I've had mixed luck with Media Mail. Usually items are delivered to buyer within like 10 days or earlier. On rare occasions, like what just happened to me, the item was delayed and its tracking froze at a distribution center in my state. It's destination was clear across the country.
The expected delivery date is not posted by the seller. That is automatically done by eBay, and has to do with the time frame associated with the class mail offered for shipping. I think Media is shown to take up to 9 business days.
I think some buyers are in too much of a hurry, don't look at the class, or not aware that Media Mail takes (on average) the longest of any class mail to deliver.
And as a seller, I only now become aware of the fact that Media Mail can be bumped to other classes of mail which all take priority, especially when USPS is seeing high volume demand and or there's shortage of staff. It's been a minute since I've had many items offered with Media Mail, so perhaps I've just forgotten.
In any event, a buyer opened a case for INR after about 12 days. If it were me ai would have messaged the seller after 10 days and given them a moment to see what's up before opening a case somewhere closer to 15 days.
If the package has stalled somewhere, USPS site (not ebay) has a help page which shows three options. The first is for seller to check the tracking number. That's redundant since I can see tracking in Ebay. The second files for the USPS to basically do the same thing, and all they do is confirm that the item was received, tracking, but stalled somewhere. A USPS postmaster from the sellers address reached out to me (I had called them first, because i also specify in my listing that I don't ship to PO BOX, and I was curious if that was the case. It was.), which was kind of him, and that 'file' was closed. He was saying, Just skip to the third option, because the second is just redundancy. The third is a file of search for missing package request, and then USPS will search for the package and, if found, send it on its way. They're also supposed to notify me, but haven't.
Fortunately, the package was found and sent on its way. The package arrived at the buyers address today. It took 16 days (including weekends). Since the seller opened a case and did not contact me first before doing so, I haven't heard a peep from them. Even though the package was delivered today, yet the INR case is still apparently open. I wrote a note within the last message I send buyer, within the INR case pending link, to reiterate that I shipped buyers order on time, filed a missing package search, and kept the buyer informed of all updates as I learned them. So that, once an eBay agent may look at the case, they'll first of all see delivery, and if the buyer chooses to ding me for the Media Mail experience, I can demonstrate that had that option clearly posted, and I went above and beyond to facilitate a smooth process. Communication is key, and they'll see that I did my best, while the buyer didn't communicate with me.
In any case, if 1 out of 10 media mail packages are delayed to this extent, and I don't know what the frequency is (but less than that), and in these cases the buyers get very frustrated, I may discontinue use of offering Media Mail.
The whole reason I have Media Mail is because I'm shipping CDs or multiple movies in their cases. The weight surpassed the max weight for First Class. It's the most economical class, and so appeals to buyers, who might otherwise balk at the idea of paying nearly $8 for flat rate priority mail envelope. That's just how it goes. Media Mail is cheap. First Class is reasonable, if you are within weight. Priority can delay sales on media. I may instead add Priority as an option alongside Media Mail and offer some more information in my write up about Media Mail being the slowest. But I'm well aware that some buyers will nevertheless negate to read all the details they're offered.
Just check, as a buyer, the shipping before you buy and be fully aware that Media Mail takes the longest, and could be delayed for a long time at that. If the seller doesn't specific which class they ship, inquire to them or choose another seller who has that item at the shipping class you desire.
The long shipping delay with Media Mail (sometimes) is not just for buyers. If a buyer opens a INR claim, and after their given time frame for seller to act, eBay decides in the favor of the buyer, the seller must refund the buyer. But what if the package arrives soon after that? The buyer is out the item and shipping. There is no recourse, neither appealing to ebay for reversal of refund, nor can buyer claim insurance from shipper, because the item was finally delivered. The whole instance is uncommon, but can and does happen. I've had that happen once, and it was not Media Mail but Priority. Some buyers (probably most won't) will be fair and honest, if they received the package after they were refunded through an INR claim (or if seller proactively refunded the buyer, although seller should not do that), offering to send seller payment even though they aren't required to.
Buyers ought to give the seller the benefit of the doubt, first of all. Contact the seller first to see what they can do about an issue. Any issue. If I had my way, a buyer would have to message a seller first before being allowed to open any claim. If you don't hear back from the seller within 24 hours (reasonably, business days, M-F), Then feel free to open a claim. I haven't heard a peep from my buyer throughout this process from INR, filed missing package search, ask postmaster questions, updates about every other day to buyer about its whereabouts, etc. It's been time consuming.
If however after all this, the buyer leaves me negative feedback, confusing my role in the whole delivery process, absolutely I'll be disappointed. I will contact ebay, spend some 20 minutes to see if they will neutralize it, which they can. If the buyer left an untrue or unsavory comment, I can reply to that comment publicly.
If the seller has excellent feedback score, and the item is relatively inexpensive, they're bery likely not out to con you. All shipping options come with Tracking these days. So you should definitely see tracking and that the item was scanned at pickup by the shipping company. If you confirm that the seller shipped the item on time, please do assume its purely a shipper fault. If the seller works with you to locate and have the package delivered that's the very best they can do. So long as you're within ebays 30 day buyer protection window, you can open a case and get satisfaction. Give the seller a fair chance to remedy any situation you may experience.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
