Sold item, buyer wants to postpone postage

1socrates1

Hi,



But I sold an item on Ebay, where I stipulated within the ad that I would post it off within 3 business days. The buyer paid me, but then asked me to delay posting until the 1st of September as they are away at present. But as part of my seller protection I am obligated to post within the stipulated period. So I am confused as to what I should do; post now or wait until the 1st.

Any advice welcome

Ms_Chocaholic

The same happened to me a few months ago. I messaged the buyer to say that I would mark the item as sent but asked that he contact me when he was home and I would send it then. It all went smoothly.

What's the feedback from your buyer like?

Geoff1963

If you have the request to delay, in writing ; that should cover it.

If you advertised a knife, fork, and spoon for £5, and the buyer paid in full, but then asked to only receive the fork and spoon ; you could hardly be criticised for not sending the advertised knife.

as part of my seller protection

Is this : financial, legal, or reputational ?

soolin

Geoff1963 wrote: »

If you have the request to delay, in writing ; that should cover it.

If you advertised a knife, fork, and spoon for £5, and the buyer paid in full, but then asked to only receive the fork and spoon ; you could hardly be criticised for not sending the advertised knife.


Is this : financial, legal, or reputational ?

It's PayPal seller protection, so very important to ship within 7 days and any amount of messages won't over ride PayPal's terms and conditions if you need to use their protection.

Op I don't know what to suggest, in these days where eBay are almost anti sellers trying to assist a buyer is sometimes impossible.

Valli

Think Ms Chocohilc's advice would work. I'd expect fantastic feedback, and, in this case I would ask buyer to leave his/her feedback for me before I left feedback. (I feedback on receipt of cleared payment).

ballisticbrian

If it's an expensive item stick with Soolins advice and not Valli. You loose your PayPal protection for posting outside of the time window. Feedback on eBay does not mean confirmation that you received the item at all or give you any kind of security what-so-ever.


Also, if you send using shutl or purchase postage through eBay, you'll get an automatic black mark (actually "orange dot") for late posting.

Valli

Fair point, after I posted I wondered about the value.
If op posts now, though, item is going to end up in the delivery office, possibly will end up being returned and that's one frustrated customer!
One wonders why he/she is bidding for stuff when not at home to receive it...

Re the feedback - I know it's not for security, just nice for other buyers to see. I am getting customer feedback from less than 25% of sales right now; I leave feedback for all customers! So I'm a bit frustrated at present!

LadyDee

Can the buyer give the address of a relative or a neighbour as their address in Ebay & Paypal so that the parcel can be sent now, and then change it back later? Would that work?

1socrates1

I posted it today, to maintain my seller protection. Even if it returns to me, I will be okay with that. The seller should have told me about their situation before making an offer I accepted. Thanks for all your advice.

Pun

1socrates1 wrote: »

I posted it today, to maintain my seller protection. Even if it returns to me, I will be okay with that. The seller should have told me about their situation before making an offer I accepted. Thanks for all your advice.

You have explained to the buyer...? Many buyers wouldn't realise that was the case and it'll just look to him as if you've ignored his message.

1socrates1

Pun wrote: »

You have explained to the buyer...? Many buyers wouldn't realise that was the case and it'll just look to him as if you've ignored his message.

Yes I did.