I don't do a lot of eBay buying but I don't think I've ever seen a seller take six days and counting to ship an item. Bought iPhone 5s last Thursday evening...paid within an hour. No notice, no nothing. I figured since I paid so quickly, Seller would get it out the door first thing Friday...or at least sometime Friday. Nope. Sent them a note Friday noon asking if they could get it out since I paid immediately. (This is what I do when I sell stuff on eBay and buyers pay fast, I think of it as just common courtesy). Received a note back 2pm Friday saying:

We will see what we can do otherwise because of the long weekend it would be first thing Tuesday. But we will check into getting it out. Thank you for the prompt payment.

Since then, crickets. Advice? Seller has 157 transactions with 100% positive feedback member since '01. I thought this was a good seller. Harumph.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2016 11:18AM by SteveO.

Eh, normal risk of buying something close to a holiday weekend.

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rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future

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SteveO
I figured since I paid so quickly, Seller would get it out the door first thing Friday...or at least sometime Friday. Nope.

How quickly you pay has nothing to do with how quickly a seller will ship, or should be expected to ship. Remember, eBay sellers are not all stores. Many are individuals. Individuals might forget to do things. I had an item sell on Amazon yesterday. Totally forgot to package it last night, which means I won't get it in the mail until tomorrow, which is fine b/c that's how long I'm allowed to take to ship something on Amazon.

On eBay, the seller can set the handling time. eBay doesn't tell you what that handling time is anymore, but you can look on your auction's page to see what the estimated delivery date range is. That's all that really matters. And keep in mind that the handling time is business days. So, let's assume the seller selected 3 days handling (the longest you can select before eBay might put a warning to buyers on the auction page). That gives them Friday, Tuesday and on Wednesday they should ship (today). Remember, holiday weekend.

So my advice: relax a little. If it doesn't arrive by the time eBay stated it should (or the seller hasn't sent a tracking number), just open a claim. This will either prompt the seller to ship it ASAP (but hopefully they already have shipped it). And when it arrives, simply close the claim (once you've checked out the item, b/c I don't know if you can open a subsequent "not as described" case after a "not arrived" case).

Now, a lot of people might chime in and say, don't open a case, give the seller time. Screw that. I've been on eBay for over 15 years with dozens of purchases each year. Play by the eBay rules. Open a case as soon as you can so you can get your money back ASAP if the seller is really a flake because it'll still take a week from when you open the case to get your money back.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2016 11:27AM by Gareth.

Thanks guys. Very helpful. Yeah, I took the holiday weekend into account, and yes the estimated delivery is 7 biz days. I made the mistake of thinking others would act as I do.

Some ebay sellers are prompt, some aren't. The fact that you paid immediately is immaterial. You have a right to expect the seller to live up to what they advertise. How long is the handling time listed? Friday counts as one day, Tuesday is number two.

A lot of sellers look at it like a flea market - they aren't in a hurry and expect that you shouldn't be in a hurry either.

One of the reasons I don't do ebay is because of my health issues; I simply cannot count on myself to ship something in timely fashion, so I have empathy for individual sellers that may have legitimate reasons for not getting stuff out promptly. If there's a concern over shipping time, I'd contact the seller prior to bidding/paying to get a handle on what to expect.
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Probably good seller, What did you pay for 5s somewhere between 125-250?

125 seems a little low, and 250 definitely high.

Or maybe they wait until they've sold a number of items to take all the packages to the post office. Not everyone is a stone's throw away from a usps office.

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You could send a friendly message:

Dear seller,
I will be going on a business trip soon and wanted my police officer roommate to be on the lookout for the package delivery. Can you tell me when he should expect delivery?

Thanks

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Ways to improve web conference image and sound quality. [forums.macresource.com]

You guys are all a bunch of bleeding (sellers) hearts! As a buyer, I pay moments after the auction because "I want my stuff!" and paying quickly is all I can do to move this transaction along.

As a seller, you want me to pay quickly so you get your cash right? So why can't everyone do their part and if necessary crawl to the Post Office so the buyer will be as happy as you are to get what they paid for! It's not all about the seller and their troubles! If you are going to sell on eBay then you should be prepared to ship when an item is sold. It's not that big of a surprise. Just do it!

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- Jack D.




New tasteless sig coming soon!

There are a lot of flaky/dishonest iPhone sellers. My record buying iPhones on eBay over the last 12 months is zero for three - one kept coming up with excuses why he couldn't ship, the second advertised a 64GB pristine phone and delivered a 16GB device that looked like it had been tumbled in a gravel pit beforehand (and then gave me grief for asking for prompt return and refund procedures), and the third was completely incommunicado.

I don't know why this was the case, but Gareth's advice is sound: you can only do so much to encourage a seller to ship promptly, but follow the eBay law to the letter, entertaining ZERO excuses for lack of delivery. Unwilling shippers of stuff worth more than $100 are very likely to fail to deliver at all, and the consideration you give them beyond the eBay rules has a good chance of being entirely at your own inconvenience.

Quote
Jack D.
As a seller, you want me to pay quickly so you get your cash right? So why can't everyone do their part and if necessary crawl to the Post Office so the buyer will be as happy as you are to get what they paid for! It's not all about the seller and their troubles! If you are going to sell on eBay then you should be prepared to ship when an item is sold. It's not that big of a surprise. Just do it!

That might make sense if all you did were auction listings since you know when they'll end. But a Buy-It-Now listing can end at anytime, and if you have it set to automatically re-list, it might be awhile before it sells. For instance, the item I just sold on Amazon was listed for 15 months before it sold. Am I really supposed to be at the buyer's beck and call for 15 months for a $30 item? Um no, I'll take the 2 days Amazon gives me if I need it (or the 3 days I put in for eBay). But I'll certainly try to ship it the next business day if possible.

There's a big difference between selling a recent model iPhone for a few hundred bucks and a $30 curiosity item that takes more than a year to unload. "Liquid" items tend to be shipped quickly out of mutual convenienceMl, and if they aren't, something is likely to be wrong with the deal.

I'm just guessing,,,, but here's a scenario that might explain what's up.

The seller is/was actually using the iPhone up until you bought it on eBay. Once it was bought, he's scrambling to buy a new iPhone, transfer the data and wipe the old iPhone before sending it out to you. Maybe he's even bidding on an iPhone on eBay for himself. Must wait for his auction to end, and have that iPhone shipped to him before sending yours out. Plausible?