I sold a card on eBay for $200 + $30 ship to UK. I used USPS and the tracking gives me this:
I went into USPS today to talk to the postal service worker and they told me that the shipping option I chose does not fully track the package once it reaches UK’s shipping services such as Royal Mail. (They suggested express so it will be tracked all the way to the destination.) In short, I can’t confirm if the package reached the destination and I have to go with what the buyer is saying.
The buyer reached out and asked about the package and it looks like I may be at a loss. What do I do here?
I would let them open a case and see what eBay does. They may just credit the buyer and let you keep the proceeds. I hate situations like this. Sure there are a lot of honest people out there but the low lifes I’ve dealt with make me question all of these stories. Another option is to call eBay direct and see how they would rule on an inr case based on that status
Search for “eBay have us call you”. I always try to use this when I contact eBay as I get an actual person contacting me rather than an automated message or something else. The wait is usually only a few minutes as well.
Once it reaches the other country, most of the time the tracking halts for the shipping service of the shipping country, and continues in the shipping service of the receiving country. It is likely updating on the uk mail tracking service. You could also use one of those international tracking sites which checks all sites.
It will have been passed over to Royal Mail and depending on the value you put on the package, there is a chance that if it hit customs then that process is very slow.
They send a letter to the received with the bill
Wait for the receiver to get the letter
Wait for the receiver to pay the bill
Release package a day or so later
And if the receiver decides to not pay/delay paying then it will never move on and you as the seller never know what is going on, until they eventually might return the package.
Not saying this is what happened, but something to be aware of
Man that sucks. I sold some stuff to the UK buyer but luckily they received the package a day or two after it got handled off. Looks like that link from @jac2357 works well. I just entered my USPS tracking number into it and it shows it was delivered 03/31/2023.
There was a post about eBay international shipping, I can see that would’ve been so helpful with situations like this since you are done once it reaches eBay’s shipping center.
Update: So eBay forced my hand after the buyer opened up a refund request. I had the option of updating the tracking number, but with no movement on the package that doesn’t really do me much. I ended up choosing the refund option.
Oh well. I guess I pester eBay to refund me? Or USPS? Or am I at a loss here?
You should open a claim with USPS (I’m assuming that’s who you sent it with). eBay won’t help you at all, unless you use their international shipping service.
I put in a lost package request. I don’t think anything will come of this but figured I’d try. Going to accept the loss and learn from it but I’ll update the thread as I learn more
Oh, looks like they found it. I’m guessing you’ve already had to refund the buyer? Contact the postal service to see if they can redirect the mail back to you, otherwise the buyer will have received the refund and the card!
