Handling time & ranking

[saarzi]

Does having FOUR days or more, over the "Excessive" alert,  postal handling time affect your ranking in search?

[collect247]

I don't know about ranking but it does give you a better chance of the item arriving before ebays estimated dates.

[digital*ghost]

A short handling time is among eBay's "best practices" list, which are usually meant to influence best match rankings in some way, but like pretty much everything, user experience doesn't always match the info from eBay... 😄 (eg most sellers will tell you when they switch to free post, or adjust listings to qualify for premium service etc, or anything else that's supposed to either boost rankings, or lower them, they've not noticed any real difference). 

Handling time really now only affects the buyer's initial expectations when they make the purchase decision, as eBay will adjust it based on when it's marked as shipped. 

[*tippy*toes*]

My handling time is 5 days, which I set to fatten out the estimate a bit. Are you saying that it doesn't do that any more? Should I post within 24 hours like I normally do but not mark as posted for a few days? I know that if I post with tracking within my handling time, if someone defects me for postage time, eBay will remove it (twice so far, one because I posted within 30 minutes of sale and payment), so I don't need to worry about that.

OP, my sales didn't seem to be affected too much from when I changed from a 1 day handling time to 5 days. I run auctions though, so not sure if that makes a difference or not. I had a carp couple of weeks recently, but the last few days things have got a move on again.

[saarzi]

So Ebay adjusts estimated shipping to the date its marked as shipped, not the sale date?  if so, where can you see where its been adjusted - in the item listing or elsewhere?  Ive never noticed before...

I have three days handling for all my listings, but estimated shipping time still says delivered within 5 days... I guess EBay counts it differently to me, post in Australia certainly isnt over night.

[digital*ghost]

Actually, I don't even know anymore   Sorry - I shouldn't have been so matter of fact in my previous post - it was a notion I got from reading various sources re: ETAs (eBay, ecommercebytes) and about how eBay adjust the timeframe based on a few different factors (eg they will adjust to all buyers in certain areas - from a particular seller - if items are reaching certain areas faster than their original ETA, so if you have a 3 day handling time, ship same day most of the time, and every buyer who's ever bought from you located in Sydney always has their packages 3 days later, eBay will shorten the ETA they show to buyers in Sydney when they look at your listings). 

I have a handling time of 2 days, so someone in my own state usually gets an ETA of 3 or more business days. Friday of last week, I processed a label via eBay to someone in my state, the same day they purchased, and then noticed the ETA for that buyer was the following Monday. (You can check the ETA for a specific purchase by viewing the order details). I wasn't officially "due" to post until Monday, so the ETA should have been Tuesday at the earliest. (When I look at the listing now, obviously being in the same location, it's giving me an ETA of Tuesday, 20th, so my buyer purchased 1 day later in the week, and got an ETA of 1 day earlier - could be because I used a different, trackable service, though, rather than just marked as posted with no tracking number. 

But, I've just checked some of my more recent orders, shipped out today via normal post (no tracking etc), and the ETA appears to still include my handling time, so.... I have no idea  

[*tippy*toes*]

I'm in NSW and posted 2 items today. One was to an address about 2.5hrs away, the other was for Far North Qld. The ETA's were both the same.- 22nd to 28th October. Both bought last night and paid immediately. I posted another item to FNQ last week (not quite as far up as today's) and it arrived in 4 business days. I didn't have to sign the safe to fly declaration, so I can only assume it was sent by road.

[englishrosegardens]

I checked this a little while ago and if my memory serves me correctly the estimated delivery date stayed the same regardless of when you posted, ie. it was based on when they paid. But this is ebay and things change overnight, and I'd never expect them to be consistent! I just checked three sales from this week - the one to NT says no estimate available; the one to Maryborough in Qld says delivery on 16th to 23rd (paid on 13th); the one to the opposite side of Victoria (I'm west, they're east, both over 2 hours from Melb) says 20th to 21st (paid on 14th). They've allowed 4 days (6 days minus the weekend) to the same state but only 3 days to Qld. I know some places in Victoria can easily take 4 days but neither of them allow anything for my handling time (I think it's 2 days).

[justajunk]

Wow. That looks A LOT different to what a recall the drop-down menu looking like last time I checked.

I'm pretty sure it used to state "Exceptional" as opposed to "Excessive".

I also don't recall an option for more than 10 days handling time. 30, wow. I suppose though that quoting that high may become necessary when eBay starts encouraging buyers to defect their sellers for late delivery.