Unexpected vacation will leave me unable to ship an item that is ending in two days. What's my best move?
I've
had items being relisted automatically for ages, they don't sell so I
didn't expect anything to. I'm flying out of my city in a few hours, and
just now noticed an auction ending in two days has a bid. Because of
the duration of my trip, the duration of the auction, and the shipping
and handling time (none of which can be extended) I will be unable to
ship this in the time provided in the listing, and i can't seem to find a
way to cancel the listing altogether. (I presume I can't since someone
has bid.)
My thought is that I should contact the winner, whoever it may be when it ends, and explain the situation and offer either a discounted shipping rate and shipping immediately when I return home or a refund and not ship it when I return home, their choice. Is this indeed the best way to handle things, or is there something else I should do over this plan?
Obviously never schedule items to end while you are going to be away but it's understandable unexpected trips and events do pop up so we have to make the best of the situation.
As the Redditor mentioned he could offer some type of discounted shipping or discount for any inconvenience. He could contact the current high bidder and give them a heads up as well as any future bidders. If someone snyped it at the last minute there's really nothing you could do to warn them. The others however would have a chance to cancel their bids if that was an issue.
I believe the option of contacting the highest bidder and offering some discount isn't a bad one, though personally speaking I would just cancel the auction early, inform the buyer why and relist when I got back.
Here's why I would take this course of action. eBay's seller metrics have changed and though I don't recall them off the top of my head I do know they are starting to measure, like Amazon has long done, how quickly a seller uploads tracking and how quickly that tracking gets a scan to make sure sellers aren't just printing labels but not actually dropping an item off for several days after that.
Because of this if the seller has it marked they will ship within 24 or 48 hours, their metrics will be dinged for shipping late and uploading traffic late, plus some buyers can be unpredictable and difficult so I wouldn't want to leave it open for some buyer to hold me over the fire threatening negative if I dont' refund 50% of purchase price or something crazy like that.
How would you handle this situation? Let know in the comments section below.
My thought is that I should contact the winner, whoever it may be when it ends, and explain the situation and offer either a discounted shipping rate and shipping immediately when I return home or a refund and not ship it when I return home, their choice. Is this indeed the best way to handle things, or is there something else I should do over this plan?
Obviously never schedule items to end while you are going to be away but it's understandable unexpected trips and events do pop up so we have to make the best of the situation.
As the Redditor mentioned he could offer some type of discounted shipping or discount for any inconvenience. He could contact the current high bidder and give them a heads up as well as any future bidders. If someone snyped it at the last minute there's really nothing you could do to warn them. The others however would have a chance to cancel their bids if that was an issue.
I believe the option of contacting the highest bidder and offering some discount isn't a bad one, though personally speaking I would just cancel the auction early, inform the buyer why and relist when I got back.
Here's why I would take this course of action. eBay's seller metrics have changed and though I don't recall them off the top of my head I do know they are starting to measure, like Amazon has long done, how quickly a seller uploads tracking and how quickly that tracking gets a scan to make sure sellers aren't just printing labels but not actually dropping an item off for several days after that.
Because of this if the seller has it marked they will ship within 24 or 48 hours, their metrics will be dinged for shipping late and uploading traffic late, plus some buyers can be unpredictable and difficult so I wouldn't want to leave it open for some buyer to hold me over the fire threatening negative if I dont' refund 50% of purchase price or something crazy like that.
How would you handle this situation? Let know in the comments section below.
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