eBay

itsjustasprain · ‎05-11-2019

I am in the US. A buyer in Costa Rica bought my item on February 25 and I shipped it that day by First Class Package. It left the US on March 1. e-DELCON tracking does not include Costa Rica so I know that there would be no further tracking and no Delivery Confirmation. (It was a $20 item with $22 postage. Things could be worse.)

Back around the end of April I suddenly get emails from the buyer asking where it is. It had been so long since the shipment - over 2 months later at that point - that the USPS had actually reused the tracking number. You have to enter the ship date so that the USPS website knows which package you want to see. For some reason the buyer could not comprehend how to do that even when I sent instructions in both English and Spanish. The Costa Rica PO said they had no record of the tracking number at all.

We had many emails back and forth and I thought he would figure it out eventually but finally today on May 11 he filed an INR dispute - or technically this is a Money Back Guarantee claim if thats different -- so I guess I am going to have to refund $42.

My only question here is over the amount of time that has gone by. Is there any upper limit for which Ebay will no longer let a buyer file the INR or MBG claim or whatever it is? His purchase was on Feb 25 and now its May 11 which seems a bit much. The notice I got from Ebay has a link to explain the MBG but I see nowhere in there where they say how long the buyer has for filing. This guy waited 2 1/2 months from payment date.

I dont think I have any pushback I can use here but I wanted to make sure first before granting the refund. Thanks!

chinohighcowboys1963 · ‎05-11-2019

EBay allows 30 days from last shown delivery date in which to open a not received case.

However, if the buyer paid through PayPal, they allow 180 days to open a case.

So, it is too late for him to file with eBay, but he can with PayPal if he knows to do that.

Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.

itsjustasprain · ‎05-11-2019

@chinohighcowboys1963 wrote:
EBay allows 30 days from last shown delivery date in which to open a not received case.
However, if the buyer paid through PayPal, they allow 180 days to open a case.
So, it is too late for him to file with eBay, but he can with PayPal if he knows to do that.

Well I think he must have filed through Ebay because I am getting all their messages. Havent seen any mention of Paypal at all although that would have been his payment method.

I thought it must be too late for him to file with Ebay except that he just did - if you get what I mean. If it was too late to file then I didnt think they would let him file ANYWAY - would they?

chinohighcowboys1963 · ‎05-12-2019

He can open the case, but he will get a message from eBay telling him the item is no longer covered by the money back guarantee.

Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.

itsjustasprain · ‎05-12-2019

@chinohighcowboys1963 wrote:
He can open the case, but he will get a message from eBay telling him the item is no longer covered by the money back guarantee.

Thanks but it seems like thats a distinction without a difference as far as INR vs MBG is concerned since I have an official dispute I need to answer to within a day or 2 from now. He says he hasnt received it and Im never going to see tracking to a delivery in Costa Rica of course. I dont see anywhere in the dispute where I can decline on the basis of its being way too late to file now.

I understand how the item might no longer be covered by the money back guarantee - but if he can file an INR anyway then whats the difference? Is the money back guarantee for not as described disputes but not INR disputes?

myangelandmyprincess · ‎05-12-2019

@itsjustasprain wrote:
@chinohighcowboys1963 wrote:
He can open the case, but he will get a message from eBay telling him the item is no longer covered by the money back guarantee.
Thanks but it seems like thats a distinction without a difference as far as INR vs MBG is concerned since I have an official dispute I need to answer to within a day or 2 from now. He says he hasnt received it and Im never going to see tracking to a delivery in Costa Rica of course. I dont see anywhere in the dispute where I can decline on the basis of its being way too late to file now.

I understand how the item might no longer be covered by the money back guarantee - but if he can file an INR anyway then whats the difference? Is the money back guarantee for not as described disputes but not INR disputes?

They allow it so the buyer and seller can work together but if it's past the time frame for buyer protection they would lose the case.

“Birth certificates show that you were born. Death certificates show that you died. Photographs show that you have lived.” -Unknown

myboardid · ‎05-12-2019

Call eBay and have the case closed in your favor because of the time lapse. But know that the buyer can turn around and open the same case in Paypal, and you would lose.

----------------------------
Successful and experienced seller since 1997, over 70,000 feedback, boardie since the boards were begun.

edwedw8383 · ‎05-13-2019

@itsjustasprain wrote:
~~I am in the US.~~ A buyer ~~in Costa Rica~~ bought my item on February 25

Even though your buyer is allowed to start a request, after 60 days from payment, your buyer cannot Ask eBay to step in: This is not because the eBay Money Back Guarantee has failed; it's because eBay simply cannot reverse any buyer's payment back to the buyer after 60 days:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/0/9/m-p/29385411#M45771

Read the thread: The option to Ask eBay to step in will never appear.

itsjustasprain · ‎05-13-2019

@edwedw8383 wrote:
@itsjustasprain wrote:
~~I am in the US.~~ A buyer ~~in Costa Rica~~ bought my item on February 25
Even though your buyer is allowed to start a request, after 60 days from payment, your buyer cannot Ask eBay to step in: This is not because the eBay Money Back Guarantee has failed; it's because eBay simply cannot reverse any buyer's payment back to the buyer after 60 days:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/0/9/m-p/29385411#M45771

Read the thread: The option to Ask eBay to step in will never appear.

I did read that thread - thank you. But it looks like the buyer will get steered to Paypal anyway. Paypal has a hold on the funds so the only thing they can be used for is the refund. Good thing its really not a lot of money. Think Im just going to refund the guy and BBL.

2015mhfashions · ‎05-13-2019

Simple lesson, never send anything untracked, Easy money, free gift, scammers paradise, Delcon countries 1st class International will have tracking and in many cases go to the countries own postal website with your tracking number and you get even more detailed up to date tracking than even USPS give you, for example Russia, track your packages at www.potcha.ru/en/tracking, not only is it more detailed but will also show you the address of the post office in the buyers city where is it available for pick up, what many people do not realize that in Russia many people have to pay an additional cost for a home delivery, i simply copy and paste the address and message the buyer, my point is in many cases you will get better tracked information with a usps package from the countries own postal website, any country non delcon Priority Mail only, if they want the item they will pay the postage, cover yourself at all times.

krupiers4agw · ‎05-13-2019

I hope you don't ebay told me tuff when I asked for help on a item I had not recived from England, said its been over 30 days... to bad for me... and then I can not even leave feedback either... tell them to file with ebay.. lol

itsjustasprain · ‎05-14-2019

@myboardid wrote:
Call eBay and have the case closed in your favor because of the time lapse. But know that the buyer can turn around and open the same case in Paypal, and you would lose.

Okay thanks everyone. In the end i just sent him a refund and BBLd him so he doesnt buy from me again.

This went on for 2-3 weeks I think and his side of it was alwasy in Spanish so i had to use Google translate to understand what he wanted and then translate my answer into Spanis as well. It didnt help that the USPS reused the tracking number in just 2 months since i bought the label - so i couldn't even see the tracking myself until i put in the original shipment date.

That got a whole new level of silly because when a date like 02/25/2019 goes through translate then Google converts it to Spanish version which is 25/02/2019. That is not what the USPS form wants and he did not see the problem with that so he never got past the duplicate number error page on USPS. I did manually correct the date after converting my answer to Spanish but he never seemed to pick up on that. The tracking stopped as I expected it would when the package flew out of here on 3/1 but for some reason he got all hung up on the duplicate number error. He tried the tracking number in the Costa Rica post office but they were even more clueless and said they could not find it at all.

So in the end I just threw in the towel. I do believe he never really got the package bcause I cant see a scammer keeping up the whole conversation back and forth for 2-3 weeks over a $20 part + shipping. If anyone else buys something from Costa Rica - which has never happened to me before - I will probably just bump it up to Priority.