01-18-2023 10:37 PM
A buyer in Kazakhstan purchased an item from me Nov. 16th, gave a Wilmington, DE address , totally typical situation involving a transshipper, right? So I shipped on the 17th and it got there on the 19th. Now tonight I have an email from the buyer saying their package has not been delivered. On the Order page the little Ebay timeline thing shows as 'Delivered Nov 19'. But then when I double checked by clicking on tracking, it says 'Delivered to agent for final delivery.' --NEVER seen that in my life. I've seen tracking lines involving a 'shipping partner' but what the heck do they mean by 'agent'?? Do some transshippers have a formal recognition by the USPS and are they referred to as 'agents'?
I wrote to the buyer that tracking shows the package delivered on Nov 19 to the address they provided, but I have to admit it feels something like bluffing, because even if it clearly shows 'Wilmington DE' I literally can't say for certain what address it went to, and it sure doesn't say 'In/at mailbox' like a normal delivery. I looked up the address and it's an auto shop -could also be a transshipper of course. All I know is, I'm feeling less confident than usual about how a random ebay CSR would handle this as an INR case, if the buyer files one.
01-18-2023 10:44 PM
Let me rephrase. The fact that the final tracking update says "for final delivery" indicates that final delivery was not made at that time, which could support a buyer's claim that they did not receive their item.
01-18-2023 10:45 PM
Delivered to agent is a very common delivery scan for packages going to reshippers. Your package is successfully showing delivery so you will win an INR claim. Upload tracking and bots will close it in your favor.
Buyer is not eligible for the MBG when they have their package re-shipped. I wouldn't mention that to them, but I would tell the buyer they need to ask their freight forwarder for package status.
01-18-2023 10:49 PM
Okay thank you. Somehow I've not seen this 'agent' thing before, and I've shipped to Wilmington for Russian/Eastern European buyers dozens of times. So if it's an auto shop or any other business where the transshipper happens to receive their freight, why doesn't USPS just mark it as 'Delivered in/at mailbox' like usual???
01-18-2023 10:53 PM
@gurlcat wrote:Let me rephrase. The fact that the final tracking update says "for final delivery" indicates that final delivery was not made at that time, which could support a buyer's claim that they did not receive their item.
USPS completed their job. The package was formally delivered.
All the scan means is the location has a middleman that accepts packages for that address. Common with freight forwarders, townhouse complexes where packages are delivered to the management office, apartment buildings with concierge/doorman, offices with mailrooms, and more.
01-18-2023 10:54 PM
@gurlcat wrote:So if it's an auto shop or any other business where the transshipper happens to receive their freight, why doesn't USPS just mark it as 'Delivered in/at mailbox' like usual???
Because it's not being delivered to a mailbox. An individual is taking possession of the packages.
01-20-2023 07:06 AM
To fully cover yourself, tell them you are investigating and tell that that the address looks like a reshipper and ask them to confirm that it is.
When they do admit its a reshipper you are then shielded from any INR claims.
01-20-2023 07:31 AM
To the poster, after explaining to the buyer that they used a reshipper, why don't you direct them to contact the company that THEY chose to deliver their item?
01-20-2023 02:10 PM
Just to follow up on my pondering about whether INR-claiming buyers are lying versus freight forwarders keeping packages and pretending they didn't receive them, well at least in my one case I am now 99.9% sure my Kazakh buyer did receive his package and somehow heard about this 'new' way to scam. For one thing the fact that he waited over 2 full months to contact me doesn't compute; no matter how long he might usually wait for a package to arrive from the U.S. it can't be THAT long. But we also exchanged TWENTY-THREE messages last night, and it was pretty revealing.
The reason I was so willing to go back and forth was because 1. I felt I had the long end of the stick, considering I (unlike most sellers with this tracking scan) had ebay showing 'Delivered', not 'Shipped,' also 2. He had not filed an INR, so why not try as hard as possible to prevent that? and 3. I figured I might as well take the opportunity to see what information I could tease out of him, 'friendly detective'-style, by acting like I believed him and that I suspected his freight forwarder might have kept his package. What ensued was pretty amusing. --I would share it all but part of why it went 23 emails-long was because many of his replies were just 1-to-3-words, with 2 or 3 of these sent between my replies. Not sure how I would format the conversation for sharing here.
But here's some highlights: First he said he couldn't contact the forwarder. I asked why. "I just can not." At one point he showed me a screenshot of the USPS "agent for final delivery" code, despite how I had already made clear I knew "agent" meant the forwarder. But he still seemed convinced that the code was like a magic refund coupon, lol. I asked if the forwarder ever sent him tracking for the secondary shipping service. He replied that they never received the package to ship. I asked how he knew that. And here I will quote him directly: "I contacted them, they said the parcel was not delivered." But no, I didn't call him out about previously claiming he was not able to contact them. Instead I did some googling on the address, turns out all kinds of freight forwarders have (or have had) offices/warehouses in this big commercial complex on Cornell St. in Wilmington. I picked one, asked him if they ('Global Shopaholics') were his forwarder. He said no, that his had a different suite number. That's when I noticed his shipping address didn't even include a suite number. But I didn't call him out on that either. I asked who his forwarder was (and heck yes I was planning to contact them but didn't say so). He replied "Shipper." I ship you not, LOL. I said he really needed to contact them because they must have his package and were lying about never receiving it. His final reply: "It's complicated."
No, it's not really. But it's funny.
01-20-2023 02:38 PM
Anytime you ship to a forwarder now it will display that message as the final scan. There are other examples when this is the case as well. I spoke with concierge who assured me that eBay will consider this delivered.
01-20-2023 05:53 PM
That's what I was thinking - it shows delivered. Even if if shows delivered to agent - that means it was delivered. You are only responsible for the shipping to the address in Wilmington. And your tracking will confirm this - also the address this buyer has on file with Ebay.
01-20-2023 07:31 PM
Dear buyer,
The tracking shows the item was delivered.
Please check with the people you had me ship this item to if you have any questions.
The Seller.
01-21-2023 01:27 AM
Thing is, bunches of people in another thread (that existed before I started this one but I didn't know about it) said they had the same situation except their buyers filed INR and WON, meaning they (the sellers) were forced to refund those buyers.
I wish I could delete this thread because I now understand the situation much better. I should have done what I usually do before starting a thread, which is search to see if my concern is already being discussed, but for whatever reason I didn't bother this time.