eBay

netwizz760 · ‎12-04-2020

How do I handle a presumably lost item? I have had packages working their way around this one ending up at their destination, yet this one cannot quite make it 5 miles down the street from my post office to the sort facility in the State capitol. Obviously, at some point the buyer is going to get angry to not get what he paid to receive, and obviously I am responsible to refund him if he never gets his package. Obviously, if it was insured (it is not) then USPS would cover the loss if I wait the requisite amount of time.

It never made it from my local post office to the sort facility 5 miles down the road...

1. How do I handle the buyer without causing myself issues? Presumably the buyer will eventually open a case for Item Not Received. Is this going to reflect poorly on me when I have proof I shipped on time?

2. How do I avoid any defects?

3. Is there seller protection if the buyer leaves a neg for non-delivery when I have proof I did my part and it is a USPS issue outside my control?

4. If USPS never delivers a package, am I at least entitled to a refund of the service since they did not provide it? or do I still pay them full price for their breach of duty - negligence being they scanned it at some point before losing it?

5. What happens to my Final Value Fee, Promotion Fee, Pay Pal fees, etc? Do I get any of them back?

Thanks

lamber9347 · ‎12-04-2020

@netwizz760 wrote:
How do I handle a presumably lost item? I have had packages working their way around this one ending up at their destination, yet this one cannot quite make it 5 miles down the street from my post office to the sort facility in the State capitol. Obviously, at some point the buyer is going to get angry to not get what he paid to receive, and obviously I am responsible to refund him if he never gets his package. Obviously, if it was insured (it is not) then USPS would cover the loss if I wait the requisite amount of time.
It never made it from my local post office to the sort facility 5 miles down the road...

1. How do I handle the buyer without causing myself issues? Presumably the buyer will eventually open a case for Item Not Received. Is this going to reflect poorly on me when I have proof I shipped on time? Until the buyer opens an INR case there is nothing you can do and no reason to worry about this. Packages are all being delayed so it may still get to its destination. If buyer opens INR you will just have to upload the tracking number and wait it out. Really nothing else to do so try to remain positive.

2. How do I avoid any defects? Nothing you can do at this point....

3. Is there seller protection if the buyer leaves a neg for non-delivery when I have proof I did my part and it is a USPS issue outside my control? No, the buyer has every right to leave a negative if they want to but most likely they won't. As a seller you ARE responsible for the delivery, it's in the TOS that you agreed to....

4. If USPS never delivers a package, am I at least entitled to a refund of the service since they did not provide it? or do I still pay them full price for their breach of duty - negligence being they scanned it at some point before losing it? USPS does not refund for any uninsured packages.

5. What happens to my Final Value Fee, Promotion Fee, Pay Pal fees, etc? Do I get any of them back? PP never refunds fees, that's been their policy for a while now. I've never heard of promotion fees being credited. I believe your FVF's are refunded by eBay when you refund the entire amount. I get that you are asking for advice so you can be prepared but I also want to remind you that you're putting the cart before the horse. Best of luck to you....

Thanks

oldwestgold · ‎12-04-2020

Open a delivery issue online. Follow the USPS process. Once the ticket is opened it will be sent to your local Post Office on which they 24 hrs to investigate and reply. If you do NOT insure your mail items you are rolling the dice to save a few bucks. That risk is then on you plain and simple including any refund of postage fees. Good luck!

pjcdn2005 · ‎12-04-2020

Promotion fees are credited, usually on the following invoice.

importparts123 · ‎12-05-2020

opening a missing mail report is the most useless thing the PO offers. I opened a claim for a lost package. every month for almost 8 months I would get an email saying they were still lookin for the package. after 8 months they finally said they couldn't find it. by then it was too late to file a claim.

dbfolks166mt · ‎12-05-2020

Take a pro-active approach and open up a discussion with your buyer regarding the shipping status of the item. Let them know you are tracking the item and it appears it may have become lost in the shipping process. If the buyer opens a INR case once the item has not arrive by the stupid eBay published delivery date there is little you can do if the package has not been delivered. Either you have to refund or eBay will automatically do it for you eBay cares little about the fact that you "shipped on time" they focus on the delivery.

If you take a pro-active approach and work with the buyer and the item never arrives they may not leave negative feedback and may in fact leave positive for your efforts in addressing the issue. As far as restitution from USPS it depends on what class you used to ship the item. Priority mail comes with limited insurance as part of the use of the priority mail class, first class has no insurance unless you purchased it when you shipped the item.

The following link has the USPS timeline for filing a claim for a lost or damaged item. You will need to provide USPS with several pieces of information regarding the lost item. USPS will review the case and make a decision within 5-10 days. They will, strangely enough, reimburse you for the cost of the item if they decide in your favor but they won't refund the postage cost.

https://about.usps.com/publications/pub122/pub122_v07_revision_092016_006.htm

netwizz760 · ‎12-05-2020

I think the buyer is very reasonable. I wish I had another to ship the buyer because I would already be doing that. Instead, all I can do is reach-out to the buyer. Do I proactively refund the buyer, or is the procedure to wait or even ask the buyer to file an Item Not Received if an item does not show up?

Thanks