Ebay Sellers Delivery dates:

[jcut6405]

I recently had a purchase, where the seller had a estimated  delivery date which was not met, when I enquired I was informed they were away, and the Ebay ad had been flagged.

I looked at the Ad and yes there was a small print note high on the left hand corner of the ad, whilst the estimated delivery date was clearly evident in bold large print. below the item for sale

As a result I cancelled the order as instead of having to wait 7 days to receive it would have been 30 days.

This was an annoying waste of my time.

Why does Ebay allow absent sellers to list and item for sale with an Estimated delivery date prominently shown, when the seller has no intention of meeting this delivery time.

Why is a seller even allowed to list on Ebay at a time when they are away and cannot despatch the goods as advertised on the Ebay site.

I believe Ebay needs to have a look at this practice, if they wish to retain their buyers.

[springyzone]

I think jcut has a valid point.

No matter how many banners and flags are waving across an ad, there was an estimated delivery date shown and it is downright wrong. That's not good enough.

I'm not blaming the seller but I do think if a seller uses the "away' banner, then some sort of ebay computer program should be linked to that, to estimate the due delivery FROM then. That is what is needed. It is up to ebay to provide it.

It makes no sense at all at the moment for a banner to advise the seller is away, yet the delivery date shows something else.

I don't even believe a seller should have to adjust their delivery time out-there should be an auto function so that any seller using the banner has to insert a return date & their normal delivery frame will then apply.

A lot of sellers here seem dead against the ETA being applied to purchases.

I understand they are ebay estimates and sometimes they are too hopeful. However, I think there does have to be some estimated delivery date or date range shown. Consumers are entitled to know that. Just a few years back before the present system was introduced,  quite a few sellers took their own sweet time, often stretching towards the 2 week mark before they bothered to post out anything. It was annoying. I've noticed things have tightened up a lot since the ETA's came in. A lot.

Have a think about other online buying sites. Just about every one that i can think of & use, they will give you an indication of their posting time. They don't guarantee a delivery date, but they guarantee a postage/handling time & let me just say, most are extremely quick off the mark. That's the market ebay is now competing in.

If you bought from any online site & they gave no indication of time frame & you didn't receive anything for 1, 2, 3, 4 weeks, wouldn't you start to feel uncertain? That's how ebay used to be.

I know some folks here will say-we can give a postage time but we can't guarantee a delivery date, that's out of our hands.
True. But ebay's problem is so many sellers prefer to post in envelopes without tracking. Ebay could certainly swing to a system where instead of a delivery date, sellers had to guarantee a lodgement date with proof of tracking. In fact i suspect they would like to see everything with tracking.

[*tippy*toes*]

You're really not getting it, are you?

[enigmabear]

It would be like a person going to a shop who have their trading hours printed on their window/door

'open Monday- Saturday 9am-5pm'

BUT they also have a sign on the door saying Closed from Dec 24 - Jan 2nd for Christmas/ New year

The person goes to the store between those dates KNOWING they are closed for Christmas and saying

"Their trading hours say they are open Monday to Friday"  that other sign means nothing, the refuse to open and serve me so I am complaining to Fair Trading

[daydreams_12]

I sorta think a few party lists here.

[wide-world-of-stamps]

It would be great if everything had tracking. 

However, would you pay $4 extra for registered post when buying an item costing under $10?  We wouldn't, & neither would most of our buyers. 

Many sellers would have to stop selling completely & lost what little income they make from this site. Not ideal, but just the way it is.

[enigmabear]

And that is when the AP system does actually update the tracking as and when it should, which is not always the case

And then there are those times the tracking just shows the item is going round and round in the black hole of Sunshine or Chullora mails centers .....................................

[springyzone]

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@aujoh_4llpe wrote:

It would be great if everything had tracking. 

However, would you pay $4 extra for registered post when buying an item costing under $10?  We wouldn't, & neither would most of our buyers. 

Many sellers would have to stop selling completely & lost what little income they make from this site. Not ideal, but just the way it is.

---

nope, I wouldn't. And that's why ebay has to have estimated delivery dates-because many items don't have tracking.

If you buy from almost any other online buying site, there will be notifications of postage and estimated delivery times.

[springyzone]

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@enigmabear wrote:

It would be like a person going to a shop who have their trading hours printed on their window/door

'open Monday- Saturday 9am-5pm'

BUT they also have a sign on the door saying Closed from Dec 24 - Jan 2nd for Christmas/ New year

The person goes to the store between those dates KNOWING they are closed for Christmas and saying

"Their trading hours say they are open Monday to Friday"  that other sign means nothing, the refuse to open and serve me so I am complaining to Fair Trading

---

I don't know about anyone else but I have sometimes fronted up to a shop, expecting it to be open, and seeing the closed sign.

Maybe they had a notice earlier about it but I'd missed it, & it can be frustrating.

The main thing here on ebay is the fact it could cause confusion.

A seller might well have a banner that says they are away and may not respond to messages, but if a delievry date is showing, new buyers may well imagine that it still applies.

I don't think  anything that causes buyer uncertainty is a good thing. 

 if ebay could put some system in place so that sellers who put the away notice in place could have all sale delivery dates pushed back till after the return date, it would make it easier on sellers & buyers.

[imastawka]

Sellers get a defect for missing that delivery date.

It's in your own best interests to blow out your handling time to cover the time away.

Does ebay have to do everybody's thinking for them?  What does ebay care?

[enigmabear]

OP has been on ebay since 2014 so not a newbie