Question about Ebay transaction
 

Feb 3rd I purchased two pieces off of the same seller on Ebay, 2 different listings. I paid right away.

The seller marked the items shipped a few days ago but I still haven't received them and the tracking information has shown nothing.

Yesterday I emailed him (11 days after purchase) and asked him if he knew of any reason why I haven't received them yet. He replied back that he ran out of mailing tubes and he would send them out (or sent them out) that day.

I was pretty upset so I emailed him and told him that it is not normal to take this long to receive an item, especially since I live in the same state as him and paid immediately after close.

I told him that I am a repeat customer and it would have been nice for him to inform me through email that he hadn't shipped them yet (even though he marked them as shipped on Ebay days earlier.) I told him I still want the items but don't expect me to leave positive feedback unless he makes things right with me. I also wonder why he's waiting to ship them at the same time and not even giving me combined shipping, but thats a whole other story.

After shooting out the email, I went back into the listings and noticed it did say 12-13 business days for shipping (unless he found out how to alter that after the listing ended). Regardless thats a ridiculous amount of time imo.

He hasn't responded to my email yet. The entire thing seems fishy to me. I don't know why he'd choose to send both out at the same time and not offer combined shipping. I don't like how he marked them shipped without sending them out and never notified me of the delays.

Anyways what do you guys think I should do? I hate leaving negative feedback but I put the ball in his court with that last email and if he never responds to it I'm not sure what to do.

When you print a shipping label on ebay with tracking it marks the item as shipped even though the seller has not actually shipped the item yet...I don't even print out labels unless I'm also shipping the same day or I may do it late at night and the packages will go out in the morning.

I love how it says 12-13 business days. So it takes this guy the better half of a month to print off a printing slip and put it in the mail? Why even sell something if you don't care about shipping it out in a timely manner. I would leave neautral feedback if you get it in the next day or so. If it's 3+ days negative

Not knowing what kind of pieces you bought, could it be possible that the guy is using a drop-shipping company ("taking orders" on eBay which he then passes on to the shipper, a separate company, for filling)? That might explain the HUGE window for shipping time that he leaves himself and the lack of an option to combine shipping.

Also, FWIW, it's impossible to change things like shipping times, description, etc in eBay after an item has sold, as they lock all those details once an offer or sale has been made.

Regardless of whether the "out of tubes" excuse is legit, I would be surprised if the seller's feedback doesn't already reflect buyers' displeasure at such a long shipping time. My experience has been that, regardless of what you specify ahead of time, many buyers will voice their displeasure in feedback at the slightest provocation. If you don't see any such comments in his feedback, then perhaps this actually is an isolated incident. Either way though, he does owe you some sort of answer to your legitimate question/concerns.

I learned my lesson awhile back about reading the "Shipping Details."

I purchased a card and the shipping cost was $5.00. No problem there. I assumed that because the shipping cost was $5.00 that the seller would ship it First Class. Well, the Shipping Details read "Economy." That means the seller has between 14-21 days (approximately) to ship the item. That also means that because he listed Shipping as Economy, that I could not Open A Case until those 14-21 days had passed.

Always read the Shipping Details.

Actually, this bothers me. If the seller specified 12-13 days shipping, and you bid on his item, then I think it's jerky to give him a negative because you don't like his detailed policies. Somewhere in here the buyer has to take SOME sort of responsibility! I got burned buying a CD years ago with $2 shipping costs, but only after I won did I notice that the seller was in Asia and shipping would be like $15 to US winners. Was I mad? Sure! But it was my own fault. Assuming he does get the items in the mail within his alloted time frame, which the buyer agreed to by bidding, then why should he be penalized for it??

As a regular seller on ebay, I get tired of buyers getting mad at me because they can't be bothered to read a whole description. It's not like I'm writing volumes here, just a couple paragraphs.

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com

PS: FWIW, I do agree that 12-13 days shipping is ridiculous! But I think that's a separate issue.

I believe if the seller has marked item as shipped, when you go to give out stars in feedback, you will be unable to ding the stars, as Ebay thinks it shipped last week....

Caveat emptor- Let the buyer beware
is advice that has been around since the days of the Romans? It still applies today. Always read the fine print, FWIW...

That being said:
As an occasional seller, I wouldn't ever consider the BS shipping policies that this seller is trying to pull. Additionally he's trying to make money on shipping which is just wrong...

Thanks for all your input guys!

As I figured, he never repiled to my email.

Yeah I think the whole thing is pretty much nonsense. I agree that it's my fault for not realizing the 12-13 BUSINESS DAY shipping time...no matter how ludacris it is (and it is very ridiculous).

I think I am just not going to leave feedback at all, unless he emails me and pushes for it. That way I don't ding his score or piss him off. If he pushes for feedback I am just going to put my honest feelings on there.

Lets just say I will choose not to do business with him again, thats for sure.

Thanks again guys

Feedback
 

I always check their feedback rating. I'm like you, I hate leaving negative feedback. Some ebayers do deserve it though.

Is that shipping time excessive? Yes.

But it was stated clearly in advance, so if you get it in that time I don't think it's fair to ding him. I think no feedback is your best bet as well.