Can't get it there in 30 days? Don't make the sale.

Synopsis: never ship an ebay item surface across an ocean.

One common category of off track transaction involves stuff which seller knows (and usually buyer agrees) will not make it there for 6 or 8 weeks.

The problem with these is that they implicitly require buyer to forgo any and all buyer protection.

The problem with that is that buyer is frequently unwilling to forgo such protection, and as the deadline approaches, starts to assert protection from Item Not Received (INR).

This usually happens when both buyer and seller agree to pay $30 surface shipping rather than $90 air shipping, US to Europe. Surface shipping will probably not get there in 30 days. It probably will get there in 60 days, but sometimes takes 90.

If buyer is going to assert rights to protection, buyer has to file the INR before 45 days. That's a problem. Once the stuff is in transit, seller can't do much to speed it up, and paypal will refund buyer. An honest buyer will repay when the stuff comes, of course, but some percentage won't get around to doing that.

Generally, items with size/value issues simply cannot be sold on ebay across an ocean.

Secondarily, we sometimes find "build to suit" items which seller isn't planning to ship until after a month. That doesn't work out either.