Funds being 'held' and buyer's address is a courier firm - Help!

[mortgagemoans]

I've just started selling off some toys and stuff on ebay. I joined over 10 years ago and have a score of 70 with 100% feedback. It's been years since I sold anything and I've just sold something for £60 and the buyer's address is a courier company called Dolphi Couriers in London who seem to specialise in shipping out to Czechoslovakia. I'm feeling a bit nervous about this - am I right to be? I ticked the box to say I wouldn't post to any PO boxes but didn't think to exclude courier companies.

To top it all - the payer has paid but Ebay say they are holding on to my funds for potentially 21 days. I can only imagine their reasoning is that I haven't sold anything for so long. I was going to use Parcel2go for delivery as the parcel is nearly 5kg in weight.

They seem to be asking that I get the parcel tracked. I guess if I use a Royal Mail service within Parcel2go it will be tracked and need to be signed for?

Ebay seems a bit different to how it was when I sold on it ages ago so I'm feeling my way round with this sale. Am hoping I haven't hit the bumpers on my first sale!

Any help or advice gratefully received!

Speak to customer services about the address before sending if you're unsure. With parcel2go it's usually tracked as it's various courier services so you'd be covered that way. Wouldn't advise royal mail as it'll cost a fortune. As long as you upload tracking details to eBay once it's sent you're more or less covered.

Also, is it OK to contact someone through the ebay contact facility who has bought something from this buyer before and see what their experience was like or is that not the done thing? I started typing up a question to someone and then thought my mentioning of another seller/buyer and the name of a courier company might be noticed by the ebay bot and get flagged up for trying to sell direct or do something dodgy so I didn't continue.

Thanks Dinnahinksae The buyer has a score of over 1500 and 100% feedback so I might just be being paranoid! I meant to say Parcel Force via Parcel2Go not Royal Mail. I am going with them because they can do a 48 hour service and I've got a drop off Post Office right near me and also because I want to find my feet selling before I go off piste and use other courier companies. Seem to hear mixed things about Hermes, so whilst they're cheap, I want to go with what I know in this first instance. DPD seem reasonable too.

I'm hoping if I get it despatched quickly and put the information into ebay they'll release my payment before 21 days.

I wouldn’t worry. PayPal do this quite commonly with new sellers or those who haven’t sold anything for a while.

As you’ve mentioned just upload the tracking number ASAP and it should be realised sooner than 21 days once the delivery has been confirmed.

Thanks, I'm now trying to send the package by parcel2go and they're asking me for an email and contact telephone number for the recipient. As far as I can see I don't have that information and I feel cheeky contacting her and asking for her email and phone number - is this usual?