Experience with Online Purchase

I do a lot of online purchase every month, mostly for yarny things from all round the globe including Mainland China, Japan, US, Switzerlands and UK. Luckily, all my orders were processed fast and nicely and I received what I wanted and expected at the right time. And my confidence to do online purchase has increased a lot since the first time I do. Something haven't been changed was that I would normally buy in a small quantity to test the quality of the yarn and the service before I order a lot.

This time I ordered some yarn from US, my first time with this seller on February, approximately 1 1/2 month from now. I understand that the yarn would take time to arrive, and so my friend and I waited for some weeks to look forward to the yarn. As the international shipping charged was quite high and we expected that the yarn will be shipped by priority mail, which should arrive our doors approximately a week after it's mailed based on our experience. After 2 weeks from ordering, my friend, who placed the order, emailed her once, twice, and no response was received. She wrote a comment on the seller's blog and pm-ed her on ravelry, yet received no response.

We both started to be a little bit panic after 4 weeks, especially we were still seeing her very actively updating her blog and posting on Ravelry forums. We thought that the emails might have been wrongly delivered to the spam folder and the seller might missed the pm's on ravelry. (you know things could just go wrong) I started PM-ing the seller and we got her response! Finally! More than a month after we ordered the yarn and 2 weeks after we first approached her.

The seller told me that she was just to reply to my friend's email and blog comments. Her response to my friend said that the yarn "must have been lost" and she will resend the yarn again, without further questions. My friend has established a connection with the seller and I moved myself out of the conversation so as not to make the thing more complicated. It has been a week after I first pm-ed the seller and the seller replied me, yet we have not received a tracking number from her. I hope the seller has shipped the yarn and we could have it say by the end of next week.

I do not mind waiting, as far as I know when I will get the yarn and I am assured that I will get the yarn. It can make people very desperate if I purchased something several thousand miles away and waiting here and got no response from the seller even if she has been contacted. It's just not the proper way to do a business. I do not think the seller was cheating in anyway, as she really mailed the yarn to some of the customers, and they were truly satisfied. But I really wonder her attitude in dealing with her mailings, and customer service. We would be much comforted if she replied the emails or pms once they were received. Someone on ravelry commented on the quality of an "average seller" and we should not expect everyone to be "excellent sellers" who will reply promptly and do the mailings at the first instance. I was wondering if the seller cannot fulfill her responsibility, i.e. mail the yarn within a reasonable time (say a week?) and did not say anything even after she has been approached, can she be still called an "average seller"? I don't think I am too mean to call her a "lower-than-average seller" who cannot satisfy my expectation.

I will keep this issue updated when I received the yarn I will try to make things clearer by drawing up a timeline for all the incidence. :) I hope I can receive them soon.