Ebay - Delayed Shipping Request
 

Hopefully someone can give me some clear direction on this. Received a request this morning through Ebay after the customer purchased and paid for a card asking for me to hold off shipping for a few weeks. I'm fine doing it as I have made the request on this board or through auction houses occasionally, but Ebay being Ebay I'm wondering what the fall out could be and how to not get dinged. Normally I ship everything within 24 hours as stated in my handling time. Any idea how to accommodate this request and not get a shipping defect?

I don't have an answer, but it hit me after reading this that eBay should have a built-in option for buyers to do this and that would avoid your problem all together.

I believe you can change "handling time" up to like 15 days, so as long as the time they are requesting you to wait is within that frame you should be ok as far as buying "was item delivered by" for feedback.
I don't know if this works once item paid for.

What about getting it ready to ship and providing a tracking number, but just not shipping it yet? The tracking number should keep eBay off your back if they think its been shipped.

I just had a customer request the same thing last night (to delay shipping until the beginning of March) on a BIN card. Normally I also have no problem doing it, but I think my shipping record will get dinged if it doesn't arrive there within the stated expected shipping time. It seems like there is not much to do beside what David suggested...print a label and hold off shipping. A transaction outside of ebay this is no problem, but ahh, ebay.

Brian

I always feel it is prudent to direct questions like this directly to the source rather than eliciting opinions on a public forum. I know it is convenient to do this here but in CYA situation, like you have presented, I think I would want more than opinions.

The source (Ebay) will most likely suggest to you to do as the customer asks, but there's nothing they can do about the metrics, as they are set in stone and you should be able to take a hit every once in awhile of this type.

"You can call back when you get the defect, and if your correspondence with the buyer was through Ebay messaging regarding the late shipment, we may be able to strike it from your record, and we may not. Depends on who answers the phone, how long you are willing to stay on the line, and how many dropped calls and promises you put up with before you give up...........we can't really tell you for sure.............but thanks for being a super loyal Ebay seller."

In other words, expect about as direct an answer from Ebay, as you might expect from Net 54's own Yogidavid.

It also needs to be scanned by the Post Office as "accepted" within the expected time frame of 1 business day, if this is a TRS with 1 day handling situation.

Mail him an empty package. Provide that tracking number to Ebay. Let the customer know you're doing this. When he's ready mail the item he paid for.

This was the best answer. I did the same thing when a customer requested a delay in shipping. eBay will ding you if you do not ship right away.

Just be careful who you are dealing with. You might get a customer who says that they received an empty envelope and leave you a neg.

As D. Bergin said---
 

--Printing a label on time will NOT satisfy the 1 day mailing---it has to be received by the PO to avoid the ding. I just had this happen to me, however a shipping ding or two is no big deal unless you are deficient in other areas also.

I offer 1 day shipping & for various reasons, all customer oriented, I have 3 dings over the last 3 -4 yrs. & my overall EBay Rating is still "Above Average" or whatever their terms are!

Not to worry!

Thanks, I should add I've never tried this personally. And I would obviously get the customer's permission in an Ebay email to do this so you are covered. If the guy seems like a scammer at all just cancel the transaction and tell him you will hold it until he's ready to have it shipped, then relist.

When I tried to find an answer on the Ebay site, I only came up with answers from years ago submitted by other members. I could not find any Ebay policies on the subject. The guy seems fine; 100% feedback, been on for more than a few years, etc, so not worried about him pulling something, was just thinking of my defect rate. What can I say, I like perfection. I ended up calling Ebay tonight and shockingly they were helpful. They noted the transaction, gave me a reference number, and indicated that as long as the customer requested it through an Ebay message, they could remove any defect if one hit my account. So, I'm just going to hold to it, ship as requested, and see what happens.

I definitely would NOT just ship an empty package as suggested. What if he's setting you up. Just tell him I'm shipping as my auction stated and do not want any hassles with eBay and the shipping time frame. Once delivered it's on him but you have fulfilled your selling commitment.. Good luck with this buyer..

This.

Imagine this. You ship an empty package with a tracking number. Buyer receives empty package, does not open it. 3 weeks later, you send the real package. Buyer takes first package (unopened) to post office, opens it it front of postal employee and then files claim with eBay/PayPal for item not received.

Hate
 

Hate the idea of sending an empty package, presumes buyer is honest. Could lead to a dishonest person claiming you did not deliver item purchased, waaaaay to risky

Same thing here. Had a BIN get hit last night, almost an immediate message about please wait until March 1st to ship. I replied within a few minutes saying, ok...no problem I'd wait. Then he sends another message today asking me again to please not ship until March 1st....made me wonder why he was asking again and he didn't see my reply last night...

Well, the buyer last night just bought another BIN from me tonight. Hmmm.

I see your point about the empty package. I guess that may be best only if you trust the buyer. If not I would offer to cancel and refund or just take the hit to your ship on time rating.

How about calling eBay and telling them the situation and maybe they can put a note on your account.

Just mark the item as shipped and then when the time comes to actually ship go to Paypal and ship it using the Multi Order Shipping Tool. This way you have satisfied eBay Requirements (by marking as Shipped) and there is no additional eBay involvement in ship processing.

Contacting ebay is what I have done in the past when I have had this type of request.

The CSR asked if the buyer had sent their request for delayed shipping via ebay message. The buyer had, so the CSR read this message and noted on my account about the delayed shipping. I was told to print the label out now, but waited to ship. After delivery was made, I called ebay back and they adjusted my shipping metrics to honor the customer's request.