On May 21st 2023 I bought on ebay the GB hand painted cover (see picture above) for 261 GBP
The cover, shipped to my address in Italy, was stopped by the Italian custom office, inquiring about the value of the content. The custom declaration attached by the sender said ‘zero’ value. I therefore spoke to the custom and arranged for it to be sent back to the seller in the UK
I also spoke with the office of the sender explaining the reason for the return, and also asking them to hold on to the cover so that I could give him the UK address to ship it to once it would have come back to him
My request was misunderstood and the cover was shipped again immediately to me in Italy with a custom declaration of the full GBP 261 value, and was again stopped by the Italian custom office
I had it sent back to the seller once again
Months went by without any trace of the shipment; I followed up several times with the Custom office in Milan to locate the shipment and inquire about reimbursement, but they said and confirmed that the issue had to be handled at the source, of which I duly informed the sender
At the end of last year the sender – who had been trying from his end – informed me that the UK PO had admitted that the cover had been lost in transit and was refunded, and proceeded to refund me the full amount that I had paid
However in January of 2024 the seller contacted me to say that the cover had unexpectedly shown up at his end, and asked me to return the refund, which I did promptly. I also provided the London address of a friend and stamp expert for the cover to be shipped to
As soon as my friend got it, he informed me that the cds on the cover was also drawn by hand, in other words that the item was a fantasy or a fake, made by sticking a genuine 1d lilac on the cover and completing the cds by hand
Upon getting this information I immediately contacted the seller, but my request of at least a partial reimbursement was turned down on the basis of the fact that the cover was pictured on the ebay page and that the description said ‘posted locally’ ie. clearly showing - according to the seller - that this was not what I thought. I disagreed and still asked to be indemnified on the basis of the fact that there is no proof whatsoever that the cover was posted at any time; also, having never had the cover in my hands, it would have been very difficult for me to realize the nature of the cds, and I trusted the feedback score of the seller;
Additionally, for the reasons explained above I couldn’t bring up the issue within the 180 days limit, nor leave a feedback warning to possible buyers and potential clients. I am therefore turning to this board to bring this case to the general attention: having no official way to enforce my point of view I still think that it is important that this issue is disclosed at least to ebay, if not to the individuals responsible for the other 17 bids made on this lot.
