Estimated Arrival Times Are Completely Wrong, UK Royal Mail

[LovesVintage43]

I have a customer chasing up his order, and it unbelievably says in my records that it was due to arrive today the 9th! That's just ridiculous. 

He didn't place his order until half past 4 on friday afternoon the 6th! Saturday does not count as a business day and should not be factored into any estimated, it's not even been a whole business day before I'm being chased!

Royal Mail 2nd class post takes 2-3 business days, at Christmas time it will always be longer than that, I thought Etsy took these things into account ?  He shouldn't be told it will arrive until tomorrow 10th at the very, very earliest, it should really have an ETA on it from 10th-15th . 

Etsy please fix this ! This is inviting trouble for everyone

[VINTAGEbytheMAGPIE]

This maybe an Etsy issue , i've seen other posts regarding this . However check your processing times, edit them accordingly and check a listing to see if this changes expected due dates 

[LovesVintage43]

@VINTAGEbytheMAGPIE I have my processing time set to 1 day, everything I have is in stock and ready to dispatch within 24 hours...if I extend that to longer, I worry that I won't get any orders. I have just looked at my page and ETAs look correct so not sure what;s happened

[ChestnuttVintage]

That doesn't help - my processing times are longer and Etsy is ignoring them!

[TheCrownArts]

Nope, this doesn't work. I tried this (removing Saturday and Sunday from processing days), and I am still having the problem with "orders might arrive late" and my customers complaining that my orders are taking longer to arrive than they expected.

I have 1-3 processing days buffer, PLUS weekends buffer, and I almost always ship the day after receiving an order. This shouldn't be happening, Etsy is the one effing up here, and it's affecting all of us.

[Arcalliq]

your customer might have confused delivery with despatch.

[LovesVintage43]

@Arcalliq They didn't know, I looked at the order details myself and there was an arrival date on it of the 9th December. I am assuming this would be visible to the customer as well although they did not put any text in their help request.

[TrinketDrawersUK]

Check your processing times don't include Saturday and Sunday. 

[LovesVintage43]

@TrinketDrawersUK  they don't x

[VioletAtelier]

Currently, Etsy seems to overlook the shipping dates set in the shipping profiles. It appears to count business days as calendar days, leading to unrealistic estimated delivery dates. Two listings with the same processing time, same shipping profile even display different delivery estimates.

It might be a good idea to extend your processing or delivery times temporarily until this issue is resolved. Based on discussions I've come across in the forums, this issue has been known since September and remains unresolved. I personally noticed it about a week ago and even reached out to Etsy via their chat. It might be a good idea for others to escalate this issue as well, so Etsy can finally take notice and address it.

[LovesVintage43]

@VioletAtelier Really? Who even does that? Unfortunately I can't afford to extend my processing times and risk losing potential orders, I need all the orders I can get at the moment . If this has been a known issue for so long then it really beggars belief now that they have shot themselves in the foot by offering a delivery guarantee. Why do that and then backdate the ETA? You couldn't make it up! I can't even use chat at the moment, the last assistant never closed off our chat so I can't use it. x

[TheCrownArts]

this is INCORRECT. I have tried  extending processing times and it doesn't make a difference for Etsy's estimates. Since I almost always ship within the first day (of my 1-3 day processing buffer), I believe Etsy is showing customers an AVERAGE of processing days based on the seller's history, which completely ignores the allowance sellers set for themselves. This isn't okay. I am allowed to take 3 days to process an order, IT'S IN MY SETTINGS ON EVERY ORDER. Shipping early should be a PLUS, not something used against me. I see "may arrive late" when I absolutely shouldn't, and shoppers clearly are seeing incorrect (early) arrival times based on their feedback to me. 

[JJewellerySuppliesUK]

Have you said you work on the weekends?  If so, then Etsy will have calculated Saturday into the equation.  It's still off though and totally impossible for the buyer to receive it on 9th.   

[LovesVintage43]

@JJewellerySuppliesUK No, I have it set that I only work monday -friday,

[TheCrownArts]

I removed Saturday and Sunday, even though I DO process on those days, and the problem persists exactly, if not worse, than before. 

[VioletAtelier]

For example, I have my workdays set to Monday through Friday and have double-checked to ensure my settings haven’t changed—they’re still correct. I even asked Etsy directly whether they calculate shipping based on business days or calendar days. The answer was: 'It's consider calendar days'

[CryzalisMasksUK]

I would check that your order processing schedule under shipping profiles is still set from Mon - Friday, some sellers reported that it automatically switched back to include the weekends a few weeks back.

[LovesVintage43]

@CryzalisMasksUK  I have and it is set at Mon-Fri x

[CryzalisMasksUK]

The "Buyer expects delivery by: XX-XX Dec" is not set in stone, I have seen this date change when it has gone 1 or a couple of days over the "Buyer expects delivery by: XX-XX Dec" date. The date then changed to the date when the parcel was actually delivered.

Maybe set the processing to 1-2 days instead of the fixed 1

[LovesVintage43]

@CryzalisMasksUK I had an order come in last night...as I'm buy shipping it states order may arrive late! Buyer expects by 17-24 Dec. Seeing as the last christmas postal date for USA was on the 6th which they know as they already published a list of the dates months ago, this is crazy. Hopefully you're right and it will adjust itself as it moves through the system it's just very alarming ! x

[CryzalisMasksUK]

It also left me worried when I saw the dates for the orders to the United States.

But it has never been an issue and the dates changed on the order form when it was not delivered during the "expected" window, so it must change based on scans along route.

When it is delivered, it suddenly changes to that date on the order section.

I always had processing fixed to 1 day, but sometimes the time difference would mess that up from orders from the United States. This all vanished when I set it to 1-2 day processing.

Orders are still dispatched within 12 hrs.

[ThreeLittlePirates]

I often get "may arrive late..." when I purchase shipping from Etsy, even though I am within my stated shipping times and using Etsy labels.  This is just asking for customer complaints. 

Royal Mail are taking up to 10 days to deliver 2nd class mail.  I have one take 12 days to travel to Glasgow (40mins drive).  Most customers are very understanding and happy to wait a few extra days, but I would recommend using RM 48 instead.  It's a little more expensive, still doesn't deliver on time, but at least you have tracking.  

[LovesVintage43]

@ThreeLittlePirates there are issues in many places after the storms we've had. I always use 2nd class with no issues my end. often things will get there the next day- I even posted something to Norwich yesterday 1st Class and she's already got it, which amazed me! I'm not so much concerned about UK orders, it's the dates showing to customers in the USA because they do seem to take the given dates literally and will often contact you immediately to find out where their item is ! x

[lucileskitchen]

If you click on one listing in my shop it says that your item will be delivered by Dec 28. However on the orders placed yesterday and shipped today it says: "Buyer expects delivery by: Dec 17-24" What ?

Another order placed today and shipped today says "Buyer expects delivery by: Dec 18-30"

Doesn't make any sense ! Not helpful Etsy during the Holiday season.

[BaggieAggie]

Yes, Etsy is overriding our own delivery estimates with bonkers ones of their own. Buyers see these ridiculous estimates on our listings, so naturally expect their orders to arrive within that timescale. Which of course they won't.  This has forced me to stop shipping internationally until this mess is sorted out. My domestic delivery estimates are currently unaffected, but I'll be putting the shop in vacation mode should it happen with those too. See the other threads already in existence about this to get up to speed.