What happens if a seller does not ship

This is rare on a curated platform, but it can happen — life events, illness, lost parcels marked as shipped, or in the worst case a seller in bad faith. Here is the escalation path.

Day 0 — order is confirmed

You receive a "confirmed by seller" email. The clock starts.

Days 1–7 — usual shipping window

The seller is expected to ship within 7 business days unless their profile says otherwise. Some sellers ship faster, especially for first-party (VOD Records) orders.

Day 7+ — gentle nudge

If no shipping notification arrived, message the seller through the platform. Most sellers respond within 24 hours. Reasons can include: waiting for payment to clear, packaging issues, being out of town.

Day 14 — escalate to support

If the seller has not shipped and is not responding 14 days after order confirmation, contact us at support@vod-auctions.com with the order ID. We will:

• Reach out to the seller directly
• Mark the seller as needs response internally
• If the seller is still unresponsive after our outreach, suspend their account
• For Path A (VOD Records direct) — refund you on the spot
• For Path B (third-party) — help you initiate a refund through the original payment channel

What we can do

• Mediate between you and the seller
• Suspend or revoke seller status for non-shipping
• Refund Path A orders ourselves
• Help with documentation if you want to file a chargeback (Stripe) or PayPal dispute
• Reflect what happened in the seller's public rating

What we cannot do

• Force a third-party seller to refund — only invite, and apply consequences if they don't
• Charge back a SEPA bank transfer (only your bank can attempt that, and only sometimes)
• Replace the item from inventory we don't own

The reason this list is honest is the reason our seller base is small: we'd rather have fewer sellers we can stand behind than many we can't. Most sellers ship. The few who don't get noticed quickly.