How long do you wait for a reply?

[bigdeals.etc]

As a buyer... what's the acceptable time for you to wait for a seller to reply to a message you send them?

When do you decide to contact the seller again with the same message and consider their reply as "slow"?

Just wondering what the consensus is.

[reallynicestamps]

On a weekday, 24 hours.

On a weekend or holiday, 48-96 hours. Actually, I probably wouldn't ask if it were a holiday.

I mention this for buyers trying to catch the attention of Chinese sellers during the upcoming Lunar New Year which begins Feb 5, 2019.

There are over a billion people in China, and they all go home to visit their mums at the New Year.

[kitschy*loot]

If I ask a seller something I will give them 48 hours to respond. If I am really interested in the item I will ask again after that. 

[coffeebean832]

1 business day. After that I've usually moved on.

If the price is great or the item is scarce then I'll wait 2 business days and maybe send the seller another message.

Most of the time if a seller doesn't respond then I don't bother with a second message. The exceptions would be price/scarcity as noted above- or a seller who responded right away and said they needed more time to get back to me. Communication is key.

[gew6463]

I usually just send one message; if the seller doesn't answer the 1st time (within 48 hrs or so), it's most likely not that they didn't see it, but that they are ignoring it. Some sellers do not respond to certain questions, especially if it is a low offer on make-an-offer. Or possibly they're just very busy. Or it's a newer seller who doesn't notice it. As coffeebean said, I just move on after that.

As a seller, I don't mind questions, and I try to answer within 24 hours.

[ed8108]

3 days, if no response, it is unlikely one will be forthcoming & time to move on.

[castlemagicmemories]

When you send a message, you then see "expect to hear from the seller in 24-48 hrs".  

[juststuffisell]

I will generally allow for a day on week days and a day meaning by the end of the next business day.... and not a full 24 hours. If I ask in the morning time period, I will admit to being disappointed if I have not heard something that same day. The way I look at it, when you list merchandise for sale, you are basically running a business. A prompt courteous response is what I expect and what I almost always receive.

I very rarely make offers as when I have purchased, beyond office & shipping supplies to run my business, it is always auction style listings. When I am seriously looking for gambles on a fixed price listing, I pay up on the inexpensive asking price. I remember buying a 18K gold garnet bracelet for like 20 bucks and a huge onyx 14K gold ring for 10 bucks...lol....so no point haggling.

When I do, I don't expect a response on best offers or unsolicited offers if I choose to send one and my feelings aren't hurt if I don't get one.

On weekends, I expect a response within 24 hours because.... again, if you have it listed for sale, you are running a business and should expect questions or requests for clarifications on item details.

If I personally get questions not answered in the pictures or listing, I will edit my listings to include the details someone asked for.

Rare or not, I do not chase down sellers.

[dinpavent0]

I usually give it a day or two, after that I move on unless it is a question about an item I already purchased. I personally get back to my buyers within an hour or less. Most times right away, unless I am sleeping. I live in NY, i often get messages between 3 am to 6am. Those obviously wait til I wake up in morning, and then Usually do it as soon as I make my coffee. I don't like to make anyone wait.

[reallynicestamps]

@juststuffisell

If I ask in the morning time period, I will admit to being disappointed if I have not heard something that same day.

I sell and buy internationally-- so my 'morning' could be someone else's bedtime.

[mudshark61369]

@bigdeals.etc,

I think you will find most give 24-48 hours for a seller to respond. That is about what I expect, but I do consider other things.

 The item (collectible, rare, or a common BIN item)

 The seller (occasional, fairly regular, medium volume, high to mega volume)

The time & day I ask the question in the seller's time zone,

I'll give sellers longer time to respond over weekends and holidays. 

I do not expect immediate replies, not every seller is running a "business", with regular hours. Most who are occasional to medium volume and even some fairly high volume sellers also have daytime jobs and families to contend with.

I'm a low volume seller who has on average about 30 items running at any one time. 90% of my items are vintage and collectible. The vagaries of life sometimes cause me not to have time to check messages more than once a day, and I am a semi retired empty nester.  I do end my auctions which are about 75% of my listings on regular days in the middle of the week so I can give them attention. I also have an early payment time 7:30am so I can meet same or 1 day shipping.  I try to check for sales or messages several times a day, but can't always do that.

Several years ago by accident, I ran into a local ebay seller at a subdivision garage sale.  They sell bath and body products on ebay as a side line and had several tables of those items out during the sale. I asked the wife about it who was working on a computer in between dealing with buyers She opened the side door to  the garage, which was full of product.  She said it was just her family, with a little help from a neighbor who ran the business (her son and husband were packing items for shipping).  She said it sometimes was hard to keep up, because she had a part time job, her husband worked and their son played sports.

During the week they tried to dedicate 3-4 hours a day early mornings and evenings to ebay. Weekend hours varied because of their son's sports and needed down time.  They are still active sort of high volume sellers and have maintained a 99.9% rating, though they list about 25% fewer items than they used to.  Had I found them on ebay I would have expected them to have several employees. This just goes to show you never can tell who you are dealing with when buying on ebay.

One thing I've noticed in my time on the boards is the mega volume sellers are very slow to respond to messages if they do at all. The ones from Asia and China are the worst when it comes to that. Informational and problem messages seem to have their lowest priority.  Occasional sellers too can be slow to answer.  We often hear about offers expiring after 48 hours from unhappy members, who would like to cancel them if they don't receive replies immediately or within 24 hours.

There is no cookie cutter answer to your topic, because ebay is comprised of individual sellers each with their own business plan and individual buyers each with their own expectations.  

[cubano4u]

I wait 24-48 hours. I'm finding more and more sellers are no longer responding to questions. If I don;t hear back I never send a second message, I move on. I find there is always someone else selling the same item, if not that week then shortly there after. I'm fine with waiting for someone else to post the same item, and I typically find it for less so I win either way.
Best of luck to you....

[juststuffisell]

True, but I never purchase from international sellers 🙂

[bigdeals.etc]

Thanks for everyone's answers and reasons. Yes, there isn't a right answer to this question. Countless factors can determine how long you wait for a seller reply... it's not cookie cutter.

As a high volume seller who's a one man show, I find myself waiting no later than the end of the next business day to answer messages. Some I will answer sooner. I was curious if I'm alienating a majority of buyers by not answering questions sooner. Yes, I do sometimes get multiple duplicate questions by the same buyer if I don't answer within hours. Some of the time those buyers end up purchasing anyway before I even reply. So I don't really lose the sale on 100% of those buyers. Some of the post-sale buyers who get upset at my response time (which isn't many) I feel would've gotten upset anyway primarily because of their issue of the purchase itself.

From what I am hearing I think so far my response time is fine as it is now. We don't know what will happen in the future if I end up alienating a higher percentage of buyers and have to shift gears. Thanks all.