Proper way for handling a buyer's delayed shipping request

[ednkarens]

I just had a buyer purchase an item and they immediately sent through Messages that they will be out of the country and to please ship the item 2 weeks later.  I know with the vacation season upon us, this is not an unusual request.  

With the new eBay policies, what is the proper procedure for handling this request and not getting any bad marks from eBay?  I have a 2 day handling time on the listing.  Can I override it after the sale and change it to a 14 day handling time?  Does eBay have a place where we can state that "Buyer requested delay shipping" so we will not get into trouble?

[castlemagicmemories]

You can't change the handling time after a sale.  If the buyer has not paid, you can ask them to pay when they get back, as the shipping clock starts when they pay.  

If they have paid, you can ask your customer to have the Post Office hold their mail while they are gone.  Most vacationers do this.

You can tell the buyer you will cancel and re-list just for them when they get back; if you cancel using problem with buyer's address, you won't get a defect.

But give this some time so you get others weighing in on this as well.  Other solutions may present themselves.

It has been said that you are covered with Ebay CS if you have a message from the buyer asking you to hold on shipping, but I don't know if you want to test that.

[lewisburggold]

You have to let them know that wont work.  Best regards

[berserkerplanet]

>>covered with Ebay CS if you have
>>a message from the buyer

Partially true. eBay says the "on-time shipping" metric ding can be appealed through a call to CS, but not the "tracking uploaded and validated" TRS metric ding.

Would only be a problem for TRS sellers (besides being annoying to have to try to correct in the first place, and assuming the appeal works for late shipment ding due to CS roulette)

From a current thread on PS board:
------------
>>tyler@ebay- Tyler - can you
>>confirm that this is still true

[Tyler's response]
If a buyer requests a delay in shipment via eBay messages CS is able to appeal an 'On-Time Shipping' miss.

CS is not able to appeal any 'Tracking Uploaded on time and Validated' misses.

So if a buyer has already paid, and then asks to delay shipping, you can make the choice to take the hit in that metric, or cancel the transaction and ask them to delay purchasing until they're available.
------------

I can think of no technical, ethical, moral, or logical justification for the above to be the case.

Inability of CS to remove the "tracking uploaded and validated on time" dings is either a deliberate policy choice (only reason I can think of is to topple TRS sellers), or more programming incompetence.

[bigdeals.etc]

If the penalty for late shipment/tracking will signficantly affect you, I would either cancel the transaction and have them buy it from you later on, or just ship it out. All the other stuff I think will require much more back/forth which may be difficult for the buyer since they are on vacation.

If the hit isn't significant. I'd just wait it out and take the hit.

[ednkarens]

Thanks bigdeals and thank you to everyone else!  I looked and I can handle the ding for "Tracking uploaded on time and validated" since it looks like that is calculated every 3 months.  Fortunately the buyer sent me an email through the system so I have an internal record I can share with a CS after I ship the item.

[castlemagicmemories]

---

@berserkerplanet wrote:
>>covered with Ebay CS if you have
>>a message from the buyer

Partially true. eBay says the "on-time shipping" metric ding can be appealed through a call to CS, but not the "tracking uploaded and validated" TRS metric ding.

Would only be a problem for TRS sellers (besides being annoying to have to try to correct in the first place, and assuming the appeal works for late shipment ding due to CS roulette)

From a current thread on PS board:
------------
>>tyler@ebay- Tyler - can you
>>confirm that this is still true

[Tyler's response]
If a buyer requests a delay in shipment via eBay messages CS is able to appeal an 'On-Time Shipping' miss.

CS is not able to appeal any 'Tracking Uploaded on time and Validated' misses.

So if a buyer has already paid, and then asks to delay shipping, you can make the choice to take the hit in that metric, or cancel the transaction and ask them to delay purchasing until they're available.
------------

I can think of no technical, ethical, moral, or logical justification for the above to be the case.

Inability of CS to remove the "tracking uploaded and validated on time" dings is either a deliberate policy choice (only reason I can think of is to topple TRS sellers), or more programming incompetence.

Thanks for that info, @berserkerplanet, and thanks for that clarification.  It seems somewhat incongruous to me that one will be appealed and removed but the other can't/won't be.  They are all connected.