Thread: Ebay question

I don't know what to do. What do you guys recommend?

I bid on 2 cacti on ebay and won the auction 2 days ago. Then I realized I will be on holiday for 2 weeks from next week: silly me. If seller will send them this week I won't be able to receive them and they will be withering away and probably die in some postoffice till I return. I asked the seller 2 days ago if he would be willing to ship after 2 weeks. Seller hasn't replied yet. I haven't paid yet.
What should I do? Wait for his answer before I pay? What do I risk by paying late? There does not seem to be an ebay policy towards non-payers as far as I can see. In case a buyer does not pay the seller will get the opportunity to relist without incurring seller fees again.

Wait to pay until seller responds. Seller could leave a bad review but I wouldn't worry about it to much.

Wait for response. If they won't wait to ship, ask a neighbor if you can send it to them.

You should be able to pay the seller and ask them to ship later.
As long as everything is agreed upon in Ebay messaging, should be no problem?

The normal procedure is to pay and contact seller with request to hold mailing for a week or two.

You should always pay first. Do not delay doing that. Send the seller a note and tell him not to ship the item until a certain date. All sellers will normally agree to any reasonable request. All sellers are interested in getting good "feedback" ratings on the transaction. Make sure you leave good feedback for the seller. He will appreciate it and do the same for you hopefully. A sellers perspective. FYI, Austin

If you can, have it sent to a friend. Making the seller hold something is not fair to them but they might not mind. Id sent a measage a few times if they dont respond. Id hold off on paying but explain in the measage why until they answer.

You bought the item so you need to pay now or you are in violation of rules.

Your inconvenience is not the sellers problem. I would think he would accommodate you but you never know. You need to make the arrangements though if he doesn't.

I think you should wait with the payment but explain to the seller.

If you don't pay in several days ebay will send you a reminder and after some more time the seller will be able to open a non-payment case against you. Ebay may open the case automatically also. At that point you will be given a hard deadline to pay and if you don't the case will be closed and the seller will no longer have to sell you the item. The seller will receive back any fees ebay has charged them for the sale and they can relist again. Also you will get that attached to your ebay account so if you keep doing it in the future ebay may close your account.

Now, the moment you pay, the clock starts ticking for the seller. If they do not ship as quickly as they have stated in the listing they will be penalized by ebay in the ratings no matter that it's you who wants the delay.
So, if the seller wants to help you they will have to take a penalty from ebay for shipping late which does not seem fair.

I think if you go through the non-paying process and pay at the last possible moment then the seller ships at the last possible moment as well, you may buy yourself a week or may be even close to two. That may be enough for the plants to be OK.
You can also offer the seller to cancel the sale and redo it after you return from your vacation. They may not be willing to do it and then you have the option of not paying at all, take the penalty from ebay, and force the seller to end up at the exact same place but with a delay. If they cancel the transaction, they'll get back their fees and they can either not wait for you and relist right away, or they can wait and sell to you later.

In any case none of these options are ideal, but you made the mistake and there is no ideal option. If you cancel the transaction the seller can even offer it as a second chance offer to the second highest bidder and get a little less.

Hope you are able to find a solution that is ok for you, the seller, and the plants.

Thanks for all your replies! I contacted seller again and he promised to ship later. I sent him the money and keep my fingers crossed.
BTW: interesting to see all the different opinion on this matter.