eBay

mixmansc · ‎08-16-2019

So I noticed when I bought a couple of items the other day that both showed "Guaranteed Delivery by Fri Aug 16". I actually took a screenshot. Now today it says "Guaranteed Delivery by Mon Aug 19".

Both items were bought and paid for with immediate payment. The first screen shot did not state anything about if they had shipped.

It just rubs me wrong that I was "Guaranteed" delivery by today and now I'm "Guaranteed" delivery by Monday. It cannot be both and I just feel that changing that date is somewhat disingenuous. If the date is subject to change than it was never really "guaranteed" to begin with and the term is really just a flat out lie if it can be changed.

Maybe I'm just not sure how the program works as a buyer though. Regardless - if it was never guaranteed by the date it shows to begin with than it should never say that it was. I also just noted that the emails are HTML that pull data from the website (the same way and item is ending soon email actually counts down and will change to ended) so now the emails are even changed. This is pretty misleading. Going by the change I could not even claim late delivery unless something gets delivered after whatever arbitrary date it gets ultimately changed to.

Also of note - the one items does still show today but I will wager that it will not get here today. I also am right in a major metro area so no odd rural delivery issues or anything like that.

From 08/14

alseyf-73 · ‎08-16-2019

Guaranteed delivery Fri, Aug 16

Guaranteed delivery Tue, Aug 20

Guaranteed delivery Fri, Aug 16 - Thu, Aug 29

@Anonymous

kristinawilliam · ‎08-16-2019

Yep, seems to be a known problem (or feature, who knows with ebay these days.)

Anonymous · ‎08-16-2019

@mixmansc wrote:

So I noticed when I bought a couple of items the other day that both showed "Guaranteed Delivery by Fri Aug 16". I actually took a screenshot. Now today it says "Guaranteed Delivery by Mon Aug 19".

Both items were bought and paid for with immediate payment. The first screen shot did not state anything about if they had shipped.

It just rubs me wrong that I was "Guaranteed" delivery by today and now I'm "Guaranteed" delivery by Monday. It cannot be both and I just feel that changing that date is somewhat disingenuous. If the date is subject to change than it was never really "guaranteed" to begin with and the term is really just a flat out lie if it can be changed.

Maybe I'm just not sure how the program works as a buyer though. Regardless - if it was never guaranteed by the date it shows to begin with than it should never say that it was. I also just noted that the emails are HTML that pull data from the website (the same way and item is ending soon email actually counts down and will change to ended) so now the emails are even changed. This is pretty misleading. Going by the change I could not even claim late delivery unless something gets delivered after whatever arbitrary date it gets ultimately changed to.

Also of note - the one items does still show today but I will wager that it will not get here today. I also am right in a major metro area so no odd rural delivery issues or anything like that.

From 08/14

Thank you for sharing these details, @mixmansc. I've passed this along to the appropriate teams for review and will let you know if we need anything else to investigate this further.

klhmdg · ‎08-16-2019

As a seller the “guaranteed delivery “ rubs me the wrong way too.

Buyers assume that it is a real “guarantee “ and that sellers have some sway over when the item will arrive and tend to blame the seller when it changes or does not.

This is all eBay. I have noticed it was not including sellers handeling times or time the PO was not open. So once the seller uploads the tracking then the day changes. Also if the shipping company has it scheduled later, then it changes.

It was a nice idea by eBay but seldom worked and the blame was placed on the seller

klhmdg • Volunteer Community Mentor

Anonymous · ‎08-16-2019

@klhmdg wrote:

As a seller the “guaranteed delivery “ rubs me the wrong way too.

Buyers assume that it is a real “guarantee “ and that sellers have some sway over when the item will arrive and tend to blame the seller when it changes or does not.

This is all eBay. I have noticed it was not including sellers handeling times or time the PO was not open. So once the seller uploads the tracking then the day changes. Also if the shipping company has it scheduled later, then it changes.

It was a nice idea by eBay but seldom worked and the blame was placed on the seller

Hi @klhmdg, happy to clarify that this is a real guarantee. This guarantee is backed with certain protections, such as financial compensation, in much the same way as how most businesses/services provide a "Satisfaction Guarantee". Though it may be objectively impossible to guarantee another person's emotions, you can guarantee compensation if there is an issue related to what is being guaranteed.

eBay offers a Guaranteed Delivery date that we will back with some form of compensation for the buyer and additional protections for the seller that they would not otherwise have. The term Guaranteed Delivery is referring to the terms of the Guarantee we offer - Delivery by a certain date, or we will ensure certain protections. You could compare this to how we offer the eBay Money Back Guarantee, but sometimes a buyer did not use money to pay for their purchase (ie. eBay Bucks). While it is not money in the strictest sense, the spirit of the program is compensation if you don't receive what you ordered. If anyone has questions or concerns about the specifics of one of our programs, the details can be found on the eBay site.

While the estimated delivery date may change based on the current status of the shipment, accounting for delays or other issues, the Guaranteed Delivery date should not be updating. I'm going to work with the OP to get to the bottom of this and take appropriate action, I just wanted to clear up any confusion that may have arisen from the usage of the word guarantee that you may frequently see on our site, other online retailers, or in physical locations.

klhmdg · ‎08-16-2019

Thank you Trinton,

As a seller I removed the “guarantee “ after being berated and given a neutral review because my shipping guarantee changed and the item was “late” according to the buyer.

The buyers hold the seller accountable for the eBay guarantee and they think the seller is at fault.

Thank you for the response

klhmdg • Volunteer Community Mentor

mixmansc · ‎08-16-2019

I should also note for the sellers out there..... I used to own a company and we sold a good bit many years ago (we were even the top in the consumer electronics category and were invited by eBay and went to a seller summit at the Bellagio in vegas). Also interacted with and left feedback with the long ago famous skippy test account. If you want a laugh and see some amusing feedback check that out. LOL That being said, I very much understand your end of things. I'd never leave a neg or neutral feedback against a seller for taking an extra day to ship.

I was more confounded that a supposed "guaranteed" date could somehow be changed. That very ability makes the guaranteed date invalid and pointless.

Also as I had mentioned. Neither item arrived today just as I had predicted. USPS does show the one with a tracking number expected tomorrow. The other seller has not uploaded a tracking number so that one still says guaranteed by today and it is nearly 8pm so that is not going to happen.

Anonymous · ‎08-16-2019

@klhmdg wrote:

Thank you Trinton,

As a seller I removed the “guarantee “ after being berated and given a neutral review because my shipping guarantee changed and the item was “late” according to the buyer.

The buyers hold the seller accountable for the eBay guarantee and they think the seller is at fault.

Thank you for the response

Hi @klhmdg, if you received a neutral feedback related to a Guaranteed Delivery sale, we can review and remove this for you as a part of the protections available specifically for Guaranteed Delivery items. We would need to review the feedback within 90 days of the date of the sale so we have access to all of the details. Additionally, there is no way to remove your listings from this Guarantee - any item that qualifies will show the Guaranteed Delivery notice to your buyer and be eligible for protections. While there was a time where a seller could opt out of Fast 'N Free notices in their listings, the option to opt out was removed last year when we made the decision to Guarantee any eligible listings. The related announcement can be reviewed here.

alseyf-73 · ‎08-16-2019

@alseyf-73 wrote:
Guaranteed delivery Fri, Aug 16

Guaranteed delivery Tue, Aug 20

Guaranteed delivery Fri, Aug 16 - Thu, Aug 29

@Anonymous

Seems Lithium will only display these forum images to Firefox/Waterfox; why is that?

Notice that the final version of this Guaranteed Delivery covers 14 calendar days, Aug 16 to Aug 29.

Anonymous · ‎08-16-2019

@alseyf-73 wrote:

@alseyf-73 wrote:

Guaranteed delivery Fri, Aug 16

Guaranteed delivery Tue, Aug 20

Guaranteed delivery Fri, Aug 16 - Thu, Aug 29

@Anonymous

Seems Lithium will only display these forum images to Firefox/Waterfox; why is that?

Notice that the final version of this Guaranteed Delivery covers 14 calendar days, Aug 16 to Aug 29.

Hi @alseyf-73, the photos in this post are uploaded to a hidden folder; you can edit the folder settings or re-upload the images if you would like (though I am able to see them myself and can pass along the details to our tech teams).

mixmansc · ‎08-17-2019

So the wire that I ordered did come in today. Of course I cannot get my five bucks by reporting late delivery since it was CHANGED. Since the date was changed it is now technically early instead of late. Seems like a convenient way to get out of having to send buyers five bucks.

The data saver item did not come in this morning so that will not get here until probably Monday or Tuesday if the seller used FedEx "Home" as they do not deliver on Mondays.

So this bit might be helpful for the eBay backend developers (the programmers who write the code). Curiously the date on that item is still showing as yesterday. So that gives me a theory as to what triggers the supposed "Guaranteed" date to change. My thinking is that is changes when a seller adds a tracking number and eBay then queries the carrier for tracking info. The eBay system then automatically updates the "Guaranteed" by date to whatever the carrier tracking indicated. Just my thinking but I suspect that is what is happening. The back end code uses the same data field for the delivery date for both "Estimated" and "Guaranteed" delivery by and that gets changed based on the carrier tracking information, if available. What should actually be the case is if the item listing page shows a buyer a "Guaranteed" by date is that should be static and not changeable as long as the buyer purchases and pays with an instant payment within a set amount of time. That date on a listing page is based on the buyers zip code, the shipping method selected by the seller, the handling time indicated by the seller, and known transit times for the shipping method. That field should then populate to the "My eBay" purchase history page as a static entry that cannot change. The "Estimated" and "Guaranteed" by dates need to be separate data fields that the backend populates to that. Specifically it is in the div class="delivery-date" field which is getting changed in the My Ebay Purchase History page. Devs will understand more as that div is buried under a ton of other ones within the table data (td) elements and the code that the div calls is also quite deep.

fern*wood · ‎08-17-2019

I posted earlier, but still don't understand the guaranteed delivery. Why do items show guaranteed on the listing and shipping tabs to my zip, and only change to estimated after I pay? I was told the guarantee can't apply until I pay to be sure where it's to be shipped to. I understand it changing, if I opt to have my item shipped elsewhere, but I don't understand this if my zip is the same as the one my postage is calculated with. How does any buyer know before buying that the guarantee will apply?

rdoffer · ‎08-17-2019

The same thing just recently happened to me. Hopefully Ebay will fix this issue. My item did show up the day after the guaranteed date (Which had now changed to show a later delivery date) so it wasn't that big of a deal but something does seem dishonest about the date changing, seems as though this may be happening all to frequent and Ebay is paying out more than they expected and this is the result.

alseyf-73 · ‎08-17-2019

@mixmansc wrote:
So the wire that I ordered did come in today. Of course I cannot get my five bucks by reporting late delivery since [the guaranteed delivery date] was CHANGED.

The data saver item did not come in this morning

You can get your five bucks on the no-tracking Guaranteed Delivery Aug 16 data saver item now, before it arrives.

@mixmansc wrote:
My thinking is that is [the guaranteed delivery date] changes when a seller adds a tracking number and eBay then queries the carrier for tracking info. The eBay system then automatically updates the "Guaranteed" by date to whatever the carrier tracking indicated. Just my thinking but I suspect that is what is happening.

But wondering why querying the carrier (see Tracking Number below) can cause a range of guaranteed delivery dates in the ORDER UPDATE (previously known as the SHIPPED) email. And how does a Guaranteed Delivery (see below) spanning 14 days, Aug 16 to Aug 29, even make sense?