Sellers whose listings have longer than three-day handling times may notice their listings look a little different.
That’s because eBay will begin displaying handling times of longer than three days as “exception handling times” at the top of listings this week. These will display next to a yellow flag, noting an estimate of how long an item will take to be delivered and how long the seller will take to ship the product, eBay notes in its General Announcements.
eBay adds that in mid-September, the marketplace will clearly display longer than three-day handling times on the Item page.
“This new treatment of handling times helps set the right expectation for your buyers,” eBay states in announcement.
However, the marketplace adds that sellers can still specify any handling time they choose, noting that in some instances—like when buyers purchase a custom item—longer handling times are appropriate.
Still, eBay encourages sellers to “please” shoppers by shipping promptly.
Rebecca Miller, an eBay seller of more than 12 years, doesn’t think the new treatment is necessary. She says the item condition, handling time and shipping cost that currently display at the top of a listing already give buyers the right expectations.
“If eBay wants to set the right expectations for buyers and reduce the number of SNAD (significantly not as described) claims, why not encourage them to read the full descriptions before they commit to buy?” she says.