So back in early April I shipped 2 different items off to England from the US. Fast forward to today and neither item has been received yet, but tracking is still present and says the items are on there way still. It is just taking a stupid long time.
One buyer put in a claim because it was taking too long and demanded a refund. EBay sided with him and I filed an appeal on the basis that he will eventually get his cards most likely and then I’m out the money while he gets a free item. What makes this more annoying is that I lose the cost of shipping too.
The second buyer asked about his item today and noted that it has been a long time. He asked if I could do anything to help figure out out when it would arrive. I told him there was nothing that could be done and that his item will eventually come, but it will be a really long time possibly.
Anyone else having issues? I’m just gonna stop shipping international for now I think, but how do you deal with eBay in this regard? Should I keep my money through the seller protection policy? Help me out guys!
UPDATE: One of the cases that was opened against me for an item not delivered has since been closed and the buyer got a full refund.
HOWEVER, I just noticed that the tracking updated for the item and will most likely be delivered soon. I called eBay and they told me that upon delivery of the item I can make an appeal and get ALL of my money back. They assured me that I would win the appeal in this situation.
ANOTHER claim opened against me was for an item that has not been delivered, but the tracking says “out for delivery”. It has said this since early May though. Upon talking with eBay, they said since the item was out for delivery that they would actually side with me in this case because USPS successfully mailed the item to the intended destination. This is despite the seller not receiving the item yet.
Nope. I just had to reimburse a buyer almost $1k today for a Magic card that has been stuck ‘in transit’ without a tracking update for 2 weeks. And mine was domestic (US). It sucks, but that’s what eBay requires so you don’t have another choice unfortunately.
OP, did your items sit in Chicago by any chance? I finally just had movement on a card headed for Poland after a month of sitting in the Chicago International Distribution Center.
There’s nothing to fight, unfortunately. I had it happen once several years ago, too, and the item never had another tracking update (that one was <$100, though). If the item ends up arriving, you can typically either get your item or money back.
I was forced to refund. The buyer opened the case on the 11th and they were able to escalate to eBay on the 17th, I believe. He ended up escalating it today and it forced a refund. I filed a missing item claim a week ago (the item’s been ‘in transit’ since the 4th) and haven’t gotten an update yet. And they don’t allow you to request an update until at least 60 days have passed. So there wasn’t much I could/can do.
EDIT: oh, I should also mention that the item’s second to last update, prior to just saying ‘in transit,’ was it departing the Phoenix postal facility, which is the exact same city the buyer lives in. So it’s been over 2 weeks in the same city as the destination. So it’s almost certainly stolen or permanently lost at this point.
The one that I was forced to refund WAS shipped from Chicago’s International facility.
The other one was out of NY Jamaica facility and has not updated since April 1st on tracking. At least the Chicago one updated as of May 3rd… Freaking ridiculous.
Yeah, the buyer can escalate to eBay after the claim has been open for a certain number of days (I think like 5 or 6, but I’m not sure if it varies depending on purchase date or other factors). eBay will force a refund once they escalate, unfortunately, which is exactly what happened to me. Really sucks, but at least a lucky postal worker somewhere now has a NM/M Beta Vesuvan Doppelganger, which I hope they enjoy .
When using eBay ONLY ship international through the eBay Global Shipping Program. In doing so your only obligation is the get the package to Erlanger, KY. From that point on eBay takes responsibility for customs, the shipment transit time, and making sure the item arrives. If it never arrives or arrives damaged or the Nigerian Cartel hijacks the transport ship - not your problem eBay takes care of it and you’re feedback protected.
I did a deal outside eBay with a member here for $800. The package says it has been sitting in London for over a month now and he just opened a dispute against me without telling me or anything. Currently fighting it as USPS told me there was a big strike there and it is most likely sitting in a warehouse waiting to be processed yet.
In 8 years of shipping, I have never had a problem with international sales. Even had to jump through hoops in the past to ship to Singapore and it always works out. First instance of trouble comes from London/England… unbelievable.
I waited almost 1.5 months for a piece of international mail (from Australia to the U.S., which I only received a week ago). 1 month is not abnormally long for international mail right now. Domestic U.S. mail seems to be only slightly delayed on average, but international mail seems to be a clusterfuck ATM.
if you are selling ANYTHING expensive, buy FULL INSURANCE. eBay will kick your ass, cause they don’t really care about you as a seller. Even if eBay forces you to refund, you can eventually get your claim for lost item if it’s truly lost. In the event that it gets delivered, then you probably have a decent case to take back to eBay to say hey the item did in fact arrive after the severe delay. I have never had this happen, but I would believe you could have a good law suit if eBay doesn’t help you out. Or at that point, you can still get Paypal to step in, since the actual payment is transacted through Paypal, not eBay.
But if UPS or whatever mail courier has not officially deemed the item lost/undeliverable, can eBay actually force you to refund? technically, it’s just a delayed package.
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