How best to handle being away on holiday ?

WLM21

Normally when my wife and I are away, one of the kids will be available to look for, parcel up and send off any parcels.

Unfortunately though in a few weeks, we'll all be away for 7 days

Is there a way of providing such information to potential eBay customers .. or should I just end all listings ?  (300+)

olgadapolga

WLM21 said:

Normally when my wife and I are away, one of the kids will be available to look for, parcel up and send off any parcels.

Unfortunately though in a few weeks, we'll all be away for 7 days

Is there a way of providing such information to potential eBay customers .. or should I just end all listings ?  (300+)

Use the holiday settings: https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/selling-tools/time-away?id=5137

WLM21

olgadapolga said:

WLM21 said:

Normally when my wife and I are away, one of the kids will be available to look for, parcel up and send off any parcels.

Unfortunately though in a few weeks, we'll all be away for 7 days

Is there a way of providing such information to potential eBay customers .. or should I just end all listings ?  (300+)

Use the holiday settings: https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/selling-tools/time-away?id=5137

Wow .. as simple as that .. Many thanks olgadapolga

soolin

The holiday settings are amazing, just remember to tick the final box to stop sales, so many sellers put the settings on and forget that final tick box! 

vacheron

soolin said:

The holiday settings are amazing, just remember to tick the final box to stop sales, so many sellers put the settings on and forget that final tick box! 

Is this the "Pause Sales" option? if so, why not just leave the sales running as eBay pushes the delivery estimate out to beyond your return date for any potential buyers.

I like nothing better than getting back from holiday to a few parcels to package up and get rid of, in fact I seem to shift more stuff while in "away mode" than I do when I'm at home! 

soolin

vacheron said:

soolin said:

The holiday settings are amazing, just remember to tick the final box to stop sales, so many sellers put the settings on and forget that final tick box! 

Is this the "Pause Sales" option? if so, why not just leave the sales running as eBay pushes the delivery estimate out to beyond your return date for any potential buyers.

I like nothing better than getting back from holiday to a few parcels to package up and get rid of, in fact I seem to shift more stuff while in "away mode" than I do when I'm at home! 

I don't want the stress of buyers asking where their items are as they haven't bothered to look at the estimated delivery dates. It might be just me, but whenever I have tried leaving my items available for a couple of days I always get the 'can you post this quickly as I need it urgently' and then having to cancel when you explain you are away for another 3 working days.

I put my holiday settings on and stop sales. Then a couple of days, maybe 3 if I'm feeling brave, I switch off the pause sale option. I won't leave live sales running for a week or more, it's just asking for trouble and I don't need the stress if I am away.

vacheron

soolin said:

vacheron said:

soolin said:

The holiday settings are amazing, just remember to tick the final box to stop sales, so many sellers put the settings on and forget that final tick box! 

Is this the "Pause Sales" option? if so, why not just leave the sales running as eBay pushes the delivery estimate out to beyond your return date for any potential buyers.

I like nothing better than getting back from holiday to a few parcels to package up and get rid of, in fact I seem to shift more stuff while in "away mode" than I do when I'm at home! 

I don't want the stress of buyers asking where their items are as they haven't bothered to look at the estimated delivery dates. It might be just me, but whenever I have tried leaving my items available for a couple of days I always get the 'can you post this quickly as I need it urgently' and then having to cancel when you explain you are away for another 3 working days.

I put my holiday settings on and stop sales. Then a couple of days, maybe 3 if I'm feeling brave, I switch off the pause sale option. I won't leave live sales running for a week or more, it's just asking for trouble and I don't need the stress if I am away.

Fair enough, guess it comes down to personal preference. I do reply while away for sales questions, but if I had someone pushing for delivery like that who didn't bother to read the small print I'd probably be inclined to ignore them then reply on my return to say I only use eBay on my home PC or something similar.

I guess it also depends on the customer profile as well. I am selling a lifetimes worth of used, quite specialist, industrial tools and equipment which I have accumulated over the years, so my buyers tend to be professionals and small specialist businesses who aren't in such a rush and tend to be more understanding.

Last year I sold something which had to be delivered to the SpaceX laboratory in Palo Alto, California. Still curious what Elon needed my second hand junk for! 

tightauldgit

I'm away at the minute and left my sales running and sold a couple of things that I'll pack and post when I'm back - but I'm only away for 3 days. Don't think I would leave it running for 2 weeks as that's probably just asking for trouble. 

Spoonie_Turtle

vacheron said:

soolin said:

vacheron said:

soolin said:

The holiday settings are amazing, just remember to tick the final box to stop sales, so many sellers put the settings on and forget that final tick box! 

Is this the "Pause Sales" option? if so, why not just leave the sales running as eBay pushes the delivery estimate out to beyond your return date for any potential buyers.

I like nothing better than getting back from holiday to a few parcels to package up and get rid of, in fact I seem to shift more stuff while in "away mode" than I do when I'm at home! 

I don't want the stress of buyers asking where their items are as they haven't bothered to look at the estimated delivery dates. It might be just me, but whenever I have tried leaving my items available for a couple of days I always get the 'can you post this quickly as I need it urgently' and then having to cancel when you explain you are away for another 3 working days.

I put my holiday settings on and stop sales. Then a couple of days, maybe 3 if I'm feeling brave, I switch off the pause sale option. I won't leave live sales running for a week or more, it's just asking for trouble and I don't need the stress if I am away.

…, but if I had someone pushing for delivery like that who didn't bother to read the small print I'd probably be inclined to ignore them then reply on my return to say I only use eBay on my home PC or something similar.

It's not even small print, it's highlighted in a banner across the top of the listing.  Which evidently still isn't enough for some people, demonstrated by soolin's experience!