Ebay seller did not ship my item

[torinsmom]

I bought a laptop adapter last Saturday on ebay. DS' broke and he needed one badly. The title of the listing included his exact model, so I committed to buy it. Then, I looked at the long list of computers it fit and his exact one wasn't there. The tip looked right, so I decided to email the seller and just confirm. They did not email back and I needed the adapter, so I went ahead and paid, figuring it would most likely fit. When they answered the next day, they asked for the tip size of the old one(which I don't know), so I didn't respond. I got an email on December 12, saying the item had been shipped and it should arrive December 15-16. It didn't come by yesterday, so I emailed just to see if they had purchased tracking. DS was in withdrawals, of course I sent a "Where is my item" email just asking nicely about that. So, I get an email back saying that they are still waiting for me to send them the information on the tip size before they ship!! So, I paid last Sunday and have been waiting. I got an email saying it was shipped and they still have the dang thing. Who knows how long it will take to get here in the Christmas week rush?? I am going to check some places locally(should have done that first).

Anybody ever had problems like this? What would you do?

 

[erincon23]

First of all, I would have replied right away when they asked you about the plug size, even if you didn't know. You can look at the computer and make an educated guess! Maybe they have several and wanted to make sure you got the right one. The only reason I can think of that you got a shipping notification would be so that they wouldn't get "dinged" by ebay for not having shipped within the window they agreed to in the listing. Contact them immediately, give them the info they're looking for (ask DH! it's for his computer), and they should ship right away once they know. Hope you didn't pay a lot for it.

 

[torinsmom]

First of all, I would have replied right away when they asked you about the plug size, even if you didn't know. You can look at the computer and make an educated guess! Maybe they have several and wanted to make sure you got the right one. The only reason I can think of that you got a shipping notification would be so that they wouldn't get "dinged" by ebay for not having shipped within the window they agreed to in the listing. Contact them immediately, give them the info they're looking for (ask DH! it's for his computer), and they should ship right away once they know. Hope you didn't pay a lot for it.

No, it was one of the cheap ones. It is for my son, and he has no idea how to tell the tip size either. I was trying to figure it out. The plug size looked the same in the picture, and then once the notification came that it was shipped, I figured we would deal with it if it wasn't the right size. I emailed the question before I paid, so I figured they would go ahead and ship. Then when I got the shipping email, I just waited for it to come. If I can find it locally, I am just going to tell them I would rather have a refund.

 

[friend of pooh]

You can ask for a refund, but they do not have to give it to you. Once you commit to buying, you have to pay for it. Just email them back and tell them that you do not know the size. Maybe they can help you figure it out. This is not the fault of the seller. This is your fault for not responding. The "it shipped" email may have been an automatic thing.

 

[torinsmom]

I would rather have a refund, but if they want to send it they can go ahead. I'll just save it in case this one dies as well. DS is tough on adapters. They have a free shipping deal going, so it might be cheaper in the long run for them to refund. At this rate, it could be after the holiday when it arrives.

As a seller, if a buyer paid, I wouldn't wait a week after payment to contact the buyer again. If I didn't hear back, I would send the email again to confirm I should ship it. It's one click on ebay to resend the message. That is just me, I guess. I wonder if I hadn't emailed about tracking if they would have just not shipped it for a month or even a year? And would that have been a-okay as well?

As far as the shipped email being sent, I don't think it will go out until the seller marks the item as shipped in their My Ebay account. I just don't understand why anyone would change that status when they hadn't shipped the item