Issue with delivery settings UK to US shipping

[NiteLifeFashion]

I`m having problems with the Etsy delivery settings for shipping from UK to US. I use Royal Mail, and Etsy`s estimate for Royal Mail Standard and Royal Mail Tracked is 3-7 business days. I have never ever has a parcel arrive from UK to a US customer in 3 working days!....in my experience, Royal Mail Tracked reaches a US delivery address in 7 working days minimum- & Standard a bit longer. Before Etsy removed the "other" option for shipping, I could set my own more realistic delivery times, but now I am forced to choose the Etsy fantasy options. I understand that having a shorter delivery time encourages customers to buy, but if the delivery time is unrealistic then this can only lead to buyer dissatisfaction, bad reviews and a lack of repeat purchasing. Yes, I could adjust my dispatch times to compensate- but then by the same logic I am then discouraging my UK customers from buying, as the delivery times within the UK will look unrealistically long!

Has anyone else in the UK found a work-around for this?

[Marmalady]

Adjusting despatch (processing) times to help offset an unrealistic delivery time estimate does not work -- once you mark an item as despatched, any remaining processing time is lost and Etsy just counts the delivery time to give an estimate of the package arrival date.

[NiteLifeFashion]

Thanks, Marmalady- I didn`t know that...so I guess there`s literally no way around it now, then? 

[NeilBarrPhotography]

As far as we could work out, you're selecting the RM Standard International service as that's what you will use to send the item, NOT telling the customer it will arrive in 3-7 days. The number of days it will actually take is estimated by Etsy using data they get and it's this delivery estimate the customer sees, not the 3-7 days. Does that make sense? At least we hope that's the case.

I have items that go via ParcelForce (too big for RM) and I don't trust the other carriers in the drop down after poor service from them. So I have to select RM even though I'm not using them (yes, PF are in a sense part of RM), but you know what I mean. It's stupid that they removed the Other option.

[NiteLifeFashion]

Thanks, Neil- that does make sense...and fingers-crossed the Etsy data is more realistic than the estimates 

[NeilBarrPhotography]

Definitely fingers-crossed as I've had a few red warnings come up when purchasing postage on Etsy to the US (just standard RM International, that the customer selected) where Etsy said the item may arrive after the customer's expected delivery date.

And I'm like, excuse me, it's not me that's giving the customer those dates. You, Etsy, are the one forcing me to select from your limited drop down and I'm using the service you say you're basing YOUR data from that YOU gave to the customer. So annoying.

Not had any customers complain. But still...

[TwiLdCapitHog]

In profiles you are choosing the service you use, or the nearest to it. Based on that Etsy states they calculate the delivery dates based on "historical data" on how long delivery has taken for that service, which they have apparently collected over time. 

[CraftyCornishMaids]

although it says 3-7 business days on the hard copy dropdown,

etsy actually gives more time than this