Frustrated with EDDs

[wastingtime101]

Just a vent - skip this one if that annoys you.

I'm frustrated with eBay EDDs (estimated delivery dates).

I offer 1 biz day shipping on most items. All my sales coming in today, Fri Nov 22 are scheduled to ship Mon Nov 25.

I do not ship on Saturdays. I do not have Saturday set as a working day.

While I will ship an occasional item same day if the order comes in after midnight and I'm finishing outgoing packages early the next AM, it's not a habit of mine to ship same day so that should not be a factor here in eBay using "historical" handling time.

Nearly everything goes out next day (or 2nd day for some categories). eBay has no valid reason to tell my buyers placing orders today, Friday, that they should expect to receive their package on Monday.

Some of these packages have quite a distance to travel and since Thursday is a holiday they are not likely to receive those items until next Friday at the earliest. Buyers living closer may get them on Wednesday.

At the Nov 14 Seller Check In the eBay shipping team strongly emphasized how diligently they are working on EDDs and I can say with honesty I believe that because I see how EDDs will be cushioned during weather events, etc. It's clear to me eBay actively monitors and makes adjustments.

But today? Something is amiss with EDDs today and it's frustrating as we're in the midst of holiday.

I feel like I'm being set up to fail and my buyers are being set up for disappointment. We all know buyers lean on that first day of the EDD window and tend to ignore the last day.

/end rant

[12345jamesstamps]

'being set up to fail'....sounds about right.

I am in the mist of this storm on the west coast...tell me...would you go out in bad weather so a buyer gets next day shipping? I am talking about the dangers of you as a seller entering the unknown weather in a car or walking.

Where I live when the rain hits a lot and some trees unexpectedly might  fall...not because of wind.

I can't drive because I use a motorcycle.

I just don't get this 1 business day shipping. The weather can get nasty sometimes.

[wastingtime101]

In the midst of weather like that I use the Time Away setting which extends my handling time so venturing out or worrying about whether the carrier will pick up is not a factor.

[robbie31415]

EDD's are always horrible

I even put a disclaimer in my description with expected by service.

eBay gives the same EDD range for Expedited that it does for Economy.

Sometimes eBay gives my Economy (free) FASTER EDD than both my Standard and Expedited options. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?

Anyways, I completely ignore EDD's now.

They can't even get sending a package to Hawaii, or Alaska, PR correct with Ground Advantage. Quoting 5 Days.

Sorry I added my rant to your rant. Hope you don't mind.

[wastingtime101]

I hope everyone will add their EDD rant. There are some definite pain points with the process.

[bennotbill]

Much the same in the UK. Numerous posts about 2nd class mail showing as faster than 1st class mail. Posts with 1st, 2nd, and Special Delivery with the same EDD. A buyer would obviously think why pay for expensive next day Special Delivery when cheap 2nd class is showing as just as fast.

One oddity that no one could figure out - a seller saw, with the items they were selling, a mans clothing item had an EDD a day faster than an item of woman's clothing. Even though both items had identical delivery services.

[ebooksdiva]

I have 2 defects on my account right now saying 2 items were not uploaded and validated but they both they were scanned by the carrier as picked up. Both of those packages were shipped and scanned November 16th. No movement since. 
I find it appalling that eBay holds sellers accountable for what the post office doesn't do.

[wastingtime101]

Oh, you're fine on those @ebooksdiva - they'll drop off before the Dec 20th eval. Check this thread for a response from eBay.

[ebooksdiva]

Really? Well I am currently on the phone with eBay giving them a piece of my mind lol 

ETA...they are supposedly creating a ticket for the "bug" the agent called it. 

[wastingtime101]

No need to waste your time with that. 🙂 It's an issue eBay is already aware of and in the process of resolving.

[ebooksdiva]

I was already on the phone when I saw your reply.

[wastingtime101]

Ooooh I think there must have been a tech error earlier because orders as of about an hour and a half ago now show better EDDs.

Ship by Mon Nov 25, EDD starts at the normal (short) 2 day window Nov 27-X.

(Although there's still no possibility of packages shipped Ground Adv to make it to zone 7 in 2 days when shipping to a neighboring town takes 2 days. 🙄)

So glad eBay fixed that madness. Thank you, eBay.

Though there are still EDD issues which we can continue to discuss for anybody struggling with them. For example, what @robbie31415 mentioned above and @iamalwaysright posted about here:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Ebay-is-so-stupid-here/m-p/34752506#M2478447

and others posted about here:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/eBay-displays-same-estimated-delivery-window-to-buyers-for-USP...

Where Ground and Priority and even Express (!) are showing the same EDDs which is giving a muddy picture to buyers trying to make an informed decision.

[wastingtime101]

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@bennotbill wrote:

One oddity that no one could figure out - a seller saw, with the items they were selling, a mans clothing item had an EDD a day faster than an item of woman's clothing. Even though both items had identical delivery services.

---

You know I would have been all over that mystery. Was it recent @bennotbill ?

[buyselljack2016]

My latest (and other for that matter) always show the buyer an unrealistic EDD. Generally, one day after my required ship date.  Unlike you, I bring that upon myself as I 'historically" ship earlier, but still a bit unrealistic.

Only consolation is that when I print the label the "Estimated delivery date shown to buyer" then extends out and is a bit more realistic, but I really don't expect it to meet the early estimated date of Monday. Thing is the buyer saw something different when they paid. Buyer is likely fixated on "that" date.

Just eBay wanting everything to look like a "bowl of cherries" to the buyer and then smack us down for not meeting eBay's fantasy estimates.

[iamalwaysright]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

I hope everyone will add their EDD rant. There are some definite pain points with the process.

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I'm just going to leave these here to discuss. Each screenshot is from two different accounts. Today is 11/22 and I'm in a non-remote west coast region. I have 2 day handling on both accounts. Both screenshots were taken less than an hour ago.

This ETA up top is from west coast to Los Angeles, aka local. Ebay decides to tell the buyer that (because of my 2 day handling), the package will take NEGATIVE ONE DAY at the very soonest to arrive to them. And at the very latest it will take 1 day. As @wastingtime101 said, lately it's been taking USPS 2 days for a package to even be delivered to your neighbor.

For this one up top I made the destination zip code in the heart of Manhattan New York (west to east coast). Again 2 day handling. Ebay gives the earliest ETA date which will give the package a travel time of NEGATIVE ONE DAY to ZERO DAYS. If you're in the business of giving unrealistic dates to hide under semantics of "beginning date range", then why not just put the first date as the same date the order was made? That would totally draw more buyers to buy, right? I.e. Paid for on 11/22, "ETA date between 11/22 - 11/31" lol yes I know there is no 11/31.

With arrival times being a primary factor of why many buyers buy this season, it's like ebay is wishing us to fail rather than just setting us up for it.