an odd story from ebay seller about USPS - is this possible?

[skipbif_72]

I ordered an expensive picture ($1,200 dollars) from a seller who is 1 hour 40 minutes away in the same state. It was supposed to arrive last Thursday but it never showed up. He sent it USPS priority and tracking shows the acceptance scan at his post office but everything else is system generated scans that end last Friday. It just says "IN TRANSIT" repeatedly as system generated scans, no location or other information. It's like in some unknown void.

I've asked him what is going on and he told me this odd story:

"Okay so I think I understand what’s going on. I’m friendly with the supervisor of my local post office. She said she was going to try and have it delivered directly by truck to avoid distribution centers which is where things get damaged. She said it may take a day or two longer. I said yes when she asked me if that would be okay but it was nothing I received confirmation on since she was doing me a favor."

So is this possible? How would it work? I find it odd and suspicious. I've tried to search this but I've found nothing. He's now opened a postal investigation case and suggested that I should open one too which I don't understand considering I thought you could only open one case per package. I am really getting fed up at this point.

[pburn]

I'm not sure why both the sender and the intended recipient couldn't both open a missing mail inquiry with USPS. It can't hurt to try . . .

I find the seller's conjecture about the USPS employee circumventing the established procedures a bit far-fetched, but I'm suspicious of pretty much everything these days--and not just concerning the post office.

Since the item hasn't arrived by the latest estimated delivery date given to you by eBay, I think I'd go ahead and file an "Item Not Received" (INR) dispute in eBay's Resolution Center. I say that because of the proximity of the seller and the unusual story he came up with . . .

Oh, and BTW, eBay would have required that the item be shipped with signature confirmation because of the value (any purchase that totals $750 or more). Be ready for that if the package tracking ever shows "out for delivery." 

Good luck!

[nobody*s_perfect]

The "In transit" message is entered automatically when there is no other information for 24 hours. So it tells us nothing that we don't already know.

The plausibility of the seller's story is a moot point.  A Priority Mail package is now nearly a week late, which is not "a day or two longer".  If you are feeling patient, you might hold off on filing the "not received" claim, but it seems inevitable given these circumstances.  

If your seller is such buddies with his local PO supervisor, maybe he can enlist her help.  It's unreasonable for him to ask you to pursue this.  You are covered by eBay's buyer protection policy; the burden is all on the seller.

[donsdetour]

You are being lied to:

or the postal employee is in a lot of trouble for going outside proper procedures.

 Oh and this topic disappeared for a bit. Not sure why.

You need to file an item not received if the seller can not provide tracking number.

[fab_finds4u]

A package around a month ago took over a week to travel 30 miles from me. Another one less than a hundred miles away  got scanned at 17 different postal facilities  before it was delivered, also taking nearly two weeks to deliver.  

Ask USPS to trace the package. 

[kensgiftshop]

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@skipbif_72 wrote:

I am really getting fed up at this point.

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All you have to do is go to the resolution center below and select, I didn't get my item and follow the directions given.

Let the seller deal with USPS.

[7606dennis]

The distance a seller is located from you is pretty much irrelevant as far as the time it takes the item to arrive.  Some shipments always seem to take the scenic route.  Don't let the 30 day MBG time limit expire though.

[femmefan1946]

Spoke and hub delivery systems mean that all the mail goes to the distribution terminal (the hub) and then back out again (along a different spoke). It looks weird on the map, but we are assured it really is more efficient.

What your seller is saying is that USPS also has trucks taking a few packages on short hops in addition to the larger spoke and hub system.

Which makes the S&H much less efficient.

Go for the Not Received. Either she is telling the truth and the package will arrive before the 96 hours she has before refunding or she is not and you get your refund in 96 hours or less.

[di2360]

I would sign up for informed delivery with usps.com and also track the tracking number and have the updates go to your email. I have called my locale post office to help me, but when I did a claim they wanted to know the size, dimensions, the color of the paper and all that which only the Seller would know. And the Post office is really slow. 

[dbfolks166mt]

You are 100% correct on the distance a package has to travel being irrelevant. I sent a first class package to a friend of mine, nothing to do with eBay sale, that lives 4 miles from me, is in the same zip code and gets his mail delivered out of the same post office. I dropped the package at the post office, received a scanned receipt and monitored the tracking. It went to 3 different distribution hubs spanning 3 different states and several hundred miles before it wound back up at the post office where I had dropped it and was delivered eight days later. And we wonder why the post office has financial problems.