, and location of both parties, so the date you print vs. the date you state to the courier that you plan to ship would not have an impact on what is shown to your buyer. 

Can you elaborate on your process to help me understand how this might throw you off? What situation do you run into where you are sorting by the date you stated you would ship vs. other pieces of information. Having more details on this could help me pass along suggested improvements for the site.

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So if I am reading your above statement correctly. "so the date you print......would have an impact on what is shown to your buyer."  Do I understand this correctly?

If that is the case it would be to the benefit of sellers NOT to print their postage labels for sales made during the weekend or over holiday weekends until the next actual business day in which they actually intend to ship those orders.

i.e. I should not print my postage labels for sales made over this current Memorial Day weekend until tomorrow morning Tuesday March 26, 2020, in order for me the seller to attain the best possible ETAs shown to my buyers.

[dhbookds]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@dhbookds wrote:

The shipping date is becoming ludicrous........

I printed a label today 5/24, changing the mailing date to 5/26 (Tues)

 At the top  of Order details page shows mailed 5/24, expected delivery 6/1

In teeny tiny letters on the label (just under the barcode) Estimated Delivery date 5/28 (2 days to PA to Fl) is shown on the label.  It only shows on priority labels not lst class.

@Anonymous 

Item #124165285858       why doesn't the order detail page show the date I specified for mailing  (5/26) instead of the date I printed the label??.........If I have to go back and look for the label by date.....that's going to throw me off.........

I thought maybe I hadn't "updated" after choosing 5/26, but just did another label and made sure........same result.

---

Hi @dhbookds, the label flow asks for the date you intend to ship for the benefit of the courier, not for eBay. For us, when the label is printed we consider the process of shipment to have begun. Your buyer is notified that a label has been printed, the estimated delivery date is still based on your shipping method, handling time, and location of both parties, so the date you print vs. the date you state to the courier that you plan to ship would not have an impact on what is shown to your buyer. 

Can you elaborate on your process to help me understand how this might throw you off? What situation do you run into where you are sorting by the date you stated you would ship vs. other pieces of information. Having more details on this could help me pass along suggested improvements for the site.

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@Anonymous 

I don't understand why ebay doesn't want to acknowledge to the buyer the actual date shipped.......or the date the seller says it will ship.   I think, at least some sellers,  prefer to print a label in advance to avoid possible last minute problems with the printing process.   It's a misrepresentation to the buyer to equate the printing date with the shipping date, if the seller has specified a later shipping date. However, I do understand that Ebay probably thinks the possibly earlier label creation date is more attractive to show to the buyer......

However........it is a pain to some sellers........  if a package is running late, I want to look back at what date I shipped it......the date the label created is immaterial to me........ And would, in fact, give a false impression if I created the label on Fri  but didn't ship until Tues...because of the holiday.  Then I've got to stop and figure out WHY I shipped so late.    As far as I can see, the only way to tell the actual shipping date is by clicking on the tracking # to see PO acceptance date. 

Having thought this over, more than I had at the time of the post..........what I would actually prefer is the actual PO acceptance date to show on the Paid/Shipped page or the shipping label page.  THAT would immediately alert sellers to a problem if none shows, tho they have dropped off a package......and would provide immediate info as to how long the package has been in route, so that buyers could be alerted to possible delivery problems.   Ebay has that info since they judge whether a package has been mailed within the handling time, but whether it could be plugged in on either the Paid/shipped or Shipping label pages, I don't know.

Thanks for your consideration........

[Anonymous]

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@go-bad-chicken wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

---

@dhbookds wrote:

The shipping date is becoming ludicrous........

I printed a label today 5/24, changing the mailing date to 5/26 (Tues)

 At the top  of Order details page shows mailed 5/24, expected delivery 6/1

In teeny tiny letters on the label (just under the barcode) Estimated Delivery date 5/28 (2 days to PA to Fl) is shown on the label.  It only shows on priority labels not lst class.

@Anonymous 

Item #124165285858       why doesn't the order detail page show the date I specified for mailing  (5/26) instead of the date I printed the label??.........If I have to go back and look for the label by date.....that's going to throw me off.........

I thought maybe I hadn't "updated" after choosing 5/26, but just did another label and made sure........same result.

---

Hi @dhbookds, the label flow asks for the date you intend to ship for the benefit of the courier, not for eBay. For us, when the label is printed we consider the process of shipment to have begun. Your buyer is notified that a label has been printed, the estimated delivery date is still based on your shipping method, handling time, and location of both parties, so the date you print vs. the date you state to the courier that you plan to ship would not have an impact on what is shown to your buyer. 

Can you elaborate on your process to help me understand how this might throw you off? What situation do you run into where you are sorting by the date you stated you would ship vs. other pieces of information. Having more details on this could help me pass along suggested improvements for the site.

---

So if I am reading your above statement correctly. "so the date you print......would have an impact on what is shown to your buyer."  Do I understand this correctly?

If that is the case it would be to the benefit of sellers NOT to print their postage labels for sales made during the weekend or over holiday weekends until the next actual business day in which they actually intend to ship those orders.

i.e. I should not print my postage labels for sales made over this current Memorial Day weekend until tomorrow morning Tuesday March 26, 2020, in order for me the seller to attain the best possible ETAs shown to my buyers.

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Hi @go-bad-chicken, if you refer to the unedited version of my post, you will see that I specifically said printing a label will have no impact on what is shown to your buyer. I went on to outline all the information that a buyer is shown that is unchanged and unaffected by printing a label. There is no reason to wait to print a label if you do not want to. The estimated delivery date that you are referencing is in no way impacted, influenced, or calculated by when you print the label, as confirmed in my earlier post.

To clarify, it looks like you misunderstood what I stated before. The date you print the label does not impact what is shown to your buyer.