Ordering from Northern Ireland

yonyon

Hi I bought an item on Etsy (photo print) arbout 4 weeks ago. Seller is based in Belfast, NI and her Etsy page includes most items free UK shipping. The day after I ordered I contacted her to switch to the larger size, she was very responsive. After a week, it still said ‘not dispatched’ so I messaged, after another week, no status change and no response, so I messaged a few more times over the next few days. Eventually I got a refund notification and an email saying she didn’t appreciate being messaged a few times she’s been having courier/postage issues due to Brexit so it’s easier to refund me. 

I’ve been looking online about this and whilst I can see issues about sending items to NI (and a number of retailers have stopped sending to NI) I can’t see anything about buying from NI and shipping to the UK from NI. Does anyone know what the situation is please? 

After the refund, I messaged her to say I didn’t want a refund but the item (the particular print cannot be bought elsewhere I’ve searched and searched and it has specific sentimental meaning to me and my husband). So I reordered (this was now approx 2 weeks ago) and again says not despatched. I will give the seller a couple more weeks so she doesn’t complain about me messaging again, but there’s a point at which it’s more than reasonable to wonder where the item is (which Etsy says should have shipped on 26th Jan). So I’m trying to figure out if she’s being genuine about the issue with shipping from NI (btw she hasn’t put a message or anything on her shop about this) and if so, what the current situation is and if it’s likely to be resolved. 

Thanks 

Marcon

It would have been helpful if the seller had been a better communicator - nothing to stop her putting a message on her shop and/or letting UK buyers know there's an issue. Silence is never helpful! There certainly have been issues during the last 6 weeks, but these are now much improved. If you can't buy the print anywhere else, I think you just need to stay patient for a couple more weeks and see what transpires.