Rash of items showing as delivered via USPS that buyers claim were never received?
Since Jan I've had over a dozen items that took odd round about routes to their destination. Some taking 60 days or more to be delivered for no apparent reason beyond winter weather.
Now a month later I have three buyers saying they didn't receive their item which shows as delivered either in mailbox or on porch.
One is 88 days old now. The buyer claims the PO shipped the package back for 'insufficient postage', but its an eBay label for a med. Flat Rate box as was the only shipping option.
It left on the Jan 3, shows delivered on Mar. 7. but after bouncing around the country for three months. It took the roundabout route three times before ending up back at the destination and then showing as delivered.
Is anyone else having these issues? eBay has put the total of those items on hold, despite the tracking showing them delivered, nearly a month after they showed as delivered. (The buyer didn't make contact on the one till the two month point, and again now at four months).
If it was delivered and stolen, how is that the seller's fault?
reelworks
OP4 months agoYes, they were sent from within the case, about three days after I got a message on each one that the case was on hold while they determine the outcome. Then each one got found in my favor after several weeks to one month. It locked up any sales in the meantime which were held to cover the amount of the late items or the return requests that were over 60 days old.
First I didn't think a buyer could wait that long to make a claim? Let alone claim a INR when the tracking on an item shown on eBay as delivered says 'Delivered'.
Second, some of the tracking stops shown on various packages don't seem possible One showed it going through 31 stops back and forth around the country but a few were too far from one another to have been there in the same day. One box showed being in CO. TX, and FL on the same day, in that order, on its way to WA. Another going to OR, went from CO to TX to SoCal, in 6 hours, another had four locations, on the same day all showing up at once as one day, no times, with Chicago, Detroit, AZ and NM all showing as stops on the same date, that one was a Ground Adv. box.
None of which matters now as there's not been a looker or sale now in 45 days on any of the accounts that had holds on them then. They have all cleared now, all were delivered according to tracking. The one bad feedback was removed by eBay and the seller was removed as well.
I find it odd that none of my sales or sales on any of the accounts at work are getting any hits. Either the ads are not showing or there's a drastic lack of shoppers. Even the regulars are gone.
inhawaii
·4 months agoI am not suffering from such a rash.
dirk12955
·4 months agoYou'll simply need to look more closely.
No rash, Sure.
albertabrightalberta
·4 months ago@reelworks
Are you responding to the INR claims by copying and pasting the tracking numbers into each claim?
Ebay does put funds on hold when a claim is filed but if the MBG period has expired and/or if tracking shows delivery, the holds will be lifted.
Are these buyers filing INR claims after tracking shows delivery? Or are they filing while the packages were still touring the country?
reelworks
OP4 months agoRE:
Are you responding to the INR claims by copying and pasting the tracking numbers into each claim?
Yes, I sent them the tracking number, and link to USPS for the full run down and delivery.
Ebay does put funds on hold when a claim is filed but if the MBG period has expired and/or if tracking shows delivery, the holds will be lifted.
eBay put the hold on the instant the INR was filed on each one, even though tracking showed it as delivered on about half of them, the others were still on a tour of the country for some unknown reason.
Are these buyers filing INR claims after tracking shows delivery? Or are they filing while the packages were still touring the country?
Five of them were showing delivered when they filed, one showed delivered almost at the same time, two show delivered but were in the wrong city 1,000 miles away the same morning they showed 'delivered'. Five were still on tour. All but one has now been delivered, one marked lost after I spent half an afternoon on the phone with two postmasters to finally find out there was a truck load of mail found dumped in the woods near Phila. They told me they were going to do their best to ID and deliver the packages that were found dumped. The package never showed any further tracking but the buyer went silent and the claim was found in our favor after the buyer failed to respond. I sort of assume that they either got it, or just failed to follow through?
eBay left the feedback for the sale, not the buyer.
There has been a few cases around the country where temp carriers up and quit and just either walked away from the truck along the road, or they dumped its contents, turned in the truck and clocked out, a few apparently had been doing that for some time. Two I believe were in NJ, or somewhere near Phila. One was down in GA, and another further west, plus there was shipment that burned up in a truck in MD too over the winter.
I'm not sure what's up with the PO but they seem to be really scraping the bottom of the barrel for help these days.
When I was younger I tried several times to get a job with the post office but never got hired, never got the call.
I hear them complain all the time that they can't find drivers who are reliable, and that they're forced to often hire off the street. Which explains some of the carriers we've had. One parked the truck in front of my house at 12 noon one day, opened up the side door, dragged out several large boxes, and ate his lunch right there using the boxes as a foot rest. He then kicked back and laid there till 1 pm, then resumed work and went the last 25ft to deliver my mail.
Another one finished the route, which ends two houses past mine, got out the truck, called for a ride and left it sit there. If I hadn't seen where he threw the keys they likely would have had to tow it. (I had half a mind to grab the keys and take the truck back to the depo myself and see if anyone noticed I didn't work there but figured I'd get arrested for stealing it). The turnover is almost daily lately.
I'm semi retired and home three days a week now, I told the postmaster that if they needed a carrier for a day, I'd do it, but never got a call, just excuses that they had to bring a kid in from PA because they couldn't find anyone local. The fact is they hire through an online site, not 'on the spot' they use the website to draw from applicants where ever they may be.
I went on their site and it doesn't show where they need help, it just lists regions, so signing up there could mean being called to work four hours away for an $18/hr day having to drive my own car to and from what ever PO needs a driver that day.
No wonder the carriers hate their job, they never get to learn a route, they never get to know it and know which box is which etc. I suppose its not even profitable to drive several hours each way to run an 8hr day, let alone the lack of sleep that would cause, the amount of gas it would take to get to work, etc.
I quit my last job because they moved an hour away, it was costing me $345 a week in gas in my truck to get to work plus tolls. If it paid well enough maybe I'd have bought a cheap car with better mpg but that wouldn't work in the snow You simply cannot take home $450 a week after taxes and spend $345 in gas, and $90 in tolls, and still afford to pay taxes, buy groceries and pay for car insurance, home insurance etc. I was getting about 100 miles per tank, so I was putting 15 to 20 gallons in it every other day. If the roads were snowy, and I was in 4x4 the whole way sometimes I'd burn two tanks a day.
The kid that delivered mail at my house today was complaining that he's going to have to quit because he can't afford to keep filling his gas tank on his 79 Suburban every day or two just to get to work to make $15/hr. He said he lived an hour and a half west of Philly and was delivering mail three hours from home in NJ three days a week as a temp hire with no benefits, doing a different route everyday. No uniform, no USPS ID, just here's the keys, there's the truck, get to work and don't burn any overtime. They're getting what they pay for it seems. When I first heard one of the carriers complain and couldn't figure out why so many were quitting so soon after being hired but after hearing the same thing from a half dozen carriers, it makes perfect sense now.
I got told by the last career carrier we had that they couldn't wait for him to be gone, he said he felt like they were trying to make him quit, and after hearing it from so many, I think I know believe him.
So when they say they can't find carriers, they mean they can't find people dumb enough to drive 4 hours to work for basically minimum wage. More so, since they draw from out of state, those drivers are paid by their home PO which are in a state with a $7.25 min wage and they're getting $14.hr not the $21, they would get if they were local and paid as NJ carriers. All of which explains why so few carriers are hired locally here.
jonathanbrightlight
·4 months ago@reelworks
You said that you “sent them” the tracking information, and a link.
Did you select the option within the case to “Update the tracking details”, or did you just send that in a message? If it is not within the case, it has no bearing on the outcome of the case.
pickapaper
·5 months ago@reelworks
I can't get over the fact that you have had "over a dozen" packages go on extended trips in three months.
I've mentioned this before but I think bar codes on boxes confuse the USPS scanners so I always cover up ALL bar codes on boxes I ship in, even PO issued boxes. (I use blank address labels.) I say this because about a year ago, I shipped a Priority Mail package and when my PO clerk went to scan it in, the scanner kept having trouble reading it. She said it was because the eBay label was too close to the Priority box bar code. I asked if I should cover it up and she told me no, it should be okay. But that package bounced around the country for almost a month before being delivered and I assumed it was because of the bar codes confusing the scanners. So after that, I cover all bar codes on boxes I use.
jscar59
·5 months agoOMG! I thought I was the only one having these issues, maybe if we pay more shipping that will fix the issues. LOL!
12345jamesstamps
·5 months ago'eBay has put the total of those items on hold'...do you mean the funds on hold?
If you reply to claims giving the tracking numbers in the claims there should be no holds on funds...
reelworks
OP4 months agoeBay sent me a message saying that the buyer has claimed 'Item not received', after the tracking showed it had been received. The item had been bouncing around the country for over 45 days before showing delivered. I've had 7 go over 30 days, and 6 more since go over three weeks to addresses under 800 miles away.
The first one, at 45 days, the buyer filed the claim with eBay, I for the second time gave him the tracking number which showed it delivered to his address. The instant he filed an INR the funds got put on hold from my account, I had been paid long since but it held back future sales profits for 18 days when eBay sent me a message saying that they find in my favor since the item has been delivered. The buyer still claims they didn't get it.
This began in Jan. Its not only on my own account, but on several accounts I handle at work too. It seems like the item gets to a sorting center and it goes out randomly to some other sorting center, and it just keeps bouncing around, till someone sends it back to the origin PO, and it all starts again and gets delivered.
A few didn't show any tracking, despite me watching the carrier scan the package, for two weeks. I keep getting told that we don't have any permanent carriers, all the regulars either quit, retired, or are out sick. They're bringing in carriers from 3 hours away, the one guy who delivered today said he lives on Long Island, I'm an hour south of Phila.
After the rash of items on hold, I've not had a single look or watcher since, its as if my ads suddenly are invisible No sales now for over a month, no watchers on new items. I rewrote most of the ads, no change. The same at work, 2,900 items listed on one account, no watchers, no buyers, no clicks. Items all vary, so its many categories.
One item, the buyer claimed was never delivered, but it showed it had been, later filed a NAD. He denied getting it, then suddenly he had it and its NAD? eBay again found in our favor, and he's no longer a reg. user but at one point, after never having any such issues over almost 30 years here its nothing but chaos for four months, then crickets, not a single sale.
I'm not sure if its ebay or if the entire buying population just quit buying anything. A buddy owns a local lawn and garden center and he's not sold a single mower, garden tool, or tractor in two months, no customers. At a time of the year when he's usually slammed, they had 5 customers all weekend. A local tackle shop, and several other stores all say the same thing.
CL and FB are dead too. No buyers, no messages, zip with over 800 items listed in 9 categories and three states.
I've got items on FB and eBay that haven't had a click on them this year. All are items that I sold dozens of last year and for the past four or five years.
To top it off, I had a buyer who bought an item off me 19 months ago email me saying he never used the item, (oil pump for his car), and wants to return it because he needs the money. Another department at work who sells mostly jewelry and home items say that return rates were above 50% so they stopped listing altogether. Now those type of items either go to an in person auction or they get run through the shredder and scrapped.
reelworks
OP5 months agoeBay has several payments on hold, all over 30 days after the sale, for items that were either late but delivered, or still showing in transit. ALL have tracking, all fall within USPS $100 guarantee.
The latest is a box that took two months to get delivered after it bounced around the country three times. The tracking shows it delivered on their step, a Med. FR box shipped with an eBay supplied label.
The seller emailed saying they never got it, I replied with the tracking number and it showing it was delivered almost two months after the day it was shipped. It left here the first business day after he paid. The buyer emailed 31 days after the sale to say its not arrived yet, it was showing it was at his PO for 8 days at that point. It bounced back and forth between that and a nearby PO three times before heading 1,200 miles in the wrong direction, bouncing all over the country before back tracking again and going back to the destination P0, then it turned around again, came all the way back east, then went back out and sat again at the same PO, after 5 days moved to the other PO in that same town, then when I inquired about it and went through the missing mail process, it showed as delivered four days later after leaving that PO, going to another state, then returning again to the same PO and showing as delivered.
The buyer now says he didn't get it. Its been two days shy of three months.
No clue why he didn't speak up sooner. He sent an email asking if I had it here, but the tracking clearly says it got delivered at his address.
There was apparently some mix up there because the guy lives in a camper in the woods but I had shipped there last fall with no issues.
Its not a light box, close to 30 lbs in a wood lined FR box so the contents couldn't poke through the sides or get crushed.
eBay put the value of the sale on hold because he claims he never received it.
There's been a 11 others between several of my own, and a few from where I work that are lost the same way or on nation wide tours with no telling when or where they'll get delivered. So far three buyers who's packages have shown as delivered after over a month of running around the country are saying they never got them despite the tracking saying otherwise.
If its a cut and dry case why are the funds still on hold, put on hold after 30 days beyond the sale.
The average time in transit via Ground Adv. is fast becoming two months lately.
luckythewinner
·4 months agoExtended transaction holds
If we have concerns about an order while it's on its way to the buyer, the funds may be unavailable for longer. Reasons could include discrepancies in tracking information, issues with a seller's account, or simply allowing extra time for the buyer to review their purchase.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/getting-paid/getting-paid-items-youve-sold/pending-payments?id=4816
FWIW, it makes perfect sense to me that eBay would put a hold on transactions that still show they have not been delivered.
inhawaii
·5 months agoIt's not the seller's fault. Who said it was?
That's why you will win a INR case as long as the tracking shows "delivered".
soh.maryl
·5 months ago1. If there's online viewable tracking showing delivery, you're covered.
2. The buyer has just 30 days to open an item not received case with eBay, and, again, if there's tracking proving delivery, his case will be denied.
3. Of course, it's not the seller's fault if the item was delivered but was stolen. Why would it be otherwise?
dirk12955
·5 months agoSaid it before and I'll say it again.
I don't understand sellers that donate a portion of their profits
by purchasing DC from the USPS,
And then, When a buyer claims non-delivery the sellers
allow themselves to be manipulated or blackmailed into
a refund or whatever.
jonathanbrightlight
·5 months agoNo one is paying extra for delivery confirmation on package services. It’s part of the included tracking.