International package stuck in limbo: buyer claims never arrived and their country won't ship back
In late August, we sold an item to be shipped through eBay's International Shipping program to Europe, which arrived in the destination country's customs in early September. Customs and transit were fairly quick, and the item was out for delivery six days after arriving in the destination country.
However, for whatever reason, the package could not be delivered after two delivery attempts, and was sent to a pick-up location for the buyer to collect. The package spent 15 days there, before being considered "unclaimed", and the local courier began the process to return to sender. Except, the last update was 10 days ago, as the destination country indefinitely suspended all outgoing shipments to the United States after the suspension of the "de minimus" exemption.
The buyer just recently (a couple days ago) filed an "item not received" dispute, claiming they never received tracking information; but I was able to access the tracking information for the trip to their country provided via eBay's International Shipping through the eBay order without issue. I've not contacted the buyer to ask why they didn't collect the item when it was available for pick-up, or what caused it to not just be delivered to their address in the first place.
So, I'm left wondering what will happen to this case. Yes, the buyer doesn't have the item, but neither do I, and it's stuck in a foreign country with no indication of when it may return. Currently the case is on hold since eBay automatically recognized that we did our part of shipping it on time, but this makes me wonder if we should (or even can) opt out of the international shipping program, at least for now, if cases like this become more common.
kh-tuna
·3 months agoHi everyone,
Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.
Thank you for understanding.
mabr-3110
·3 months agogd luck, ebay will only back the buyer, same thing happen with me but the buyer picked up the item and still ebay kept my money. Buyer will gam the system and pick up item after 30 days of case closed b/c then you cannot appeal the case.
fullers_uk
·10 months agoAnother problem may be that whoever the local courier is will have to complete a new commercial invoice to return the item to you, they may not have that ability as it may need human input for "Returned Goods" and ebay have just realised that the tariff payments are non refundable so are worrying that they lost money as well.
Dont forget, corporations always win.
12345jamesstamps
·10 months agoAny 'funds on hold'?
If not, then it sounds like a win for you with an open claim.
But you still have to respond to any claim(s) that come.
Unavailable member
·10 months agoWhy would you opt out? eBay will handle the INR since you are off the hook because you did your part.
eBay is just keeping you aware by sharing the INR information with you. Regardless of the outcome of the INR you still keep the money.
If the item gets returned at all, it will be returned to the eBay international shipping program where they will either liquidate it or destroy it once it was placed in eBay’s possession at the hub it was their item.
stainlessenginecovers
·10 months agoIf it shipped EIS, then it's no longer your issue once it reached the US Hub. EIS will handle it going forward. You can tell the buyer that if you need to.
tobaccocardyahoo
·10 months agoEIS should resolve this problem.
You should not have been or be involved.
That assumes this order actually shipped via EIS.
It is likely the buyer will be refunded unless Ebay decides they are at fault in some way.
It is likely that this problem was not the fault of the carriers used by EIS, and you would probably be on the hook for a refund if you shipped to that destination directly.
alpine111
OP10 months agoIt was shipped EIS to our local forwarding hub, but the buyer was still able to open a dispute. Now, the dispute was automatically put on hold for ten days for eBay "to allow time to provide additional documentation". It sounded open-ended enough that I wasn't sure what direction it would go.
Plus, had it not been for this whole international shipping disruption, I assumed this could've resolved similarly to any other return, where the item itself could return to our possession.
1786davycrockett
·10 months ago@alpine111
"had it not been for this whole international shipping disruption, I assumed this could've resolved similarly to any other return, where the item itself could return to our possession. "
If you had used eBay International Shipping (EIS), the item would not have been returned to you, but would have been retained by eBay.
And, as others have noted on this thread, your buyer should not be holding you responsible, if the item was actually shipped through EIS -- the responsibility falls upon eBay at the time that EIS confirms delivery at the EIS shipping hub.
alpine111
OP10 months agoThe item was without a doubt shipped via EIS. An international return is a new one for me though, so I'm not familiar with the process.
Is it worthwhile to reach out to eBay customer service to potentially get some information? With how open-ended they left it, I wasn't sure if I should just wait it out or try and reach out.
robbie31415
·10 months agoNo. You do nothing. eBay will handle it. eBay will refund out of their pocket. You wont get the item back, you wont have your money taken from you.
Essentially with EIS you sold the item to eBay. eBay resold it to the buyer. (This isn't exactly true, but more so how the system works).
Once your item is accepted by eBay's hub. Your job is over.
If any issues happen and a buyer contacts you, all you can do really is apologize and inform them that once eBay takes possession of the item it is outside your control as they are the ones who purchased international shipping and forwarded the item so they would have to contact eBay.
But really contacting eBay yourself, is pointless. The CS reps have no access to EIS information. All the CS reps can really do is inform someone to open an INR if never received. The INR will be reviewed by the EIS team and handled, but you can not contact the EIS team directly.
But once eBay has received it your part is over, and your money is safe.
qeqo_0
·10 months agoThat's code for eBay is waiting to hear from the seller, not eBay is looking into it. If you don't, it'll go against you.
Yes find a a 10-foot or longer pole, smear it with sanitizer, and "reach out" to eBay. Or just "contact" eBay here with a private message to ask what documentation eBay needs to find for themselves, to resolve the the case.
robbie31415
·10 months agoFor non EIS orders, that is more true. For EIS it isn't necessarily true.
Once eBay hub accepts the package, there is no requirement for the seller.
eBay uses this template to give themselves more time when communicating between multiple departments, such as EIS, or to allow it more time when it's in transit.
Even if eBay makes a mistake, it's an easy appeal that will reverse it. Since eBay can easily see they made a mistake as the item was delivered successfully to them.
1786davycrockett
·10 months ago@qeqo_0
"That's code for eBay is waiting to hear from the seller, not eBay is looking into it. If you don't, it'll go against you.
Yes find a a 10-foot or longer pole, smear it with sanitizer, and "reach out" to eBay. Or just "contact" eBay here with a private message to ask what documentation eBay needs to find for themselves, to resolve the the case."
That's not how EIS works -- as others have previously stated (and as eBay clearly indicates on the EIS instructions), once the item has been confirmed received by EIS, it is no longer the responsibility of the eBay seller.
In effect, the NEW possessor of the item is eBay, which pays the original seller, and proceeds with the secondary processing and shipment of the item to the buyer.
The buyer needs to contact eBay/EIS -- and not the original seller. The "documentation" in question was provided by eBay -- not the OP.
tobaccocardyahoo
·10 months agoSounds like you should have advised the buyer that this is being handled by EIS and you have no role.
If you shipped the item directly and it was stuck in customs, there is no guarantee that it would be returned.
You are unlikely to suffer any loss from the current transaction, nor can the buyer leave you negative FB.
fullers_uk
·10 months agoI thought that once an item was recieved at the sellers local shipping hub designated by ebay it was ebays problem not yours.