Should I be mad at this eBay seller (slow to ship)

In My Humble Opinion
1

About a week ago I bought something on eBay. It was being sold on a BIN/OBO basis; I offered a little more than half and the seller accepted it. There was a $9 surcharge for shipping. Three days later, but still well within the stated terms, I put my PayPal payment in the pipe, having meanwhile notified the seller that it would take me a day or two to do that, since I normally don’t have my PayPal account funded with anything. She said that wouldn’t be a problem at all. I notified the seller that the payment was in and she promptly acknowledged it.

In the display for the item, the seller said that she usually ships within a day or two of receiving payment. So I check back a day later, not to be impatient, but you never know. Nothing.

I check back the following day, and what do you know there’s a tracking number. I check the USPS website and find out that “electronic notification was received from the shipper to expect package for mailing…”. Meaning, obviously, that she bought the label online but was still sitting on the package in her house.

Third day. I check again because, naturally, I’d think if someone’s buying the label they’ll go to the post office the next day to mail it. Nothing.

Fourth day, yesterday morning, nothing. Yesterday afternoon, no change. Finally around 4pm, the USPS tracker tells me it’s been processed through the sorting facility in Florida, where the seller lives, and is in transit.

It doesn’t seem right that I paid for priority mail only to have my item sitting in the seller’s house for four days. Negative feedback is practically forbidden now on eBay, but I was thinking of letting the member know privately how unacceptable this is to me. Before I discovered that the package had finally been sent, I was ready to email the seller to say she could either cancel the deal and refund all my money, or overnight my item and refund all shipping charges. Now that it’s on the way, I don’t want to do that, but should I still take it up with the seller? Perhaps try to work out a refund of the shipping cost?

Or should I just let it go?

2

I would wait until I got the package to see what shipping date is printed on it. The info on usps.com isn’t real time and can take a day or two to update.

3

USPS tracking is worthless. I’ve had packages in my hand for weeks, checked the tracking number, and they still didn’t show as having been shipped.

Santos is right – wait until it arrives.

4

So… Did you ever get the package? :slight_smile:

5

Don’t go by the tracking number if you are trying to figure out when it will arrive.

USPS is bad, and UPS has its problems too.

6

You waited 3 days to pay. That’s not exactly sending a strong signal that you’re anxious to receive the object. It’s not really clear why you’re getting bent out of shape about shipping time when your payment was three days late (and on a weekend?)

I think you need some perspective. A couple of weeks is “slow to ship”. Three or four days after payment is a bit slower than average, but from the standpoint of Ebay disappointments, not even worth mentioning.

7

You “paid for Priority Mail”? As opposed to what? Priority Mail is only pennies more than Parcel Post, and arrives in a few days instead of a week. Did you think you were paying for Express Mail?

8

Four days is nothing. Relax.