Food is the one category where what arrives has to be fit to eat, which makes the questions short and non-negotiable.
Ask for the label, shown
The date — and ask which kind. A best-before is about quality; a use-by is about safety and must not be passed. Ingredients and allergens, readable on camera. The batch code and the weight or volume. The seal, intact.
A seller who shows these without being asked is a seller who knows what they are doing.
Ask how it will travel
How long it will be in transit, whether it needs to stay cool, and whether the courier will carry it at all. For genuinely perishable food, collection or local delivery is often the only sensible answer — and that is agreed before bidding. How pickup works.
Ask when it will be posted, too. Something sent on a Friday before a holiday can sit for days.
Allergens
If anyone eating it has an allergy, ask directly and do not bid on a vague answer. "I think it is fine" is not an answer about an allergen.
What protection covers
Food that arrives past its date, spoiled, unsealed when it was described as sealed, or not what was described: seven days from delivery — though for food you should raise it immediately rather than at the end of the window.
Questions people ask
Is buying food online safe?
With the checks above, and from sellers who answer them plainly. Be most careful with anything that has to stay cool.
What does best-before actually mean?
Quality rather than safety. Many things are fine after it; some are not what they were. A use-by date is the one that matters for safety.
Should I buy homemade food?
That depends on the seller and on what the law requires them to hold. Ask, and judge the answer.