Deliberating leaving neutral/negative feedback...

[RainySmallHands]

I recently bought a child's toy on eBay. I paid in full by Paypal as soon as the auction ended on 4th February.

Delivery was stated as Courier 4-5 working days. On the 13th I received an email (first communication) from the seller saying that they had just returned from holiday, sorry for the inconvenience and the item would be dispatched Wednesday or Thursday.

It was eventually dispatched on Friday 17th and arrived on Monday 20th (16 days after payment).

I am really disappointed to be honest and am thinking about leaving negative feedback, but on the other hand I know how busy people can be and I don't want to upset anyone unnecessarily. I know how upset I would be to receive negative feedback. But, no mention of delayed dispatch in the auction, and no communication from the seller until more than a week after the auction end makes me

Also, just to add insult to injury, the item (a sizable wooden garage) wasn't wrapped in any padding. It was wrapped in two carrier bags, in a large box so was hardly protected if it had been dropped (and required 20 minutes with a screwdriver and rethreading of lift to make it play-worthy....grrr).

Am I being too picky?

Had a thought - could it have been Paypal issue? I paid the majority of the balance via my Paypal linked credit card. Does that take time to clear?

email the seller first to see what they say, but no you are not being picky. They have to post item within 7 days of receiving payment, not 16. Your payment shouldn't have been delayed, it would have been instant if from credit card. If it was an echeque the payment in your eBay would have been an egg timer until cleared, not a pound sign.

Make sure you mark stars as 1 or 2 if you want them to count by the way, leaving them blank doesn't register as being bad if that makes sense.