If the ad said things are generally posted within 10 days I'd be allowing quite a bit more time than that to post it. Any business with 6 million listings would have fluctuations in their sales and this week they may be able to post within 2 days, but next week they may have ten times the orders they usually get in a week and they could end up taking 2 or 3 weeks to post. If I wanted my items urgently I'd buy elsewhere, but if I didn't need them really urgently and their prices and products and service were otherwise excellent, I'd give them plenty of time to post if I knew they were such a large concern.
I wouldn't expect them to employ extra staff if they had a sudden rush of orders because they might not have room for extra staff running hither and thither, and it might just have the effect of slowing things down rather than speeding them up. It's not always easy to find extra staff at short notice either. I certainly wouldn't expect them to pay extra staff to sit around twiddling their thumbs when business is quiet because I know who'd end up paying for it.
Ebay has trained everyone to expect immediate gratification and I think this is really sad. Just because a business is huge doesn't mean they should be able to get things out faster than say a medium sized business. The bigger the business, the bigger the fluctuations they're likely to have in their weekly sales. I'm lucky, I walk to the post office every day to collect my mail so I don't have to make a special effort to post every day, but a lot of people spend a fortune in petrol just to go to the post office in case a buyer gets unhappy if they wait till they're going near the post office for something else in a couple of days' time. Many times I've told a seller to just post when they're going to or near the post office anyway and that I would never mark them down for postage time if they post within a week. I only add the last bit in case they think it's okay if they take a month to post. For small sellers there is life (or should be) apart from ebay and I don't expect them to spend $2 on petrol to get my $5 item posted within a day. Apart from anything else, having all those cars on the road just for a trip to the post office doesn't help the environment!
I'll get off my soapbox now. 
I know I've had my grumble
, but if they do post within a couple of days, I'll be fair enough. I won't ding anything.
If they take much longer than that though, I will.
I don't really care if a business is big or small. I probably have more sympathy for a small business as there may be only one person operating and if they have some crisis, of course it could affect the operation. I would have leeway in that situation. A big company though has employees and things should even out.
One of the star ratings though is based on how the buyer finds their postage and handling. A company that takes up to 10 days is acceptable, one that constantly leaves it till then or later to post is sticking their neck out a bit though, I would have thought. I certainly don't see it as 5 star service. 10 days may be within their stated frame but I would see their postage & handling to be 4 stars at most.
If they leave it eg 3-4 weeks, I would see that as one star service because it would be longer than their stated time and longer than just about any other sellers. And I daresay most other buyers are the same. In fact I know so.
