I purchased Hip Holly from a seller on December 26th for a really good price. The seller has completely positive feedback for the last 12 months. Under my "Won" section its says that she was shipped on January 14th, but she has not arrived yet. My last day to file a case is Tuesday.

I sent the seller a message on Thursday night asking about the item and have yet to receive a reply. The seller is from France, and I know that shipping can take a while from overseas, but in my experience it has never taken this long.

This has been my first time buying from Ebay, and I've only bought one item since, which has gone smoothly so far. So basically I'm wondering what I should do. Should I open a case to be cautious? And if/when Hip Holly arrives, what should I leave with regards to feedback (assuming she arrives in the condition I expect her to be in)?

Thanks in advance!

Ah

The seller is a member here and I think she has a 100% positive feedback here as well

The mail is slow in Europe now - we have a really har winter now (the temeperatures are going nearly -30 Celsius degrees and snowstorms are common) so the mail is really, reall SLOW. Im now waiting for a parcel from UK since 20th January and it still haven't arrived. I think you have to be patient about it.

When did you pay? I understand that you're worried about the 45 days period when you can open the dispute, but I don't think it's necesarry now.

Would you like me to PM you with the Arena ID of the seller?

Well I have never had a package from France take that long either, but I have heard other buyers say that it can happen sometimes. This is what I would do. I would send the seller a message explaining that you are confident that the package will arrive, but that you have to protect yourself by filing a claim. Tell them that you will wait the seven days to escalate the claim hoping it shows up by then. If it still has not arrived by then and Paypal finds in your favor, you will get a refund. Tell the seller that if the pony does arrive after the claim is closed, that you will be happy to re-send the $$ for the pony and shipping back to them.

Hopefully it will still arrive.

I paid on the 28th, so two days after the auction ended. I'd appreciate if you could send me the seller's Arena ID TSU, hopefully I'll be able to get a hold of them here. There were two Hip Holly's going for around the same price at the same time though so perhaps we should make sure they're the same seller so I don't go bothering the wrong person?

Thanks for the input, both of you! I may see if I can get a few more opinions before doing anything.

Thanks for that TSU

Even if the seller is on the Arena, without any communication I would be inclined to opt for the safety of opening a dispute. That leaves 20 days for the item to arrive before you'd have to escalate to a claim. And even if the item did arrive particularly late, you could always pay the seller back if you were refunded.

But I also agree with TSU that the shipping is very slow in and out of the EU at the moment. None the less, sending your item over two weeks after you paid is very poor service. For that reason I would mark the shipping stars appropriately when she arrives.

Most people post within 48 hrs now. So those that ship slowly will have it reflected in their shipping stars

I agree with IHSS

Thanks so much for the input everyone!

I have messaged the seller on here and Ebay detailing why I am opening a dispute. I just finished filing the claim with Paypal. I also asked the seller why they took so long to ship the pony since I believe that a two-week delay warrants some sort of explanation.

Since this person has 100% positive feedback right now I am really hoping that she will arrive safely. When she gets here, I will definitely make sure the stars reflect the delay in shipping.

Hopefully she arrives nice and fast and you'll be able to close the dispute. I'm sure your seller will understand that you need to be safe

I heard back from the seller today. She seems to understand and is being very nice and cooperative. She has also explained why she was late in shipping. I feel much better now that I have at least heard from her!

That's a relief!

It's a shame she didn't take the time to do that earlier as it may have helped.