Case of buyer & USPS issue- international shipment - advise needed, customer support unwilling

[sunburnedmuse]

Hello everyone, 

Just wanted to share the story that has just happened to me. 

Long story short, I'm a seller of sports memorabilia from Eastern Europe. Recently a buyer has purchased a pin from us, the delivery took longer than expected, normally the items get to the US within 3 weeks. It took almost 5 for the parcel to arrive to the country. We've opened an official search enquiry with the local post office. The buyer opened a case - and since eBay saw that the item was put on hold since the item was moving through the USPS network at the point when the dispute was escalated. The hold deadline is May 8. 

According to the tracking, item turned up at the local post office of the buyer on April 30. It was sent out for delivery - but up till now there is no delivery scan. I've asked the buyer if he received the item - and if not - I asked him to get in touch with the local post office cause the item is there. He is ignoring my messages, which makes me think he may have simply received the item and ask the mail man not to scan it as delivered in order to get both the item and rip me off the money that I received for it. 

eBay basically said they will not be doing anything (not extending the hold) and that I should try to deal with USPS. I've spent about 30 minutes just now, dealing numbers of all 3 post offices in Westminster, CA - unable to reach any of them. Besides, as I've already been through this - USPS is giving to information in writing to people who are based abroad, so literally there's no chance of getting anything out of them. Basically eBay told me that regardless of the postal delays, regardless of my cooperation, of the fact that the item was sent out and basically delivered all the way to the local post office and the buyer was informed about it - I will loose the case. The investigation into the item's whereabouts is ongoing, so we will get an official statement from our postal carrier and USPS about the item's delivery - they won't be allowed to leave it as is due to legal reasons... 

How is this even possible? Has anyone dealt with something similar? Is there a way to reach USPS and find out what happened with the delivery scans??? 

[popblox]

Yes, it happens all the time. The item goes out for delivery, gets delivered, then the postal worker fails to confirm delivery with a delivery scan (for whatever reason). The best thing you can do right now is go silent - if your buyer didn't receive it, you would've heard from them by now. Messaging will only alert them to the fact that they can keep the item and also act like it never arrived.

Don't poke the bear.

[supercharger-parts]

USPS "out for delivery" scan counts as delivered according to eBay.  I would just leave it alone at this point unless the buyer contacts you.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Mail carriers may forget to scan a package at delivery, but it is not likely that the buyer colluded with a (conveniently) dishonest mail carrier to defraud you. It is possible but not probable.

However, the scenario you describe has happened to quite a few sellers, many domestic as well as international. Ebay did put a shipping extension policy in place last year. It said that if the package showed movement within the last ten days, that they would extend the deadlines for open cases to give an actively-moving package time to arrive. This was a temporary change of policy, but as the US postal service is still experiencing Covid delays, you could argue the point.

So i would contact customer service again and request an individual extension since your tracking shows “out for delivery”. You just need a few more days. You can direct them to the policy on the Money Back Guarantee that suggests eBay can grant an individual extension at their discretion, and the announcement regarding extensions during the pandemic. See below for links to those two sources of information.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy...

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/UPDATE-Helping-buyers-understand-shipping-delays-and-wha...

”If tracking on the item shows movement within the past 10 calendar days and the parcel is in the destination country, we’ll keep the request open for 10 more days from the time the buyer asked eBay to step in to allow additional time for the item to be delivered. After that time, if there is no updated activity, eBay will consider the item lost and we’ll ask the seller to refund the buyer. “

If eBay refuses to grant an extension, you will need to refund. Then watch the tracking and once delivered, hope your buyer is honest and repays you at your request. Good luck to you and hope all is settled to your benefit.

[popblox]

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@supercharger-parts wrote:

USPS "out for delivery" scan counts as delivered according to eBay.  I would just leave it alone at this point unless the buyer contacts you.

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"Out For Delivery" or "Awaiting Delivery Scan" definitely does not count as delivered according to eBay - I've lost a total of 6 INR cases (so far) due to items frozen in these statuses. 

[escapetoparadise]

I buy a lot of things internationally on eBay as I live in California in the US.. for the last few months there have been tracking delays especially considering delivery status here. It's honestly due to the pandemic and the problems going on internally with the USPS since Trump appointed to Dejoy to be the postmaster and he's extremely incompetent... I just had a package that came from the UK to my PO Box rejected because the name was incorrect but not the address... And I tried to catch the mistake by calling my local post office for 2 hours straight and the supervisors were too lazy in the back, to pick up the phone so I can inform them about the mistake and to hold the package for me until I could get down there at the end of the day, and so therefore it was lost thanks to them . Believe me, even in the US, it's really difficult for us to get any kind of concern out of the postal carriers. They are lazy and careless. Believe me it's extremely hard to win a case with a buyer. I learned this hard way. My ex had warned me first before I started selling and I found out the hard way, that he was right. Unfortunately eBay sides with buyers even when the seller is 100% right. In my case, eBay let my buyer keep the refund and keep the item that was missent, back to him instead of going to me. And they threw their hands up and did nothing even though they knew it was wrong. I'm afraid I wouldn't even bother with this one- just cut your losses and refund it like I had to "eat it" with my nasty buyer.

[doug_5857]

If you don't mind me asking?? What was the value of the pin sold??  Just like escapetoparadise mentioned. Best to just refund and cut your loss. Please remember to add this THIEF to your Block Bidder List. I wish you the best going from here!!!!!

[sunburnedmuse]

Thank you so much for the advise! Good suggestion! 

[sunburnedmuse]

About 70$, which is a big amount of money down where I live. It's basically close to 1/7 of my monthly project manager salary. I live in one of the poorest places in Eastern Europe...