Let me just say that this buyer has been polite and pleasant to deal with, but I wanna know if both of us can walk out of this happy. I’ve never had a situation like this before.
I’m from Canada and buyer is from the USA. I sent a package to him 1 month ago, and tracking has been stuck on “In Transit to Next Facility” since May 30th. Package is currently with USPS and buyer has contacted them multiple times, but they just keep telling him it’s in customs. Buyer has just opened a case claiming he’s waited long enough (which I agree with), and he will send the money back if his package arrives. What’s the best course of action here?
Do I just refund him? Should I let Ebay get involved? Will Ebay potentially refund buyer out of their own pocket? If I refund buyer through the case, will Ebay cover me if tracking eventually shows that it was delivered even if that’s like 2 months from now?
just tell him to be a little more patient, international shipping is still affected by covid, I had to wait 70 days for a package from the US, but it arrived. Honestly if your package was last updated 2 weeks ago, that’s not bad, just tell him that the situation sucks for both, but the package is underway.
A tracked letter I sent to the US hasn’t updated tracking since May 11 when it left my country… It is what it is right now unfortunately with international shipping, especially to and from the US.
International mail, due to this horrible virus, can take up to 3 months. If he’s too ignorant to understand that, then it’s too bad. Contact ebay and explain to customer service and get their advice.
Also, direct the dope to this thread;)
Thanks for the suggestion. I contacted ebay and unfortunately they weren’t very helpful. They said they will treat it as an item lost in transit since tracking hasn’t updated in 7 days. Is it worth contacting them multiple times to see if someone else would say/do things differently, or will they all say the same thing? They also said once I refund the buyer, that they will not be able to step in if item eventually shows as delivered, but I just read a comment on this site a few days ago claiming they were able to get ebay to reverse the refund in this case, so idk…
I just had a situation where I sent a card with tracking, buyer opened case as soon as he could, tracking didn’t update quick enough and ebay closed the case in his favour and refunded the buyer. A few days later tracking updated and showed the card arrived. I contacted ebay and at first they said they can’t do anything because the case was closed already and the card didn’t arrive fast enough (Lmao fucking joke). I called again the next day and explained to someone else the card arrived and tracking shows that, and she refunded me my money back right away.
Do you think results are different with calling vs using the online chat service? Call apparently has a 60 min wait time, chat service is near instant.
Also is it better that I refund the buyer myself through the case, or let ebay do it after the case is escalated?
Ebay is never of any help. Personally, I would refund the buyer if its not too much money. The buyer sounds honest and in my own experience most buyers are so I would trust him to send the money back if he receives it. I’ve actually had this happen to me a few times and haven’t had any issues. Otherwise if you don’t do anything the claim will be escalated, ebay will make a decision and the buyer will end up getting a refund and it will count against your seller account. I try to avoid getting ebay involved, they’re never on your side and it only upsets both you and the buyer and could hurt your feedback if your concerned about that. I’m 99% sure the package will be delivered eventually. Worst case scenario is that it doesn’t get delivered and most of the time it will get returned back to you, if the package inst lost. Just my 2 cents.
Yes it does make a difference. When I first called the lady said “we’ll give you in a call in 1-3 days to make our decision” then they didn’t call and sent me an email saying “we have decided the case in buyers favour cuz tracking shows it didn’t arrive on time”… which was stupid af. I called again the next day and they refunded me and closed case in my favor in 5 mins. The call times were never more than 15 mins for me and you can click the option for them to call you so you’re not on hold anyways.
If you refund buyer yourself, you won’t get a “transaction defect” on your account. I just let ebay escalate it and I had a defect but after the card showed it arrived they just removed it for me.
Communication is key.
I have involved ebay three times recently with items not arriving.
First seller explained the covid situation in their country and I waited much longer till the item arrived.
Second seller did not reply at all so I automatically got a refund… and then the item arived sometime later.
Third seller is domestic, and in a few days I will receive a refund if they they do not reply. Card should have arrived weeks ago.
Ok, so I ended up refunding the guy the night before he could escalate the case, and of course the next day tracking updates… I messaged him telling him the good news, and he doesn’t respond until it shows as delivered where he then says he didn’t actually get it. He said he’s gonna go to the main office in the morning and let me know what they say. What do you guys think?
I was starting to get nervous since I have 2 packages in transit that haven’t updated since the 12 and 13 of this month. Puts me at ease to know it’s not out of the ordinary for the current situation! Thank you
The fact that he said it didn’t arrive but tracking shows as delivered means you automatically win the case. You’ll get refunded you just may have to call eBay a few times, don’t do it over email or chat.
I was gonna call them yesterday, but he’s been sending me quite a few messages updating me on the issue. I really wanna give him the benefit of the doubt, but some of the things he tells me just doesn’t seem to add up.
His most recent messages claims his post office closed at 1 today, but they also went out asking if anyone had the package after 1 on a Saturday. Is that a thing? He said they’re gonna send out letters on Monday to addresses it was potentially delivered to claiming it’s a federal offence and that this usually makes people bring back the packages. I just can’t see post offices actually putting that much effort into finding a $100 package. He said himself that they had to take his info down 3 times because they can’t hold onto a piece of paper for more than an hour.
Not backing this one but some small town post offices do some reall good things. I think Rusty’s postmaster actuall drove you some houses looking for his lost package.
That’s pretty cool, but Rusty is probably good friends with people there as I wouldn’t doubt that he sees them nearly everyday. Do you think I have a time frame on when I’m able to get a refund by calling into eBay about this? or would I be ok to wait a bit while buyer tries to get it solved, assuming he’s being truthful. He seems stressed and I don’t want to potentially add onto it lol.