Shipping Deadline Changed?

I'm seeing the same, John. It must be a very recent change; I'm pretty sure I checked that date, just yesterday morning.

I notified a potential customer over the weekend today was the last shipping day, hope I don't lose business over this.

I was never sure on the deadline if it meant the 16th (or when on the 16th) was the last day you could order and have it arrive or if it meant the 15th. Like when Murtaugh and Riggs could never remember if 3 meant go on 3 or 3 and then go! I suspect the changes came from UPS and FedEx though.

Although now I feel silly since they put the time on the latest deadline. Guess they had done that before, too.

Great way to do business there, change the date AFTER the date. Good thing the tens of thousands of members didn't send out emails tweets and blog posts with the original information. Oh wait.

This would not be cool because it still showed the Dec 16 earlier today. Hope customers do get their product. I ordered a pillow and have not gotten it yet.

Perhaps shipping deadlines should be more guideline than anything. And at this point we don't know if the shippers are just not able to ship it on time or if FAA is having problems fullfilling the orders. I order my wife her gift in plenty of time to get here before any deadline.

It's not that simple it could be considered false advertising promoting that packages will arrive in time for Christmas. Last year I ordered in plenty of time over 3 weeks before Christmas and gifts did not arrive after being promised they would. Amazon was in pretty hot water even so it was not their fault. Never the less you just can't tell an upset customer you should have ordered earlier, just not good for business. I put an order in myself this morning because it stated at check out that my order will still arrive in time for Christmas. They must have changed the date after I put in my order. Will have to get a back up gift to make sure.

Iris Richardson
IrisRichardson.com

Love how no company reps have bothered to post in here yet....

Yep, that's definitely different. I originally took a screenshot so I wouldn't have to go hunt for that info again... And sent out notices earlier today that today was the last day for regular ground shipments... Oh well...

:-(

Mark
tisdaleart.com

I am finding out what has happened now. I have not been told of any changes

The cut off time was actually 12:00 AM (noon) Eastern today (the 16th).

Once that time passed, Sean just changed the calendar to show the date as yesterday so that everyone would know that the time had passed. No one would read the fine print to see that it was today at noon.

When I took my screenshot it said 5pm eastern today not noon.

Either way, we're only talking about a few hours difference and both times have now passed. :-)

Thanks for the explanation of why the calendar was changed, Abbie.

Mark
tisdaleart.com

What ever anyone tells you about shipping deadlines can never be more then an educated guess.

All of the shippers will very often miss their own stated deadlines. And there is no impunity. The business would simply not survive if there was or they would have to charge significantly more for shipping.

I always build in at least 24 hours into any deadline that UPS, FeEx, USPS or any of the other carriers.

I have had both UPS and FedEx "reschedule" delivery dates even during non holiday times. The excuse they use most often is weather. Almost every time that has happened, if I look at the destination, there really was extreme weather in that area or somewhere between us and the destination.

I ordered cards and a phone case this morning (mountain time) and the page said the shipment would arrive before Christmas. Hope so. Items are for the wife. Shipping was pretty high too ($37 for one box of cards and a phone case).

Greg - don't know if this was the case when you ordered this morning, but the default shipping method right now is overnight. May explain your shipping price?

You have to switch it to standard to get the normal rates but you are then confronted with a message and a check box that you're aware you won't receive it by Christmas.

I remember they did the same thing with the default shipping method this time last year.

Mark
tisdaleart.com

Thanks Mark. That's probably what happened. I ordered some pillows before and shipping was 5 bucks, so I was sort of surpised to see shipping that high for today's order.

Yikes, I've been advertizing today as the last day to order for the Christmas deadline and just received the notification for a large print sale a few minutes ago. I went through the checkout process myself (logged out) after reading this thread, and saw the "Your order will arrive in time for Christmas" notification. The shipping was indeed much higher than usual for my small test print. The default shipping is indeed overnight, and if you change it to standard, this message pops up: Christmas Shipping Deadlines: Your order will not arrive in time for Christmas. Please upgrade to overnight shipping or acknowledge below: I acknowledge that this order will not arrive in time for Christmas.

Hopefully these messages were all in place when the person who ordered my print was ordering, as I'd hate to have been misleading...