How long past delivery due date is TOO long?

[password9019]

I purchased an item from Spain on the 30th of December and it was posted for shipment on the 2nd of this month.  The tracking info appears to terminate with a Jan 5 statment in Spanish that the package was recieved at an airport (no mention of what airport this is, tho).

There has been no added tracking infomration since Jan 5th.  The estimated time for delivery was Jan 11-Jan 22.  That is what the order details state but on another of my pages, it actually states the estimated delivery time to be no later than Jan 21st.

I've reached out to the seller several times as to why the shipment appears with no updated information, and the seller is informing me that he was "told" by his post office that the package was in the U.S., at an airpoirt.  This was in a message I got 3 days ago.  Again however, no mention of where this airport is or what it is called.  I have also been told in a couple other messages from the seller that the package is possibly held up in customs.  Yet, in these same messages, the seller informs that delivery is slow to get to me due to poor weather in the Northeast U.S..

I am not seeing what U.S. Customs and the weather have to do with one another.  I know for a fact that the Northeast U.S. only had travel disrupted significantly once this year due to weather, and that was three weeks ago.  An even briefer disruption had occurred in some places around a week ago, but that was very temporary.  I'm also clueless as to where exactly, the seller is getting his shipping information from.   The data I have basically only states the package was dropped off for shipment and then arrived at an airport- and that all 18 days ago or more.

There's not really much more to tell.  This item would be in a box approximate to the size of a box a pair of mens boots would come in, and would weigh roughly 3-3.5 pounds.

My first inclination since seeing no updated tracking (and no delivery as of yesterday), that the package became lost or stolen.   And even before it left Spain.

Any thoughts, opinions or advice as to this matter is greatly appreciated.  I welcome whatever helpful replies may be offered. 

Thanks.

[chrysylys]

I usually receive items from Asia in about 15 business days, but I've had them go as long as 40 recently.  Not much experience from Spain.

I would file an INR 3 days after the latest due date.  Once opened, it can be extended a bit.  If it closes, you get refunded and the package arrives later, you can re-pay the seller.

[takikawa4]

@password9019

Since you have up to 30 days past the last estimated delivery date (although I would say 29 just in case), I would probably wait another week before filing an item not received.

[password9019]

One thing I am strongly against are sellers getting their refund back 80, 90, 120 days beyond the time of the refund being issued. I am tempted to think eBay would concur.

If you mail something without expressly stating or implying that the package may take those lengths of time to get there, than nothing entitles you to be repaid later if it does arrive long after a refund is given. And I consider longer than two or three months' time to be "long after".

I think eBay would see it this way, as well. Now, if there actually ever is a tracking upload that confirms delivery having occurred months later- and the record of such is with the seller, than the seller may have a case for the refund to be paid back. Not sure how eBay handles matters like that, but in any event it would be up to the seller to request such and put in for it through eBay.

I certainly feel no obligation - under the rules as I know them here - to come out months later and say, 'Oh, by the way, here's you money back that was originally my money to begin with. I'm okay with having waited this long to get something that was supposedly going to arrive weeks and weeks ago.'

[password9019]

What I notice in the "I didn't receive it" option in the dropdown box, (under Purchase History), is that when I click on that, eBay is showing in a generic diagram that the package is "in transit". It has like a 'start to finish' schematic that says "in transit", smack in the middle of the line that begins on the left and ends on the right side (of my screen).

Well guess what, the actual *tracking* data doesn't say that. Nothing in the Spanish tracking notes says any such thing. As far as I can tell, the package never even left Spain, because there's nothing in the history that reflects such.

I am not sure if eBay says "in transit" to give the seller a competitive edge in a refund dispute, or if it is because it knows something about the shipment that the carrier doesn't.

[missjen831]

---

@password9019 wrote:
One thing I am strongly against are sellers getting their refund back 80, 90, 120 days beyond the time of the refund being issued. I am tempted to think eBay would concur.

If you mail something without expressly stating or implying that the package may take those lengths of time to get there, than nothing entitles you to be repaid later if it does arrive long after a refund is given. And I consider longer than two or three months' time to be "long after".

I think eBay would see it this way, as well. Now, if there actually ever is a tracking upload that confirms delivery having occurred months later- and the record of such is with the seller, than the seller may have a case for the refund to be paid back. Not sure how eBay handles matters like that, but in any event it would be up to the seller to request such and put in for it through eBay.

I certainly feel no obligation - under the rules as I know them here - to come out months later and say, 'Oh, by the way, here's you money back that was originally my money to begin with. I'm okay with having waited this long to get something that was supposedly going to arrive weeks and weeks ago.'

---

There is an estimated delivery date on every listing. If ebay says the delivery estimate is 30-45 days away, the seller does not need to say "it may take up to 45 days". Its already been said for him. Ebay does not concur with you, ebay actually doesn't care if the seller refunds you and item arrives & you repay or don't repay. Once you get your refund, ebay no longer cares what happens. They don't even know if you repay the seller or not. So its not a matter of them agreeing with you that the the seller shouldn't get their money back. Its out of their hands by that point so they don't care what you do.

[password9019]

But that's what I am saying. Ebay would concur to the extent they don't care what happens two or three months later. However, what if the seller just came straight up and gave me my money back using Paypal only- without the transaction ever being cancelled through eBay?

I am already seeing my package's last arrival day was three days ago. Still, the tracking doesn't even show it ever entered the U.S. yet.

What I don't like is that if you report this to eBay, you'd be choosing from the "I didn't receive it" option and when you click on it, it says "In transit".

How can I be told by eBay that my package from Spain to New York is "in transit", when the actual tracking number info says no such thing??? I tend to think that eBay DOES care, in some way, some how.