eBay are making changes to the working day delivery week for Royal Mail and myHermes services. As of today, eBay’s estimated delivery dates will match the way these carriers count working days by including Saturdays.
Realistically, this is intended to help sellers although on the flip side it will raise buyer expectations. However seeing as both Royal Mail and myHermes deliver on Saturdays it’s reasonable to tell buyers that their purchases may be delivered that day of the week.
The services that will be affected by the change are:
Hermes Tracked
Royal Mail 1st Class Signed For
Royal Mail 2nd Class Signed For
Royal Mail Tracked 48
Royal Mail Tracked 24
Royal Mail 1st Class
Royal Mail 24
Royal Mail 2nd Class
Royal Mail 48
This means that, as a buyer, if I see your item listed today (Wednesday) with Second Class post (or tomorrow with First Class post) and you have a one day despatch time, eBay will tell me your item can arrive on Saturday.
As a buyer, knowing that the item may arrive on Saturday instantly makes purchasing from you more attractive then a delivery estimate of Monday to Tuesday next week.
I can instantly hear the eyes rolling back in the heads of sellers as they realise this means buyers expectations will rise and they worry about their feedback and on-time delivery metrics. Realistically though, buyers already expect items to arrive by post on Saturday and all eBay are doing is displaying what is likely to take place in reality.
This change will only affect sales shipped via Royal Mail or myhermes and only if they delivery estimate could include a Saturday. Parcels posted earlier in the week won’t be impacted by the change.
Saturday is a delivery day, not a dispatch day
We have had confirmation from eBay that they will not count Saturday as a dispatch day. Don’t worry eBay are not expecting you to open up the warehouse on the weekend and arrange for a Royal Mail or myHermes collection. Saturday will not be counted as a day when parcels will be sent, only as a day when they could be delivered.
8 Responses
do any buyers on ebay still (genuinely) believe the delivery estimates?
i mean even before i started selling on ebay, i didnt believe them.
between the over-promise-under-deliver lot, the chinese “if no deliver in 79 days please contact me send two more”, and ebay’s lunatic ideas on when things should arrive, is there anyone left who actually expects an ebay order on the day stated?
I mean i know, very very well, that if it’s not there on the day ebay states many customers will act like you just set their baby on fire, but did they actually expect it on that date? given every other ebay order they’ve placed for the past 8 years has likely not arrived on the ebay estimated date?
this small move here for example, it’s not like RM just started doing Saturday’s this week, so every time RM delivered on a Saturday previously that killed someone’s ebay estimate….
I may be wrong with my information but aren’t there certain products that are not covered by the Universal Service Obligation of 6 days per week service EG tracked 48 ???
Won’t affect honest sellers, but might affect the majority of “power sellers” who state your item has been dispatched when in fact all they have done is printed a label, and will dispatch in the next couple of days
wont make one jot of difference to the reasonable buyer
will just provide the looneys and awkward squad with more ammunition
My concern is the estimated delivery dates for Italy and Spain where the mail is notoriously slow; Ebay (taking lead from Royal Mail) State delivery as soon as three working days…..
I see the eBay lunatics are back in the asylum – making their already unrealistic arrival times even more unrealistic!
Stuart – you are correct about power sellers but realistically eBay assume that the minute an order is placed somebody is just sat there ready to jump into action and pick pack and send the parcel – but of course n the real world that is impossible when you sell a lot of product.
Just another eBay speciality of fiddling with something which isn’t broken!