How to prevent Item Not Received Claims when buyers use Shipping Forwarders during Covid-19

[dhansen707]

Most sellers by now have figured out that selling international has a high likelihood of resulting in an Item Not Received case since items take months to get to their destinations. Due to this many sellers, myself included have suspended international shipping. But international sellers using shipping forwarders can still buy from sellers and then file an Item Not Received case when the item does not arrive. 

Should sellers suspend business entirely until International Shipping is reliable again, or should sellers factor these guaranteed losses as a cost of doing business?

What is Ebay doing about this?

[myangelandmyprincess]

I guess I don't understand are these items not showing delivered to the forwarding company for some reason ?

[fashunu4eeuh]

Forwarded items are not eligible for the Money Back Guarantee. Sellers are only responsible for the first leg of the journey, to the reshipper. After that, the buyer cannot invoke the MBG coverage.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Here is the link to the policy:

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

Not Covered:

• Transactions paid with any offline payment method (examples: cash, bank to bank transfer, money orders, escrow services)
• Buyer remorse or any reason other than not receiving an item or receiving an item that isn't as described in the listing (see the seller's return policy for return options)
• Duplicate claims through other resolution methods
• The following scenarios:
  • A local pickup item wasn't collected by, or on behalf of, the buyer
  • Items damaged during pickup
  • The buyer arranged for courier pickup, their own shipping method, or freight delivery of the item
  • The item was sent to another address after the original delivery, or buyer uses a freight forwarder (exceptions which are still eligible for coverage include: eBay shipping programs such as the Global Shipping Program and eBay international standard delivery, and eBay authentication programs)

[dhansen707]

As many people are posting on these forums, tracking numbers are not working on many, many international shipments. You ship to a third party shipper, your tracking number shows it was delivered there. A month later you get a Item not received claim. So you go to check the tracking number, since you remember that the shipper had received the item, and low and behold, the tracking number doesn't work anymore and shows nothing.  This happened to me, but is also being reported all over Ebay. 

[myangelandmyprincess]

I believe those issues are with eBay international shipping program not the forwarding companies buyers use

[dabunk2000]

I live in Belize now and use a forwarder in Texas. I only buy but know sellers are not responsible if it gets to me broken or wrong. I am a responsible adult and know the risks I take doing this.

[edwedw8383]

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@fashunu4eeuh wrote:

Here is the link to the policy:

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

Not Covered:

• The following scenarios:
  • The item was sent to another address after the original delivery, or buyer uses a freight forwarder (exceptions which are still eligible for coverage include: eBay shipping programs such as the Global Shipping Program and eBay international standard delivery, and eBay authentication programs)

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While a false INR claim at the freight forwarded address is clear-cut when tracking/signature shows delivered, we unfortunately have to bear in mind eBay demurs that an overseas buyer with a freight forwarder address is not proof an item was forwarded.

trinton@ebay wrote here:

when the delivery address is that of a forwarding service this is not by itself enough evidence to say the item was forwarded - forwarding companies have employees, and those employees may have purchases shipped to the office. That being said, we can see if the address shipped to is a forwarding address and will consider this in conjunction with other details when reviewing the case to determine if the transaction qualifies for protection.

[luckythewinner]

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As many people are posting on these forums, tracking numbers are not working on many, many international shipments.

When you ship by USPS to a third party reshipper, that is not an "international shipment". That is a domestic USPS shipment with a domestic USPS tracking number. 

You ship to a third party shipper, your tracking number shows it was delivered there. A month later you get a Item not received claim. So you go to check the tracking number, since you remember that the shipper had received the item, and low and behold, the tracking number doesn't work anymore and shows nothing. 

If this is the case, this is a domestic USPS issue with a domestic USPS shipment. 

What you seem to be describing is that the USPS is not retaining the delivery confirmation information for domestic shipments after a month. 

But that is certainly not a universal issue, because I just went back to a shipment I made on March 23 and the tracking number still shows Delivered.