Last-minute holiday shopping can be both a boon and a major source of stress for e-commerce businesses. This December, eBay is doing their part to ease the burden on sellers with a limited-time modification to eBay Guaranteed Delivery that gives more merchants the opportunity to participate in the program.
A few months back, in a blog post covering eBay’s 2017 Fall Seller Update, we wrote about the launch of Guaranteed Delivery, a new option that allows shoppers to filter their results to see only products with exact delivery dates. Sellers who use Guaranteed Delivery benefit from increased exposure, but they must be able to either…
- guarantee 0–1-day handling time and use eBay labels (this is known as the Handling Time Option),
or - guarantee delivery within 4 days or less and cover shipping cost refunds and return labels themselves (this is known as the Door-to-Door Option).
From now through the holidays, eBay has temporarily waived one requirement for the Handling Time Option. Sellers who want to participate in Guaranteed Delivery don’t need to use eBay labels. This is a huge opportunity for large merchants shipping out of a single location to take advantage of the program.
Note that there are a few caveats. To be eligible for the Guaranteed Delivery Handling Time Option, your business must ship out of a single location—sellers with multiple shipping locations must use the Door-To-Door Option. This program is also open only to sellers who self-fulfill, so you can’t ship orders through FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon).
Want to take advantage of this opportunity? Here’s what you need to do:
- Set your handling time to same-day or 1-day.
- Offer immediate payment.
- Offer returns.
- For shipping, offer specific carriers—e.g. USPS Priority Mail—rather than options such as “expedited”, “standard”, or “economy.”
- Make sure you include the item location zip codes in your listings
- Make to list and ship with one of the eligible carrier services below:
Eligible One-Day Carrier Services
- UPS Next Day
- FedEx Priority Overnight
- FedEx Standard Overnight
Eligible Expedited Carrier Services
- UPS 2nd Day Air
- USPS Priority
- USPS Express Mail
- USPS Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate Box
- USPS Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box
- USPS Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box
- USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope
- Fedex Express Saver
- FedEx 2 Day
Eligible Standard Carrier Services
- UPS Ground
- USPS First Class
- FedEx Home Delivery
Eligible Economy Carrier Services
- USPS Parcel Select Ground
- USPS Media
- USPS Standard Post
For more information about using Guaranteed Delivery or any topic related to selling on eBay, you can always contact us!
