Is a month-long wait normal for an eBay delivery?

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davidtan

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Back on Memorial Day May 28th, I won my first eBay auction. I bought (what appears to be) a rather pristine Contax IIa with Zeiss-Opton Sonnar 50mm 1.5. I paid through PayPal right away and set about to waiting for this camera to arrive.

It's still not here, but I figured it takes a long time to get to NY from California, where the seller is based. I had asked the guy last week when he planned on shipping the Contax, and he mentioned the idea of dropping it off on May 31st.

I now take a look at his ratings; they're almost all positive yet they mostly seem to mention one thing: the long wait time. All the ratings are made a month after the commentators won their items; at least one negative comment mentions a month-long wait for the delivery.

I'm new to eBay, so I just wanted to ask if this is normal: having to wait a month for a won item to get to you. I get it that he's across the country from me, but I still feel that domestic shipping shouldn't be that slow. What are your thoughts on this?

P.S. The item is still not marked for shipping yet on my summary page, but I hear that sellers sometimes ship it without marking that part. Should I inquire?
 
It is only June 7.
There can be a variety of good reasons why sellers can't ship out goods quickly, and from my experience of receiving mail from US, it does depend very much on the State involved. However I've always had an understanding that eBay has some sort of expectation of about a week in which transactions are to be completed. Certainly contact between buyer and seller in that period. You seem to have had some form of communication.
I guess from others' experience of this seller you just have to wait. Don't get too concerned - you have used Paypal. However I would be tempted after a couple of weeks to ask the seller if the goods are in the mail.
But in my experience of eBay, you are right, a month is a long time.

jesse
 
The number of days between your payment and when the seller ships should be regulated in the specific listing. After that, it's up to the shipping company, but many sellers list approximate delivery times from the courier out of courtesy.
Not all sellers mark their items as shipped, this is not mandatory.
If the seller delays the shipping for more than specified in the listing, then you may contact him regarding this.
If you cannot come to an agreement, you may involve eBay to settle the dispute.
 
davidtan said:
I now take a look at his ratings; they're almost all positive yet they mostly seem to mention one thing: the long wait time.
Click to expand...

I see you are much more brave than me. My first auction were Olympus film P&S for eur1 - to test whole process. Must confess, I studied sellers feedback and knew what I can expect and what rather not.

Good news for you are I got burned (liitle) anyway. He sent small camera an a large box and as I bought it with delivery through proxy service, I paid more for forwarding than for camera and local shipping together.

Lesson? Ebay is for gambling, stores (physical and virtual) are for shopping. I do not deny there are tons of great ebay sellers, but generally it's a game (can get sick and not able to ship for weeks or months - not so with company, or change mind because of low going price etc.).
 
Talk to the seller. Communication is very important on eBay. Ideally, the seller should have notified you of dispatch and provided you with tracking details etc etc within a short time frame after the sale. Buying and selling should be an enjoyable experience for both buyer and seller. It does sound like your seller is slow to deliver, so with hindsight might have been best avoided. But hopefully you'l get your camera before too long.
 
You should inquire.
There is no reason why any sellers can't give an update to you.

Unless they are facing an emergency situations (I've had a few like that).
 
Sadly, some of them do that and you have to cross your fingers etc and wait.

OTOH, I once bought something at 6:45PM and it dropped through the letter box the next morning. I guess it's all a matter of luck.

Regards, David
 
davidtan said:
Back on Memorial Day May 28th, I won my first eBay auction. I bought (what appears to be) a rather pristine Contax IIa with Zeiss-Opton Sonnar 50mm 1.5. I paid through PayPal right away and set about to waiting for this camera to arrive.

It's still not here, but I figured it takes a long time to get to NY from California, where the seller is based. I had asked the guy last week when he planned on shipping the Contax, and he mentioned the idea of dropping it off on May 31st.

I now take a look at his ratings; they're almost all positive yet they mostly seem to mention one thing: the long wait time. All the ratings are made a month after the commentators won their items; at least one negative comment mentions a month-long wait for the delivery.

I'm new to eBay, so I just wanted to ask if this is normal: having to wait a month for a won item to get to you. I get it that he's across the country from me, but I still feel that domestic shipping shouldn't be that slow. What are your thoughts on this?

P.S. The item is still not marked for shipping yet on my summary page, but I hear that sellers sometimes ship it without marking that part. Should I inquire?
Click to expand...

people can make honest mistakes,
or be unable to ship due to accidents or illness etc
but generally Ebay sales are expected to be shipped within 3 working days
at most.

Stephen
 
I'm glad it's finally shipped and that I have the tracking number.

Part of me wonders if the seller would have waited even longer to send it off if I hadn't shot him a message.
 
It's often amazing what they do, but - OTOH - look how many make a bid and win in the last minute or so and then leave it a week or two before they pay. It's as if they didn't know about the bid...

Regards, David
 
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