eBay

juvikingnorway · ‎07-17-2023

A while back i sold an expensive doll to a buyer in Italy and of course Italian customs spent over a month just registering it.. the buyer opened a case, but was understanding and waited to escalate until we got some movement, but it was stressfull to say the least, but he was of the type that opened a case just in case and clearly showed that he had experience with dealing with Italian customs and postal service before.. it was more of a formality with him.

Fast forward a couple of years and here i am, somewhat hurting for money decided to accept an "best offer" and send an expensive coin set to Italy.. it worked out last time so why the heck not.. i might as well take a chance right? Wrong. One month goes by with no tracking updates and the buyer opens a case with a text written in tutti frutti bambino and today i was forced to refund over a thousand dollars to said buyer.

So now i guess i will have to endure the stress of seeing the package get some movement in the next couple of days, no sympathy from ebay and find a way for the buyer to refund me the money if he feels like it.

I Live in Norway, so no access to the fancy shipping programs you Americans have.

Another GREAT part about all of this is that anything email related will automatically get flagged in the messages so i can't really send him paypal information either.

If you live in Europe, don't send to Italy, their postal service is sub-par to even countries you imagine to be absolutely terrible.

Anyways, just wanted to vent a little.

juvikingnorway · ‎07-17-2023

Oh and furthermore, because i decided to wait and have "ebay decide" (let's be real here the outcome would have been the same regardless, but at least i got a few extra days to wait for tracking movement) i will now probably be punished because somebody had to press a button somewhere and be considered "below average" and forced to pay them more to sell on this wonderful platform.

juvikingnorway · ‎07-17-2023

I really wish ebay would have looked more closely at shipments going to Italy because i am 100% certain that there is a lot of cases opened from there, and on that basis extended the period for delivery etc instead of this simplistic approach they use where one size fits all.

luckythewinner · ‎07-17-2023

@juvikingnorway wrote:
i will now probably be punished because somebody had to press a button somewhere and be considered "below average" and forced to pay them more to sell on this wonderful platform.

There is no need wonder about Below Standard, and no one "pushes a button somewhere" to put you Below Standard.

The formula for Below Standard is simple mathematics, and your seller dashboard will tell you what effect a "case closed without seller resolution" will cost you.

juvikingnorway · ‎07-17-2023

@luckythewinner wrote:
@juvikingnorway wrote:
i will now probably be punished because somebody had to press a button somewhere and be considered "below average" and forced to pay them more to sell on this wonderful platform.
There is no need wonder about Below Standard, and no one "pushes a button somewhere" to put you Below Standard.

The formula for Below Standard is simple mathematics, and your seller dashboard will tell you what effect a "case closed without seller resolution" will cost you.

I was refering to the refund, not the below standard.

texasfis-73 · ‎07-17-2023

I had the same problems shipping from Texas to Canada. It got to the customs warehouse and the spent a month in hiding before it finally got sent on. I'm just thankful my custonmer was understanding

varebelrose · ‎07-17-2023

Italy was the main reason we stopped selling internationally.... Never had a problem sending anywhere else, but Italy is a black hole for packages it seems.

juvikingnorway · ‎07-17-2023

@varebelrose wrote:
Italy was the main reason we stopped selling internationally.... Never had a problem sending anywhere else, but Italy is a black hole for packages it seems.

They are for sure. A quick google search will reveal it to be an ongoing issue going back quite some time.

One would think that ebay has the data to back it up and do some measures against these sort of things happening in order to protect its sellers because i am sure many have given up on selling due to bad experiences in such situations.

Russia and China for instance have way more reliable postal systems.

fab_finds4u · ‎07-17-2023

There are country conditions for mailing to all the countries countries USPS ships to.

Dolls are considered to be a toy and toys not wholly made of wood are prohibited.

Coins are restricted and must be sent to Italy via insured parcel post package.

juvikingnorway · ‎07-17-2023

@fab_finds4u wrote:
There are country conditions for mailing to all the countries countries USPS ships to.

Dolls are considered to be a toy and toys not wholly made of wood are prohibited.

Coins are restricted and must be sent to Italy via insured parcel post package.

Didn't send with USPS, didn't send any modern toy, but rather a collectible and it did come through, just slow processing. Coins were insured up to a certain point, but the Italian postal service is still bad and ebay should still do something iif they care about their sellers as in add a longer period before anyone can open INR from that country and probably others. Greece i hear is terrible as well.

amricons · ‎07-17-2023

Been in the mail order business a long time. Always took extra care shipping to Italy and Greece as packages tended to disappear. Mexico the same and also had ossues to South America. Always max insure and get accountibility ie, signatures, certs etc.

pereirahawk · ‎07-17-2023

I have to admit, most of my orders from Italy never get delivered. Even the buyers from Italy will tell you not to make the package stand out. Presumably, postal theft is a problem.

fashunu4eeuh · ‎07-17-2023

@juvikingnorway wrote:
“Another GREAT part about all of this is that anything email related will automatically get flagged in the messages so i can't really send him paypal information either.”

Once a transaction takes place, you can share contact information with that buyer through eBay Messages without breaking any rules. See link to policy below:

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behavior-policies/membertomember-contact-policy?id=4262

“Your email address and other contact info might be disclosed to the other party when involved in a successful eBay transaction with you.”

assortedcollectibles · ‎07-17-2023

Usually messages with emails in them gets flagged and not sent. At least that is my experience with it because ebay fears people doing business outside of ebay. I knew it happened one time in the past where i had to charge a buyer extra because i had to resend a package after they had forgotten to pick it up. I also sometimes get messages with attached images where they have the email as well, so i don't think you interpret that correctly.

jsvintageplace · ‎07-17-2023

That's such a shame. I'm sorry. Have you called and spoken to someone at eBay? I wonder if they'll reimburse you if you can eventually show that the package was delivered. I guess I should be thankful for the global shipping program as I also had a package go missing while en route to Italy. They refunded the buyer and let me keep the initial funds. The buyer after a while messaged me to say that it was finally delivered.