eBay Highlights Same Day Shipping, Urges Fast Payment With Countdown Timer
eBay appears to be testing ways to draw buyer attention to sellers who offer same day shipping, creating a sense of urgency and prompting fast payment with countdown timer displayed on listing pages.
Same day handling has always been used to calculate estimated delivery dates, helping sellers stand out by showing faster total shipping times, but eBay hasn't always done a great job of communicating to buyers how much of the EDD is time in transit and how much is seller selected handling time.
In fact, at one point eBay completely removed handling time from being displayed on the listing at all, only putting it back in 2022, but it was still often difficult to find as you had to click through to the shipping tab to see it.
But now eBay seems to be taking a page out of Amazon's playbook, showing a countdown timer that says "ships today if paid within x hrs y mins".
If the buyer clicks to "see details", the handling time is shown with a note that same day shipping is based on the seller's cut-off times.
Sellers can set that cut-off time in the shipping settings section in Seller Hub. https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf
Importantly, eBay allows you to adjust the cut-off time for different days - just uncheck any days that you can't or don't want to offer it, like weekends, or change it to a different time just for specific days if needed.
It's also interesting that eBay is using this countdown timer to create a sense of urgency for buyers to pay for items with the messaging "ships today if paid within", presumably as part of their ongoing efforts to "solve the unpaid item problem" on the platform.
Unfortunately, the messaging is much less clear if you are looking at the item through a seller's Store and see the Quick View pop up which says "get it on time if you order in the next x hrs y mins."
Not only does that possibly confuse whether the timing is from when the order is placed vs when it is paid, more importantly it could be very misleading as eBay does not provide Guaranteed Delivery any more and sellers also cannot guarantee a specific delivery date as carrier delays may occur.
Telling a buyer they will "get it on time" if they simply order within a certain time is just asking for trouble, in my opinion.
Sellers recently discussed the idea of increasing their returns timeframes and offering same day shipping as a way to differentiate themselves from the competition during the all important Q4 holiday shopping season, with mixed views on whether those factors will really move the needle with potential buyers in any significant way.
One reason sellers were skeptical it may make a difference is that eBay historically has not done a great job of bringing buyer attention to return policies and handling times, leaving some wondering if they should put notes in their descriptions to advertise their willingness to go above and beyond for customer satisfaction.
I'm transitioning from 30 to 60 day free returns and from one day to same day handling.
Just wondering: Do you highlight this in your listing description area? Most of my listings (except some older ones) have only description info there...I do not put in anything about my policies or what a swell seller I am ,etc.
But since one reason to choose 60 day free returns is to instill confidence in the buyer, I wonder if highlighting that is a good idea? ebay doesn't seem to do much with it in the return area: the info is there, but not in any very noticeable way.
I don't think the 60 day returns over the 30 day returns will have much effect one way or the other.
As a buyer the same day shipping would catch my eye, but it has to be easily viewable in your listing.
Drawing more attention to same day shipping could be a great way to help sellers who can manage it stand out, especially during the holidays, but it's exactly that time of year when shipping volume goes up and weather deteriorates in many parts of the country that carriers may see increased delays in transit.
Many sellers prefer to keep a 2-3 day handling time this time of year in the hopes it will pad delivery estimates to allow for possible delays in transit, but that may backfire with the way eBay calculates and displays estimated delivery dates.
Handling times and estimated delivery have been a perennial problem on the site, due to eBay's instance on using complex algorithms that look at historical patterns, rather than seller settings, to calculated the delivery estimates shown to buyers
For instance, if a seller sets their handling time at 3 days, but usually actually ships their items in 1 day, eBay will often use the historical 1 day shipping time when calculating estimated delivery dates shown to buyers - completely ignoring the 3 day handling time "buffer" the seller selected.
That leaves sellers in an impossible situation during peak season - if carrier delays cause orders not meet unrealistic estimates eBay may show to buyers, those buyers then open item not received cases and may receive refunds if the seller cannot provide tracking with a delivery scan.
If the item is eventually delivered after that point, the buyer keeps both the money and the item and the seller has no real recourse except to send a PayPal invoice to request repayment - which the buyer may or may not respond to.
Sellers' attempts to get eBay to extend delivery estimates (or at least offer assurances of seller protections) during the holidays have fallen on deaf ears in recent years, with the official line from eBay essentially being that their automated systems and complex algorithms are "very accurate", so there is no need to try to add extra time with longer handling times - refusing to acknowledge the many, many examples of where their estimates are, in fact, not very accurate at all.
Would you consider offering same day shipping for the holidays and if so, do you think this new countdown timer display is enough to get buyer attention and make the sale? Let us know in the comments below!
