Question for you all with a bit of backstory/context here. Over the past 3ish years I’ve run a E-commerce shop on Etsy (DND dice if you must know) during that time, I filled roughly over 35,000 orders. Needless to say, I know how shipping usually works. With the occasional package going missing or item marked as delivered and customer stating it had not. Etsy’s policy was: if you have tracking your good, we’ll even refund the buyer out of Etsy’s pocket and not yours. While I have my gripes with Etsy (customer service is awful to non-existent) It was actually a pretty good system. I figured most e-commerce platforms are roughly the same so I revived my old E-bay account and started moving cards along.
It’s been pretty great so far except for one snag: I’ve had one customer with a card that has been delayed in transit, I’ve initiated a missing mail request and am trying to recover. While the customer has been cool, I decided to look into E-bay policy, and I’m not quite sure if I have a full understanding. From what it sounds like, in a nut shell, if this package goes missing or I can’t provide a “delivered” tracking number, I as the seller am on the hook for a full refund?
I’m a more than a bit surprised if this the correct policy. I’m not quite sure if it’s fair to say that I as the seller am responsible. I would fully put blame on USPS (as they physically have the package). I know USPS has insurance, but in my experience you have less than a 50% chance of actually getting that back if you put in a claim.
Can anyone give me their experience of a similar situation? Am I fully responsible for the refund of the customer? Or will E-bay note that I can provide a legitimate tracking number and it’s out of my hands? Any insight welcome!
In my experience and this has only happened once when a package was lost in transit for over a month, I just received a refund from eBay (the seller) and once the item arrived I told the seller to contact eBay and appeal the dispute, since it was marked as delivered eBay refunded him the money, I think it’s one of the few situations where eBay loses money (there’s another two I can think of though). You do need tracking for this to happen though, but I don’t recommend anyone ever ship anything on eBay without tracking.
EDIT: FORGOT TO MENTION, to appeal a dispute you have to let the timer run out on the dispute, the refund needs to be forced by eBay, they will not refund the fees in this case but if you refund the buyer yourself there’s no possibility of appeal no matter what so it’s a gamble.
I went through a similar situation recently. I know it’s not something most people would agree with here, but as sellers on eBay, we’re responsible for getting the package to the customer even if the fault is on USPS.
A graded booster pack I sold was lost and I initiated a missing mail request. It took months for them to even find the package. It turns out they “killed” it (according to the post office workers I talked to), and they sent it to their Missing Mail Center facility in Atlanta, Georgia. I lost hope after a good while and refunded the buyer. They were very reasonable and patient throughout the process, however. We both worked hard to resolve the case. Eventually it turned up months after my missing mail request was initiated.
In your case, I think you should continue working with the buyer and wait for the package to turn up. Offer a refund to the buyer (should they take it), but continue searching for the missing package. Make sure your item gets delivered back to you if it’s found. You can do this in the missing mail form. This way you’re not out of both the money and the item. If it’s officially declared “lost” by USPS, then you can file an insurance claim. You’ll only be compensated the full sale/refund amount if you bought extra insurance, I believe. It’s a tough situation to be in, but you have to essentially tussle with USPS over this.
Sorry to hear you’re going through this. I hope it eventually gets resolved. Best of luck!
Thank you for your feedback. This is exactly what I was curious about.
From my perspective and previous experience using a third party platform for sales, I find the policy to be ridiculous. That said, it IS the policy so I likely have no real recourse.
You’re right and I among them. I think of it this way: you use door dash to order food. The delivery driver then decides to eat the food. The restaurant can prove without a doubt that the food was made and given to the delivery driver. The person then responsible for the loss… is the restaurant? Not the delivery driver? The restaurant is clearly not a fault in this instance but this is basically what E-bay is saying.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve lost a few packages in the past but the “owner” (in my case, Etsy) of the restaurant franchise (in my case, my Etsy shop) always picked up the tab to take care of the customer, and make sure that the restaurant didn’t take a hit (what else are they doing for the seller in these scenarios?)
Fun fact: Etsy only charges 6.5% Fees, and I have in fact seen someone sell real graded cards on there.
Not that I’m super pro Etsy or suggesting anyone sell there, I just find this a very interesting difference between the two platforms.
Different markets, although people do sell graded cards, sealed, whatever there they’re not really supposed to, I think it’s supposed to be a purely handmade/custom item marketplace, right?
According to Etsy’s CEO it’s not about handmade/custom it’s about “special”.
There are thousands of shops selling bulk produced items from China. A number of stores are “print on demand” Utilizing AI and other works that don’t require the shop owner to do anything other than accept payment.
The loop hole you can utilize is branding. Have a brand and then list anything you want (that is generic) under that brand.