buyer has asked me to delay shipping for 2 weeks, as they are going to be out of town

[tkobo]

Never ran into this,is there a way to do so without ebay holding it against me ....because if i do this, i wont enter a shipped or tracking info by the suggested date ?

[klhmdg]

Has the buyer already paid?

If they have you need to ship or yes it will be held against you.

Reply to the seller that you will gladly cancel and refund and they can buy it (if still available) in 2 weeks OR you can ship per eBays requirements.

[tkobo · Accepted solution]

K thanks.Sad to find yet another large hole in the ebay "system".

[mr_lincoln]

Hi @tkobo ,

A while ago I posted on the Weekly Chat that Sellers need a "Pause" button for sales to cover situations exactly like this one.  With the Buyer's request for delayed shipment the Seller could turn on the Pause function, and the Handling time clock would freeze until the Seller turn the Pause off.  Does this happen often? No but what a great feature that would be huh?!?

As it relates to your situation, if you do not get the Acceptance scan within your Handling time your account will receive one late shipping defect, they take 90 days to roll off your account.  Are there ways around this?  Well, sort of.  Due to eBay's inflexibility your options are limited.

- Message the Buyer and explain that eBay's rules for Sellers are that they ship within their stated handling time, otherwise their account gets a late shipping defect.  You could ask the Buyer message you requesting a cancellation, you could then cancel without penalty and they could purchase it upon their return on a day and time you two agree to Relist the item.

-Now, I can not tell you what to do but I can share an experience I had my first year of Selling.  A local Buyer purchased something for about $ 50 plus shipping.  They were local enough that I messaged them and asked if I could drop it off on my way to an appointment, they said great!  I said I would refund their shipping but would still have to send them a small empty package with a tracking number on it to satisfy eBay's system.  They said great!  So that's what I did.  eBay is so inflexible and worried about monitoring Sellers when we are completely capable of working out OUR own deals on OUR items sold to OUR customers ...

[dryophelia]

@tkobo 

Wouldn’t someone who is going out of town for two weeks have arrangements with usps to have their mail held or have a neighbor collect it? 

Either way, it’s not your issue. You are required to ship within your stated handling time. 

[eaux-de-vie]

I used to do that long ago, but you are going to get a shipping ding from eBay. I would personally refund and hold the item until they return and let them buy it again. They might not, but better than a ding that lasts a year. 

[jayjaspersgarage]

Inform the buyer that a packing slip will be mailed on time in lieu of the package so that the tracking will show on time delivery.  The packing slip should include a reminder to contact the seller when they return.  Once they return from said trip  you can ship the item with a new tracking number unrelated to the original.  Although this is rare I do this and charge $10 for the service.

[wahlstreetmkt]

Short of asking the customer to have the post office or neighbor hold it, you're probably best off just getting him to agree to cancelling the order and ordering it again two weeks from now.

Or maybe cancel the order. Change handling time to a month and have him order again.

[magic*moonbeams]

I had someone do the same thing, they asked not to ship until after 4/28....

My shipping time for that item is past due, but I'm not paying for a label til the date they told me to ship it, I don't want to be out that money in the meantime or permanently...

I'm just waiting, but in the mean time, I guess I'm going to have a late shipment held against me in my seller dashboard... which isn't right when the buyer asked for the delay...

[mr_lincoln]

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@eaux-de-vie wrote:

I used to do that long ago, but you are going to get a shipping ding from eBay. I would personally refund and hold the item until they return and let them buy it again. They might not, but better than a ding that lasts a year. 

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@eaux-de-vie   Late Shipping defects roll off a Seller's account in 90 days.

[dhbookds]

@mr_lincoln 

Doesn't the 90 days only apply to sellers with over 400 sales per year? 

[forward-motion]

Yes, mail them a packing slip. That way you show it's been shipped with a tracking number. Then mail the product when they are ready. I do this with local pick up as well. 

[mr_lincoln]

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@dhbookds wrote:

@mr_lincoln 

Doesn't the 90 days only apply to sellers with over 400 sales per year? 

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@dhbookds   You know, its been a while since I had one but they rolled off my account in 90 days, that's what I recall reading and that's what I experienced.  But even before you posted I was wondering, hmmm, did they change that metric on any of the last few Seller Updates???  So I snooped around the Help Pages and the polices are really poorly laid out and explained.  The 400 transactions you are referring to is for a 3 month period and applies to TRS.  If you don't have that many they look back 12 months BUT they make no mention of when defects expire.  Below is one of the pages I found.  If I am around next week I'll ask on the Weekly Chat, not that I'll get an answer but I will at least ask the question.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling/seller-levels-performance-standards?id=4080

[katzrul15]

Always thought the defect remained for 12 months  unless you met the lookback criteria of selling a minimum of 400 items or more in 90 days or less....(i.e.  large sellers/e-bay's elite sellers, etc)

We had 1 considered w/o tracking (it was an e-bay glitch as the tracking was entered and there) and I am pretty sure it took a year for that to go back to 100% on-time shipping from the 99. something %?  But that was 2019 and it rolled off in 2020....new update maybe changes the timeline?  You're right though...they do not spell this out very clearly.

[a_c_green]

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@forward-motion wrote:

Yes, mail them a packing slip. That way you show it's been shipped with a tracking number. Then mail the product when they are ready. I do this with local pick up as well. 

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You'd need to send a padded envelope with a wad of paper or something inside to ensure that it qualifies as a package, and thus qualifies for tracking. But all that aside, if you're shipping with USPS, I would just tell the buyer to have their mail held, and then you can ship as usual.

While it's true that one late shipment won't harm your collective metrics, you're still taking on a ding to your record that really isn't deserved. I would seek some other solution with the buyer.