eBay Australia Uses Machine Learning To Estimate Delivery Dates
eBay Australia revealed it has launched a new estimated delivery dates model that uses machine learning (AI) to calculate estimated delivery dates (EDD) on eBay listings.
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The machine learning model uses historical delivery data to help eBay display more accurate estimated delivery dates on seller listings. It uses both buyer and item location and is adjusted for seasonality (i.e. holiday and peak periods).
Instead of a date range with the earliest and latest delivery dates, buyers will now see one date as the estimated delivery date on eBay listings.
eBay said Australian sellers should see this new model reflected on their listings. The company reiterated that the estimated delivery date is always inclusive of the seller’s handling time.
Furthermore, eBay will continue to also factor in any postage delays or impacts to integrated postage carriers. And seller evaluation will continue to look at stated handling time and broader carrier estimates.
It is unclear if this new machine learning-based model is being used on other eBay country marketplaces such as ebay.com (US) or ebay.co.uk (UK).
Brian Burke, Director of Community Development at eBay in a recent US community chat said the company is adjusting handling times in select cases:
“I also need to note that the EDD is based on the sellers [sic] historic shipping data, so if you typically ship items quicker then [sic] the handling time you’ve stated then we’ll take that quicker shipping time into account when calculating the EDD.”
Yet, eBay Australia in its announcement said that the handling time will be respected, suggesting this is a different algorithm in Australia than the one being used in the US.
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Richard Meldner
Richard is co-founder of eSeller365. He has over 17 years of experience on eBay which includes tens of thousands of sales to buyers in over 100 countries and even has experience with eBay’s VeRO program enforcing intellectual property rights for a former employer. And for about two years Richard sold products on Amazon using Amazon FBA in the US.
To “relax” from the daily business grind, for a few weekends a year, he also works for IMSA as a professional race official.