How do i leave till i file as an item not arriving?

[LottieJenkins]

Ive bought Wilf some socks for Christmas (special sesame street ones) The latest day that they should have arrived was yesterday. I contacted the seller yesterday morning and as of today at 4.10pm I havent heard back from him. How long should i leave it till i file a claim?? I dont want Wilf to be without them for Christmas!

I normally wait 7 days after purchase before chasing it up - if the seller doesn't reply to your email after 48 hours I think you should then start a claim with eBay.

When did the auction finish?

You could pull their contact details and ring them, if you wanted, alternatively give it a few more days then file a dispute via eBay or PayPal.

It finished on 18th November................

Egads, that's ages ago. BUT
It's quite possible Royal Mail lost it, and the seller thought that it arrived ages ago & have nipped off on a short break holiday out of contact just now (it's not a break if you are still in touch for some of us), I would think try to give it another 3 days or so before starting a formal dispute. That should still give you time to buy a replacement, too.

First, contact the seller and ask about it. Then if you don't hear within a couple of days, send the seller a message that you are going to open a dispute.
Do bear in mind that sometimes people have stuff going on in their lives which mean they are a day or two late in posting items - whether that's an exploding computer or falling downstairs and breaking both arms.
I have had one or two dickheads trying to invoke full dispute claims on me when an item was not posted till three days after the auction finished - even Ebay were telling them to 'contact the seller before initiating a dispute'.

I think waiting 2 weeks is long enough and I would start a dispute maybe tomorrow, or Monday if you are feeling generous - having said that I did receive an item today which was posted on the 21st, seller was just about to refund metoo. It is unusual for royal mail to hold an item for 10 days mind you.

Give the seller a chance. I have just had the rudest email from a buyer. She did pay timely but unfortunately I had to go on an unexpected trip overseas the same day so literally could not get to the PO. I emailed her to advise her that it would be sent Wed this week. 2nd class as per listing to arrive mid next week. She emailed me twice on Thursday to complain that I had not communicated that the item had been sent. I sent it today but at my expense upgraded to 1st class. It will arrive before the expected date but my god I wish I could leave negative feedback.

You can obtain seller details via ebay so always worth a call - email may be down or other issues. Check their feedback.

Thanks for your replies. The seller has emailed me and apologised for not replying sooner. He is going to check where he sent them too as he got proof of postage.