Check All Your Listings' Delivery Estimates, Folks! Plus a Workaround...

[BaggieAggie]

I'm in the UK and have all my listings set to 1-2 day processing time, and currently have all my international delivery profiles set to 10-30 day delivery.

I received an order from the US this morning. While I was preparing it, I noticed that Etsy has told the buyer to expect delivery by 'the 14th-16th December'.  This is on the order and on the listing itself.

So I thought I'd made a typo on the delivery profile. But no. Everything was correct. And even weirdly, this glitch ONLY applied to the US, and ONLY to this one particular listing. None of the other international destinations were affected by this glitch, and nor were any of the other 12 listings linked to this delivery profile.

After an hour of tearing my hair out and using some ultra-choice swear words, I found a workaround: I deleted the US from the delivery profile, and Saved. I then added it back in and Saved. And that did the trick.  Too late for this morning's order, of course, which I will no doubt have to refund when it doesn't arrive by the 16th December...

I cannot begin to describe how utterly effed off I am with Etsy at the moment, especially after what happened yesterday, but that's another story...

[AJWTextiles]

Exactly the same issue, thanks for the fix!

[WishesontheWind]

What the F is going on?  I see this too.  How do I go about explaining this to my customers!!  So I have a few showing dispatch by 16th and customer receives 2 days later to the US on the 18th!!  WHAT, is this a confirmed glitch?

[CozyExpressions]

Oh  easy explanation.    If a customer contacts you about it, put it right back in Etsy's lap.    Their programming department apparently decided to  rewrite a code and once again made a huge error.    Personally the morning after I receive orders, I send a confirmation to my customers and tell them when to expect their item to ship.    This way it is between you and your customer and Etsy's errors are kept out of it.  

[BaggieAggie]

I don't know if it's a confirmed glitch, or if Etsy is tinkering. What I do know is that it's absolutely insane. And the only way to see what our international buyers see is to view the site in their country view, via the link bottom left of the page. Fortunately I only ship to four international destinations. It's one heck of a job for those who ship to more.

[WishesontheWind]

@BaggieAggie thanks for bringing this to our attention.   So my US orders are arriving earlier than my UK same purchase date! What on earth could go wrong next!  

[TheLaserPlace]

Interesting.  I am in the US and ship mostly to the US, but even if I am 2-3 days from shipment date, it will say the delivery will be late?  I wonder if this will fix my issue as well?  We pay too much in fees for these tech glitches.

[OneEyeCatStudio]

"We pay too much in fees for these tech glitches."

It is just astounding to me how the quality of the site has deteriorated in the last few years.

To quote the Dylan song "Everything is broken."

[TheLaserPlace]

Let's not forget the "pay to play" on free shipping on orders over $35.  

I'm tired as a seller being "nickeled and dimed" by Etsy when without sellers Etsy would not exist.  I'll always have a presence and sell on Etsy until the operating costs exceeds the revenue.

[CozyExpressions]

@OneEyeCatStudio If I remember correctly, ole Joshy boy gave the coding department free reign to test whatever they want.     We are now seeing the results.     Constant errors that we find and have to report.

[WishesontheWind]

Just wondering how many cases may be opened due to this glitch!

[BaggieAggie]

I dread to think...

[BeJeweledByDEBORAH]

100% of my orders are shipped within 24 hours, and since the customer pays for shipping, I always ship their selected shipping method. However, on 98% of my orders, there's an alert from Etsy that it may arrive late. This makes me crazy. 

[WishesontheWind]

already refunding due to this bull!

[cindylouwho2]

"1-2 day processing time, and currently have all my international delivery profiles set to 10-30 day delivery." So that means an order from today could ship tomorrow and arrive in 10 days, which is December 14, the low end of the estimate. Obviously the high end is very wrong, but as long as you have seller protection, you don't have to refund it. It's Etsy's problem then. 

Are you using "Other" in your shipping profile instead of a specific service? I've noticed that Etsy is ignoring long delivery times on those. 

[CarpetCollectionAU]

@cindylouwho2 I have commented on this issue several times in the past month/s. I use "Other" on my Shipping Profiles and it is apparent that Etsy is using the shortest Processing time + shortest Delivery for the earliest EDD. But Etsy is ignoring the longest Processing Time and seems to be also using the shortest Processing time + longest Delivery time for the latest EDD.

I have my Processing set 1 - 6 days and delivery 4 - 10 days (International) so, as I do not ship on weekends, this means that my latest EDD is anything up to 10 days too short.

[BaggieAggie]

10-30 days are working days, weekends not included, and yes, I use Other. Etsy isn't ignoring long delivery estimates - if they were, all my listings would be affected.

[tildeathstudios]

I feel your frustration yet am quite envious you can still use Other. I thought everyone had had it removed now? Doesn't seem fair to me that Etsy sets different rules for different sellers. Is there any reason behind it? 11 days is the longest many of us have been able to set for a long time now. It's a constant battle to communicate the correct shipping estimates to buyers who are being misled by Etsy. I hope your inaccurate delivery dates are sorted soon. I get those 'may arrive late' warnings all the time, despite being well within processing time. Frustrating. Do you have the dispatch email notification set to copy to your address too? Often the dates shown on those (that the buyer sees) are accurate to my (forced) delivery estimates but obviously may not be the same for you. Worth a look though?

[tildeathstudios]

Sorry, that was to @BaggieAggie 

[Amaradorn]

@BaggieAggie @cindylouwho2 I'm in the UK and the 'Other' shipping option, where you could define your own shipping time was removed some time ago (at least a year) so I'm not sure why some people still have access to that option.

[cindylouwho2]

@BaggieAggie "Etsy isn't ignoring long delivery estimates - if they were, all my listings would be affected." and yet this is consistently happening with items that use "Other" and very long delivery estimates, where Etsy instead sets a tiny delivery window. It's a different issue than some of the problems we are seeing with Etsy changing delivery estimates. 

Clearly, Etsy is doing this with some items that have "Other" and long delivery estimates. And since Etsy shows different things to different people and changes their estimates daily, you have no idea what your next order will show. 

[cindylouwho2]

@Amaradorn @tildeathstudios Yes, some UK sellers still have Other, although most do not. Many other countries can also use it - I have access to it in Canada. 

"Is there any reason behind it?" Yes, Etsy doesn't want to show buyers long delivery estimates, so they started restricting the use of "Other" in the biggest countries first. As with everything Etsy, there are bugs and coding exceptions, some some listings can still use it in the UK & US.  

As long as you have seller protection and communicate the real delivery times clearly, there really isn't a problem for sellers. I send each buyer a Message with the possible delivery times for their location, as well as put them in my note to buyer. Even though I can use Other, I no longer do so, as Etsy is the one bearing the risk here. 

[TheHomespunLoft]

@cindylouwho2 

Can't the OP change the ship by date to something else further out-- which changes the estimated delivery date. and still ship tomorrow? wouldn't that work too?? Just in case Etsy was never going to pay if late?

[cindylouwho2]

@TheHomespunLoft the delivery estimate resets when you ship. 

[BaggieAggie]

I shipped the order yesterday, Tuesday, but won't be marking it as shipped until Thursday, which is the day it has to be shipped by.