I purchased a camera lense from Japan on Ebay and recieved it damaged.
The package and tracking number was generated by Japan Post, but delivered by USPS to me.
I have submitted a return with Ebay due to damage and I got the following message in reply from the seller:
Hello. Thank you for your contact. At international shipping, sender can't submit damage report instead of recipient. Sorry to trouble you, but please visit post office again. Please tell them you need PS Form 3831. Please see "Damaged International Shipments" on International Shipments tab.
https://www.usps.com/help/claims.htm I asked Japan Post how to compensation. They said that they contact your country's post office to confirm the damage. If your local post office doesn't receive damage report, they will consider that there is no delivery accident. So I need your damage report. Please understanding. Best regards. Thank you.
I went back to my local postal office and asked about form 3831. They had to look it up on the computer and printed a blank form and gave it to me. They said I could fill it out, but they had no idea what to do with it or how to put it on record.
When I asked about what would happen when Japan Post contacts the US postal service about the record, they said I had to initiate an inquiry online. I followed the link: https://www.usps.com/help/claims.htm and tried to initiate an inquiry under the international tab,
However The web form keeps telling me that the tracking number "EN 123 456 789 JP" is invalid (not the real number, but amount of letters and digits is the same).
This was a tracking number generated by Japan Post and is the only number i have.
I do not know how to proceed at this point. How do I generate a damage report with the USPS so that when Japan Post inquires about the claim, the seller can get compensation?
