Advice Needed- Ebay Win Says 'Delivered' But I Did Not Receive It
cmerlo1
Posts: 7,910 ✭✭✭✭✭
Hoping for some sage advice here on if there's anything I can do about this...
I won the following lot on eBay, paid for it, and according to tracking, it was delivered in my mailbox on 8/5:
My first action was to go one street over to my neighbors'. They have the same house number, and our street names are very similar, and we often receive each other's mail. For once, they didn't have it. I waited a few days to see if whomever it might have been misdelivered to would bring it by, but no luck. I contacted the seller, who confirmed my shipping address, and he said they only insure packages for $50 and above. I'm just wondering what next steps should be- I don't want to damage the seller since they shipped it on time to the correct address, and there don't seem to be any options on eBay for this situation that I could find. I know it isn't a lot of money, and I'd rather have what I bought, but is there a way for me to get my money back?
Thanks as always!!
Comments
Tracking's "delivered" is the final word. Now it's between you and the post office. I have heard stories of ebay refunding buyers in similar cases, give them a shot. Seller's off the hook, item was his until tracking showed "delivered," now it's yours.
"Interest rates, the price of money, are the most important market. And, perversely, they’re the market that’s most manipulated by the Fed." - Doug Casey
If there was no signature confirmation, Ebay makes the seller refund if the buyer claims they didn't receive it, no matter what the PO tracking says.
That's been my experience, anyway.
File your non-reception with Ebay, call Ebay Customer Service (if the seller hasn't already), and tell them the story.
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
First of all, per paypal and ebay, sig. conf. not required if the items value is less than $750. Second, not sure where you got your info from. As derryb indicated, if tracking indicates "it's delivered," it becomes an issue between the buyer and PO. eBay will back the seller. I always get the Post Master and Postal Inspector involved, and it's amazing how often the item mysteriously reappear. Most of the time, the carrier mistakenly scanned it as delivered. and it's still on the truck, hidden in one of the hampers.
I'd speak to your mailman and/or local PO to make sure it was actually delivered. A description of the physical packaging from the seller might be useful in that regard. You may just get shoulder shrugs, but it's probably worth a shot.
The advice above is good but most likely far too late considering the 8/5 delivery date, most mail delivery folks are not going to remember a package delivered yesterday much less one two weeks ago.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
@dpoole YOU GOT BUSTED for not knowing the way things work on ebay these days!
@cmerlo1 Your best bet is to contact ebay. They do have a goodwill program for circumstances like this they use at their discretion. They covered a $400 loss for a very low feedback buyer that had the same situation on a sale I made.
There is some possibility that the parcel was never, if fact, delivered. USPS tracking is frequently erroneous, even in the "best of times". Before going to eBay, I would at least inquire with the local PO.
The postal scanners have GPS. Speak to the Postmaster or a supervisor at your local post office. Don't speak to a clerk or the carrier as they don't have access to the GPS info. They can check to see where it was delivered. If delivered to your house/box, it may have been stolen. If it was misdelivered they will try to recover it for you. Understandably they will not tell you where it was misdelivered as they don't want people knocking on others doors.
This happened to me a few weeks ago with a map that I purchased on ebay. The tracking number showed it had been delivered but it wasn't and it wasn't left with the neighbors. I called the post office and spoke with the post master at our local office and explained the situation. She called our carrier and that same day, which was two days after tracking had said it was delivered, and the mail carrier pulled the tube with the map out and handed it to me. He said he had just heard from his boss and searched the mail delivery truck and there it was. It seemed like an honest mistake where someone must have checked that it had been delivered but then forgot to actually take it with the rest of the mail and drop it off at the house. Always worth a call as I felt the same way, I didn't want to ding the seller, but at the same time I didn't get my map. Happy ending on a low cost item for me, but it made me more nervous about some of my coin purchases.
Seated Dollar Collection
CORRECTION- IT was actually 'delivered' 8/15, not 8/5. This has been a LONG week. Probably better news for me. I'm going to try the PO route, after asking the seller to describe the packaging.
Three times in the past month I have had packages show as delivered, then show up in the mailbox the next day. I have Chalked it up as a symptom of the struggles the PO is dealing with in general.
In your case I would definitely speak to the driver or his supervisor, I would expect your package to turn up with a little searching.
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
Did you recently move and change your address? If so it may have went to your old address.
No- been here for 16 years now. Also, the seller confirmed the address they shipped it to, and it was correct.
Why would you even consider inpuning the seller of this item? Certainly he did everything right including getting it to your mailbox. He's off the hook and your recourse is only with the PO.
bob
Like i said in the OP, I don't want to damage the seller.
Then you should be all over your letter carrier.
As stated in another thread, the increasing inconsistency, poor service and lack of accountability of the USPS has put a damper on my coin collecting activities in recent years. I do not receive my mail regularly, I regularly have packages delivered to neighbors and marked as delivered, and a few years ago had a $10k coin sent from a dealer marked as delivered to a different address about a mile away, and signed for by some other person. (The coin eventually turned up, but the episode gave a scare to both myself and the dealer who sold it.)
Why would you even consider "dinging the seller?" He did what was required.
@cmerlo1
Talk with the postmaster.
It always helps to have a good relationship with them.
But....most likely you are screwed.
As mentioned by @amwldcoin , if you can't recover your item, you do have recourse through eBay.
I had an eBay package arrive torn open and missing a roll of quarters. I explained the situation to the seller and returned the packaging to him. He instructed me to open a case with eBay so that they could rule on it. eBay decided in our favor, and I ended up receiving a courtesy refund, meaning the funds came from eBay and not the seller.
USPS is very unreliable these days. I placed a roll of half dollars and another coin in the mail first class last Thursday. The coin was successfully shown as delivered early in the week, but the roll of half dollars hasn’t even scanned in as received by the PO. I called the destination PO and they had not received the package. My local PO customer service told me not to worry unless it fails to register activity 14 days... Unbelievable.
Exactly, I said I didn't want to ding the seller and I didn't and wouldn't. To your exact point of even considering it, I would say if I paid for an item and I paid to have it shipped I would expect to receive it. The seller's responsibility ends when I receive it not when it gets mailed. That is a much different conversation and likely to be disputed by some.
Seated Dollar Collection
@dpoole YOU GOT BUSTED for not knowing the way things work on ebay these days!
That may be so. But my version of events was based on my experience a couple months back of sending a coin worth more than $750 with tracking but no signature confirmation to an individual who claimed not to have received it.
I'll stipulate my stupidity at not requiring a signature. But the point of my observation is that although the tracking information was that the coin had been delivered, and because the item was worth over $750 and there was no signature conformation, Ebay required me to refund the buyer's money in full, and take it up with the PO (which I did, to no ultimate avail. I'm presuming the buyer stole the coin, but I have no proof, of course.)
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
Exactly ... you got busted for not abiding by pp guidelines in order to be covered. "Sig. Conf." required for auctions or items valued above $750.00. It's not a "THAT MAY BE SO" ...it's a fact.
You should know better than to do that! Where's the school teacher emoticon with the ruler patting her palm?
My "That may be so" referred to Darrell's comment about "not knowing the way things work on Ebay these days," not to the stupidity of my not requiring a signature for an expensive coin, which I've already acknowledged.
The issue, of course, if that for items of value greater than $750, Ebay will not back you if you do not get signature confirmation. I should have made that distinction clear to the OP. My apologies.
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
Please explain how you expect the seller to assure that the post office properly delivers the package he mailed. Thank you.
Here's my tale.
about 10 years ago I bought a comic for $800. I notified the seller that I never received the book.
He had a tracking from the PO that showed the book was delivered. No signature.
I asked "to whom"? I live in a rather large building with a doorman and a concierge service. Every package is signed in. Not that one. The PO employee said his records show the package was delivered. Perhaps the postman left it at the wrong address and really thought he delivered the item? I never knew.
I never found the package so I guess someone received a gift?
In all fairness, my purchase was not through E-Bay but comic board purchase from a "reputable seller".
With that said, as a seller, I always ship registered. I want the buyer as the only signature and the insurance protection. I overpay (postage) for every coin I ship but I want the buyers to know that the Post office will open an investigation if they maintain the signature was fraudulent and/or the coin never arrived.
Unless you also ship "Restricted Delivery", you can't be sure the buyer is the only one who signs for the package.
Just sayin'.
Yes. I ship restricted delivery. More costs added on.
Two possible outcomes from my personal experience.
1 FedEx marked delivered but I didn't received. Ebay issued a courtesy refund of $50 for the lost of my daughter's toys set..
2 USPS marked delivered while the mail carrier literally stole my bullion in front of my wife.
A part time mail carrier hand delivered 2 adult signature packages and the rest of our mails to my wife in person that day while 3rd / missing package went missing but listed as delivered into my mail box. I went to the post office that same afternoon. The manager said GPS turned out right and she/mail carrier had left for the day and would be on a two weeks vacation.
Contacted the Postal inspector and had a good chat on the phone. Had an investigation for few months just to have a canned email saying they couldn't locate the package and gave up.
Seller did assisted me on the case and contacted postal inspector but no refund. Same as Ebay, one time courtesy refund per customer in which I already used up on the toys.
The doormen tell me that it is not uncommon for the Postal employees to scan the packages as delivered (while they are on the truck) before he takes them into the building. they might be bringing in a number of packages so they save time. unfortunately, Not unusual.
I agree.
RYK - remember the "fun" I had on the "D" and "C" coins you sold me?
That was more than a few years ago, but I remember working from home in order to get them....hearing a car leave (no knocking could be heard nor our doorbell) and then me driving down to the post office and having them tell me it was returned then picked up and "signed for".....to an addressee that was not even close to my address....and then the mailman being called by them and having to track it back down and redeliver it to me...a couple hours later.
They treated it blandly...until I told them the value and that you had fully insured it and they screwed up in giving it to someone who picked up their mail and it wasn't even close to my address nor my name and I told them a full claim WOULD be filed.....THEN they jumped!
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
Technically that is the wrong question, the issue which is an age-old question, is who bears the responsibility for loss between buyer and seller during shipment? The logic of this is made clear if you reverse your question and insert "buyer" in place of "seller" in your specific question, and it becomes obvious that neither can assure the actions of a third party.
The default in most situations is that seller is responsible for liability until the item is received by buyer, this is specifically stated by ebay as well. Now buyers and sellers can contract independently to change this responsibility and there are many ways that can be done, but it doesn't lend itself well to ebay or most modern consumer transactions. If you are interested to learn more I would encourage some research regard the term FOB, or Free on Board, often times interpreted as Freight on Board, which provides for FOB Origin and FOB Destination.
If there is any logic or rhyme or reason as to why the default should be with the seller I suppose we can attribute a few independent actions and decisions of the seller to that logic. The seller would have exclusive control over packing and addressing the package. The seller would have control over the mechanism of transportation. The seller would have control over levels of service with regard to tracking or insurance. The seller has contract status with the third party delivery service to assert claims of mishandling. Absent additional agreements the buyer has no control over these variables so seller is the more logical party to bear responsibility. This issue has been debated ad nauseam both here and throughout the history of commerce.
Seated Dollar Collection
While a seller cannot control the actions of his chosen shipper, Ebay and Paypal hold the seller responsible for an item until tracking shows it as "delivered." They both hold the seller responsible for any failure on the part of the shipper. They leave it up to the seller to deal with the shipper when delivery is not made.
Both only require proof of delivery to the correct address, not to the individual. When a signature is required it does not have to be the buyer; it has to be someone at the buyer's address.
"Interest rates, the price of money, are the most important market. And, perversely, they’re the market that’s most manipulated by the Fed." - Doug Casey
No, that's not so. eBay says the seller's liability ends when the USPS says the item was delivered, not when the buyer says it was received.
The seller is responsible for getting the item to the buyer, the USPS tracking is evidence that the item was delivered to the buyer. We know that the tracking number is not an absolute fact so even though the tracking number is evidence it would be a rebuttable presumption. Likely not to be rebutted in the context of seeking help from Ebay for the loss.
Seated Dollar Collection
Here's my question.....
I ship a $5000 gold coin to a buyer.
The wife is home when the PO delivers the package.
She opens it, puts the coin in her purse, and proceeds to walk out the door not to return.
The buyer claims he never received the coin.
When did my responsibility end?