Ebay Help!

[tink2]

OK- I haven't done ebay a lot-and only buy things (less than 10). Now, I won a Belle gold dress from Disneyland last Sunday- 9 days ago. I emailed the seller and let her know that I mailed the money order Monday morning. I live in Alabama and she is in California. I realize it may take several days for the money order to get there- but I'm thinking it should be there by now- don't you think? It has been a week and a day. Now, I emailed her again late Friday night asking if she had received the money order for the dress. No response. I emailed her again yesterday telling her I was concerned that I had not heard anything from her and to please let me know if she had received the money order, shipped the dress, what? Still nothing yet. I'm worried now. Her score was around 96%, but still not a large seller. She only had one negative feedback and that was b/c she did not respond to emails and apparently the item was not what the buyer expected. But with only one negative, I went ahead and bid on it. I'm very careful b/c this type of thing scares me- I don't like to get burned and lose money.
So, after 9 days, no response to 3 emails. I have no idea if she has received the money order (she hasn't left feedback either), if she has shipped the dress, or what. What should I do?

 

[kilee]

From a sellers aspect-- I don't generally email every step of the way. It's just too time consuming and our selling volume is too high. If I get an inquiry though- I do respond.

Check her terms again. I know I clearly state that with checks AND money orders I won't ship items for 2 weeks. I actually put a blurb on my Halloween Costumes about allowing enough time w/ the 2 week clearling period. The reason for money orders, is about 18 months ago we had a lot of money order scams in our area.

If nothing else after 10 days you can file a report w/ ebay.

 

[tink2]

Thanks kilee. I rechecked her terms and it doesn't have anything special on there. I understand that sellers don't have time to email every single step of the way, but I did think she may have left feedback already if she got my money order. And if she didn't get it yet, then I need to be worried about what happened to it. I did check feedback left by her and she seemed pretty timely on leaving buyers feedback. I don't really want to report her unless I have to b/c I don't want to hurt anyone's ebay record. I read all of her feedback and one positive feedback did say she needed to work on communication- so maybe that is a good sign for me (at least they received the item and were happy with it!) We'll see what the next 24-48 hours holds. If I still hear nothing or see no product, I may do something else. Any other opinions? Keeping my fingers crossed- DD really wants this dress for Halloween.

 

[pixiepower1971]

This is the opinion of another seller and buyer.
As a seller I do not leave feedback until I know the item has reached the other person and they have left me feedback. That way I know the transaction is good and final.
or
Is she out of town?

As a buyer, I would be annoyed but I would wait it out a little bit. If I need something in a hurry I always pay with paypal and pay for priority mail. I also contact seller before auction end to make sure they can get it to me in enough time.

As a seller, I won't take MO any more because it holds up the process for so long. Someone just paid thru paypal with an echeck and it is taking forever to clear on top of her taking time to make the payment. Do you have your copy of MO? Did you check to see if it had been cashed yet? I think you can....

 

[kilee]

I agree on the feedback- I don't leave it either until the transaction is complete. I wait about a week from the time I ship to see if any problems arise.

As for filing an initial complaint. It won't go on her "record" or anything. At least not if it can be resolved w/o going that far.

 

[tink2]

Thanks guys. I do have a copy of the MO and I checked to see if she had cashed the money order- she hasn't. That kinda makes me feel better. She may be out of town. I may have taken a whole week to get from Alabama to California. I don't need the item right away- just before Halloween. Anyway, thanks for the advice. I will wait it out a few days and see what happens!

 

[wendyl]

My hunch is that she DID get the money order (otherwise she would be contacting YOU to see where payment was)--and that she has just put off mailing it--and now doesn't want to contact you because then she would have to admit that it hadn't been mailed. I'll bet you, once it is mailed, she will email to say "payment received--package is on the way" . Just a guess---but I see this all the time with buyers sending money orders. They often will ignore my emails, until they mail it and then then they will send me an email to say "Oh yeah---of course I already mailed it---you should have it by now" (then I get it and find out that the day it was purchased was the same day they sent that email).