How Long Are You Willing to Wait For a Reply?

If the seller is not active and the post is not being bumped I tend to just tell myself the item was sold and they forgot to mark it or they decided not to tell anymore. I think 28 weeks is definitely a sign that they have either moved on from the hobby for now or no longer wish to use DoA as a platform of communication. With so many sellers using things like Instagram and Facebook to sell things alongside the marketplace here I just tell myself things go fast.

 

I personally have notification emails set for private messages, so they could still see it without actively having checked DoA in a while.

However, to get back to your question: a week in general is fine for me for all kinds of purchases. Someone might be sick or on vacation.
After that, I stop believing something will still come, but up to 3 weeks I tend to stay hopeful. After that I treat it as "was ignored/no interest/person is not active any longer" and forget about it.

 

I'll actively wait a week. But I'll try to hold on to funds if they get back to me within a month. Hopefully they'll have email alerts up.

 

In this hobby can be a rollercoaster at times. I've had some experiences where I've made a trade or bought something and still waiting after years. Some of which I still keep in touch with and ask about progress etc. I'm optimistic I guess. As for DoA I haven't had issues like that. I try to be reasonable and wait about a week (of they are pretty active). Waiting on something being mailed is the hardest part for me. In track and have emails/text sent and let the seller know as soon as it arrives, the condition and leave feedback.

You never know until you try, good luck!

 

I don't have Marketplace access, but from my experience on Instagram, if an item was posted a few months before I see it, I will still message the seller and ask about it. I would wait for about 5 days for a response before I became uninterested in it. I imagine that if someone wanted to sell something enough, they would be checking their messages. I personally answer messages within a few hours, even during the night (I don't sleep well, hehe), so when someone else takes a really long time to reply to me, I assume they are flaky and would probably take a long time to ship the doll or item, or they might be unorganized. Maybe that's a bad assumption to make? I don't know, lol.

 

I'd feel that leaving negative feedback for people who abandon open sales posts in the Marketplace isn't a bad idea.

 

I might be seen as impatient, but my limit is about three days as a buyer. I know people have lives and get busy, but I feel if you're selling things, you need to be able to keep up your end, as it is a business transaction. If you don't have 5 minutes to reply to me, I worry you might not ship in a timely manner either, leaving me without money or doll. Not only that, but I don't want to wait for a week or more on a reply and risk missing out on my chance elsewhere. It's happened before where two sellers had the thing I wanted, first seller was extremely slow and eventually left me hanging, second seller sold their doll before I heard back from the first. It's very frustrating. Generally, if I see the seller hasn't been online in weeks, I assume it's either sold or the person left the forum and don't bother asking.

When I'm selling, I don't hold anything, and I give the buyer 24 hours to pay me after agreeing to buy the item. I hate to make people feel rushed, but I feel there has been a lot more flaky people in the past few years. Because of this, I don't want to hold an item for a week, waiting to get paid and the buyer disappears or cancels, meanwhile I've had three other interested people that I turned down who have now moved on to a different seller.

 

I'm not on here all the time as I do have a private life, but I do received PM notifications through my email and respond as soon as I read them. I don't bump my items very often, probably once in a month or two, but I do take them down once they are sold and have been delivered.

However, I find convos don't often work both ways. I have received PM's, and have responded to thieir question/s, but on some occasions the person has never bothered to acknowledge my PM or to say they are no longer interested, they just ignore you, which I think is rather rude.

When the shoe is on the other foot, if I change my mind about a purchase before committing to buy, I will at least take the time to let the person know and not leave them hanging in limbo!

I don't think @RinSetsua "leaving negative feedback for people who abandon open sales posts in the Marketplace", is a good idea as it will only antagonise people, however, I do agree with @animemom that notifyiing Mods would be a good move if there has been no response to your PM about a listed item, especially if you think it has been abandoned.

 

I put a doll up for sale in October of 2018 and bumped it regularly for a time, but there were no reactions whatsoever so eventually I just let it be. It was still for sale though. Then I got a reaction in August 2019! At that point I really wasn't expecting any interest anymore and I was no longer obsessively checking my mailbox... So I only saw the message days later.

It wasn't a case of ill will... Fortunately the buyer took the same view XD. I did reply speedily once the communication had got established, but I admit I was annoyed at not having replied sooner to the original message.

In any case, I wouldn't have appreciated it if someone had left me negative feedback for my open sales thread. It was still open. But should I really have bumped it every week for almost a year? I consider myself rather conscientious, but that seems exaggerated even to me. I'll add that I closed the sales thread as soon as the payment came in.

 

I think you can only leave feedback on actual transactions. I'm not a mod, though, just an armchair lawyer.

To answer the OP, it never hurts to ask, even if something's been up for a long time (like @Sigune 's example). But if I don't get a response in a week, I'd move on.

 

I buy secondhand a lot (but usually not dolls, I prefer new ones if there is a possibility). If a sell post, add and so on is old but still open, I have no problem to wait for really, really long. People have their lifes, their problems, the seller most probably gave it up and doesn't think they'll get a buyer so they moved on and don't check very oftem anymore. I understand that. No problem. But when someone constantly reduces price, is active...but keeps on ignoring me repeatedly, I just find another seller. These causes, mildly to say, annoy me to no end. It happened to me around last Christmas...the head was already up to sall for like 4 monts or more, seller was active, reduced price repeatedly, deal was open, I was ignored and ignored. Their fault, their loss -- I buyed new one directly from company. 8 months later, the head is STILL on sale! They will sell it like never with such approach.

 

Normally I am waiting a week for a response. I can understand that someone needs 2 up to 3 weeks to answer but sometimes I moved on and found something better.

 

I have had this issue in the past.... I usually wait about a week. I also check to see if the seller has left any notes about being on vacation or anything on their main pages. I messaged several sellers, and later found out on their pages that they hadn't been online in 19 weeks. But after a week, I decide to stop messaging them and look for something else to buy.

Well, If you really want the item, I would ask anyway. It could go straight to his or her email address and they may get a notice then. Some people rarely get on DOA. I wouldn't immediately say "I want your doll, very interested" even if you are. I usually say "Is your ------ brand doll still available? If I get a reply soon, I may be interested" or something like that so that you aren't committing to a buy without them answering quickly.

 

I often come across very old posts of items since I'm always late to the party, haha~ No matter how long the item has been up or how long the owner has been absent, I always send them a polite message to check if perhaps the item is still available. To be honest I usually get a reply 70% of the time. It's just a matter of waiting and being patient and sometimes you get rewarded. I've had some of the most pleasant transactions this way, actually.

It's not a crime if a seller doesn't respond to you or even flat out ignores you on purpose before actual contact is made. Sure, it might be rude but It's their 'property' and their choice to sell it to you or not. A bad feedback option for people not answering you even though their item seems to still be up for sale is a little silly in my opinion. Try to shrug it off and move on. Life's too short to spend on these kinds of things.

 

I'll give folks maybe a week or so before I expect that I'm not getting a response. Sometimes I'll get something back. I tend to mostly buy clothes/accessories on the MP, and sometimes even active people tend to forget about those. Sometimes emails come in to alert people, sometimes they've entirely forgotten or traded/sold the item and forgotten they had a thread. It can be worth just pinging them a question about it so as to see if they still have it but not committing either.

I disagree on any sort of feedback for lack of response though. The transaction hasn't started until something, money or item, changes hands. That said, I'm hesitant to purchase from someone exiting the hobby without Paypal PIF, as the primary accountability here is your reputation and intent to continue to participate in the hobby.

 

It depends on the activity of the seller/potential buyer.
If I see they are active on the forum, I don't wait long, to me it means they are not interested in the deal. But if they haven't connected themselves to the forum during my wait, well then I wait for a while. ^_^