Has Etsy gotten better at estimating delivery dates?

Etsy said it is working behind the scenes to provide more accurate estimates of when shoppers should expect their orders to arrive. In last week’s post Etsy has described how it calculates estimated delivery dates what it shows to buyers:

“We use information from your shipping profiles, including handling time, carrier and delivery service, to calculate the estimated delivery date we show shoppers. We also track millions of Etsy orders so we can identify when major carriers are experiencing delays. Using this data, we can adjust estimated delivery dates to account for major delays, giving customers a more accurate estimate of when their order will arrive.”

It also relies on information sellers provide in their shipping profiles, such as where they ship from and how they ship. “This allows us to more accurately determine how we adjust the estimated delivery dates shown for listings that use your delivery profiles.”

Etsy said that adding a carrier and service to a shipping profile allows the information to be used along with the buyer’s location to show them a personalized estimated delivery date. “This gives us more opportunities to define the expectations of shoppers who are experiencing delays in their area without dissuading shoppers who aren’t experiencing delays.”

Here’s a link provided by Etsy to explain how sellers can customize their shipping information. Let us know how well Etsy is meeting buyers’ shipping expectations.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is the co-founder and editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on e-commerce since 1999. She is a widely cited authority on marketplace sales and is the author of Turn eBay Data into Dollars (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book Blogging Heroes (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Association of Internet News (September 2005 – present) and Investigative Journalists and Editors (March 2006 – present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send your news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.