I recently just made my first few purchases on eBay and I'm now currently waiting for my items to arrive. My items are supposed to arrive in around 30 days because I bought from China and Hong Kong and economy shipping supposedly takes that long. My question is, what are some things I can or should do to protect myself or if there is anything I should watch out for if in case something goes wrong. I ask this because I'm a little familiar with the process of returns and complaints when the shipping time is under a week but I don't know what I should think about differently when the shipment is around a month.
If you don't receive what you ordered within 30 days then you should file a dispute just in case because if you wait and don't receive what you ordered it will be too late. Ebay has an inflexible 45 day period within which a buyer could file a dispute. Beyond that there's little they can do for you and there are some sellers who deliberately delay shipping defective products because they know after 45 days they won't have to give back your money. Be patient. Wait for 30 or 35 days and if you haven't got what you bought, file that dispute. Better to be safe than sorry . . . .
Did you pay through Paypal, or through other means. There are more protection policies in place if you pay with your Paypal account, which is why they tend to encourage potential customers to pay with that payment processor. My items usually arrive within two to three days, but they are usually from UK sellers.
I think paypal ended their relationship with ebay. I don't know that there are protections available anymore from paypal with ebay. These are the options that you may need, but I am not sure they will be provided. It is just one of the possibilities you might use when something happens with ebay. I don't know this is definitely the case, but I would think that it is not their anymore as they ended their business relationship.
I never bought anything from Ebay, but I bought from China from Amazon. It didn't take a month to get my shipment which was 2 shirts. It took a good 2 weeks to get to my address, but I don't know if you're from the US or not. Maybe Amazon is more proficient at shipping than Ebay? I'm not really sure. I do believe Ebay has a good return policy just in case something did happen if that makes it any better for you.
Really? I haven't heard anything about Paypal possibly ending their relationship with Ebay. I think that that would be a very bad move, as a lot of people just feel more comfortable paying for the items that they are planning to purchase through a trusted and secure source.
If the seller(s) has/have a good reputation on eBay, then I don't think you should be too worried. Usually the cheapest shipping options from foreign countries has the longest estimated shipping times so the month long wait is expected. If you haven't done this yet, you should contact the seller(s) to make sure your items have been shipped. When you make future purchases from foreign sellers on eBay, you should ask them to provide you with a tracking number so you can follow your item(s) in route to your address.
Paypal has changed their policy already, it's now 180 days since the date of purchase where you can file for a dispute, so even if it arrived late and more than 30 days, then you are still covered by their buyer protection policy.
Well, I wouldn't say that you'd have to be worried, but being cautiously certainly wouldn't hurt, in my opinion. There are plenty of sellers on Ebay who have outstanding reputations, but then when you look a bit closer at their negative and positive reviews, the reasons for their negative feedback are really bad.
@Lushlala, No problem, actually the new timeframe has been in effect last Nov. 2014. And it's actually a 5-month allowance, so if you didn't receive anything then it's either it got stolen in transit or the seller didn't send anything, so just whine to Paypal and they will take care of it, lol.
Thanks for the heads up, @Sidney! I'm really surprised that both my husband and I weren't aware of this 'new' development. -and we've actually since bought a couple of things from eBay, luckily without incidence...phew! I still think that it's biased towards the customer. Imagine as the seller, getting such a complaint 5-months from the point of purchase! I do wonder if it may be open to abuse.
@Lushlala, I remember that Paypal also monitors the frequency of the complaints so that they will know if the feature is being abused, so I am totally in favor of the new changes. I remember buying some bags last Nov. and it was shipped 1 month later, and 2 bags out of 3 were not the ones that I won! So I filed a dispute for that.
@Sidney, I see why this is more advantageous for the buyer. But my, that must have been a nightmare for you, getting your stuff shipped a month after you bought. - and for the order to arrive wrong was just bang out of order. I hope in the end you got it resolved with a minimum of fuss! Some sellers, though! When we used to sell on eBay, we shipped things at least 2 days within it being paid for.
@Lushlala, I did find it odd that it was shipped a month later. Maybe the seller forgot or she was out of stock of the item? The dispute was hassle-free, as expected hehe. So shipping from Botswana to other countries is affordable over there? Over here it costs $25 up, so I can't sell abroad.
@sidney...That's why I feel the standards at eBay have really slipped. With that long of a delay, the seller ought to have kept you in the loop as to what was going on! I think it was very shoddy service, to say the least. I'm glad it worked out in the end. We have never sold from Botswana, we ddi it all when we were in England. We stopped when eBay got greedy and started charging extortionate fees to list items, as we weren't making a good return. I shudder to think just how expensive it would be to do it from Botswana!
@Lushlala, That seller doesn't honor bids too, so a dispute is well deserved, lol. In ebay.ph there are no fees when you list an item, only in the US and other larger markets, so you might want to sell locally next time. I like the shipping fee from UK sellers, around £5 to £6 only, Royal Mail is quite affordable, but in the US I noticed the shipping is mostly $25 up!
When it comes to Ebay, thankfully, I have never been kept waiting for longer than two to three days, and that is the longer option. When I place an order with them, I usually receive whatever I have ordered the next day, provided that I did not order on a weekend, or the day after the next day.
@Sidney....Wow, so this seller is now a bit complacent, too? I hope he/she gets some honest reviews, warning others off! You guys are so lucky, I thought all eBay rules applied right across the board. I've not bought from a US seller, so I've noticed the disparity in shipping fees. @DreekLass...I too have never had to wait beyond 3 days for an item to arrive. If I'd had Sidney's experience, I would've been spitting nails LOL
