Warning - 1 Day Handling is Becoming the New Default

[tamaralea]

"but you can always change it" and "we'll give you until January to get used to it by removing defects".   It seems like eBay is using every "default" they can find to their favor.  I am not shipping in 1 day, so I'l  just have to remember to make this change, too.

[mr_lincoln]

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@tamaralea wrote:

tamaralea, We’re updating the pre-filled handling time value in the listing flow to 1 day for sellers who consistently ship faster than current defaults.

Hello tamaralea,

In September 2019, eBay will update the pre-filled value in the Handling time field in the eBay listing flows to 1 day. Currently, eBay listing flows are pre-filled with 2 or 3 days.

The 1 day handling time change will be an optional default when you create new listings. You can still select the handling time that works best for you at any time, and we will not change handling times in your existing listings.

We recommend you show a handling time of 1 day or less in your listings as delivery speed is an increasingly important factor in buyers’ purchase decisions, and because you are already shipping most of your shipments in 1 day or less. By reducing your handling time, your listings will be more appealing to buyers looking for a faster delivery.

To allow an opportunity to adjust to a 1 day handling time, we will protect your account from late shipments that are a result of the update. Through January 1, 2020 we will remove defects for a late shipment that are a result of the update. These protections will apply to transactions for listings on eBay.com where a 1 day handling time is stated. Defects will be automatically removed within 1-2 weeks of being received.

Learn more about handling time best practices.

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This just cracks me up when they make these broad brush statements ... on items at or over 1 pound I offer BOTH USPS Parcel Select (2-9 days) and USPS Priority Mail (1-3 days) ... does anyone care to guess which one of those services at least 99% of all Buyers select?  Yep, Parcel Select (2-9) days ... WHY?  Because its cheaper ... because it cheaper ... because its cheaper.  it's all about money NOT delivery time frame.  Seriously, is there anything on the site that people are not willing to wait for if they can get it for less???????? No, not in my opinion ...

[lamber9347]

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@albany_sellers wrote:

Give it time and I am sure they will auto enable all the listing upgrades as well to try and get some extra fees from unsuspecting sellers.

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Agreed!! I spend more time reviewing my listings for sneaky auto enabling than I do actually writing my listings... I don't mind the money grabbing tactics because they are a business and I don't mind all the fees because so far I have a choice as to which ones I choose to use. I do however have an issue with the sneaky auto checking that seems to somehow secretly arise in my listings....

[bigdeals.etc]

Attention everyone who generally ships quicker than their advertised handling time and those who are thinking you are safe if you just raise your handling to 2 days... ebay will shorten the ETA shown to the buyer to compensate.

In other words, ebay will judge if you've been shipping too quickly and tell this to the buyer thus making your handling time totally irrelevant. It is all explained here in the 2nd paragraph of message 71 that Trinton stated in this post https://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/Community-Chat-Jan-16-from-1-00-pm-PT-Gene...

Many sellers already know about this dumb function as it doesn't allow sellers to control their own shipment times. Ebay will override it and hold you accountable with the buyers. They are currently doing it to me for quite some time now for most of my listings. I wasn't even able to take a couple days vacation when I raised my handling time to a few days. Ebay knew I "always ship in 1 day or same day" and adjusted the ETA to buyers to reflect that 1 day handling time I "normally do".

[dazzlecity]

Got the same message - I too had changed my shipping to 2 days well over a year ago. With hundreds of small items sometimes an item is misplaced and that extra day gave me some breathing room.  I do strive for 1 days shipping but life gets in the way sometimes.  I don't sell the cure for cancer so there's no life threatening situation that would ever demand 1 days shipping.  In the summers when it's 118 degrees here I treasure those days when I don't HAVE to go out. My mailman would never dream of picking up my mail at my house - rural horse property - mailbox far from house and can't just leave those items way out at the curb.  I'm really curious if this was one last parting shot out the door for you know who.

[chapeau-noir]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

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@tamaralea wrote:

tamaralea, We’re updating the pre-filled handling time value in the listing flow to 1 day for sellers who consistently ship faster than current defaults.

Hello tamaralea,

In September 2019, eBay will update the pre-filled value in the Handling time field in the eBay listing flows to 1 day. Currently, eBay listing flows are pre-filled with 2 or 3 days.

The 1 day handling time change will be an optional default when you create new listings. You can still select the handling time that works best for you at any time, and we will not change handling times in your existing listings.

We recommend you show a handling time of 1 day or less in your listings as delivery speed is an increasingly important factor in buyers’ purchase decisions, and because you are already shipping most of your shipments in 1 day or less. By reducing your handling time, your listings will be more appealing to buyers looking for a faster delivery.

To allow an opportunity to adjust to a 1 day handling time, we will protect your account from late shipments that are a result of the update. Through January 1, 2020 we will remove defects for a late shipment that are a result of the update. These protections will apply to transactions for listings on eBay.com where a 1 day handling time is stated. Defects will be automatically removed within 1-2 weeks of being received.

Learn more about handling time best practices.

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This just cracks me up when they make these broad brush statements ... on items at or over 1 pound I offer BOTH USPS Parcel Select (2-9 days) and USPS Priority Mail (1-3 days) ... does anyone care to guess which one of those services at least 99% of all Buyers select?  Yep, Parcel Select (2-9) days ... WHY?  Because its cheaper ... because it cheaper ... because its cheaper.  it's all about money NOT delivery time frame.  Seriously, is there anything on the site that people are not willing to wait for if they can get it for less???????? No, not in my opinion ...

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I keep finding that parcel select is only about a nickle cheaper than priority.  Before the dimensional changes parcel select was a great alternative because I could ship over 36" aggregate package (which I did fairly regularly) without a balloon charge and then it was definitely the best cheaper option.  Now it's all expensive and I lug the big stuff into the post office to get the regular old parcel post ground. 

[chapeau-noir]

And you're right - buyers will definitely prefer cheaper over more expensive - I just hope the USPS doesn't slap that new dimensional calculation on their counter rates, too.  I sometimes wonder if all this blah-de-blah about "table stakes", shipping in 2 minutes and the rest of it is just a lot of marketing hoo-hah, and given the choice buyers don't mind waiting a few days for a better deal.

This whole thing is frustrating because I often sell bicycle wheels and the like which are large but relatively light packages.

[dasarock]

ebay will likely set this 1 day handling time to be a "glitch" in bulk edit also so that every listing gets changed when you use bulk edit.  not every use of bulk edit, but randomly as the other bulk edit glitches now work.  

ebay do not ASSUME YOU KNOW WHAT SELLERS NEED!  don't be what the first 3 letters of assume insinuate.  sellers set handling times that work for them, their listings and stores, and their unique circumstances.  NO 2 sellers here are exactly the same!

[ersatz_sobriquet]

I sell collectibles/antiques and changed my handling time to 4-5 days last year when I saw ebay was guaranteeing delivery times of my items, something I know USPS does not do, as it is all based on estimates. It made me angry as I think it is false advertising, and I do not like ebay adjusting any settings that should rightfully be mine to decide. So I took my control back and extended my handling time, and I don't regret it. 

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

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@ekmadonna wrote:

I received the same message. Just because I historically ship in 24hrs or less does not give them the right to DECIDE for me that all my new listings from here on out will be changed from MY CHOSEN 2-3 Day handling time to 1 DAY. I chose not to opt into Guaranteed Delivery for a reason, I always ship within 24hrs but if I need to take up to 2 days to ship an order due to illness, family matters or vacation or any other reason I see fit I WANT THAT CHOICE! Just another in the long string of policies and updates trying to wrest control of OUR BUSINESSES away from us! No Thanks

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I absolutely agree. How DARE they.

[thekozz7]

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@bigdeals.etc wrote:

In other words, ebay will judge if you've been shipping too quickly and tell this to the buyer thus making your handling time totally irrelevant. It is all explained here in the 2nd paragraph of message 71 that Trinton stated in this post https://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/Community-Chat-Jan-16-from-1-00-pm-PT-Gene...

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Here is the 2nd paragraph of message #71:

"While shipping early may offer you a benefit in one-off situations, the estimated delivery date does take into account historical shipping data and continued early shipments may simply result in a change to the estimate provided to your buyers. We look to your handling time and information provided by the courier, but will make adjustments if we find that items are arriving "late" or "early" consistently. I would say that this is a good practice to be in if you have any reason to be concerned with delays, if the buyer specifically called out needing it soon or for other unique situations."

So...a few questions:

1) I ship "same day" 99% of the time, but I chose "one-day-handling" for my listings just in case I need an extra day. So now that I've learned that eBay keeps a history of earlier-than-promised deliveries, will this affect me if I get sick and need that extra day? Will they change the estimated delivery to reflect "same day" on the rare occasion that I need that extra day?

2) Does eBay still give a defect if a package is not scanned within the first 24 hours? I once had a package that not only arrived on time, but it was actually 1-2 days earlier than expected. Yet I still received a defect because someone at USPS didn't scan it until midway thru delivery. The end result didn't seem to matter to eBay. So if I ship something the next day, will they use my historic shipping info and give another defect if it's not scanned within 24 hours?

[southern*sweet*tea]

**general reply**

https://www.dropoff.com/blog/retail-delivery-consumer-survey-shoptalk-2018

"An astonishing 99% of U.S. consumers say ‘fast delivery’ is important to them when making online purchases."

https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/features/trend-watch/consumer-study-63-of-online-shoppers-expect-t...

"40% of shoppers say taking more than two days for delivery would prevent them from making a purchase, while 63% expect delivery within three days as the standard"

https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2018/07/25/how-consumers-view-online-delivery-options/

"MetaPack research has shown that the delivery options consumers encounter determine whether or not they ultimately click on the “buy” button at checkout; half (50%) of the shoppers we surveyed about e-commerce delivery admitted to abandoning online shopping carts because the delivery choices available were unsatisfactory or did not meet their needs.a'

"54% of the over 3,500 consumers we surveyed in the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands and Italy said that delivery defines who they always shop with, and 60% admitted that they bought goods from one online merchant over another because the delivery options were more expedient for their needs."

https://chainstoreage.com/operations/study-consumers-shipping-expectations-higher-ever

"The report confirms that shipping causes shopping cart abandonment. Fifty-four percent of shoppers abandoned their carts due to expensive shipping, while 39% abandoned their carts due to no free shipping. And 26% abandoned their carts due to slow shipping."

https://www.conveyco.com/customer-attitudes-shipping-speeds/

• "7% of abandoned carts were abandoned when the estimated delivery time was three days or less from when the order was placed.
• 15% of abandoned carts were abandoned when the estimated delivery time was four to five days from when the order was placed.
• 15% of abandoned carts were abandoned when the estimated delivery time was six to seven days from when the order was placed.
• Nearly 40% of abandoned carts were abandoned when estimated delivery time hit 8 days from when the order was placed.

The takeaway is clear: Being slow to deliver goods will cost you sales."

Apparently speed of shipping IS important to a lot of people.

Just sayin'...

[chapeau-noir]

Those are interesting statistics and I don't doubt their validity insofar as they go, but they've kept their study cohorts sequestered (free shipping and shipping cost).  The one quoted report that includes both shows that whereas over 50% abandoned their cart over expensive shipping, only a quarter abandoned them due to slow shipping:

"The report confirms that shipping causes shopping cart abandonment. Fifty-four percent of shoppers abandoned their carts due to expensive shipping, while 39% abandoned their carts due to no free shipping. And 26% abandoned their carts due to slow shipping."

IMHO, people tend to be more flexible when their wallets are involved.

ETA: I started offering two-day shipping when my district post office closed (I usually ship in one but not always), but I've never abandoned giving my buyers as good a deal as I can on shipping.

[hotspotauctions]

I ship same or next day, but I refuse to wait in the long line at the local post office, as they closed the next two closest locations, and the place is a nightmare. I was getting dinged, because some things don't get scanned until a day or two later, so I went to 2 day, and all is well.  I have enough problems just finding things people will actually buy without having to deal with the **bleep** here. 

[hurryagain]

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@dasarock wrote:

ebay will likely set this 1 day handling time to be a "glitch" in bulk edit also so that every listing gets changed when you use bulk edit.  not every use of bulk edit, but randomly as the other bulk edit glitches now work.  

ebay do not ASSUME YOU KNOW WHAT SELLERS NEED!  don't be what the first 3 letters of assume insinuate.  sellers set handling times that work for them, their listings and stores, and their unique circumstances.  NO 2 sellers here are exactly the same!

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@dasarock 

...nah...

"Glitches" only happen when it benefits eBay...like the 16,500 free promo listings...that was obviously a glitch and they won't honor such "glitches"...

As to the situation itself...one word...unbelievable...

[fern*wood]

The next thing I can see is ebay tightening the TRS requirements to include 1 day handling if too many of us manually buck this change.