Ebay Seller- 'Item Not In Stock'

Last week I ordered a Lighthouse hingeless album fro an ebay vendor in Europe. Not having any word direct fro him I messaged him yesterday asking when he might be able to ship. I got this reply:

I am not always at home this time as you might have seen my message in ebay. I ordered the album at my supplier and hope to ship it beginning next week.

Aren't ebay sellers supposed to be listing items they actually have in their possession?

I'm not sure what the exact rules are. I know that in several categories, sellers will frequently sell preorders of items in advance of the actual release date (music CDs, Blu-Rays, DVDs, etc.).

There are several sellers selling complete sets of 2019 Scott catalogs, which obviously cannot deliver right now, as several volumes are still yet to be published.

There are no rules that a seller has to have it in his possession.

Lighthouse is especially an issue as it may not even be produced until Lighthouse has a large enough order to make it worthwhile.

Many dealers also have the same issues with Lighthouse.

If I may ask, who is the dealer and which lighthouse album.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LEUCHTTURM....m2749.l2648

Seller in Netherlands. The listing now has a comment that he is away until 8-15, that was not on there when I did the buy. It did sound he was going to be able to have it by next week so I'll give him at least until then.

I keep forgetting about how Europe shuts down in July/August for business.

Message today from seller. Lighthouse missent the album to the wrong address. He is getting a replacement from them but.. it will be some time before it is sent because their warehouse will be closed for inventory most of the rest of July and into August. The original listing for this did state he would be 'away'a short time before he could send. It said nothing to indicate he never had it in stock. I do not blame him for the publisher's mistake but had I known the real situation I'd have held off ordering.

I always forget how Europe just shuts down in July/August. Some areas are worse than others. some dealers in France and Italy won't even answer emails for weeks.

I may ask for a refund if this drags into next week. I don't even know at this point if the publisher even has any more left and if it may take additional weeks to get it.

NOLA Stamp Shop has this album in stock for $217.

http://stores.nolastampshop.com/dav...tamp-albums/

The NOLA page referenced is for Davo albums. This is Lighthouse, but thanks for your effort.

The item referenced in my first post has still not shipped. He has provided a tracking # that when entered on DHL returns the information that DHL has been notified and that the company is awaiting the package. To me this sounds that Lighthouse is closed for inventory and this won't be mailed until August. I have an inquiry into the seller and advised I do not want to wait that long on this.I have $300 tied up in this and we will be away later in August.

Not the best time of year to order from European sellers.

Potomac Supplies has the hingeless pages for $135.

http://www.mdstamp.com/index.php?ma...cts_id=11874

Now I know why I have had trouble with a buyer in the Netherlands. Deal was going very well and then it stopped. Contacted and got a reply they were away on holidays. Thought this was bit strange until......

Got a message from him yesterday. He now is saying he cannot cancel the purchase because it has been 'shipped'. That's not what DHL is saying, they still show it hasn't. I suspect it won't be placed in the mail until mid August, if then.

Some bargain this turned out to be. The seller didn't even have possession of the merchandise and now cannot control what his wholesaler does about getting it off to me. I ought to have known, if a deal looks too good, there's a catch.

If it's marked shipped in ebay, you have no recourse until their estimated delivery time window has expired, with nothing received. At that point, just initiate a dispute with ebay, PayPal and/or your credit card company and be done with it.

This sort of dispute occurs regularly with ebay. It would be better to resolve it via receiving the merchandise, or getting a chargeback, then tell us the outcome so others can make decisions.

(edited to remove the incorrect statement that the vendor had not been identified. To facilitate keyword searches, it follows.)

Seller : voorsterphilatelie1
Voorster Service
ARH Peters
Voorsterstraat 93
6361ET Nuth
Nederland

cj

Please go to link in post 4 for the vendor.

And in the dispute case with ebay that the item has not arrived in the background the seller communicates with ebay and gets an extension of time for weeks after the 1st date to finish the case expires.They simply just ask for an extension and then the seller can ask for another extension. Can make the case drag on till September some time. As has just happened to me!

Listing shows no estimated delivery date. Here's the tracking record as of today:

https://www.dhlparcel.nl/nl/track-t...Y912499486DE

Still no showing shipped although seller checked off that it had been. In his latest reply he seemed a bit huffy, said I cannot go by what DHL tracking shows, he 'knows' it's been shipped. I'd bet it's being drop shipped from Lighthouse and he has no idea if they've mailed it yet or not. Probably not based on DHL tracking which I have found to be usually reliable.

I don't want to wear out anyone's patience on this. maybe this is just a good example of why buying from sources closer to home may be preferable.

That makes absolutely no difference at all.

i purchased over $1000 from a dealer in Canada one province away and after 2 1/2 months of the same thing he asked if I wanted part of the order sent to me and I said no and just cancelled the order completely.

I was told it was coming from Germany as they don't print specific orders but only print when it is worthwhile for them.

I have had Nordfrim do the same to me and I will now only buy Lighthouse products from Lighthouse and only after receiving confirmation it is actually in stock prior to purchasing.

Lighthouse have also discontinued many products and don't even tell their dealers. I have found pages I needed at Lighthouse US that were no longer even made by Lighthouse any more, hence ordered them from them.