eBay's "item not received" deadline is ridiculous

[speed_racer]

Is it my imagination, or are these arbitrary deadlines becoming shorter and shorter? I have an item shipped from China that has an estimated arrival date as late as June 12. Yet eBay removed it from my purchase history more than a week ago. They won't allow you to open an "item not received" case before the final arrival date, so why did they end that option long before that final date? If you're going to impose a hard deadline like that, eBay, then do the same to the seller so they can't give a fake tracking number and say it will arrive in three months or whatever is obviously after the deadline.

Also, how about some transparency? Show us when the deadline is. Don't make us guess and worry that it's going to pass before we know it.

[beez5720]

On the contrary, I think their deadlines are ridiculously long. Sellers have to get stuff out within their handling times (and one-day handling is highly encouraged). But a buyer has a whole bunch of time when they need to pay or when they open a case, and ebay will even extend their timeframe in certain circumstances, which is totally unfair to sellers.

[speed_racer]

Completely irrelevant. We're talking about the "item not received" deadline. Don't muddle the issue with other deadlines.

[misfitfun]

It is still in your purchase history IF ebay did not remove it or seller for unstated infraction.Go to your purchase history and tick hidden.Is it here?Get the item number from your won message and do a completed item search.Does that bring it up?

If not and ebay buyer protection is not accessible go to paypal and
File the claim here https://www.paypal.com/disputes/

[fa_8305]

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@speed_racer wrote:

I have an item shipped from China that has an estimated arrival date as late as June 12. Yet eBay removed it from my purchase history more than a week ago.

They won't allow you to open an "item not received" case before the final arrival date, so why did they end that option long before that final date?

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If June 12 is 61 calendar days* or more past the date you paid, eBay archived the item in your Purchase history, @speed_racer. You can still find it by adjusting your period.

However, eBay can't help you now: eBay loses control of the transaction after 60 days, and cannot step in and help if you start a refund or return request when a payment was made over 60 days ago. If that happens, you should file a dispute at PayPal within 180 days, if that's how you paid.

*eBay showed you this date, before you decided to go ahead with the purchase

[jeannicho22]

These deadlines are disclosed to you BEFORE you hit the commit to purchase.  If this date was unacceptable to your before you purchased, why did you do so?

[dola-4721]

Stop buying from China. Problem solved

[speed_racer]

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@jeannicho22 wrote:

These deadlines are disclosed to you BEFORE you hit the commit to purchase.  If this date was unacceptable to your before you purchased, why did you do so?

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If you're going to be nasty, at least be correct. eBay never discloses the deadline. They tell you the estimated arrival date. The last day you can file a case is NOT revealed to you.

[speed_racer]

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@fa_8305 wrote:

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If June 12 is 61 calendar days* or more past the date you paid, eBay archived the item in your Purchase history, @speed_racer. You can still find it by adjusting your period.

However, eBay can't help you now: eBay loses control of the transaction after 60 days, and cannot step in and help if you start a refund or return request when a payment was made over 60 days ago. If that happens, you should file a dispute at PayPal within 180 days, if that's how you paid.

*eBay showed you this date, before you decided to go ahead with the purchase

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eBay really should change their terms, then. On the money back guarantee page, it says, "A buyer can report that they didn't receive an item once the item's latest estimated delivery date has passed, and for 30 days after the latest estimated delivery date." It doesn't say "30 days after... or 60 days after auction end, whichever comes first." I don't see why eBay should "lose control of the transaction." It's their site and they can specify whatever interval they want. They apparently just don't want to. A simple solution would be for them to just eliminate the ability to specify longer than 60 days to arrive. There's no reason anything should take two months. There's no shipping service that slow.

As for this item, I'm starting to think this is intentional on the seller's part. I've bought from him several times over the last year. He started with high feedback and has since slipped to as low as I've seen from any seller with over four thousand feedback. Inspecting his auctions, it seems he specifically sets the final date to over 60 days and none of his tracking numbers ever show results. This may be a blatant fraud scheme so he never has to answer to eBay. With the 60-day deadline on both INR case initiation and giving negative feedback, he can give a fake tracking number and there's nothing the buyer can do before time runs out. In fact, maybe his feedback would be even lower if that feedback deadline didn't stop disgruntled buyers.

[speed_racer]

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@dola-4721 wrote:
Stop buying from China. Problem solved

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Ah, yes, the typical xenophobe solution, usually typed on a smartphone or computer that was assembled in China. In point of fact, most of my China purchases work out fine, and when there are problems such as an item not arriving or not matching the description, most sellers are honest and helpful, but thanks for playing.

[fa_8305]

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@speed_racer wrote:

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A simple solution would be for them to just eliminate the ability to specify longer than 60 days to arrive. There's no reason anything should take two months. There's no shipping service that slow.

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@speed_racer, that is correct. Sellers have discovered this loophole that eBay no longer has a record of the payment after 60 days, so cannot reverse your payment (force a refund) despite that you can still start a return or refund request. It is not a problem with the eBay Money Guarantee itself; it's that eBay cannot refund when you win.

You'll see this loophole being exploited to show

1. an attractive earliest estimated delivery date within 2 weeks,

2. together with a latest estimated delivery date at exactly 61 days,

as you consider a listing for purchase.

[forecastledistributors]

You can still file a case with Ebay after June 12. Up to 30 days after the final delivery date. Go to your purchase history and right under orders select See orders from 2019. The purchase should be listed. If June 12 is the final delivery date, you'll have to wait until then to open a case. In the meantime contact the seller and let him know you haven't received, and let him know your intentions of opening a case if the item is not received. I think the only thing that passed is your opportunity to leave feedback.

[mudshark61369]

@forecastledistributors, @speed_racer ,

eBay can no longer access payment information or transaction details after 60 days, as per the quote by an eBay employee below, about this issue.

 On Jan. 14, 2019  trinton@ebay wrote:
Hi everyone, the issue seems to be that the purchase occurred more than 60 days ago so eBay no longer has access to the payment nor do we have transaction details. We cannot see the payment date, the estimated delivery date or any other information about this purchase".

Speed_racer, 

The warning by another member about buying from China is not Xenophobic. Unfortunately, it has become a sad fact of life on ebay that many Chinese sellers take advantage of every loophole, and often try to use various tactics to cause buyers to lose their buyer protections and ability to leave feedback.  Below is a link to a topic about this very issue posted today.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying-Selling-Basics/Seller-wants-me-to-close-case-before-dispatching...

In your case, if you wait out the 60 days you will not be able to leave feedback as a warning to others.  Before midnight on day 60, I would leave a negative feedback for the seller saying:

"Seller deliberately trying to avoid neg feedback by having 61 day est. delivery date".

Since there is no good reason why an item should take 60 days to be delivered from China these days, you should avoid buying from any seller whose outside delivery date is 60 days or more from the date of payment. 

Yes, eBay should change the information about the filing time frame in the Money Back Guarantee (MBG)  policy, so people will know when the MBG protections lapse.  When Trinton posted the info above back in January several people suggested that the policy be adjusted to reflect the change and/or that an announcement be made.  Almost 6 months later neither has happened.

@Anonymous,

When can we expect to see the policy quoted below, changed to reflect the 60 day limit to be able to open an INR dispute through eBay?  Maybe you can explain why there is not a limit on last estimated delivery dates (EDDs). 

• Go to My eBay

  If your item hasn’t arrived or isn’t as described, go to My eBay, find the item in your purchase history, and select return or item not received within 30 days of delivery.

IMO a seller should not be able to have an outside EDD of more than 55 days. 

A) Buyers would then be able to see items in their purchase history without having to expand the dates.  Something many do not know they can do.

B) eBay would be able to see the transaction details, so at least the seller would get a defect for INR, and PayPal notified to issue a refund as they would if the EDD was less than 60 days.

C) Buyers could allow a couple of extra days for an item to be delivered, and not lose MBG protections. 

[speed_racer]

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@forecastledistributors wrote:

You can still file a case with Ebay after June 12. Up to 30 days after the final delivery date. Go to your purchase history and right under orders select See orders from 2019. The purchase should be listed. If June 12 is the final delivery date, you'll have to wait until then to open a case.

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No,  you can't. I know you can see the purchases going back years, but once a purchase is beyond the deadline, opening a case is no longer listed as an option in the dropdown. The only available actions are view the seller's items, save the seller or contact the seller.

[soh.maryl]

Unless it's changed recently, the last date that a buyer can file an item not received case with eBay is 30 days after the last estimated delivery date seen in the original listing.