What do you consider the usual time for buyers to collect items from sellers?

[janellehollycat]

Bad experiences recently on Ebay - have had to block people from me!!

Had a buyer last week who won an auction off me on Friday afternoon.  My expectation was that the item would be collected that weekend or shortly afterwards.  I am always very fluid with pick up times and days as I do shift work.  The buyer said she would not collect until the following Sunday - 10 days after end of auction - even though I had offered different collection times and days.  There was no negotiation - it was all one-sided and this is what she demanded.  I am sorry now that I didn't put my usual "please pick up within 7 days of end of auction" in the ad!  Oh, I just wish I had of cancelled the transaction from there - had a really bad feeling about this!

My experience has been that prospective buyers usually request special circumstances BEFORE they bid at auction not afterwards.  The buyer was not grateful that I allowed her to do this - either personally thankful or offering additional money for making me wait so long to have the items removed and thus inconveniencing me.  

I sent her an email during the week to confirm a date and time with me, which she did.  Then she was late arriving for collection and I sent her another email saying that if the item wasn't picked up that morning, it would be relisted in the afternoon.  Fair enough I had waited 10 days without any communication from her except the email that I had sent for her to confirm with.

I was very pleasant with her and helped her, etc.  I was quite taken aback that she wasn't more "so sorry for making you wait so long" sort of thing that most people would have done and perhaps offered another $20 for my trouble which is something I would have done had I inconvienced someone in the same way.

Now she has left me negative feedback - not a bad comment, not neural - but negative - her feeling is that she should have 10 days to collect a winning item and this should not be an issue.  She says I was rude for sending her confirmation emails.  

[*sparklz*]

Some people are hard to please no matter what BUT there should be mention of a pickup by date in the listing.

Had the buyer asked before they purchased and if you had told them within 7 days of winning and they left that feedback then you might have grounds for removal if they had agreed to pickup withion 7 days in writing via ebay messages..

[*crikey*mate*]

*puts hard hat on*

I'm on the buyers side here.

You didn't specify when the items needed to be picked up by. Just because it was your expectation that it be picked up that weekend, doesn't mean the buyer knew your expectations.

I would think that most people would pick things up on a weekend, especially big things where they may have to enlist the help of others to collect, organize trailers etc. Lots of people work through the week days and have all sorts of committments, so they just can't/don't want to drop everything on a moment's notice and rearrange things. Maybe they just physically couldn't get there any earlier. The times you offered weren't suitable to the buyer, when they bbid, you hadn't specified a time frame - it's as simple as that really.

Ideally, they would have picked up that first weekend,, but you kind of get used to people not really thinking about others. They might have needed some time to organize help etc, and so the first weekend wasn't possible. And they just didn't consider that you wanted it gone.

I can't see why they needed to request special circumstances, you didn;t provide any ordinary circumstances to begin with, so similarly, I'm also not sure why you feel she needed to be overly grateful or to give you any further money.

Her gratitude was shown by the fact she paid the price that you asked her to pay via the auction process. In her mind, she has no reason to know what your expectations were or that she had "put you out".

I can't comment on the feedback, as that is her interpretation of the transaction, except to say, I don't think that you deserved them from what you have told us.

I really do feel bad for you that you got a buyer like this and that they have given you what appears to be such mean feedback. I guess eBay is just like everywhere, eh? You will always find someone who just doesn't think of others so much, or approaches things with a more casual attitude than you do,, but that's life.

On the whole, I think that without stating your requirements prior to auction close, then the buyer really hasn't done anything wrong. Yeah, they were a bit slack, but that's not a crime.

[shopping.trolley]

Personally I think 7 days is sufficient, that gives the buyer many weekdays or a whole weekend.  However, you did mention you forgot to note 7 day pick up in your listing so I guess that gives the buyer an open ended pick up.

I think you were quite justified in your follow up email though.  Regardless of the pick up day I expect people to arrive on time.

I sold a pick up item recently and the buyer wrote to me to ask if it could be picked up straight away.  Arrived within the hour to collect it!  I was amazed, impressed and grateful.  Not many like that great buyer.

[janellehollycat]

Thanks for the comments - it's been quite a lesson to learn to always put in "pick up within 7 days" in the ads.  Sorry that I assumed that collection within 7 days is more than enough time to collect an item - and yes, I have had to organise couriers, etc to pick things up for me but I've never left an item for 10 days to collect and I personally would never assume that that was an OK thing to do to sellers and I would be apologising profusely and offering "token" money for causing so much trouble.

I had actually "let it go" because this person was from another country and I assumed different culture, etc, so not good with communication, etc.  So I left nice feedback for her, even though her communication was so poor and  it took a long time to collect items!  But when I received such negative feedback, I thought that was extreme personal backstabbing when surely the feedback should be about the item/s received??  Am I wrong here?  

I had a "bad feeling" about this one all along, and I should have cancelled the transaction when the buyer requested such a long pick up time.  Next time, transaction will be cancelled if I find the terms unacceptable.  And I will always try to remember to put pick up times in the ads.  

thanks again!

[janellehollycat]

Yes, personally I think all sellers just LOVE a quick pick up and payment!

[janellehollycat]

Yes, thanks will always put in a pick up date - I usually do!

[*crikey*mate*]

Feedback is the opinion of the trading partners' experience of the whole transaction. So comments can include things such as communication etc.

Also, be careful just cancelling a transaction, there are processes that must be followed and it's not as simple as you saying "I don't want to sell to you anymore".

Also, once an auction has finished, both parties have to agree to any new or additional terms of the sale, so even if you don;t agree with what the buyer wants to do, unless it was agreed upon by both parties before the auction ended, then you are committed to the sale as it was at the time the auction ended.

That means, if the terms and conditions weren't in your listing or in PM's during the course of the listing agreed to by the buyer, you can't add more conditions afterwards or refuse to sell.

And selling an item to someone else when the contract is still on foot can land you into all sorts of legal trouble, so best not to relist or sell to someone else until the first contract is voided, which is either by Court, the eBay process of Mutual Cancelation or UID or by joint agreement between the two contracting parties.

[janellehollycat]

Thanks again - I would have looked it up and followed whatever procedure but I just wasn't happy with this buyer from the start (that bad feeling)!

[lyndal1838]

You can not just cancel a transaction because you find the terms unacceptable....you as the seller are the one who sets the terms so they should not be unacceptable to you.

Just a bit of advice....it is better if you can end an auction for a pickup item (especially a very large one that requires two people or specialised transport) a few days before a weekend.

A lot of people can only do a pick up on a weekend and a few days to make arrangements is usually very welcome.

I could only pick up items like your cabinets when my OH is available with our van and it would be almost impossible to guarantee that within 2 days.