How long is too long to ship something from ebay

[youpey]

How long is the appropriate amount of time for something to be shipped on ebay. 3 days or less? 5 days?  Not transit time, just the time to get it to the shipping company. 

I admit I am spoiled by Amazon and the 2 day shipping. I ordered something from Ebay on sunday, and it hasn't shipped yet and its now Thursday. According to ebay, it supposed to arrive by Monday, which at this point I dont see happening. 

I rarely sell, but when i do, i typically try to ship within 2 business days or less.

How long is too long? At what point do you email asking whats up?

 

Im just extta concerned because i have had something lost in transit recently and it has been 1 month with no movement and usps doesn't care

Edited March 25, 2021 by youpey

[Ace-Garageguy]

The simple solution that has always worked for me is to contact eBay after their "estimated delivery date" has passed. There's a resolution procedure that only requires a few mouse clicks and writing a coherent sentence or 3.

That said, eBay's functionality continues to deteriorate. Their apparent reliance on out-of-work 4th-rate emoji designers to do their IT "upgrades" is having an obviously negative effect on most interactions now.

[Snake45]

There's a guy I regularly buy from (eBay) who must only ship once a week. I've won auctions and it doesn't even leave him for sometimes 7 days or more. I've learned that it WILL come through if I'm patient, though. 

You can send the the seller a message through the eBay system and politely ask Whazzup? That's how I'd start. 

[1930fordpickup]

I agree with Snake, send a polite message asking what is going on.  First go back and read the original listing to see if it mentions how long it takes them to ship. Maybe save a little embarrassment first. 

Yes I have had people that send the next day and other that take a week to sometimes 10 days.  Very frustrating when it takes a long time.  

[slusher]

I had a seller forget me and my item once. Many of them work and many mail once a week.  Our postage system is not wat it was at one time.

[Tom Geiger]

There's a big difference between collectibles and consumer goods.  eBay has been chasing Amazon on the consumer junk end, but has been applying those standards to collectibles, which once were their bread and butter... remember Pierre invented eBay for his girlfriend to sell her Pez dispensers!   

I've been on eBay since the beginning, and it was a friendly collector to collector medium.  You communicated with people via email and you'd get folksy communications with photos of their cars and interesting conversation.  It was fun when I had an extra new GM electric antenna and I knew it was going on a Cadillac in Switzerland!

Per Carl's description, I was one of those guys who worked full time and did eBay on weekends.  I sold mostly automobilia ... car brochures and such.  I set my auctions to end on Sunday night, because that was the busiest night.  I made sure they ended  mid evening on the west coast so the whole country got to bid.  Then I'd send out my email invoices, and people would mail checks and money orders.  I told them that I shipped every Saturday for all payments received by Friday.  On Friday after dinner,  I'd open up all the envelopes and wrap everything that was going out in the morning mail.  Then I'd drive to the post office. We didn't have printable labels with postage, so my favorite clerk would weigh and add postage labels to my 25-50 pieces.  I'd cash all the USPS money orders towards my postage bill, and pay the balance with my credit card.   Nobody ever complained.  That's the way it was.

Then I tried to sell some consumer stuff.  I had some family items as well as a big box of new computer items that my brother in law in the IT business gave me to sell.  I saw the stiff competition to sell a computer battery for ten dollars.  My first customer paid on a Friday and the part went out on Saturday morning. I got dinged with a "Slow Shipping" neutral!  I questioned the guy and he said it should've gone out within an hour!  I realized he was dealing with 24/7 computer parts companies and gave my brother in law back the box.  I didn't want to be in that business!  

Still on the stamp collectors side, I deal with two people who sell a big volume of $1 to $5 items.  They tell you NOT to pay for each one, but to amass everything you wish to buy for a month and message them for an invoice. They reduce the postage down as if you bought one item.  I'll immediately pay and they still take a few weeks to ship.  And the collectors don't care, we know the deal and nobody needs this stuff immediately anyway!  

[youpey]

To be honest, I am just annoyed on this one because i really want to start this model this weekend. There was several of the same kit that were cheaper, but the seller was only 2 hours away. I wrongly assumed i would get it quickly assuming usps didn't screw up again. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought i wouldnt have it by now.

Here it is 5 business days later and still not shipped. 

 I decided to purchase another from a different seller and wouldn't you know, he shipped it already and it says it will arrive monday.  I honestly don't mind buying another kit because it is definitely one i would build several times. One as a new car and one as a junker.  Its not really a rare or expensive kit, so im fine with it. 

Im not going to start a different kit this weekend, so i guess I need to figure out how to keep myself occupied.  

 

Unfortunately I have no LHS near me anymore that sells car models so im limited to online.

I know i sound like an impatient jerk, but honestly I think this is too long. I checked the description and there wasn't anything about long ship times 

Edited March 26, 2021 by youpey

[iamsuperdan]

For the most part, EBay has been fine for me. For shipping times, I don't get overly concerned unless it gets to the estimated arrival date and my package still hasn't arrived.

I did have one recent experience. I bought three things in one transaction, three different sellers. Two of them were updated with a tracking number within 24 hours. The third saw 5 days go by with no updates. I just shot him a quick message, asking if he had shipped, as  I hadn't seen any sort of update or communication. I got a response within an hour, and he explained that he only only ships once a week. And then he did mentioned that he explained it in the ad. And sure enough. You know how sometimes vendors put an entire novel in the description section of their listings? Well this seller did, and it explained his once a week shipping. 

So no worries. Item arrived here yesterday. Ordered March 3.

It's funny, one of the other items I ordered still shows as "tracking number provided" and no shipping updates since March 6. It arrived last week.

 

 

[youpey]

Wow march 3rd and just getting it is really slow. I dont feel so bad now

[iamsuperdan]

7 hours ago, youpey said:

Wow march 3rd and just getting it is really slow. I dont feel so bad now

From China to Canada? Doesn't seem bad to me.

[youpey]

Just now, iamsuperdan said:

From China to Canada? Doesn't seem bad to me.

i didnt realize it was over seas

[1972coronet]

I've been shopping / purchasing from eBay's sellers for more than 10 years , and I've only encountered two issues out of hundreds of transactions (both were rectified between me and the seller) . 

Whenever I purchase an item from a seller , I'm prepared to wait upwards of one month for its arrival (within the continental U.S.) , and I've never been disappointed . 

Sometimes a tracking number is provided ; other times , a 'guesstimated' delivery date is provided by the seller . I try to purchase from sellers from my 'Saved Seller List' ; sometimes , they don't have what I'm looking for . With that in-mind ; I look at a seller's feedback-to-sales ratio . From there , I peruse their feedback ; what items were sold ? Were any complaints legitimate ? I summarily dismiss any "it took two weeks to get my item" critiques , and focus on "package arrived damaged ; contents okay" , and the whatnot .

I'm almost too understanding I suppose... I know what it's like to deal with logistics , individual seller or brick & mortar store type . 

I also never leave negative feedback . Heck , I've never left 'neutral' feedback for that matter ! I only provide positive feedback , even if the item(s) arrived well-past their expected delivery date . 

I avoid amazon [sic] at all costs . That clown doesn't sell anything that I need badly enough that I can't find elsewhere... even if I pay more for "x" item(s) .  

[Venom]

Out of my 165 purchases from eBay, all but maybe 3 or 4 shipped the same day.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I just got "delivery" notification. Unfortunately the item was delivered in the same town in West Virginia it originated from.

And of course idiot eBay won't let me post a "didn't get my item" complaint because idiot USPS says it was delivered.

Morons everywhere.

AND...another item was mis-sent to a town 80 miles from me.

HOW HARD IS THIS STUFF, ANYWAY?

[Tom Geiger]

Weird stuff lately..

This month I got a “Return to Sender” on an NNL East postcard that was mailed mid January 2020!  And if that wasn’t strange enough, the next day I got back the 2019 card sent to the same person! Spooky stuff!

Saturday I got a “Return to Sender” on a tax bill I sent to my mortgage company in Texas.. I mailed it Feb 12 and it took near 2 months to come back?  I checked with mortgage company this morning and I had sent it to the right address!  I was able to email it to them so it will get paid in time.

[youpey]

4 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

Weird stuff lately..

This month I got a “Return to Sender” on an NNL East postcard that was mailed mid January 2020!  And if that wasn’t strange enough, the next day I got back the 2019 card sent to the same person! Spooky stuff!

Saturday I got a “Return to Sender” on a tax bill I sent to my mortgage company in Texas.. I mailed it Feb 12 and it took near 2 months to come back?  I checked with mortgage company this morning and I had sent it to the right address!  I was able to email it to them so it will get paid in time.

many, many years ago, i had shipped something overseas, and it was refused because of the fees. it took about 8 months to get back to me. it had stickers on it from countries i didnt even know existed. i had completely forgot about it because i assumed it was lost or destroyed, and i was so surprised when it showed up at my door

[youpey]

Unfortunately, its happened again to me. Its now past 5 days on an auction and it hasn't shipped yet. It was supposed to arrive today, but does not even have a tracking number or indication of shipment. 

This model was really expensive too. I was torn about buying it because it was so much. I guess if by 7 days it hasn't shipped, i will put it an email.