Orders while on vacation?

[travis7s]

I'm away for a week so I put my store on vacation mode. Today I got an order, and the "ship by" date is still showing May 4th. Am I covered for this If I don't ship until the 11th?

[recped]

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@travis7s wrote:

I'm away for a week so I put my store on vacation mode. Today I got an order, and the "ship by" date is still showing May 4th. Am I covered for this If I don't ship until the 11th?

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If you didn't hide your listings while away then yes you are supposed to ship on time.

There are two vacation setting, one simply put up a banner message the other actually prevents buyers from purchasing.

If you don't want to hide your listings while away you need to either extend your handling time or have someone ship for you.

[femmefan1946]

Meanwhile, take a look at your customer's Feedback Left for Others.

This may give an insight into his personality and ability to understand that life is not perfect.

Decide if you are going to contact him, apologize and give him the new shipping date. Would it be possible to upgrade to a faster shipping service at your own expense?

I'm away for a week

Monday to Sunday?

Is this a seven day delay or a two day delay? What is your posted shipping and handling time?

If the delay will be one day beyond your normal shipping time, I don't think you should do anything beyond getting the purchase into the post as soon as you can when you get home and crossing your fingers.

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

I put my store on vacation last year but still accepted sales. I sold quite a few items while I was away. I sent a reminder message to the buyers after each sale. I reminded them that I am away for a week & would ship it out as soon as I got home. Most of them said that was fine. I did not get one late mark against me for shipping later.

[momcqueen]

Vacation mode only supplies the banner across your store; if you're leaving it open while you are away you also need to set your Handling Time to match the number of days you will be absent. I don't close/hide my listings, I extend the handling time. Mind you, I don't use Vacation Mode for more than two or three days at best and infrequently. 

[femmefan1946]

I shut down visibility entirely.

I don't use tracking (often) and just don't want to have the stress of an impatient buyer when I can't even tell her where her pattern or book has been, never mind arrival date.

[greenmangoes]

eBay should have a "catalog mode", where users can still see the products but the cart feature is disabled and you can also leave a message that you are on vacation.

Sometimes I go to a store and I'm not sure if the seller is no longer selling on eBay or if they are on vacation.  The above option would prevent that.