Ebay -- is this reasonable?

[ereks mom]

On March 7 (two weeks ago yesterday), I purchased a book using the Buy It Now option & paid with PayPal, so the money (less than $8) was transferred immediately to the seller. I expected to receive confirmation of the sale, but a week went by and I heard NOTHING from the seller, so I sent a message asking him/her to touch base with me about the sale. Another week went by and I heard NOTHING. Today, 2 weeks & 1 day later, the book arrived; it had been shipped March 17 -- 10 days after payment was sent/received. I have yet to receive any communication from the seller, although he/she did leave me positive feedback (it says "Excellent Buyer") on the eBay site. I'm planning to leave positive feedback for the seller as well, since I did receive the book & it was as described, more or less. But should I make a comment about the slow shipping? This is a person who has nearly 600 eBay transactions & a 99.8% positive rating, including several comments that say "good communication" & "fast shipping". WWYD?

[jacqui in mo]

Was it priority mail? If it had been shipped right away but using Media Mail, it wouldn't have arrived much faster. So Maybe she comprised her late shipment with a little higher priority mail? Yes, she should have communicated with you why she didn't ship quickly, but she did get it to you & in good shape. I would give a positive but also mention the slow shipping & lack of communication.

[Whisperlily]

You could leave a positive feedback with a comment such as:

 

Shipping was slower than expected, but item did arrive and is as described.

 

That way others would be aware that there might be a delay in shipping. I have sold quite a few things on e-bay, and I usually ship right away, or let the buyer know why there's a delay. I have had one sale with extraordinary circumstances where I couldn't communicate with the seller and the package went out late. I appreciated the positive feedback, but would have understood a negative.

[ereks mom]

Was it priority mail? If it had been shipped right away but using Media Mail, it wouldn't have arrived much faster. So Maybe she comprised her late shipment with a little higher priority mail?

 

It was shipped Media Mail, which was what was offered in the item description. I guess it arrived really quickly, considering it was shipped Media Mail only 5 days ago. Mostly, I'm just puzzled as to why it took 10 days for her to ship it, and annoyed that she didn't communicate with me at all, even when I sent an e-mail asking her to contact me.

 

I'm a peacemaker by nature, and I'm always uncomfortable making waves, so even though I'm reasonably sure the seller doesn't deserve negative feedback, I wasn't sure if this situation warranted at least a frank comment about the slow shipping.

[ConnieB]

This is the type of thing that I'd leave a nuetral....and put in comments like "item as described but shipped 10 days after payment and no response to 2 emails requesting status".

 

This says it all...you're happy with the product but disappointed with the service. Mixed in with all the positives about good communication and fast shipping it isn't going to damage her reputation really....but it will give others a heads up on the fact that something else could be going on in her life. Since she's already left you feedback you don't have to worry about relatatory feedback from her....the worse she can do is answer your feedback with her excuse, but it won't count against you. And....I tend to rely more on how a seller responded to negative or neutral feedback more than I do to an occasional black mark. The proper response to such feedback should be "sorry, floods in our area couldn't get to the post office"...or "oops, sorry, life got busy here"...or even "sent media mail and she got in two weeks, should be happy". But, I've seen sellers with hundreds of positives get one negative like what I mentioned above and they blast the buyer or call them stupid or other really inappropriate responses.....to ME that says this seller is a potential hothead and not someone I'm really going to want to try to deal with if a problem arises. As I said, this out of control type of response weighs heavier in my opinion of them than 100 positives.

 

The alternative is to just ignore it and leave no feedback......that avoids any possible confrontation. BUT.....more and more people aren't willing to leave feedback when it's anything less than stellar....and that only hurts the Buyers that come after you. Perhaps her life is getting out of control and her ebay business is a low priority.....if several people suddenly complain about lack of communication and slow to ship, then I as a potential buyer can decide if I've got time to wait or if it's time to bid somewhere else. Answer this....if you'd seen hundreds of positives but then in the last month several "slow to ship" comments....would you have reacted differently to buying....or to worry when it took 2 weeks to arrive? If so, then consider that your leaving neutral feedback will help the next person make an informed decision. Pay it Forward.

 

Sorry it got so long, as you might tell, I'm a bit passionate about this subject.....I've bought from years for years and years without problem but then late last year I had three bad transactions. All of them had positive feedback until after I made my purchase then complaints started cropping up.....one of them I had get my refund via dispute, the other two finally got them, but had I known early on that they were starting to slide in customer service I'd have moved on and saved myself the hassle.

 

Ok...gently climbing off.....

[Claire]

It seems to have become standard recently for sellers not to acknowledge receipt of payment and also not to notify buyers of shipments. I'm not sure what happened, but I noticed this starting about a year ago.

[Montana Peach]

I rarely seem to get and acknowledgment of payment other than from Paypal and shipping notices pretty well never. Connie's assessment is very good. I am also somewhat passionate in this area after buying an item and paying immediately - only to have th seller say they did not have it and issue a refund. In checking they had done this a lot and a neutral comment by me let to a negative and very snide feedback from them. Three weeks later, they filed an unpaid claim with eBay saying I did not pay. I sent in all the paypal notices and seller's emails and somehow they denied it and I ended up with an unpaid strike despite proof to the contrary. THAT led to resending all the evidence and a pretty nasty letter to eBay that got it removed, but this whole thing took a month of constant emails and hassle to resolve.

 

It's things like this that make buyers hesitant to be honest since theur good ratings are sometimes held hostage by sellers who refuse to leave feedback till the buyer does , then respond in kind, no matter how good a buy is adn even if the seller was bad. This sort of thing is why eBay is changing the feedback system starting in May I think it is.

 

I did have one purchase that had not arrived after ten days so I emailed the seller. She finally said she had gotten delayed and sent a second package (small knitting items). I left a positive since she did that and noted she had replaced the item due to slow shipping.