How long to wait ?

cosmicray · Posts: 7286

I ordered something from another seller on Sunday evening. It was relatively low priced ($9) with free shipping. The seller has no feedback. I don't expect to have received the item yet, but there has been no indication of shipment or order being processed. My best estimate is that the seller has been here ~1 year. Store was last updated '30 Mar 2014'.

I'm not in a huge hurry for the item, so I'm willing to wait a week or two (to receive what I ordered). Any thoughts ?

trafficjammers · Posts: 275

Why not email them? Customers email me 24/7 in regards to shipping times and I reply back 24/7. This is a part of online selling and running a business in general.

You shouldn't be afraid to contact the seller.

MaggietheCatsMeows · Posts: 2853

They could be having a week like mine. Everything is happening at once and I'm not getting everything done. I wouldn't be upset if someone wrote asking if the item had been shipped.

elpereles · Posts: 3430

Is from eCrater?

MoonwishesStore · moderator Posts: 17389

Did their TOS say when they ship? If not I would email and ask as currently it has been two business days since you purchased. Even when ordering from Amazon I get all sorts of notices from them and why should we give lesser service? If you don't here back they you will know to start the clock on filing to get your money back and letting the team know that some one is falling down on the job.

cosmicray · Posts: 7286

Seller responded with a tracking number, and received a PP shipment notification. Package probably going out this evening. All is well.

MoonwishesStore · moderator Posts: 17389

That is good. I do remember one seller/buyer bought something on Sunday night was very upset by Monday morning to have not heard back from the sellers yet. You got to let people have a chance to get up and for those that also have a full time job, get home from work to process an order. Since I don't work out, I can process and ship daily, but I do try to take Sunday off, which is only fair. Having an internet store doesn't mean that we have devoted our entire lives to wait for orders so we can deal with them immediately, especially over the weekend when the mail doesn't go out anyhow. I was really hoping that they would cancel Saturday pick up and delivery so there would be a long weekend where I could 'sleep' in.

cosmicray · Posts: 7286

On Wednesday, following my inquiry, the seller provided a USPS tracking number. That tracking number tells me that it was accepted at the NJ post office about mid-day on Thursday.

Basically it took them 3 (or 4) days to hand the package to the post office (Sunday to Thursday). Current expected delivery is Monday. I'm not trying to get wound up about this, but it does seem as tho they took their sweet time to handle the order. This from a seller who presents themselves as a fair sized company.

SheilaDeesPostcards · moderator Posts: 4620

This illustrates the importance of sellers contacting their buyers after receiving an order. When an order is placed, the buyer receives an automated email from eCRATER plus an automated email from PayPal. This is fine to confirm the order was placed and payment was made, but there is still no confirmation from the seller that they are aware of the order and what the buyer should expect regarding shipping time.

In Jan, I was purchasing a large number of items for my husband's business. Most orders were coming from larger independent websites, but one item I found available from a fellow eCRATER seller. The seller had good feedback and was actively posting in the forum in Jan. I ordered on Friday evening and received the auto email from eCRATER and the payment confirmation from PayPal. I did find it odd that the name of the eCRATER store, the merchant name as listed on Paypal and the name on the PayPal email were all different. (I did remember the name on the PayPal email from years past when that seller was asking about changing the name of their eCrater store.) It was a little unsettling to have so many different (and very unrelated) names involved. No where in the store or the item page was there any notice of their shipping speed. After no contact from the seller, I sent an email on Wednesday evening. The package arrived on Friday and the postmark showed it had been shipped on Tuesday. I never received any contact from the seller.

MoonwishesStore · moderator Posts: 17389

I don't send an email confirming that I got their order, but since everything is mailed within 24 hours Monday through Saturday, I figure that the shipping notification is sufficient so as not to fill up their email. What's the point of saying I got their order to follow it 2 minutes later with a shipping notification? However in the instance that the buyer takes several business days before even shipping and no shipping notification either, that is a NO-NO! How hard is it to send a form letter anyhow? 1-2 minutes tops including copy/pasting their name and the DC number. I don't consider it PP responsibility to keep MY customers informed of what is going on.

SheilaDeesPostcards · moderator Posts: 4620

Moon, I totally agree with you. Where I placed the order on Friday evening, had I not gotten an email from the seller until Monday evening I wouldn't have thought twice about the purchase. Any seller that ships the next business day only needs to send a shipping confirmation. I do feel a shipping confirmation is vital to a professional business.

tigercreekgifts · Posts: 6293

Not all sellers are the same. I update my buyers right away when something occurs with their order but I order online several times a month & I have to say that when I order from smaller sellers like us, only 1 in every 3-4 sellers is personable & emails me about my order. We buy handmade items, bulk food, wholesale items, all kinds of stuff online. My whole family loves to order online,

The sellers over at etsy are real good with communication, frequent updates, friendly, fast to answer questions unless you order from one of the new wholesale merchants that are slowly invading Etsy but, I only order things I know are handmade by small shop owners.

thecheapskirt · Posts: 2123

thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat · Posts: 10159

I only send shipping notices also. I usually ship next day except weekends but if there is a reason I can't ship right away I let the buyer know there will be a delay.

As for etsy sellers of handmade, I tried to do my Christmas shopping there and gave up on several sellers who wouldn't respond no matter how many times I emailed them. The sellers I ended up buying from were very good but I wasted a lot of time writing and waiting for a response.

MoonwishesStore · moderator Posts: 17389