Ok, I finally won a few items on ebay (some vintage brakes and rear mech) anyway, It's been a week and I haven't had any contact from the seller. I paid through paypal the next day and have the receipt. Is this fairly normal? I'm new to ebay, so I just want to make sure I'm doing things correctly. Does one normaly get an acknowledgement that payment has been received, or does the item just tend to show up. I tried to contact the seller through ebay, but so far have no response. I'd hate to have an issue on my first transaction.

About 50/50 and I buy quite a bit on ebay. Half the time I get responses from sellers. The other half the item just shows up in a few days. Only once did I never get the item or hear from the (fraudulent) seller.

Depends on sellers. Some sellers don't respond. PM me items you bought, I'll take a look and tell you if that seller will contact you or not.


Usually, I ask them if they ship and when to expect it.


Nah, you won't have problems. PayPal will refund your money if you have a problem. But not always, so it's good idea to use Credit Card with paypal. Prefferably AMEX. PayPal don't help, AMEX will, they don't screw around like PayPal.

When we sold on eBay we would confirm reciept and leave feedback when the item shipped, normally next business day. I've been noticing more & more that sellers don't feel it necessary to communicate and hold your feedback until you left it for them.

I'd email the seller and ask them WTF.

I don't leave feedback until I've received it as well. If I never get any, I'll still just leave good feedback. I do e-mail sellers and ask them to let me know when the item ships.

Chances are it will show up today. Still, I would conact the seller and inquire. It's only been a week.

Paypal takes 4 business days to clear, so it's likely your seller has just gotten paid, and the item will likely be shipped to you soon. Some sellers maintain good communication about shipping, some never communicate but just ship.

Rarely, a seller will be a scam artist, but with paypal, you are guaranteed a refund. If a seller refuses to accept paypal, avoid like the plague, because there is NO guarantee that the seller will ship, or ship what you ordered, and eBay will NOT assist you. Lessons learned on my end.

Sellers should communicate, but may be busy, or just socially awkward. Send an email asking about shipping details (ask the seller to email you the tracking number when he/she ships). You should get a response.

That reminds me, I've got to check on an item I won, paid for, and haven't received yet...

Some sellers don't speak english and will not reply to you. Such as chinese sellers.


PayPal is crap, I don't accept it either. Direct transfer I'll accept, but credit card, forget it. I don't want to pay additional fees for credit cards. It's ok to pay with check, you can always cancel it if you're not satisfied with something.



So taht you know, PayPal are pansies. Too soft. If you're a buyer, your best friend is credit card, prefferably AMEX, second best friend is your bank. Write a check, you can cancel it if it looks fishy. Same with credit card, call them and dispute a charge. Much more response than PayPal and much more friendlier towards you, especially AMEX.

Send the seller an e-mail asking when the item was shipped, and for a tracking # if they have one... If you don't get any response, and do not receive the stuff in a few more days, start worrying & read up on the "dispute" procedure at e-bay.

Those 3% fees really don't pay for themselves when on average a credit card buyer spends 18%more than a cash buyer.

Yes, in my two businesses I run, automotive and racing related, credit cards is a must, especially AMEX. But I only sell some crap on eBay once in a while, and it's not worth converting my account to merchant account.


Right now I'm accepting google, because they offer no fees until the end of year. Fees ad up, not a big deal if you sell a lot, but a big deal if you don't sell a lot.

The only problem with paying by check is that most sellers won't ship until the check clears, by which time it's too late to cancel it.

One item, the second one I won, arrived yesterday. I was amazed as I had only paid for it the day before. Quite a contrast to the first seller whom I still haven't heard anything from!

That's when you have most of your issues, is during your first transaction(s). It takes awhile to learn how to avoid issues but you sort of learn how to avoid most trouble. Here are some things I have learned and do.

1. If it is expensive, i contact the seller with tons of questions to get an idea how they respond and how reputable. The faster and more accurate the responses, the better i feel and vice versa. If they can't spell, for example I am concerned.

2. Scour the feedback. Look up and down, sideways and back. Look for patterns etc.

3. Look at the general listing. You can somewhat tell if you are dealing with a moron in a lot of cases. If they make outrageous statements in the listing for example. Or have horrible grammar and lots of spelling errors. That tells you that they might not be very conscientious.

4. Look for nice pictures. I never buy crap i can't see clearly. This to me is another sign of a slob. Not careful enough to take good pics is a negative to me.

I always pay thru paypal and in the special instruction block on the paypal page I politely ask the seller to e-mail me once the item has shipped. It has worked every time. I always want to know when I should get the item. This way I know when to look for the UPS truck. Buyin on ebay and waiting,is like watchin paint dry.

That is only true with Paypal's echecks. Direct payments from your bank account or credit card are available to the seller immediately.