Ebay and the non-responsive seller: When should I hit the button?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

Okay, so I clicked a “buy it now” button on an item (Pikmin for the Gamecube) and immediately paid through paypal the price of the item and shipping which I confirmed through an ebay message.

That was Monday, 6 Oct.

To date, I haven’t received any news about the item, and the seller hasn’t responded to any of my 3 messages asking him about when it’s going to be shipped, for an update, etc. He doesn’t seem like a flake - his rating is about 2200, and he’s got 98% positives, and most of the comments look good.

I’m getting a little twitchy, though. This whole “no communication” thing makes me nervous, and I’m thinking about clicking on the “no delivery” button. I’m really hesitant to do so, because I don’t want to screw him out his money, and I can’t really afford any negative feedback - I’ve got 4 ratings so far, and I don’t want to get blacklisted.

Opinions?

#2

Some eBay sellers don’t communicate well, but do post the items reasonably promptly, so the item may already be on its way. I think it’s a bit early to post negative feedback, because if that’s the case, you may receive the item soon.

#3

I’d wait a week longer.

#4

You can’t get negative feedback. Lucky you.
I start a dispute within ten days or so. It usually lights a fire under the seller. If the item gets delivered promptly after that, I close the dispute and all is good.

#5

Give him at least a week before you take action. Life happens sometimes. For all you know, his MIL got hit by a truck Sunday (Ghu forbid!). After a week, you can start doing something.

#6

What shipping did you pay for?
What state did this ship from?

On edit:
Also, never leave a neg until the whole story unfolds; that is the only way you can really leave complete feedback.

#7

I hated running an eBay store because of this kind of attitude. This is the equivalent of standing up in a restaurant and yelling, “Hey, I need to speak to the manager!” when your food takes a little too long to arrive. It’s only been 4 days.

Let’s assume that the seller posted the item via priority mail the same day that you paid for the item. You shouldn’t reasonable expect to recieve it until tomorrow. If it took him a day or even two to process the order (and with that high a feedback rating he is probably doing a lot of business, so it’s likely it took him a day or two to get it shipped) I wouldn’t expect it until Monday at the soonest.
Now the guy not answering emails is inexcusable. He is in sales and it is his job to not only sell you, but to make you trust him. But that just means you shouldn’t buy from him again. If you haven’t heard anything at all by Monday email him again. If you still dont’ have a package by Wednesday start the dispute.

#8

Hey!
I said TEN DAYS. Where did you get four?
And BTW, I have 899 feedback, with 100% positive, so I’ve been around the ebay community for a while…

#9

Sorry, I misread your post and was responding to a perceived attitude in it rather than what was there. I am genuinely sorry. For what it’s worth I agree, if you haven’t heard anything in 10 days something needs to be done, no question.

I have no doubt that you have been around the community for a while, and frankly, I haven’t been since I left my job 2 years ago so I can’t speak with as much authority as I once could. But I was a full time professional eBay seller. Having a dispute opened on wasn’t just something that “lit a fire under me” it probably ruined my day, negative feedback ruined my week. Closing the dispute later wasn’t a no harm no foul situation for me, because having it opened in the first place put me in danger of losing my job. On the other hand I would never have let the situation get this out of hand. But, when I saw your comment I reacted emotionally and didn’t make sure that I had read you correctly. Again, sorry.

Just to let you know where I am coming from, a lot of the reason I came to loath the work as much as I did was because I was constantly treated by customers like I was a criminal who was not to be trusted. The fact that the gallery I worked for had an insane feedback rating and had been doing business on eBay since the mid-late 90s didn’t really mean anything. A few years of that really starts to wear on a person. Because of this I try to council tolerance in these threads whenever I see one pop up, because so frequently the advice I see given eventually becomes some variant on “fry the bastard.”

#10

I finally received the item today! Never did get a reply though.

… and now, I realise I have to get the gamecube controller in order to play the damn thing. Gah.