eBay question ... how long to wait?

[elephantschild]

I've been an eBayer for six years now and have never encountered this before. I want to be polite without being pushy and I hope someone has advice! 

I won an auction for an item recently. It's something a little rare and I was thrilled to get it. I paid immediately and thought that was that.

With everyone I've bought from in the past six years, I've received e-mail acknowledgment of my purchase and some shipping information within 24 hours of the sale, at least. I waited three days with this one. Still nothing. I sent the seller a polite message, saying that I just wanted to check that everything was OK with the transaction, and did she know when she'd be sending it?

That was three days ago. Still nothing. The seller doesn't have a perfect feedback record, but a good enough one with lots of sales that she fell well within the range I'd consider acceptable. I suppose she might have already shipped it and is just ignoring me, but the lack of communication is really bugging me. This is a slightly rare item and I've had other chances to chase it down over the past week, but declined because I'd thought I'd bought one! (And the longer I wait, the harder it will be to find ...)

Here's when some of my confusion comes in: I browsed the eBay forums trying to figure out what to do. They seem rather seller-centric. In a few cases like mine, many people agreed that a message (even a polite one) so soon was "pushy" and that "communication is optional."    (And also that it's poor form to leave a bad communication rating if I do get the item, even if the seller ignores me all along.)

Was I pushy? What do you think my next step should be? I was thinking another polite message if i don't hear anything by tomorrow, then take it to eBay if I don't hear with 3-4 days after that ... but now, I don't know.

[NsWife]

ask her for the tracking #.....I always send things with one! Then track it.   If not provided, file a dispute with ebay tomorrow.

[camlan]

Ebay allows the seller 30 from the end of the auction to ship the item. Which means that it could take those 30 days plus shipping time for it to reach you. Util then, the seller is still in compliance with Ebay rules.

Go back and read the auction listing. Many sellers will put something about shipping time in their listings, "I ship the day after payment is received," "I ship on Mondays and Thursdays." But they are not required to do this.

Nor are they required to communicate with you in any way during the transaction. Most do, and I appreciate that. But it is not a requirement.

If the seller uses the PayPal shipping function, I think you get an automatic email update when the item ships.

You have 45 days from the end of an auction to file a complaint. If you file one now, it might get the seller to at least respond to you.

The Ebay Answer Center is very seller-centric. It is also run entirely by Ebay sellers and buyers, not by Ebay employees. You will get answers telling you to leave positive feedback for many problems that get resolved by returning the item to the seller for a refund (for which you'd have to pay return postage). In my opinion, that's a neutral at best, a negative at worst.

But you can certainly leave whatever type of feedback you deem fit. As a fellow buyer, I want to know if someone's shipping times are very slow and if they never respond to emails. If you do eventually get the item and its okay, consider giving the seller a neutral feedback score and low stars on shipping time and communication.

[Bibliophile]

I wouldn't file a complaint unless you don't get the item within the time allowed.  The seller isn't obligated to send you tracking info - it's nice to get, but not everyone sends it...

[elephantschild]

The item listing said "Estimated delivery within 3-4 business days" and "Will usually ship within 1 business day of receiving cleared payment." That means I should get it by today or at least this week. I'd understand if it takes a little longer ... it's December, after all! ... so I suppose that's not even my issue (until at least the end of next week or so).

It's that she's ignoring me. I don't want to file a complaint yet; I think there's still time delivery-wise. But the lack of simple acknowledgment of the message ... I don't know, it makes me very nervous. And I think she's up for at least a lack of stars in communication.