Buyer bites again. They claim sneakers stolen before they received.

[dolcetreasures]

Unfortunately I sold an expensive pair of Gucci sneakers several days ago that were shipped to Sneakercon in Astoria NY. They arrived in the early afternoon of the 6th. Today I receive a message stating that there was a problem and the sneakers were stolen.

The buyer was automatically refunded and I was sent two photos from the authentication personnel which showed the outer box and the inner box opened and the sneakers missing from the actual Gucci box packed inside the cardboard outer box. 

There was no mention or any indication that the post office marked the package as being tampered with. There was no damage to the outside box, it was cut along the tape lines, exposing the Gucci box and that box opened and sneakers pulled out. 

[theteamsetguy]

I hope you insured them? If they were stolen then I would file an insurance claim.

Good luck!

[dolcetreasures]

Insurance is a waste of money on sneakers and most other items if you are a regular seller. So, no they were not insured. Having said that, the post office would not accept any responsibility in this case anyway, so it’s a moot point.

It is of my opinion that the sneakers were stolen after they had already arrived to the authentication hub. I was sent photos of the package, there’s no way the post office would have delivered an open box within a box with a label cut in half.

It’s also very unlikely that a postal thief would cut the tape open on the outside box, open the inside box, remove the sneakers then close both boxes carefully taping the outside box back to where the label was adequate for delivery. 

[wrong66]

What was the value and who refunded Sneakercon?

[dolcetreasures]

$425, the e-mail I received from Sneakercon was followed by an eBay case escalation for “item not received”. I’m assuming this was the protocol and had no input from the buyer as it was still long before the expected delivery to the buyer. 

Within a few minutes, the case was automatically closed and the funds were pulled from my account back to the buyer, which is understandable. 

I spoke with an eBay concierge who will get back to me tomorrow evening, though I am not expecting any favorable resolutions. Funny enough, I am unable to open a case with the post office online for “missing items” and their mail theft subject options from the menu are not suitable as well. I will speak with my postmaster and suggest to him that Sneakercon is placing the blame on the post office. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     It may be that the sneakers were in fact stolen by someone at sneakercon. When you shipped the sneakers did you by chance have the item scanned when you dropped it at the post office? If so the receipt will have the weight of the box when USPS took possession of it. It could provide  defense against the case. I used it once in the past a long time ago when a buyer claimed they received an empty box. 

     I simply sent the buyer a copy of the post office acceptance receipt which had the package weight when USPS took possession and another picture of the weight of an actual empty box, I shipped the item in a USPS box of some type don't remember which one. I never heard from the buyer again and they never filed an official case with eBay. 

[dolcetreasures]

I do have the receipt as I brought it to the window myself that day. Sneakercon didn’t say they received an empty box on the buyers behalf when they opened the case, they stated that the package was tampered with and contents stolen.

Mind you, the authentication service opens a case in the name of the buyer (it appears as the case was opened by ********). In this case they opened it as “item not received” rather than a “NAD” that typically appears for any sort of authentication failure. 

[dbfolks166mt]

      Although it may be an uphill battle you could file an insurance claim with USPS. If you can get sneakercon to cooperate in the claim you may have a chance to prevail. For that amount of money I would certainly try. 

[dolcetreasures]

I already started an investigation, but the post office finds the situation very suspect as it would require a massive failure upon failure on their part for the package to have went through without being marked as tampered just based on how the photos were presented to me by the authentication service.

The only way the package would have made it through would be another unlikely scenario which is that some employee had enough alone time with the package to carefully cut it open removing the shoes from the inner box, then closing inside and outside package, taping it and putting it back into delivery circulation. 

It seems more likely that in the 2.5 days eBay’s Sneakercon had the package, someone who had access to the unbelievably large mega-structure warehouse that they use in Astoria, likely got ahold of the sneakers. 

Its upsetting that I could have just shipped the sneakers myself to the buyer as I have all the provenance and these sneakers aren’t exactly counterfeit magnets as I have not heard of any in existence. 

As expected, I was not contacted by anyone in eBay today like I was told I would be by the concierge. I think for them it’s a done deal. Out of sight out of mind. It’ll be interesting what the post office comes up with if anything. 

[stainlessenginecovers]

Does the address shown on the label actually say 'sneakercon'?? 

[dbfolks166mt]

     I would expect nothing less out of eBay once they have issued the refund they pretty much wash their hands of everything. They have their fees and their seller support is abysmal. You are not the first poster to have issues with the authentication center and like the post office I suspect the theft took place at the authentication center. Any postal carrier would not have had any idea what was in the box and little incentive to randomly pick a package. Even if they had guessed it was sneakers they would have had no idea what brand, size, condition........... they were. 

     The individuals working at the authentication center however know that precisely  and can even try them on. 

[dolcetreasures]

No, it used to. I believe the facility in Vegas still does as my last package there was addressed to SneakerCon. The packages going to Astoria are addressed SKC1…..

[dolcetreasures]

The post office and I have the same understanding of this. This “theft” is very atypical of how postal thefts occur and have occurred. Again, the post office finds their conclusion to be contrary to what they’ve experienced in regards to how and what packages are stolen. Unfortunately they could not provide me with numbers or context but the consensus was that it’s not a practical way to commit theft by a postal worker. 

If the package was actually marked as “tampered” by the post office, then I would have no questions in my mind where the theft occurred and with whom the blame should fall. But in this case, we have a box perfectly intact, label cut in half, as I put the label between the folding halves of the box, and tape cut. Then in the following photo we have the contents of the inner box which was the Gucci box with all the packing materials from the manufacturer sans the sneakers and shoe-bags. 

[vintagecraze50]

If there was no evidence whatsoever that the PO was involved in this theft then I guess you may be correct that something happened at their authentication Dept. It is understandable that ebay would be obliged to refund the recipient in this case first and THEN, take responsibility for the ‘stolen” item and make you whole eventually. Keep working on the case with ebay to get this done right for you. 

[dolcetreasures]

Take a look at the title change to this thread… “Sneakercon” was changed to “buyer”….. I didn’t do it….