There are two factors that play a role in the overall delivery time for an item, and these two factors are added together to determine the expected delivery day: seller handling time and shipping speed chosen by the customer.
Seller Handling Time
The handling time for the seller refers to the period of time that occurs after the customer payment method has cleared (order status moves from "pending" to "unshipped") until the time that the seller confirms the package has been shipped (order status moves from "unshipped" to "shipped"). This time is one of the factors in determining the expected delivery date that is shown to the customer. The handling time for sellers is 1 business day by default for all listings but it can be changed in the Seller Fulfillment settings.
Handling days are only weekdays (Monday through Friday). Weekend days are not counted as handling days. Therefore, if an order was made on Monday with a seller-defined handling time of 1 day, then that order must be confirmed as shipped by the end of day Tuesday. If the same seller received an order on Friday, the order must be confirmed as shipped by end of day Monday.
Shipping Speed
Customers have only two options for shipping speed at this time: standard 3-5 day shipping and express 1-3 day shipping (when offered by the seller for that listing). In addition, postal carriers in the US routinely have Saturday as a delivery day.
Expected Date of Delivery
Rivly combines the handling time and the shipping speed using the details above to determine the expected delivery date. Our calculations are purposely done to err on the conservative side in order to more easily meet customer expectation that are set.
E.g. If a product is purchased with standard shipping on Wednesday with a seller-defined handling time of 1 day, the package should be handed over to the carrier by end of day Thursday and will arrive Monday to Wednesday of the following week depending on proximity to the origin of shipment.
Rivly tracks a wide variety of shipping and delivery metrics in our Customer Service Score in order to reward the sellers that provide the best experience to our community of shoppers.