Shipping deadlines
Summary: The discussion titled "Versandfristen" involves several participants but lacks specific content details. The thread consists only of placeholders and does not provide meaningful information about the subject or participants' contributions.
The delivery dates predicted by Ebay (AI-generated) seem to have reached a new level of escalation. On 12/30, I sold items, I (currently 2 days processing time) actually have to ship them by Friday, 1/2 at 23:59 (here: postal letters). Buyers are shown an "expected" delivery date between 1/2 and 1/3.
This isn't the first time and seems to be normal / (intended?) here. According to Ebay, in some cases the goods are with the customer before they even have to be shipped. Dear AI (still more artificial than intelligent), New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are (still) not working days here. And for the buyers, an "expected" delivery rather corresponds to a promise or (also heard from customers) a guarantee (!).
So please finally make sure at Ebay that the delivery times are calculated correctly, your sellers have better things to do than dealing with impatient buyers and describing Ebay's statements as what they really are: endlessly optimistic "promises" lacking almost any logical basis.
Every year the same drama at Christmas and New Year's Eve...
klaus_1406
·2 months agoThank you for your contribution, which is informative to me. I have the same problem. So far I have
specified 3 business days as shipping time, although I usually ship the next, often on the
same day. I just wanted to leave myself a buffer to account for the extended delivery time
of the mail and to allow for possible delays. Unfortunately,
I have now also received a neutral rating, because I supposedly failed to meet a delivery date (
which I never gave) which I allegedly failed to meet. There is room for improvement here
on eBay's part.
yourlifeyourbike
·2 months agoyour processing time is set to 2 days in my sample - not 3 as claimed.
also, you received a neutral rating ALSO because the item supposedly did not match the description.
your claims are... not correct.
imperial-modellbau
·2 months agoSorry @yourlifeyourbike
but you didn’t read it properly - it says "matches the description" !
imperial-modellbau
·3 months agoSorry for the wording - but please finally get it already!
Ebay DOESN'T WANT and WON'T change that!
The only way to avoid trouble is to set the processing time higher and no longer enter a tracking number.
That may occasionally cause other problems, but it's definitely better than constantly getting "complaints" from customers and possibly racking up deficiency after deficiency.
sammlerkiste-1-2-3
·2 months agoHey,
I had only been chuckling about it so far, now a customer is also asking where his goods are ... bought on Friday. Displayed delivery date Monday to Thursday
Hmmmmm I entered 3 days for my processing time ... so how can Monday already be shown as the delivery date 😋
But anyway, if there are ever any legal problems in any way, ebay is now legally obligated to pay compensation .... a post has appeared in the dealer forum saying that one is liable for incorrect statements made by the AI .... the AI is from eBay 😎
perfect-sally
·2 months agoYeah, and ebay will fight against it tooth and nail, and without a lawyer that won’t be enforceable.
We’ve seen it all before; ebay pushes that kind of thing very far away from itself and doesn’t feel guilty about anything.
sammlerkiste-1-2-3
·2 months ago... although what am I writing there .... WE are showing the date in our listings, so WE will first have to pay (if it ever comes to such a situation where money has to change hands...) and then we can try to get it back from ePay in court 🙄
imperial-modellbau
·2 months agoHello @sammlerkiste-1-2-3
well, it probably wouldn't be quite that bad - because Ebay openly admits that this "dynamic system" is being used.
By doing that, they also openly admit that the shipping time settings of users are completely irrelevant to them and would then, logically, also have to take on a bit of the responsibility!
Of course Ebay would try to justify that with the T&Cs or regulations!
Unfortunately, to this day, despite repeated follow-up questions, no Ebay employee has been able to show me the relevant sections in the regulations that state that I, as a user, agreed to this "system"!
mullewapp
·5 months agoHello,
I'm slowly losing my patience too....and not just at Christmas time. By now this whole thing has become a permanent problem.
Delivery time quoted to the buyer Sat, Feb 14 - Wed, Feb 18
I can ship until Tue, Feb 17!
How is that supposed to work?
A letter is on its way for about 3 days and then may arrive on Feb 20.
Buyer complains or leaves a negative review right away.
It's beyond me why they can't finally get this sorted out or why they changed this stuff in the first place, since everything used to be correct after all.
It would be best to delete everything and just leave the shipping time specified by the seller.
mullewapp
·3 months agoHey there....
Nothing has happened until today..... I'm speechless.
Delivery date shown to the buyer: May 2-5 😲
I do, however, have time until May 05 to ship 🤣🤣🤣
directtechdeals
·3 months agoOrder from today, not the only one that looks like this. There’s probably something amiss.
turbotuentchen
·7 months agoHi everyone,
New Year’s Eve, Christmas Eve, in some places Rose Monday is treated like Saturday, i.e. a working day
Saturday is also a working day at the post office; in the larger cities, the post office branches are usually open until 12:00, main branches until a maximum of 14:30.
In the countryside or outlying districts, where tobacco shops, late-night convenience stores with DP/DHL contracts are open longer, you can also drop off your parcels at less conventional times. The parcels are also picked up there for onward transport on Saturdays until around noon; all other parcels that arrive later just go out on the next working day.
sunrise1605
·7 months agoNew Year’s Eve is not a normal workday, though, if the post shops close at noon.
That was what it was about, and nothing else.
How others run their business was not the topic.
Sure, under certain circumstances I can also drop off my shipments somewhere at 2:00 at night. But that still doesn’t change the completely incorrect delivery-time notices from Ebay.
petersmodellbahnstuebchen
·7 months agoHi @sunrise1605
small correction to your statement "New Year’s Eve is not a normal working day if the post shops close at noon."
I wrote that for me New Year’s Eve is a normal working day and that it is not a holiday for Ebay either.
And that simply referred to the statement in the opening thread "New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are (still) not working days here."
Ebay does, after all, distinguish between working days and holidays.
I don't need to twist and turn that however I want.
sunrise1605
·7 months agoYou can twist it and turn it however you like, it still doesn’t fit, what Ebay is showing there.
The delivery period shown to the buyer still isn’t correct, whether New Year’s Eve is considered a full working day or not.
Which it isn’t, as far as the opening hours of the post shops are concerned.
Not everyone is going to a parcel locker, to a late-night convenience store, or somewhere else just because Ebay is displaying such nonsense.
But now I’d say let’s leave it at that and slide into a successful, healthy New Year @petersmodellbahnstuebchen
Cheers 🍾
petersmodellbahnstuebchen
·7 months agoHi @sunrise1605
It’s not about a normal workday (for me) or not. For Ebay, it’s simply a workday, nothing more and nothing less.
Since I can’t and don’t want to look into the TE’s account, I also don’t know how the algorithm calculates it for the TE. I can only write what is shown to me. And that usually fits. That Ebay sometimes likes to “cheat” a little in order to come out especially positively compared to the competition is nothing new either.
But you’re right, let’s leave it at that.🤗
Same to you, have a good New Year’s Eve; unfortunately I have to look after our dogs between 11:00 PM and 1:00 AM, since they simply hate the fireworks and need someone to cuddle with. 😉
**fanomania**
OP7 months agoeven if it gets "personal" now: dogs don't need someone to cuddle with, really not... they need a pack leader who radiates calm and gives security himself 😉
Our lowered four-legged friend (wirehaired dachshund) is totally relaxed; despite the fireworks every year I have to wake him up so he can go out once more. All firecrackers and rockets that are farther away than 10m he thinks are great (tail always horizontal).
Bye, and here's to a good 2026...
petersmodellbahnstuebchen
·7 months agoHi @**fanomania**
even if your wirehaired dachshund is totally relaxed, our Vizslas also need someone who radiates calm and gives them security.
So I’m sticking with it until things are calm again and the two can sleep in peace.
Wishing you a happy 2026 too
hasjana
·7 months ago◇◇◆◇◇◆◇◇◆◇◇
then some drop-off points would never have a "normal" working day; there are definitely some that do not accept shipments on all "working days" of the week or only for half the day
the question would therefore be how eBay, or people in Germany in general, now define a working day - Mon to Sat, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. ?
grohbacher
·7 months agoA Happy New Year to everyone.
By implication, this follows from § 193 BGB. Since December 31 is not a “state-recognized public holiday” in any German federal state, this day is always considered a working day (unless it falls on a Sunday).
Only if declarations would have to be submitted by December 31 at the latest, or deliveries would have to be made by December 31 at the latest, and December 31 were to fall on a Sunday or Saturday, could these declarations or deliveries still be validly made in due time on the following working day (normally January 2 of the following year).
A day always has 24 hours and ends at 24:00.
EBay could regulate all of this differently in the T&Cs - but should not do so.
Manfred
All of this is my personal legal opinion.
sunrise1605
·7 months agoIf I can only drop off my shipments until noon and it’s not even certain whether they’ll be collected at all on New Year’s Eve or on other “half” days, then that’s not a normal business day for post shops.
That alone means it isn’t, because I’m missing the other half of the day when I could still prepare and send shipments (if Ebay is in such a hurry already).
There are still shops in rural areas that are closed on Wednesday afternoons. For them too, that is not a normal business day if they have the day off and close up.
I’m not talking about laws, paragraphs or any other guidelines or regulations here, but simply about how an online seller sees it when Ebay charges for a full business day that doesn’t actually exist because the shops close around noon.
Sure, I can also drive dozens of kilometers to some other shop that may still be open. But the shipments still won’t be collected there either, which doesn’t make the delivery time shown by Ebay any better.
It’s not just about dropping them off, but about getting them delivered.
So in the case of the OP, it must be ensured that the shipments can still be transported. To do that, however, he would need to know from all post shops and other drop-off points in his area when, and whether at all, the mail is collected on such days.
It’s really not that hard to understand.
petersmodellbahnstuebchen
·7 months agoHi @**fanomania**
that the delivery dates shown by Ebay are more of a wish from Ebay and do not correspond to reality is long known here in the forum and has already been discussed extensively.
However, the algorithm also takes into account, in addition to nationwide public holidays, a seller's previous handling behavior when calculating.
So if you've shipped faster in the past than stated, Ebay assumes that you can always do it.
Aside from that, New Year's Eve is not a public holiday, but a normal working day. For my sales from 30.12.25 (2 days handling time, DHL parcel) the following is shown:
sunrise1605
·7 months agoAside from that, New Year’s Eve isn’t a public holiday, but a normal working day.
That’s not quite right. Most post shops close around 12:00.
That means a drop-off would still have to happen in the morning.
If they stay open longer, the mail still won’t be collected any later for that reason and would therefore sit there until Friday.
Plus up to 3 days for letter delivery, and we’d easily be into the next week (like with you).
So what’s being shown to TE or his buyers is complete nonsense.
**fanomania**
OP7 months agoCorrect, New Year’s Eve does count as a working day, but the postal shops, at least here in the area, all close between 12 and 1 p.m. In addition, I was told that the mail will NOT be collected on 12/31, so it won’t be processed for the first time until Friday.
I’ve just set my processing time (mail letters) back to " 1 day processing time", so I have to take it to the post office on Friday. But eBay is currently showing buyers: delivery Fri. 2.1. to Sat. 3.-1. . Don’t let anyone tell me that this is normal. AI ?? RIDICULOUS !
So, that’s it with eBay in 2025. *** HAVE A GREAT START TO THE NEW YEAR everyone ***
sunrise1605
·7 months agoThanks, same to you, have a great New Year’s Eve
petersmodellbahnstuebchen
·7 months agoHi @sunrise1605
for me, New Year’s Eve is just a normal workday; today I still handed in four shipments:
By using the Packstation, I even have the luck that I can drop off shipments every day until 24:00.
And eBay also does not consider New Year’s Eve a holiday, because the latest drop-off date for my shipments was 31.12.
The fact that the display of delivery times on eBay could be much improved has, as I already wrote, been discussed sufficiently.
sunrise1605
·7 months agoHi @petersmodellbahnstuebchen
The topic in the TE was letter mail, and as far as I know, that doesn't go to a Packstation.
You can spin it however you want, it just doesn't fit what Ebay is showing there.
turbotuentchen
·7 months agoHi,
it depends on the type of letter shipment,
www.deutschepost.de/de/b/briefe-adressieren-an-packstation.html