Letter Mail Delivery Expectations

[Cardomedy]

Etsy’s delivery estimates are misleading for sellers who ship with USPS Letter Mail.

I send orders VIA Letter Mail, Etsy automatically shows buyers an estimate of 5–7 business days, but in reality, letter mail takes 10–14 business days and does not include tracking. Not to mention then”tracking” isn’t accurate if we even want to call it tracking.

This creates frustration and unnecessary issues because buyers expect their order sooner than is realistic.

Suggestion:

• Allow sellers to set their own estimated delivery windows for Letter Mail.
• OR Etsy should automatically display a 10–14 business day estimate (not 5–7) on letter mail.
  This change would align customer expectations with actual USPS performance and reduce issues for everyone.

[GroundZeroCreations]

According to USPS letter mail typically takes 1-5 days inside the US. Do you have any idea why yours are taking so much longer? 

As for your suggestions, that is not going to happen because Etsy pulls shipping delivery estimates directly from USPS. Frankly, I don't really pay any attention to Etsy delivery estimates. 

I just checked one of your listings and this is what I see (I'm in NC) 

Order today to get by 

Jul 30-Aug 5

[Cardomedy]

I have no idea why it takes so long. And I only ship in the US.

But I have seen other Etsy shops who also send via letter mail doing the same thing I’m doing which is clarifying up to 14 business days. 

[Cardomedy]

And there is no way if you ordered today it would get there by the 30th. 

thebwuickest delivery I had was 7 business days and that was one order. 

All the others are 10+

[GroundZeroCreations]

@Cardomedy 

It’s definitely frustrating when shipments seem delayed. But are your buyers actually reporting late deliveries, or are you assuming based on tracking or lack of feedback?

Keep in mind that USPS states 5–7 business days for First-Class letter mail, but that doesn’t include weekends or holidays—and some rural areas can take longer.

If you consistently see delays of 10–14 days and have proof (like buyer messages or postmarks vs. delivery dates), it might be worth stopping by your local post office. They may be able to identify the cause or offer suggestions, such as slight changes in how you prepare your mail.

[Cardomedy]

Not sure why I can't reply to the last message you sent me but here one specific order that I have now lost money on:

They ordered July 10th and still haven't gotten their order and today and this is business day 11. I have had orders after that already get delivered but not this one. 

[Cardomedy]

I had another order on the 13th and they didn't get it until the 25th of this month and that's 10 business days.

[weekendjewelry1]

I would consider adding a note to your "thank you" that you send to your customer after they order.  Add something about "Etsy sends out a delivery estimate which is just not realistic... orders generally take 7-10 days to arrive. Please do let me know if this is a problem for you!" -- or something.  It lets the customer have a more accurate idea about shipping - and if you send a 'thank you' is not an extra email to clutter their inbox.  

[Cardomedy]

Well since hardly any of my orders are delivered by the 10th day, in the auto message I say 10-14 business days and then I message them and tell them when to actually expect their order by and etsys delivery dates aren’t accurate. 

but I recently plastered this all over my shop including in images so people know what to actually expect vs what Etsys delivery dates tell them. 

[SurnamePro]

Just a thought but you could offer the usual standard shipping plus an optional priority mail upgrade for when people need it quicker. The post office gives free priority mail envelops you just need to offer a fixed upgrade price (maybe $12). This way if you get one of those "Hey where is my mail " messages you can say something like you declined the priority mail upgrade when you checked out and basic letter mail often takes longer. 

[Cardomedy]

I sell greeting cards. No way someone is going to pay that much for a card.

I do have the option for them to upgrade to Ground Advantage.

I asked the customer whose order I am having issues with if I had offered tracking at a higher price would she still have ordered. She said $9 tops including shipping.

It costs me a max of $4.80 for tracked ground advantage mail and I encourage people to upgrade.