How Long Should an Order Take

Waiting is the part buyers find hardest, largely because the total is made of three separate things and most listings only mention one of them.

Wear time

This is the part that cannot be hurried, because it is the product. A three day wear takes three days. If it is agreed and it has not finished yet, nothing is wrong and nothing is being delayed.

Dispatch

The gap between the item being ready and it going out. Sellers with jobs and other commitments post on particular days, which is entirely normal. A day or two here is ordinary, and a good listing usually tells you which days they post.

Postage

Out of everyone's hands. Standard post in the UK is a few days and occasionally much longer for no reason anybody can explain. International is longer again and customs can add a week without warning.

Adding it up

A domestic order with a couple of days of wear time is usually a week or so end to end. Under that is quick, over two weeks with no explanation is worth a polite question. Knowing which of the three clocks you are on tells you whether to wait or ask.

How to ask well

Just checking where we are with this, no rush. That gets a real answer. A message implying you have been cheated on day four gets a defensive one, and turns a seller who was about to post into a seller having a bad afternoon.

When to be firmer

No reply for several days after previously being responsive is different from a slow week. At that point ask directly for a dispatch date, and keep it in writing where you bought it.

Most delay is ordinary. Knowing which clock you are on is the difference between waiting comfortably and inventing a problem.