100% Frustrated - Item Not Rc'd Cases

[kajomom]

As "most" people know.. USPS has really failed us this year. 

I've never has this many "Item not received" cases opened at one time.. 

Now these buyers are escalating these cases and within 5 minutes, eBay is deciding in their favor and giving them a full refund!  I'm through the roof with this! I cannot control the post office. My local post office has told me a good 3-4 weeks for delivery b/c of all the delays. (I'm in the Baltimore, MD area).

I don't know what else to do..  

Buyer will get the item.. maybe not today or tomorrow but I 100% shipped it.. SO this mean buyer gets the item for FREE and I loose money!

eBay doesn't seem to be much help in this situation. 

HELP!! 

[sextons-sweet-deals]

don't worry, he will be removed!

he bought his position with $$ contributions to Donny boy and Donny rewarded him. 

I'm neutral, but I call it as I see it!

The guy could not even answer questions on postal rates when questioned!

[sextons-sweet-deals]

Stay away from international sales until eBay can come up with a solution / guarantee to sellers.

International buyers know they can scam and hustle you for a refund or partial refund. 

[br7.62]

have you tried package intercept?

as soon as i get a inr ive been doing a package intercept and refunding the buyer.

15 bucks you lose plus original shipping. and of course its a couple weeks at least until you get your package back...

i filed an insurance claim on an item that was lost for a month. that was 3 weeks ago, no settlement on that yet.

so 7 weeks since the package moved.

[bargainnation]

I don't like to be critical of others but it seems like USPS is getting worse. I try to give them the benefit of the doubt because more packages are being shipped this year than usual since many more people are probably shipping gifts to family members and love ones along so this along with the already increased volume has probably overwhelmed USPS.  And of course USPS has other issues they have had to deal with which means sellers are going to have more problems too because of USPS delivery issues.

One local post office even had a sign up that they were not accepting pre-paid label packages; to take your packages to another post office. I wonder if they can do this or if some post offices are making up their own rules. I did not call USPS to ask about this only because I had to wait was over an hour twice to speak with an agent and the post office in question is not my neighborhood post office.

[ninja-fred]

Doing a package intercept doesn't always work.  I've tried to use that service twice during this fiasco.  Both times I filed out the required information on the USPS website and was all set to go.  THEN several days later I received a form email stating that my intercept would not happen and the package would be delivered to the original address.  Both buyers have since forgot how to respond to messages when I asked whether they would like to return my item or resubmit payment.

[sin-n-dex]

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@br7.62 wrote:

have you tried package intercept?

as soon as i get a inr ive been doing a package intercept and refunding the buyer.

15 bucks you lose plus original shipping. and of course its a couple weeks at least until you get your package back...

i filed an insurance claim on an item that was lost for a month. that was 3 weeks ago, no settlement on that yet.

so 7 weeks since the package moved.

---

The package intercept doesn't work on International shipments. I had one shipment going to Spain that disappeared off the map for a few weeks and the buyer filed an INR. I tried to intercept, but I got an error that it can be done on the service I used.

C.

[st.matthew2012]

As of 12/19/20 the United States Post office has collapsed! I have several hundred items for sale but I took them all off because 80% of about 40 packages I shipped out via USPS are still in the system for weeks , a couple of packages after 13 days made it to NJ main distribution center from NY and thats just the start of the journey. and forget about tracking, sometimes packages get scanned many days after I drop them off at the post office, or worse, when they are at the customers doorstep, or sometimes not scanned at all! I cannot have a window clerk scan it because the lines are huge forcing me to to rely solely on pre-paid labels -- which sounds great ,but the drop off bins are stuffed within a half hour of the post office opening, and they stay that way the rest of the day , sometimes they have a sign saying they will not accept pre-paid drop off pakages at all!--  That ,combined with 2 hour lunch breaks where they actually close the post office, thats right, close for lunch, makes using a post office an exercise in futility. . Ebay says most packages  are getting to their destinations on time THAT IS A FLAT OUT 110% LIE that will only lead to customers complaining and opening up cases. 

[patd3283]

Seems most of us are in trouble because of the USPS problems.  I have packages shipped 12/12 that still have not been scanned.  They are backed up in big trucks at our main Distribution Center.  I have yet to have had an IND complaint, yet!

What have I done?  I have communicated with every buyer letting them know I am following their package.  (Copy & paste a message from Word.)  When  something is updated through the USPS Tracking site, I send it to them.  Most are appreciative of the Info.  Of course, I don't have 100ss or 1000s of sales like many of you do.

What do I do?  Usually, a few days after something is shipped, I go to the USPS site and put in the tracking number then click on to get emails.  Instead of my name, I put in what the object shipped was or some way to identify it.  When the email comes in, I copy and paste it to a Contact Buyer link in items sold.

Maybe someone has an easier way and I would be glad to  learn, but this has worked for me.

[animesalesandmore]

Cant wait for Amazon Drone shipping so we can cut out the middle man (aka post office)

[powell-memorabilia]

Most packages are making it - it is just slow.  I’ve only had a couple of horrible cases - one that I successfully executed a package intercept, one other that is a huge mess - stuck for weeks, not expensive enough for a package intercept.

[iart]

Most of our packages are getting there just fine. But even a few truants are frustrating.

It's kinda late for this advice, but try to remember for next year. TIP your letter carrier! Learn their first name. Offer them hot coffee on cold days and cold drinks on hot ones.

Our carriers go out of their way to take care of us. They scan at the mailbox. They skip the main office and push the items right into the system. They deliver mailing products when we need them. Last Sunday one even came to our home and asked if we had anything needing to go out.

You don't get that kind of service by complaining about their lunch breaks.

[culottes1952]

I've had the exact same problem.  I keep telling the buyers who write to me about wanting me to check on the package that the post office has a disclaimer on their site about the problems happening right now and the post office won't do anything more than what the buyer and I are  doing about tracking the package.  It is soooooooo frustrating because the seller gets penalized for the post office not doing their job.  And unless you put insurance on every single thing you sell, you lose.  When I complained to ebay, the person I spoke to said she'd extend the buyer complaint for 5 days more to see if the item would be delivered but the next day ebay refunded the buyer's money with the notation that I didn't provide delivery information.  What the heck????!!!  How can you provide delivery information when it hasn't been delivered??!!!  This whole situation is so frustrating.

[elava5771]

This is the exact problem I am having and which brought me to this discussion forum for the first time. eBay used to let these cases time out after 20 days after the last message, and due to inactivity, close the case. We know USPS is 3+ weeks behind their deliveries https://tinyurl.com/ycj6pzx8 . It doesn't matter if there is tracking or if it is priority.

eBay is incompetent when it comes to working with sellers. They refund a day later in favor of the buyer with the excuse of no tracking. They do not bother reading the correspondence. I have messaged buyers "I will reship" or "thank you for your patience" when they agree to wait, only to find that eBay closed it in their favor an hour later.  Has eBay not realized that thousands of businesses ship low priced items which cannot send with tracking? Their action of automatically refunding the buyers has dropped my stats to below standard. Above this, the buyers get a free item at the sellers expense; COGS, shipping, & time. If this continues without being addressed by upper level / competent management soon, I imagine many low-priced items businesses will halt, close for good, or leave. 

Being this is my first time here I am surprised eBay reps have not noticed this thread or are taking action? Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised..  

I have been forwarding the closed case notifications to vero@ebay.com and customerhelp@ebay.com asking them where is the common sense. When they do reply, it is a generic message stating it was closed because there was no tracking. So just tell us that businesses that sell on eBay without tracking can pack their bags before the business gradually gets fully drained? The robots working here are years away from realizing this problem I feel.

Upper-level management wake up!! 

[jaelzion]

I don't understand why eBay doesn't just extend the timeframe for INR cases. As a buyer, I am not willing to let that deadline go by because if I never get the item, then I'm out of luck. So as the deadline approaches, I feel like I am forced to file the claim in order to keep my buyer protection. eBay could easily fix that by temporarily extending the time limit so that I could be patient without giving up my money back guarantee.