Bad experience with damaged item and not getting USPS insurance

[lindaegret8]

I had a very bad experience with a buyer.The item arrived damaged by USPS and I filed a claim but she ignored it.I was told by USPS that she must bring it to her local post office which was in the midwest and I am in the northeast.I was so upset it felt helpless and hopeless- ebay does nothing to insist that the buyer document the damage with the carrier that caused it and embay gave e totally wrong info about the insurance process.Long and short of it is the seller is responsible from beginning to end and there is no rule in place that the buyer has to document the damage.Apparently PayPal does require documentation but not ebay.So with a difficult uncommunicative  buyer my item was never taken to the post office.( this is required by USPS)I refunded the buyer and had a 3 week window for the USPS insurance which the buyer ignored.It was a heavy fragile casserole vintage and gorgeous total loss .Lesson learned the USPS  priority insurance is never going to work unless the buyer cooperates ebay has no provisions in place to make the buyer comply and document the damage.You will be responsible if you have an unhelpful buyer like I did.I will now only use ebay for items that are less prone to breakage and I am going to use many other platforms to sell- I was only using ebay and that will now change- was going to close the account but instead will pare it down and explore all those other possibilities out there.If you send an item priority and feel good that it has the insurance be aware that ebay wont help and if the buyer doesn't cooperate the insurance is worthless as mine was.

[gwens*4saleitems*]

On a side note --- You are not allowed to ship broken glass using USPS.

[mesodude]

"On a side note --- You are not allowed to ship broken glass using USPS."

LOL. Thanks for the tip.

[earlyant-77]

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@picknparley wrote:

This ShipCover was news to me. Perhaps I just never saw it before.  I read the info page on this ebay service and, as a seller, have a concern or two.

1) how long has ebay been in the insurance business?

2) why should sellers have to pay for this insurance when we're already paying extra FVF and tax on shipping fees? 

3) this does nothing to stop the misuse and abuse affecting sellers.

Is this perhaps ebay's answer to all the scamming going on?  Collect yet more money from the sellers to pay for the dishonesty running rampant on the site. I can't say I agree with this. If the scammers were pursued more seriously, and their actions thwarted, instead of being approved by ebay policies in the way of instant refunds, this suggested added cost would not even be up for discussion.

Please come up with something better than telling us we need to pay even more to get the service we should already be receiving with our store subscriptions. 

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The plus on shipcover is that it's cheaper. Also, IF it's still the same as when it started, the buyer opening a claim for shipping damage was(is?) supposed to validate the damage claim.

[nc-daydreamer]

Would you like to understand what really happens to a package during its journey? It's amazing.  This is why it is so important to overpack - especially fragile items like glassware...  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0-ukGIwcH8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZu_gxi3sbs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3UCmTr5RBk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_waZrhOZVWY

Sorry you were caught off-guard. But, many sellers have known for years that insurance is more for assurance that some package may arrive, not that it will get there safely.

And many sellers' include a note with their thank-you card and packing slip asking that if there is a problem, to please at least send the seller photo's of the damage.  I have also seen this note on listings. 

I have even seen notes sent to me that in case of an insurance claim having to be made, that the seller will offer me compensation for my co-operation with the insurance investigation. 

I guess it all boils down to what the item is worth.  Even sending Grandma a birthday gift requires her to take the item and the package into the PO for inspection.  Been that way for at least 3 decades that I know of.

I wish  you well.

[twnpopcards]

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@lindaegret8 wrote:

Thank you I did  report the buyer  she did some other suspicious things as well.Unfortunately ebay did not step in  - they did nothing!I kept them informed of everything and I immediately let them know when I got a letter from USPS about the window of time for the item to be evaluated.The buyer wasn't communicating so I communicated with ebay but they did not  help me except to listen and it was too involved to always repeat everything so I asked for supervisors and had them make notes- little good it did me- ebay was a mine of misinformation.I think they assume a buyer will be upstanding and report damage and act accordingly but they have no safety net for sellers when a buyer like the one I had doesn't communicate or help and may well have been pursuing some sort of scam.Really soured me on ebay was going to close the account but instead  I will edit it down and use other websites as well.I will never sell anything that has any sentimental value in the event it is lost or damaged and I get another dreadful buyer I will not see any return for it! I will lose money and have nothing but aggravation  and guilt that I chose to put a family heirloom on ebay which does not support sellers.

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Sorry this happened to you, but this hands off approach with buyers has been Ebays business approach ever since John Donohoe took over as CEO.  As far as Ebay is concerned, buyers who pay nothing to Ebay are their customers and Sellers who pay Ebay all of these fees that they collect and report to Wall Street every quarter are so-called partners with Ebay.  Even with the new enforced Sellers protection that Ebay announced at some point last year does nothing to help buyers until Ebay has had enough complaints filed against the buyer, at which point they will supposedly consider them an abusive buyer and supposedly help the Seller in some ways.  Truthfully I don't remember what the help is since I have yet to read of one buyer who was classified as an abusive buyer since this announcement was made.

Someone in a Facebook group I belong to said that they were told by Ebay that the magic number to be added to the abusive buyer list is 10 reports, I have no way to confirm that, nor was this person to told what the time frame for those 10 reports is.  I would gather that the bar starts over at some point in time or we would not still be dealing with so many problem buyers on Ebay.  Before someone chimes in that this is a very small part of the total sales that Ebay transacts on a daily basis, most of us are well aware of that fact.  But we are also aware of the fact that Ebay keeps making promises to its Sellers that seem to always  have wiggle room and are not ever really enforced.  I know it will never come back but the one tool that Sellers had to try and protect not only themselves but other Sellers was the ability to leave Negative Feedbacks for buyers that deserved them.  Admittedly some Sellers abused that policy, but i am sure it was a smaller % than the number of buyers who now abuse Ebays policies as they know that Ebay is so desperate to show any kind of growth that they will always take care of their "customers".

I wish there was better news for sellers, but all they can really count on is "Do Not List Anything You Cannot Afford To Lose".  This is one of many reasons that Ebays GMV has finally begun to spiral downward and will no doubt continue to spiral down until Ebay makes some very serious changes to their policies as well as enforce them equally on both buyer and seller.

[sg51]

Hi @coffeebean832, while the information trinton@ebay provided previously was correct at the time, that information no longer matches our current processes. 

So let me point out the obvious problem of eBay's "way" here, Brian.

There was no announcement of any such change of policy. No one was ever notified.  Seller who relied on eBay's assurance here have been assessed monetary damages.

Why does eBay think this is a reasonable way to treat its sellers?

[wastingtime101]

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@sg51 wrote:

There was no announcement of any such change of policy. No one was ever notified.  Seller who relied on eBay's assurance here have been assessed monetary damages.

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It was an unwritten rule. If it's not in the policy pages there's technically nothing to announce.

I'm not defending eBay - I'm in the group that believes eBay needs to be more transparent about policy changes.

[gracieallen01]

How can it be a rule if it is unwritten and nobody, but those who make the rule, know about it?  Aren't rules to regulate and control things?  How can things be regulated or controlled if nobody knows about them - or the rule, or when it is changed?

[wastingtime101]

eBay said they don't publish nuances of all policies in an effort to prevent scammers from taking advantage.

I don't make the rules but I try to stay informed about things that can affect my business here.

[gracieallen01]

I wasn't suggesting that you made the rules.

[slippinjimmy]

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@lindaegret8 wrote:

Sorry for all my replies - ebay puts no pressure on the buyer!This buyer was bizarre she just did not communicate except to inquire about there refund.I kept ebay informed and when I got a letter from USPS I immediately called ebay to tell them that USPS needs to see the item and all packaging by Feb 20( letter was dated Jan30 and it said you have 20 days from the receipt of the letter to bring item in)Now it is too late but despite the the fact that I constantly emailed the uncommunicative buyer and I called ebay several times no one helped.Buyer didnt answer any inquiries about the damage and ebay has no policies in place to support sellers in a situation like this.I have my doubts on the validity of the buyer there is something fishy as she asked for a second refund when the first echeck took a few days.I refunded the buyer asked her to bring  the  damaged package to her post office in at least 10 emails I gave her claim numbers explained the letter and the the time limits all to no avail-she never replied  even after getting the refund!So there is no ebay support it s a myth in my case at least!

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There is something I'm not clear on.

How long after the buyer reported the item was damaged did you issue the refund?

Was the refund made in the form of an echeck?

[monster-deals]

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

How can it be a rule if it is unwritten and nobody, but those who make the rule, know about it?  Aren't rules to regulate and control things?  How can things be regulated or controlled if nobody knows about them - or the rule, or when it is changed?

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I'm just wondering how ebay doesn't have the power to create and enforce policy.

It seems that ebay has ALL THE POWER to do that.

[tools*]

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brian@ebay wrote:

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@genv wrote:

brian@ebay 

If my car is in an accident, and I file a Claim, the Insurer must see the damage.

Why is it different on eBay ?

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Hi @genv, based on the information in this thread the company insuring the package (USPS in this case) is asking to see the damage. eBay is not the insurer, so we do not have the ability to force a buyer to provide proof to the shipping company. If a seller wants to pursue a return through the eBay site, we will facilitate that. If the seller wants to pursue a claim through the shipping company they purchased insurance from, that is also an option but since eBay is not involved in that claim process the buyer and seller will need to work together to resolve that claim.

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Yes, but eBay controls the money. If eBay takes the money from the seller and gives it back to the buyer without requiring proof of damage, they remove any incentive the buyer may have to cooperate.

[sg51]

I'm just wondering how ebay doesn't have the power to create and enforce policy.

ebay is limited by the fact that payment processors may protect buyer.  Thus, they cannot enforce demands on buyer.  Presumably the now-defunct policy was to protect seller by using ebay funds to refund buyer.

[gramophone-georg]

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

How can it be a rule if it is unwritten and nobody, but those who make the rule, know about it?  Aren't rules to regulate and control things?  How can things be regulated or controlled if nobody knows about them - or the rule, or when it is changed?

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This is how the eBay of today rolls. Rules are "secret" and the ones that are NOT secret simply seem to not get enforced when it might cost eBay any money or any time beyond that of there outsourced customer "service". There are no real policies here anymore, it seems- just arbitrary case by case decisions.

I've NEVER seen anything quite like it. The rules are the rules until they're not, and nothing anyone from eBay tells you really means anything.