An estimated delivery date lets your customers know when their order is expected to arrive—a key piece of information they look for when shopping on Etsy, which can help them feel more confident when making a purchase. Our research has shown buyers are more likely to buy items that dispatch faster – even if it’s only by one day!* Details related to estimated delivery dates are required in order to create a listing/delivery profile and to renew listings. This article will help you find answers to frequently asked questions about estimated delivery dates.
1. What is an estimated delivery date?
An estimated delivery date is shown to buyers as a range of dates when their order is likely to arrive.
2. How is an estimated delivery date calculated?
To calculate an estimated delivery date, we look at a number of factors – like the ship-by date, your delivery services, your processing time and order processing schedule, and where the order is delivered to and from.
In some instances, in addition to information you already provide – like processing times and delivery services – we’ll use your delivery history, along with carrier information like latest transit times, to calculate estimated delivery dates. The stated processing times and ship-by dates for your items won’t change and we’ll take them into account when making this new calculation.
Here’s how we use the information in your delivery settings to help calculate estimated delivery dates:
Delivery company and mail class: We use this information to determine how long it will likely take for the package to arrive after you dispatch it based on the information we have from carriers. We want you and your buyers to be confident your orders will arrive on time. So we keep an eye on carrier activity and adjust buyers’ estimated delivery dates based on the latest transit times.
Processing time: This is the number of days you need to make or design the item and get it handed off to the delivery company.
Since every seller’s schedule looks a little different, you have the option to set an Order Processing Schedule based on whether or not you’re preparing or dispatching packages on the weekend. Adding Saturday and/or Sunday to your Order Processing Schedule doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re dispatching orders over the weekend. Rather, it includes weekend days in your processing times, which impacts your dispatch-by dates. This added flexibility helps ensure buyers get a more accurate estimate of when their package will arrive. Keep in mind, adding Sunday to your schedule means you prepare or package orders that day – but you don’t have to dispatch them. If a dispatch-by date falls on a Sunday, we'll always bump it to the next business day.
Zip/pincode: Adding your post code makes our estimates even more accurate because we’ll know where you’re dispatching from. For example, that a package will arrive faster for buyers within your state versus delivery across the country. Your pincode won’t be shown to shoppers.
3. How is estimated delivery date information shown to buyers?
Buyers see estimated delivery dates on individual listings. Plus, buyers in the US can filter search results of listings by their estimated delivery date. Only items with estimated delivery dates are shown in this search filter, so it’s a great way for your listings to have more visibility on Etsy with buyers in the US.
4. Do estimated delivery dates take holidays and weekends into account?
We factor weekends and postal holidays in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, and the UK into our estimated delivery date calculations so that buyers have the most accurate expectations of when to expect their order. However, if your order processing schedule indicates that you prep and dispatch orders on the weekends, your items’ estimated delivery dates will reflect that.
5. Are estimated delivery dates ever updated after a purchase?
If you mark the order as dispatched later than the expected dispatch date, the estimated delivery date will be recalculated accordingly to show the later arrival. Then, this new date is communicated to the buyer in the email that’s sent alerting them that their order has been dispatched – with no further effort from you.
You can also edit the "dispatch by" date once, as long as the original "dispatch by" date hasn't passed. This will also update the estimated delivery date shown to the buyer.
6. I don’t want to make a promise to my buyers I can’t keep. What happens to my estimated delivery date if carriers are experiencing delays?
This is where we can help. Etsy is able to adjust transit times for top carriers for sellers when we detect carrier delays. We can do this for a few reasons:
- We have close partnerships with carriers who you can purchase labels through our site and are in frequent conversation with them about how their networks are performing.
- We‘ve also developed technology that analyses data on millions of packages to detect where carrier delays are forming and make adjustments to transit time estimates to help keep them more accurate.
That’s why it’s important for you to select one of the available carriers in your delivery profiles. Without knowing which carrier you’re using, we won’t know what transit time adjustments to make.
You can also let your buyers know about delays to better manage their expectations and deliver a great customer experience through Messages. Here’s an example of a message you can share with your buyer if you think an order may arrive later than expected:
I wanted to keep you updated on the status of your order. Due to carrier delays, there’s a chance your package may not arrive on the originally estimated date. Rest assured I’ll keep you updated along the way as I get new information from the carrier. Please feel free to message me if you have any questions.
7. I make custom items and my production time varies. How do I determine my processing time?
Your processing time is how much time you need to get an order ready to be dispatched, including production time. If an order is custom, this should include the amount of time it takes to create the custom item.
8. Do I have to use the carrier/class options Etsy provides?
Yes, this is required for sellers in the US and UK, and strongly encouraged for sellers in other markets – that way, we can adjust transit times in case of carrier delays and you can focus on your creative business. We’re continuously expanding the carrier/class options available in delivery profiles based on carriers we see sellers most commonly using.
If you don’t see the delivery service you typically use, choose the option with a similar transit time – this will help us calculate a more accurate estimated delivery date for your orders (and the delivery service you select isn’t visible to shoppers). Then, let us know what’s missing by filling out this short survey.
Learn more about providing a great delivery experience for buyers in the Ultimate Guide to Delivery.
*Based on an August 2023 internal Etsy analysis.
Words by Etsy Staff
