I’ve just stumbled across the new delivery estimate information for sellers on Yumbles, the marketplace for foodies.
Yumbles say that “The estimated delivery date is an important part of online ordering for customers – at checkout it helps assure them whether the items they’d like to order can be delivered in time, and once ordered it gives them a good idea as to when to expect the delivery and make arrangements as needed so that they can receive it“. This is of course even more crucial for food deliveries where missed deliveries could mean the products have deteriorated if they’re left hanging about in a delivery depot for days on end.
Yumbles calculate delivery by considering:
- The number of days you need to fulfill the order and dispatch
- The cutoff time for orders within the above dispatch times.
- The days of the week that you dispatch orders on.
- The number of days your chosen delivery service takes to deliver.
- The days of the week your chosen delivery service deliver on
What I found interesting is the ability to edit and update estimated delivery times on the occasion something goes wrong. Yumbles offer the ability to update the estimated delivery date for a particular order and Yumbles will then send a notification email to the customer advising them of the new estimate.
Obviously it’s not desirable to revise delivery dates, especially if it’s for a next day order but Yumbles is a food marketplace and so perhaps more prone to unexpected delays. If you burn the cakes or the hens simply choose not to lay any eggs today it’s less under your control than simply picking the product off the shelf.
Would you like to see the ability to revise delivery dates when something goes wrong on other sites? As a consumer would you be ultra annoyed to discover that your order had been delayed, or pleased that at least you were kept informed?
3 Responses
Yes this makes perfect sense!
I wish I sold food as we would be selling on there like a shot!
Stuff happens all the time that could impact or delay the business, a few weeks ago three of the four warehouse staff were ill, you can’t predict this and trying to update all your listings for a little hiccup for one week is crazy.
Ebay is killing itself with over estimating delivery times, all it’s going to do is annoy customers and tick off sellers.
Wake up and smell the coffee eBay!!! Here is an on-line marketeer that has sensibly applied common sense to their trading terms. As a seller working in a commercial environment I can think of loads of things that create a hiccup that only a working crystal ball would have known about and as a buyer I would always applaude clear communication regarding my purchase.
Wake up eBay! Your “tweaking” of your system still leaves it almost “unfit for purpose”! Listen to those who earn you your money and take note of progressive competition such as this example. Do it all again from a clean sheet.
Clarifying a delivery date/time is fine- provided it is within the delivery range quoted to begin with.
I had that today when ordering a mobile phone. Yesterday (Wednesday) they told me it would be delivered on Thursday or Friday, later in the evening I got an email from DPD telling me that it would be delivered today with an hour slot communicated today.