Shipping
I have a customer that wants me to hold a item till May. He paid for the item. It is a gift for his wife's birthday. To me it's not a problem. The demerits I'll get from eBay suck. But,we are all for customer service. We have communicated through eBay and the mail is available. eBay needs to work on this.
19 comments
bluemoonbooks.and.antiques
OP7 months agoThank you for the advice. What a eye opener.
bennotbill
·7 months agoMost, in the buyers position, would have simply had the item delivered to their workplace or a relative.
slippinjimmy
·7 months agoPersonally, and I have done similar things, I just tell the buyer I need to mark it as shipped but hold it until they let me when is the time.
The worst that can happen is they turn into a flake and file an INR. No problem, just refund, you still have the item. That INR would have to be within 30 days of the last estimated delivery date, after that there is nothing they can do through eBay.
luckythewinner
·7 months agoI have a customer that wants me to hold a item till May
You had the power to say no.
The demerits I'll get from eBay suck
Not only do you get a late shipping ding, but you will also lose seller protection from "Item Not Received" payment disputes.
But,we are all for customer service
IMHO that is not "customer service". That is chasing a sale from a buyer who doesn't respect the platform's rules.
eBay needs to work on this
No they don't. You just wish they would, because you consider it an inconvience.
reallynicestamps
·7 months agoI suppose you could send an envelope with the cheapest tracked rate you can find, hold on to the purchase, and send it when the time comes.
Worst case, they lay a Claim and you refund without demanding a return. You are out your shipping cost but you still have the refunded item in your control ready to resell after Blocking the maroon.
This is an example of the kind of situation that is covered by Cookie Jar Insurance.
inhawaii
·7 months agoI disagree.
Your customer needs to work on this.
It's ridiculous to buy something and ask the seller not to ship it for 3 months.
gloryglorygifts
·7 months agoI would do one of two things. Ship it now and have the customer hide it, or, have him cancel the order, put the item aside for him and write a reminder somewhere to contact him toward the end of April.
Anything else is risky I think. You need to protect yourself as a seller, as well as keep your customer happy. I would reach out to him and let him decide which path you should take.
Good luck!
fm2000
·7 months agoHere's how to handle this:
"I am sorry, according to eBay rules, I must ship my items within my stated handling time. If this is not acceptable, please cancel your order."
It is nice to do this for a buyer, but waiting 3 months exposes you to all kinds of liability. In 3 months something could happen to the item; you could misplace and not be able to find it, your roof could leak and damage the item, it could fall off a shelf and break etc. etc. Holding it that long could be asking for trouble. You will also get a ding from eBay, and if they are a scammer they could file an INR or a chargeback after you ship the item and try to get a free item claiming it "never arrived". You can't count on any communication with the buyer, even in the eBay message system, to protect you, and even if you could it would still be a monster project (and headache) trying to deal with it. Not worth it. Hiding the item is the husband's responsibility, not yours.
tsme35
·7 months agoI wouldn't hold it that long, anything can happen in a couple months. Just advised him that's too long but if he has a family or friend to send it and then he can hide it.
stainlessenginecovers
·7 months agoEven Walmart doesn't do 'layaway' (and we all know what happened to KMart)
It's not customer service, it's a trip in a time machine.
Tell the buyer to hide it themselves until May.
johnrj1226
·7 months ago"buy now, pay later" financing options, primarily through Affirm, for both online and in-store purchases. This allows customers to take items immediately and pay over 3–24 months, with some 0% APR options available. The old, fee-based, hold-at-store layaway program is no longer offered.
reallynicestamps
·7 months agoThis allows customers to take items immediately and pay over 3–24 months,
Which sounds like a credit card purchase.
Or the British "hire-purchase".
When I was selling patio furniture, we had a "pay in XX months" deal where the customer took their purchase home. But their contract was sold to Household Finance, and was due in 12 months. Or they could then convert it to monthly payments at very high interest.
And the selling price was inflated to begin with so that we got our normal profit and HFC got theirs even if the customer paid on time.
tobaccocardyahoo
·7 months agoEbay will auto-cancel and refund this order before May. And you will take a hit on your metrics.
wastingtime101
·7 months agoWhat? No they won't. Not unless the buyer files a claim.
That said, it is a bad idea to hold the order @bluemoonbooks.and.antiques . If you wish to offer this type of layaway service, the cleanest route is for the buyer to submit an order cancellation request, you hold the item, then relist it when the buyer is ready to make the purchase.
After 90 days you won't even be able to perform actions on the order such as purchasing a shipping label or sending a refund if needed.
ethylsgarage
·7 months agoYes, they will cancel and refund if there is no carrier scan.
wastingtime101
·7 months agoThis is not correct. I have multiple shipments the carrier failed to scan and nothing was reversed because the buyers never filed claims. They got their items even without scans.
jonathanbrightlight
·7 months agoeBay will not do that automatically. Many sellers ship without tracking, and others just end up with tracking that doesn’t update.
If the buyer files an Item Not Received claim, then without tracking, the seller will lose.
But eBay will not “cancel and refund†on their own just because there is not shipping or tracking information.
jdbelt1960
·7 months agoI would explain that it must be shipped by rules and perhaps he could just hide it. May is months from now and I would not remember up until then. There is no way you can control a specific day for delivery. I think you set yourself up when you yield to those kind of requests.
itsjustasprain
·7 months agoI understand that he has already paid for the item but I would not want the responsibility of having to hold on to what is no longer your item for another three months. I would try to persuade him to take it now before your Handling time expires. Emphasize to him that he will be able to watch the tracking and will know when it will arrive so he can expect it. Heck - even if he is not going to be home for the delivery he can at least tell his wife to not open it.