eBay Introducing Guaranteed Delivery

Here is one of the newest features eBay have just launched. At the end of last year it rolled out on eBay.com and it is now rolling out on eBay Australia as well. This feature gives buyers the option of buying products that are to arrive on a guaranteed date. If the delivery is late, they can receive a refund for the shipping or free returns.

Offering Guaranteed Delivery is a new step forward for eBay after previously launching the Money Back Guarantee. If sellers qualify for this feature, they can opt in and get ahead of their competition, as eBay also just launched a new filter on their search page. If buyers choose a Guaranteed Delivery date, eBay will only display results that offer the guaranteed shipping.

There are actually two ways the Guaranteed Delivery can be set up on eBay.

• The first is the Handling Time Option.

If your business is located in one place and you do not wish to offer the guaranteed dates yourself, you can leave it to eBay to calculate the date it guarantees to your buyers. If you prefer to use this option, you need to set same or next-day handling time, offer returns, set immediate payment, state the eligible carrier services and set the same-day handling cut-off time. A postal code for your item location has to be set in this case as well.

Even if you meet all the criteria above and set your listings accordingly, the Guaranteed Delivery is not applied automatically. Your seller performance needs to be above average as well. You need on-time handling for at least 97% of your transactions and also a history of uploading on-time validated tracking on at least 95% of your transactions.

If you chose the Handling Time Option, eBay will take care of the rest, guarantee a delivery date to your customers calculating it from the options you set for the deliveries. Also, in case the item arrives late, eBay will take care of the refund for shipping costs for the client or give them a free returns label to send the item back if they no longer want it.

• The second way is the Door-to-Door Option

If you ship your items from multiple locations, warehouses, or if you want to be sure and guarantee the delivery dates yourself, you can choose the Door-to-Door option and be in charge of your Guaranteed Delivery.

Of course, the seller performance standards still need to be high to be eligible, as you need on-time handling on at least 97% of your transactions, and tracking uploaded to at least 95% of the transactions. To start, you will have to create rate tables on eBay and assign listings to them. Also, you will need to offer returns, set immediate payment and same-day handling cut-off time. Using the eligible carriers, in this case, is a requirement too.

With this option, you will guarantee the date to your buyers based on your regional rate tables. If the item arrives late, you will need to cover the refund for the shipping cost or the free return of the item and the refund of the product.

This new option can increase confidence in your buyers when purchasing your products, as they can be sure when the item will arrive, or if it doesn’t arrive on time, they will be compensated for the delay. For sellers, it also offers more visibility on the marketplace, and happy customers will always be returning customers. We do not know yet when this will launch eBay UK, but surely you don’t have to wait much once it is already running in the US and Australia.