Ebay Item not recieved policy
I had a buyer make a purchase from me Feb. 14th at 8:53 PM. I shipped on the 15th in the morning. I used ebay standard envelope. This morning the 17th at 7.00 AM I have 5 item not received cases opened against me. When I look at my listings the shipping say the buyer should receive in 4 to 6 days. I called customer support and talked to an agent and asked how the buyer could open a case on a purchase that has been in the mail for less than 44 hours. He told me it was the new policy. I questioned him on that because i thought you couldn't open a case until after the scheduled delivery date. He said he would write a report . Ha Ha. Does anyone here know the up to date policy on opening an item not received case?
Thanks
Jeff
40 comments
miyasamaco
·2 years agoSome folks are just impatient. I had someone open an INR case barely a week after it was shipped. They said it's because they ordered other stuff around the same time and received it already. 😑
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoIt the ESE has not been scanned after the ship date which was shown on the listing (after your handling time) the buyer can open a claim.
ESE is not always scanned until several days after you ship, and the buyer can open a claim. At least that has been my experience. It did not affect me because I have a long handling time.
I suggest that if you use ESE you increase your handling time but continue to ship as quickly as you can.
But I do not recommend ESE nor do I recommend selling items so inexpensive you need to consider ESE of First Class Letter, so I am prejudiced.
johnjefprks
OP2 years agoConsidering how much I ship using ESE the problems are acceptable. I cannot increase my handling time because I would lose TRS . The main issue I was asking about is a buyer being able to open an INR case less than 2 days after the item was shipped and 4 days before scheduled delivery. And the CS agent telling me it was acceptable because of a change of policy
sextons-sweet-deals
·2 years agoYou need to sell in bulk / bundles with tracking# and in a box.
Shipping for a $1.00 is an easy scam buyers dream. You have no proof of delivery when the scammer opens a case.
How does one even ship a sports card or non-sports card for less than $1 and be protected from damage and no tracking?
buyselljack2016
·2 years agoESE is covered up to $20 if it gets any scan during processing.
sextons-sweet-deals
·2 years agoThe scanning seems to be an issue from previous similar posts.
just not a good idea unless / maybe the seller personally takes to the USPS and gets a receipt.
The bigger question is how this seller is making any money if at all?
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoThe clerk at the PO cannot scan ESE. Scanning is done at a sorting center only.
a_c_green
·2 years agoI was wondering if that was going to get clarified in this thread...
ESE mailings do not have tracking barcodes, so there is nothing for a carrier (or front desk worker) to scan at either Acceptance or Delivery time. What they have instead are routing codes, which are read by automated sorting machines at sort facilities along the way (with the destination sort facility being regarded as the Delivered step). If a buyer files an Item Not Received claim on an ESE mailing, you will need to refund in full, then seek reimbursement (up to $20) from eBay.
johnjefprks
OP2 years agoWhich you will not get if there is no tracking scan, and that wouldn't matter anyway because they pay thru paypal and I cancel my account. The money is not that important to me, It's the deviation from policy and the CS agent telling me it was the new policy. I wish I still had merchant support so I could get a straight answer.
buyselljack2016
·2 years agothere is no "receipt" at the Post Office for ESE as it is not scannable there
johnjefprks
OP2 years agoThere is tracking with ESE and it cost 64 cents. I do not make a whole lot of money on single $1.00 card purchases. but I do make some. Most of my orders multiple card purchases so it makes up for the $1.00 ones.
I think that is the thinking of the sellers that charge 64 cents for shipping, but that doesn't make a lot of sense
to me. I inherited 10 million cards from my father so it's not like I spent money on inventory. I more or less do this as a hobby.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years ago@johnjefprks
Both you and @a_c_green are correct.
The routing code has been repurposed to provide tracking, it is the source of the unreliability of the tracking and the limitations with ESE tracking.
You may have above average results with ESE because of the envelopes you use and the contents of the envelope than other sellers do.
As for my distaste for the service, it is not about the money, it is about the time wasted and the unhappy customers I have to deal with. I want a shipping service which allows me to ship and not ever deal with any of the shipped orders again. USPS Ground Advantage is close to being that service. ESE will never be that service. And since I eliminated smaller envelopes from what I ship by GA its has become mighty close.
I have been able to open an INR claim for an order which had not reached the estimated delivery date 6 months ago because it had not shipped. It could be because it was a seller who was already flagged for not shipping other orders.
buzzapparel
·2 years agoThat would make sense as eBay wants to leverage INR’s against the seller. This can inadvertently lead to higher fees and or removal of Top Rated+ sellers from retaining partial funds from “bad returnsâ€.
gone.c-33
·2 years agoWere the disputes opened on eBay or through their payment method? PayPal allows INR disputes to be filed at any time.
johnjefprks
OP2 years agoThey were opened thru Ebay.
femmefan1946
·2 years agoI called customer support and talked to an agent and asked
Never trust any answer you are given on the phone.*
Put the tracking numbers for your shipment(s) into the Dispute.
By the time the robot completes the Dispute, the numbers should show delivery.
If you plan to use the service in future, add a day or two to your Handling time.
And of course, when all this is settled put the scammer on your Blocked Bidder List.
*
The phone reps have a terrible reputation for getting you off the phone as soon as possible even if that means giving you the advice you want to hear instead of the advice you need to have.

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/ — Message button in upper right on landing page.
https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851 -> Automated Assistant, type AGENT -> enter. You will then get more options.


The social media Chat accounts are covered by trained eBay employees with some authority.
And you get a transcript so you can compare what you heard with what you were told.
johnjefprks
OP2 years agoThank you, That was already the plan. But it upsets me that the buyer was able to open a case in less than 2 days. The item was scheduled to be delivered on the 23rd. I read these boards a couple of times daily so I know how the CS agents can be. I just want to make sure if the guy was full of it.
Thanks.
Jeff
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoWhat does tracking show?
johnjefprks
OP2 years agoLabel created. My hub may have missed it, in which case I am hoping the next hub gets it. This is a common problem with ESE. It was so bad in the beginning I didn't want to look at the tracking for my orders, it upset me so much. I have had a lot of orders that didn't get scanned at all and messages from buyers telling me they received the card after asking me about the tracking. I wish Ebay would send another memo to the post office.
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoIf the estimated delivery date is the 23rd and tracking shows label created, they shouldn't be able to open an INR until the 24th.
johnjefprks
OP2 years agoThat is what I thought. But the agent said Ebay change their policy and that is why the buyer was able to open the case. So I wanted to check on here and see if that was correct.
femmefan1946
·2 years agoYou can manually put the tracking number into your Order Details
My eBay-> Selling-> Orders-> All Orders-> Order Details (dropdown)
That may help if it isn't already there.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoIf you are not already aware, the CS reps are notorious for giving out false information.
eBay has not changed their policy in regard to when a buyer can open an INR case.
Next time, just for fun, ask the CS to direct you to the place where that "change in policy" has been announced.
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@johnjefprks
If the ESE tracking only shows "Label created," you may simply be a victim of the USPS three-day-holiday fiasco, as I had mentioned previously.
Although it may be "hard to believe," some USPS employees DO slack off on the day before a three-day-holiday -- and the normal USPS procedures are often skipped, or ignored entirely.
You admit that you simply handed your ESEs to your carrier on Thursday February 15, expecting that the normal delivery procedures would take over. But apparently they have not: as of Saturday February 17, your ESEs have not received their "Accepted" scans, which suggests that they have not yet been delivered to your USPS Distribution Center, and perhaps may still be sitting inside a USPS truck.
Is this outrageous? Certainly -- but USPS has been hiring many new and inexperienced individuals for the last few years who simply don't care whether or not USPS procedures are properly followed. And many of these new folks are more concerned with their three-day-holidays, than they are with properly delivering the mail.
(As a side note: my small suburban post office branch was recently the subject of a U. S. Congressional investigation for violation of mailing procedures and regulations; and one of the discoveries made during the investigation was irregularities in the delivery of over 40,000 individual pieces of mail; plus USPS employees who had been on the books for over 9 weeks, but had only worked less than a total of 2 weeks during that period; plus hundreds of pieces of undelivered individual letters and packages stored in undocumented "limbo" areas; plus night USPS supervisors not communicating problems with day USPS supervisors; plus one particular USPS manager who had been on a 5 month "leave of absence;" plus many, many more infractions of normal USPS procedures and regulations.)
As I previously suggested, it may not be until Tuesday February 20 that your ESEs finally receive their "Accepted" scans -- if even then.
I've been using the ESE for the last few years; but I'm also aware that there are certain procedures that need to be strictly followed, just to make sure that the ESEs are mailed and processed in the manner in which they were designed, as business metered mail.
Please keep us updated regarding your ESE scans.
johnjefprks
OP2 years agoThanks for your help. I shipped several other orders that day with ESE and they all have received tracking at my hub. I will update if I have tracking at the next hub.
mantle1951
·2 years agoSome clarification you say you mailed one on the 14th then you get 5 INR cases? All from the same buyer?
thanks
johnjefprks
OP2 years agoYes, same order. 5 different cards in the order.
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@johnjefprks
Your eBay Standard Envelopes (ESEs) may have become victims of the dreaded USPS three-day weekend.
First of all -- did you mail your ESEs in the "Metered Mail" slot in your post office lobby? If you did, that's a big help, as all that "metered mail" is pre-sorted and can be loaded right into the high-speed (32,000 envelopes her hour!) sorting machines as soon as they arrive at your USPS Distribution Center, which is very likely in another city, or even in another county.
However. . .since you mailed your ESEs on Thursday February 15, that means that USPS did not pick up that mail until late in the afternoon that day -- and (due to the three-day holiday, with some USPS employees sloughing off on the day before) that mail may not even have been accepted at the next USPS Distribution Center yet, and may still be sitting inside a USPS truck -- where it will possibly remain until Tuesday February 20.
But wait -- it gets worse.
If you simply handed your ESEs to a USPS counter clerk, or your USPS delivery carrier, or mailed them from your own home mailbox or a USPS "blue box," or a business mail box -- the ESEs will not be receiving an "Accepted" scan, until they have been sorted at the USPS Distribution Center. And, since you haven't yet seen an "Accepted" scan, the earliest possible day is Tuesday February 20 -- and even later.
Which is why several of us keep recommending to mail the ESEs only in the "Metered Mail" slot in the post office lobbies -- the ESEs often move faster, acquiring that most-important "Accepted" scan within only a day or so.
As for why your buyers are opening up "item not received" cases already -- that's just plain crazy, considering the USPS three-day weekend. And any eBay customer service reps that believe that that's legitimate should re-read the eBay handbook on delivery estimates.
johnjefprks
OP2 years agoI have been using ese since it started and went through all the growing pains and there were quite a few.
I have shipped over 50,000 orders using it. I put them in my mailbox and the mailman picks them up.
I haven't had any problems in that regard. I thought I knew the policy but the rep said they changed it.
That is why I am asking if anyone has heard about it. So I know if he was pulling my leg, to put it nicely. In the past if I tried to open a INR case I had to wait until two days after the last scheduled delivery date. Less than two days after it was shipped seemed a little ridiculous.
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoI haven't heard of any new policy, yet.
But, if tracking shows it was delivered and it wasn't, they can open an INR, even if the estimated delivery date hasn't passed, because tracking shows the item was delivered.
johnjefprks
OP2 years agoI don't know about you. But I have never had a ESE delivered from Cali to New Jersey in less than 44 hours which is how long Ebay made him wait to open the case. I kind of know how my post office operates My post man picked up my mail sometime around 2:30 PM on the 15th. It gets to my post office sometime around 5:00 PM then they ship it to the hub some time that evening and my hub will usually scan it the next day then it can take up to 4 or 5 days to get to New Jersey, At least the last order from this buyer did. Then a day or two to be delivered.
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoNo, I've never used the ESE and as many problems as it has, I wouldn't use it.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoCan you tell us the estimated delivery date on each one of those transactions?
If that date has not yet passed, the buyer(s) should not have been able to open cases.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoA "new policy" that allows a buyer to open an INR case BEFORE the last estimated delivery date?
johnjefprks
OP2 years agoYes, I know it seems crazy.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoNot saying you're wrong, but I still would like to see the policy (which must be new) that says a buyer can open an INR case BEFORE the last estimated delivery date.
johnjefprks
OP2 years agoThat is the main question I am asking. So I know for sure if the agent was telling the truth.
johnjefprks
OP2 years ago4 to 6 days after purchase is what it says when I set up my shipping policys in my listings. Even that is pushing it the way the post office performs now a days.
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoDoes tracking show delivered?
Standard envelope is good about showing delivered, but doesn't get delivered for a couple days.
johnjefprks
OP2 years agoI have been thru that one many, many times.