The store’s dispatch time, plus the courier’s journey. Both are shown before you pay, and people read the first and forget the second.
The two parts
Dispatch is how long the store takes to get a paid order into the courier's hands. Some post same day; many take a day or two; a maker making to order takes longer and says so. Will my order go out today?
The journey is the courier's, and it is usually the longer half. A store posting in 24 hours does not mean it arrives in 24 hours.
What the estimate looks like
Depending on how the store has set it up, you see either a same-day promise with a cutoff time, a next-day one, or a range of days.
A same-day option means ordered before the cutoff, delivered by a stated time — and after the cutoff it becomes the next day.
What moves it
Where you are. Metro to metro is quick. Everything else varies more than any courier's website admits, and remote PIN codes take longer and sometimes cost more. Delivering outside the big cities
The store being closed. Closed days and holidays are built into the deadline, so a store shut on Sunday is not late for being shut.
Festivals. Courier networks slow down and nothing in the app can fix that.
A busy show. A store that sold thirty items in an hour has thirty parcels to pack. I got far more orders than expected
If it matters, ask before you bid
A seller will tell you straight whether they can get something out today. Asked in advance it is a fair question; asked after you have won it is a request.
And for anything with a date attached — a birthday, a festival — buy earlier than feels necessary, or buy at a fixed price rather than waiting for an auction to end. Buying a gift on Metzee
If the dispatch deadline passes and nothing has moved
Message the store first. Most of the time it went out and the tracking has not caught up.
Then raise it from the order. Shipping within the stated time is one of the things a store is held to. How to raise an issue
Do not wait a fortnight out of politeness — early is easier for everyone, including the store.
If it is marked delivered and nothing came
Raise it. A posted parcel is marked delivered automatically after 7 days if nobody confirms it, and that mark is bookkeeping rather than a claim that it arrived. Your protection is unaffected. Why does my order say delivered when I did not confirm?
More: the four ways an item reaches you, how delivery is charged, my parcel has not arrived.