Did I get rooked?

[tedster99]

I sold a Camera and Lens & accessories last week, and shipped it out right away. It moved fast through the system, but is now in Queens, NY. I'm sure that is a large Post Office distribution center, but at the same time, they probably have a lot of people working there too. 

It was estimated to deliver on Thursday, the 8th at the time of postage purchase. Then updated for delivery to Friday the 9th. That's the last updated delivery info - it arrived at 0527 hrs on the 9th. "Still in transit". 

Now I'm getting worried. 

[toysaver]

Go to the USPS website and start a find missing mail search, it's under the help header.  This can sometimes bump stuff along.

[donsdetour]

Has the buyer open a case??

Do not worry about it until that happens.

[luckythewinner]

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@tedster99 wrote:

Did I get rooked?

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eBay's seller protection from an "Item Not Received" requires delivery confirmation that is acceptable to eBay.

You have not been "rooked" yet, because your buyer has not filed a case.

And be aware that even if you get delivery confirmation, there are other ways you can still get "rooked".

[fashunu4eeuh]

It is great that you follow the transit of your packages. Shows you are a conscientious seller. How is it you fear you’ve been rooked? Mail theft?

I would not worry yet. Mail gets delayed. Covid still has spurred  some personnel shortages in places. If you haven’t already, sign up for the text or email alerts on the USPS tracking page so you will get updated as the info becomes available on your package. There is a good chance it is out for delivery today. It is possible it missed a scan.

I would not contact your buyer yet re: the delay. No need to poke the bear unnecessarily. If they contact you, tell them you have been closely monitoring the transit and assure them you are on top of the matter and will keep them apprised. 

[fab_finds4u]

Rooked how? 

You mailed it last week. The PO was closed Mon. The first day after that was Tue. Today is the 4th business day after mailing. I wouldn't  think it's  missing yet. If it is lost then eventually insurance will reimburse you.  You're only rooked if you didn't add insurance for the full value. Then you rooked yourself.

[stlbbrpm]

I wouldn't worry about it yet. As long as you are getting updates the post office still has it.

You might want to copy the tracking number and go to USPS site, sometimes there is a little different info than you can find by clicking the # on ebay.

[tedster99]

So I received positive feedback for this today. Evidently the buyer is happy. But according to the scanning, it is still in Queens, NY. There will never be a "delivered" scan. Is there anything to beware of in this particular situation yet? 

Without the delivered scan - unscrupulous buyers could claim "item not received" fairly easily, and it would automatically result in a refund for all practical purposes. Then it would be up to me as a seller to try and collect insurance from the shipper. 

I should point out the buyer was based overseas, and there may have been some re-shipping involved, and the delay in feedback received. But that doesn't explain why there was no delivery scan? Anyway, all's well that ends well. I hope. 

(As an aside, why does anyone want film cameras these days? I mean apart from assorted cranks and hobbyists. I wouldn't even know where to get film developed these days. Or even buy film for that matter. Here on eBay I guess. But there is a steady market for reasonably decent film cameras, and they seem to be more popular than a simple hobby. But I can't imagine why)

[dbfolks166mt]

(As an aside, why does anyone want film cameras these days? I mean apart from assorted cranks and hobbyists. I wouldn't even know where to get film developed these days. Or even buy film for that matter. Here on eBay I guess. But there is a steady market for reasonably decent film cameras, and they seem to be more popular than a simple hobby. But I can't imagine why)

     For a lot of true photographers film is still the gold standard for photography. Digital does not even compare although it has some advantages. For resolution and color digital cannot come close. There are still lots of places to get film, most major department stores still carry file and you can get it developed most camera stores still process file and there are a number of processing facilities you can mail the film to. I still use file quite a bit for quality family and vacation photo's. 

[a_c_green]

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@tedster99 wrote:

So I received positive feedback for this today. Evidently the buyer is happy. But according to the scanning, it is still in Queens, NY. There will never be a "delivered" scan. Is there anything to beware of in this particular situation yet? 

Without the delivered scan - unscrupulous buyers could claim "item not received" fairly easily, and it would automatically result in a refund for all practical purposes. Then it would be up to me as a seller to try and collect insurance from the shipper. 

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True, but if he's happy, he's happy, so just leave it alone. Since he's received it, he has no motivation to go looking at the tracking, and even if he did see that there was no Delivered status, he isn't automatically going to go all nefarious on you and file an Item Not Received dispute.

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@tedster99 wrote:

(As an aside, why does anyone want film cameras these days? I mean apart from assorted cranks and hobbyists. I wouldn't even know where to get film developed these days. Or even buy film for that matter. Here on eBay I guess. But there is a steady market for reasonably decent film cameras, and they seem to be more popular than a simple hobby. But I can't imagine why)

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"Cranks and hobbyists"? Come on now; it's not that weird. 😁 I can still buy film if desired, and my nice old Canon AE-1 (vintage 1980, 42  years old) works fine. Walgreens offers film developing, although they do have to ship it out someplace. You get back the negatives and a handy CD-ROM of the images. (I didn't think their image scans were all that great, but the main thing was having the negatives in hand.)

As for why bother, there's a neat tactile sensation of operating the camera, getting the effect you want, hitting the shutter at exactly the right moment, etc. For quite a while after digital cameras came out, they still weren't a perfect replacement at the git-go. Images would go all pixelated if you zoomed in too far, batteries would poop out too soon, and (the drawback that really drove me nuts) there would be a small but noticeable delay (at least in the cheaper digitals) between pressing the shutter and actually getting the shot. I missed more great candid photos that way...

So yeah, now we're all shooting perfect images with smartphones, and video as well (I have long felt that people shooting videos in Portrait mode should be beaten with sticks, but I digress), so important stuff does get recorded much more now than ever before, but film will be around for a long time, no doubt.

[chapeau-noir]

I can't keep film in stock - there's a constant demand for it.  The world is a big place with lots of people in it, and most are pretty individual.

[tedster99]

Yeah, I was surprised that there was still interest in it to such a degree. I carried that whole kit in a trip through the backcountry in the Grand Tetons along with a tripod.  My back still hurts just thinking about it.

It's sort of like 33RPM vinyl record albums in a way. Some people think they sound better than CD or digital sampled audio. I think they are wrong. Edison Cylinders blow them away!

[chapeau-noir]

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@tedster99 wrote:

Yeah, I was surprised that there was still interest in it to such a degree. I carried that whole kit in a trip through the backcountry in the Grand Tetons along with a tripod.  My back still hurts just thinking about it.

It's sort of like 33RPM vinyl record albums in a way. Some people think they sound better than CD or digital sampled audio. I think they are wrong. Edison Cylinders blow them away!

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That warm sound of wax!