eBay question

I hope those of you that regularly buy from ebay can help me. I have won two bids, paid them both by paypal (via credit card), and it looks like the payments were sent to the seller.

What should I expect to hear next? When should I expect my items to arrive? They were shipped some inexpensive way via UPS.

Thank you,
-Jennifer

I generally email the seller and note that I have made payment through paypal and would appreciate feedback for prompt payment and acknowledge that I will reciprocate with feedback upon receipt of the merchandise. Most sellers will email you and let you know when the items are shipped.

Jennifer: on the items that I sell on eBay and my dealers site, I always send an eMail when I receive payment telling the buyer when I will ship (which is the next postal business day, in my case) and another eMail when I ship giving the particulars. All sellers should keep their buyers informed. I would suggest you send an eMail to the seller requesting information.
Bill

This message was edited Friday, Aug 1st 1:24 PM

I have only bought from Ebay, but the seller has always emailed when payment was received and emailed when the item was shipped. Before I bid, I look at their feedback.

It's a mixed bag. Sometimes you get sellers who email immediately, and other times you get sellers who wait for you to email them.

I'd drop a note to the seller, and ask when you can expect shipment. Be sure to include the auction #

Melissa

I did email the seller yesterday, and have not heard anything as of yet. That's why I'm asking here.. I wanted to get a feel for when to be patient, or impatient. :)

Jennifer: does the seller have a good feedback rating? You should always check this before bidding.
Bill

Yes the seller has a good feedback rating. I checked before bidding.

When did you win the auction, and did you read all the stuff on the page with the listed item? Usually, there will be some mention about shipping practices and any pertinent facts about what is expected of you. Most sellers seem to notify the buyer very soon after the auction ends, but a few don't do that at all. Also, it seems the majority of sellers require some communication from you within three days unless you have previously advised that this will not work for you.

If they were shipped by UPS, the seller should have provided you with a tracking number, so you could keep up with your shipment until it actually arrived.

If it's been longer than three days and the seller hasn't responded at all since the auction, maybe you should re-check the "description" for any special notes you might have overlooked. You might also contact PayPal to be sure they aren't sitting on the payment. This has happened to me more than once. The seller didn't know it had been paid and was contacting through eBay for failure to pay.

You should have received an email notification when payment was made, thanking you for payment. I always save that until I have completed the entire transaction and have my item.

I got burned not understanding what an ebayer was indicating - they say that they ship 14 days AFTER THE CHECK CLEARS - they refuse paypal. Well my check cleared a long time ago but they still would not ship till (hopefully) today.

They were a wall - refused to do anything to expedite the order even though my check had already reached my bank - so of course I knew it had cleared their bank!

Sometimes there is a problem with a computer, or having things in stock, or whatever - is it a big seller or a little individual person?

Double check the info - there may be notes like Aimee said that you missed.

Let us know what's going on.

Janie, I would have been furious! That is downright unreasonable. If it's a big business, I know they might be shipping millions and it might take that long to queue up, but I rather think it was just some jerk using your funds for float. In the course of a year, with the right kind of account, he could turn that into a respectable amount of interest. I just know you made a mental note to never again trade with that person.

I received payment notification from Paypal .. I had contacted the seller prior to the auction's end, and was instructed to use paypal. The auction ended last Monday around 6pm EST. Nothing was listed on the auction about shipping except for "will be shipped by UPS ground".

I have emailed the seller, with no response. Tried calling their 1-888 cust. service number, with a repeated rapid busy signal. I'm wondering how much longer to wait until I post negative feedback....

With the lack of communication, you should contact eBay. More than a couple of days is unacceptable for a seller to ignore your attempts to contact them. It could be that there is a good reason, but you have every right to try to find out. Sometimes, as in any area of life, the unexpected happens and a seller is unable to get back to you. Still, you need to know. At the very least, you should have a tracking number to use when contacting UPS.

Off the top of my head, I can't recall what you use to report this, but look at some of the stuff on an eBay page, and if you can't find a link, go to a forum where both buyers and sellers discuss problems. Someone there will be able to advise you. I think you can find something on the opening page of eBay for this.

I *finally* got a response. Over the weekend, I sent an ugly email to the seller, strongly suggesting they contact me since I have already paid, and refuse to pay for an item I am not receiving.

This morning I received a notice that the items were sent. No tracking number was given, no delivery date given. Their excuse? "We were moving to a new warehouse, and the computers and phones were messed up, as well as our tracking system."

So either something was really wrong at their warehouse, or they just completely forgot about me. Either way, problem (hopefully) solved.

Thanks,
-Jennifer

Jennifer: Always be careful in leaving negative feedback. In some instances, there is a legitimate reason for non-response, as appears to be the case here. In most cases, if you leave negative feedback, the person will leave a retalitory negative feedback for you and there is nothing you can do to get it off your record. E-Bay is well known for keeping away from feedback problems.

Bill, I have to disagree. When a seller didn't respond to my winning bid for over a month, I contacted eBay. They didn't offer much help, kept saying I should try to contact her, although I explained that I had and even sent copies of my email to her. Then I saw that she had another item, so I bid on it to see if she would do the same thing. She did!!! So again, I went to the link for resolving disputes. During the time this was going on, the text on the page changed drastically, and it no longer offered any help worthwhile.

Finally, I received a "non-paying bidder" notice from eBay! I again tried to get their attention, since I couldn't get the seller to contact me with instructions for paying, yet she was complaining that I didn't pay. After many weeks, I concluded she wanted me to send money, although I had no address, but she had no intention of sending the items. She lived in Italy, apparently. I wrote eBay and told them I was not able to conclude either transaction and would be leaving negative feedback. Then I left it.

Then I got lots of communication. She wrote the most threatening messages, all very ignorant sounding, all very full of lies. Still, there was no way to pay! These items were for Granddarling, and I wanted them, but I felt very strongly that I was dealing with some kind of kook and should drop the whole thing. She paid a fee, and sent me hysterical messages about causing her to spend money and lower her profit, and a panel began sending me messages urging me to remove the negative feedback or face penalties. My messages in reply were ignored, they just offered to let me pay a fee so my side could be heard. I didn't pay, but eventually she succeeded in getting the feedback removed. If I had paid, and it was about $25, I guess we would have gone on longer.

So, if you really want feedback removed, just pay the fee. That panel sent me some of the most sinister sounding messages I can imagine, even threatening to ban me from eBay. I finally ignored them and decided it wasn't the worst thing in the world if they banned me. They didn't. It's all about money.

I too have heard of people getting negative feedback removed by paying a fee. I've never done it and I do have 2 negative feedbacks out of a little over 500+ (462 of which are unique). Some are for absolutely stupid reasons and one guy left me negative feedback only because "he" didn't have the item to mail me anymore after I had tried to order it (this was from half.com but you leave same feedback since it's part of Ebay too) Doesn't bother me any when I see all the praise that I "do" have ;)

The one other time I was angry enough about a purchase to leave negative feedback, I waited a couple of months before I did it. Bingo, she retaliated by posting some lie, after sending a used and damaged item she had said was new and unopened. So feedback has no value to me, I try to trust according to my intuition. If I get stiffed, I just chalk it up to experience and make it a point to avoid that seller.

AngelSong, I hope your item arrives in perfect condition and promptly. The vast majority of mine have been great transactions with nice people.

the main experience at Ebay whether selling or buying has been a pleasant one and I try to describe my stuff in a lesser condition than it might be as I've sold some books thinking that they were in almost new or good condition and got a feedback saying that the book was mint. Everyone has a different idea when it comes to conditions of items so I am always extra hard on what I sell so I don't take a chance to over rate something that someone else might get and thing they lost somewhere along the line.

I do hope your item arrives and you're happy with it.

Aimee and Flowox: Thanks for the input. I have sold on eBay for several years, have a positive feedback of 1,487 with no neutrals, or negatives as a seller. This is fairly unique. I had never heard of having a negative removed by paying a fee, until now. Typical, it's all about money! At the present I do not have anything selling on eBay as the summer is slow for my items (collectible postcards and documents) and the fees keep getting higher. I have had a very few non-payers in all my experience, maybe 3 or 4, and only one insufficient check (which was immediately made good). I have not left a negative feedback, mainly because I didn't want to mar my perfect record, with someone leaving a retalitory negative. The feedback system, in my opinion, leaves a lot to be desired anyway. In any event, if I were to leave a negative feedback, I would wait at least 30 days after the close of transaction to do so.
Bill

wow, you can be proud of your feedback if you've never even received a neutral!!!

If you ever come across anything German from the 1800's or earlier, let me know as I collect some of those ;)

Thanks, flowox, will do.
Bill