International Buyer hasn't received item and asks if they should file claim with ebay

[gal220joy]

Sold item to buyer in Japan. Tracking says its been delivered in IL (presumably ebay consolidation center but don't know for sure) but has now been sitting there and buyer has received ebay notice to leave feedback saying item has been delivered. Buyer wants to know if they should file a claim against ebay for non-delivery and for refund. Should this be the first step? I realize I may be responsible to refund buyer eventually, but do you think it's worth a try for buyer to file claim with ebay? And what can I do about this? Thanks.

[pjcdn2005]

Thanks for having a look.

[wastingtime101]

Got the additional info from @gal220joy to hopefully puzzle this together.

1. As usual, @pjcdn2005 was correct and leading you down a solid path. This was, in fact an eISD (eBay International Standard Delivery) shipment and not an eIS (eBay International Shipping) package. The shipment did have the ESUS tracking number that comes with an eISD shipment.

2. This is where it gets a little odd.

     - Tracking indicates item shipped from seller and went to the ISC (international sort center) in Jamaica, NY where it cleared customs on Feb 28th.

     - But after that, it got weird because it shows it was sent to Queens, NY on March 9th. It should have gone from the ISC directly overseas. So why is it going back through the US to Queens, then eventually to a hub in IL? Very odd. That's the part of tracking that did not make sense to me.

     - There's also an odd scan on the Japan Post side, but to avoid making this too confusing we can leave it out and move on to the more important part.

     - On the eBay tracking stepper, it indicates all steps are complete and the package is delivered. It does not have the usual steps like hub to buyer and item still in transit. It indicates final delivery.

I can speculate on the "why" but really that does not matter. What matters is the package got turned around after it left customs, went to IL, and package is finalized as delivered.

Because of that the buyer needs to file a non-receipt claim. The seller should refund through the claim, then they should file insurance per this page:

 https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/ebay-international-standar...

The tricky part is going to be making sure the seller enters info in the claim to show the "delivered" status does not indicate delivery to the buyer. eISD did not complete their part shipping to Japan. There is a phone number on that page in case you need to speak to a rep. There's also the timeline that tells you to wait 30 days before filing a claim (not sure if that's from the order date or the last tracking scan).

You should take screenshots of the buyer's non-receipt claim and the refund to submit with your insurance claim.

If you need additional assistance let us know.

[gal220joy]

Thanks a lot. This is very helpful. 

[714ricki]

Did you check the international tracking portion of the shipment via some international tracking service? The tracking number in the order details might only be from your shipping point to the US hub. 

[marnotom!]

For what it's worth, the item is likely dead-ended as whoever is handling the item for eISD probably doesn't want to handle anything that has the potential to be weaponized.

[a_c_green]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

     - Tracking indicates item shipped from seller and went to the ISC (international sort center) in Jamaica, NY where it cleared customs on Feb 28th.

     - But after that, it got weird because it shows it was sent to Queens, NY on March 9th. It should have gone from the ISC directly overseas. So why is it going back through the US to Queens, then eventually to a hub in IL? Very odd. That's the part of tracking that did not make sense to me.

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When packages go into a container for shipment to another sort facility, tracking will then follow the container rather than the package, on the assumption that the package is inside that container.

Tracking will continue to follow the container unless or until the package itself is directly scanned later on, usually when it comes out of the container. If that direct scan is missed, later tracking updates will still be following the container, regardless of where it goes. This will eventually correct itself once there is a direct scan of the package. (If you get an in-house tracking report from USPS via their intranet system, each scanning event in the tracking history is labeled as either a Direct scan or a Container scan, as appropriate.)

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

     - There's also an odd scan on the Japan Post side, but to avoid making this too confusing we can leave it out and move on to the more important part.

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Actually I would not ignore that. It sounds like the next sighting of the package was in Japan, a tracking update from abroad that would not by itself cancel out the continuing container scans here in the U.S.

For any international shipment, I always recommend ParcelsApp.com for tracking updates. It's proven very good at following the links from a domestic tracking number to an international shipment, and its eventual delivery in another country, so if you have not yet tried plugging in the problem tracking number on that site, please do, and tell us what you find.

[gal220joy]

Yes, I believe I tried that, and both tracking #s show item was delivered in Glendale Heights IL.

[gal220joy]

I've tracked it on that site and here is the link.

1st tracking #

https://parcelsapp.com/en/tracking/ESUS186955184

2nd tracking #

https://parcelsapp.com/en/tracking/LX910670234US

Thanks. Buyer has already submitted claim to me so I'll be required to refund shortly. Not sure if there's anything else worth doing really. I do plan to file insurance claim.

[marnotom!]

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@gal220joy wrote:

Buyer has already submitted claim to me so I'll be required to refund shortly. Not sure if there's anything else worth doing really. I do plan to file insurance claim.

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I thought one of the big selling points of eBay International Shipping is that the seller isn’t responsible for issuing a refund to the buyer for an undelivered item once the item has been accepted at the eIS forwarding hub in Illinois.

[wastingtime101]

This was not an eIS shipment @marnotom! .

[wastingtime101]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

     - There's also an odd scan on the Japan Post side, but to avoid making this too confusing we can leave it out and move on to the more important part.

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Actually I would not ignore that. It sounds like the next sighting of the package was in Japan, a tracking update from abroad that would not by itself cancel out the continuing container scans here in the U.S.

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It was not. Per the japanpost website @a_c_green , that questionable scan occurred in the US, not Japan, and it says "item returned from export Customs". There are no tracking scans in Japan.

To me it reads that customs turned the item around while it was still in the US, however I'm not confident on that because sometimes scans on international courier websites can have a "lost in translation" factor. Plus there were no scans on that date from any US carrier to confirm the event.

[gal220joy]

 I refunded buyer then submitted insurance claim. A few days later, ebay returned my item.