What should I do? FINAL UPDATE

wybrit

OK, it's my turn to ask the question.

I win an ebay auction for an uncirculated coin. The coin turns out to be EF at best (what else is new). I return it back to Canada where it came from. Almost three weeks have passed since I sent it back and no refund. Seller tells me that he has not received the coin.

I know what I want to do. What do you think I should do?

satootoko

No insurance + no traceable mailing method = no proof that it got to destination.
What's the guy's feedback look like?

farthing

The coins I've sent to Canada lately have been taking quite some time to arrive. Several have taken more than 1 month.

newsman

If you don't get the refund or a suitable explanation, give him negative feedback.

spinaker2000

<< <i>what should I do?? >>




Cry.

wallstreetman

Be patient, I've had em sit in Customs for a month and a half before!

0john0

Only buy slabbed coins.

J/K.


Make sure you get delivery confimation and/or ins.

ajaan

I agree, wait. Mail to and from Canada is taking a long time now. About 2-3 times longer than from the UK.

tlhoy

The coins that I've sent to Canada from Arkansas arrived in a week.
Mailed Feb 23
Feedback left on March 1

Did you wrap the coin in aluminum foil so the postal employees wont see the coin (with the new scanners) & steal it?
Coins getting "lost" in the mail have hit epidemic levels here in the U.S. When shipping coins through USPS, I insured the them using Stamps.com, but its gotten so bad that Stamps.com no longer insures coins!
Glenn

Aethelred

How did you send it back? Does the seller have feedback that would lead you to think he/she is honest (if not the best grader)?

1. If you really think the seller did not get it back, wait until thirty days from the date of mailing have passed and file an insurance claim with the Post Office from which you mailed the coin.

2. If you believe that the seller attempted to rip you on the coin by selling an EF as Unc. and is now trying to rip you by saying that the coin never made it back, you would be doing the rest of the eBay users out there a favor by posting a negitive feedback on that seller.

wybrit

Thanks for the responses folks (except for you, Spinaker )

What's the guy's feedback look like?
1477 rating with 7 negatives total, also 5 neutrals in the past 12 months.


How did you send it back?

I sent it back the way it came to me, standard post. I don't insure coins that are worth less than $50. Quite frankly, given the low loss of packages (much less than 1%), I think the outlay of $1.30 or more for insurance represents a large negative return on investment. May as well buy a lottery ticket instead.

Does the seller have feedback that would lead you to think he/she is honest (if not the best grader)?

I see that the seller just picked up a negative on March 3 for "not UNC but XF." That is exactly my complaint. The seller responded with the usual irritating line "Coin was UNC but would have refunded money, no sale is ever final." Returns stink because I have to go to the post office to hand in the customs form and I pay nonrefundable postage for it. I lost a return once before like that and now that seller has changed IDs so much I can't even tell you who it is.

You can bet that the buyer got a revenge negative for posting the truth (can't tell, the feedback is private but does not look good). I know that's what is waiting for me when I post the neg, but I will anyway if the guy doesn't come through within the next 3 weeks, regardless of the Canadian postal system.


Only buy slabbed coins

Surprisingly, that's what I am doing mostly. I've had my problems there too. Sellers don't like to allow returns on slabs, so you are left going to the grading company to get the refund - too much bureaucracy in that.

newsman

Don:

There's a trick I learned about posting negative feedback that could help avoid retaliation. I call it the "feedback snipe." You can leave feedback for 90 days after the end of the transaction. On the rare occasion where a negative is deserved, I wait until the last minute, then leave the feedback -- that way, the seller can't retaliate, though they do get to post a reply. I've done this a couple of times and it has worked, and I've got another seller who is going to be surprised for refusing to take a refund on a coin that was deceptively described.

Edited to add: It's like the old saying, "revenge is a dish best served cold."

MacCrimmon

XF vs. UNC? Some people are either STUPID or insanely criminal. Good luck with the resolution.

wybrit

I got this email today.

Your item arrived today, thank you. I had to return it to sender though
because you declared it's value for customs which made them think that I was
buying the coin from the USA, the applicable taxes and fees were almost
$9.00 dollars so I said the hell with it.

I processed your return anyway, you should have recieved notification from
Paypal.

Best Regards,

John

I'd like to add some editorial comments about a system that tries to steal $9.00 from a guy who is accepting a return (I wrote "RETURN" and sent a copy of the original transaction, knowing full well what would happen if I didn't). However, there are a lot of Canadians here and it's their system to gripe about.

cosmicdebris

Geez no wonder they go around saying EH? all day.

SMS

<< <i>Did you wrap the coin in aluminum foil so the postal employees wont see the coin (with the new scanners) & steal it?
Coins getting "lost" in the mail have hit epidemic levels here in the U.S. When shipping coins through USPS, I insured the them using Stamps.com, but its gotten so bad that Stamps.com no longer insures coins!
Glenn >>



EVERY single coin or lot of coins I have recieved for the past two months have not only been scanned but also OPENNED by the USPS. The only response I got was that it was a matter of "national security" and that it would continue to occur. I don't trust the USPS at all anymore, but it doesn't seem to be any better with the private parcel companies from some of the horror stories I've heard coming out of FedEx and UPS.

As far as Canada is concerned, it's even taking months for the people to make it across the border let alone packages. My packages are taking at least 3-5 weeks to get into the US, and about 2-3 weeks to get into Canada....all of it in the US CUSTOMS end! I would simply wait a bit longer and hope your own government (USPS IS technically a government agency) isn't screwing you around.

eureka

<< <i>There's a trick I learned about posting negative feedback that could help avoid retaliation. I call it the "feedback snipe." You can leave feedback for 90 days after the end of the transaction. On the rare occasion where a negative is deserved, I wait until the last minute, then leave the feedback -- that way, the seller can't retaliate, though they do get to post a reply. I've done this a couple of times and it has worked, and I've got another seller who is going to be surprised for refusing to take a refund on a coin that was deceptively described. >>



You have to be careful with this. When an item is no longer showing on your "give feedback" page after 90 days, you can still go back to the original auction page and use the "Leave feedback" link. I'm not sure how long that lasts though. Some idiot tried to do that to my wife awhile back.

Stork

"You have to be careful with this. When an item is no longer showing on your "give feedback" page after 90 days, you can still go back to the original auction page and use the "Leave feedback" link. I'm not sure how long that lasts though. Some idiot tried to do that to my wife awhile back."


This is true...I literally had a coin show up the day after it fell off my feedback page--I had thought about doing the 'negative feedback snipe' but for a $4 coin I let it slide--he'd already left me a positive too. I'm glad I did because on Monday, the 8th of March I got two first class packages in the mail. One was sent from California on March 2nd and the other was the old auction, postmarked December 9th! I had the auction number, went back to it and left the guy a well deserved positive...plus I emailed him to let him know it actually got there. I guess I might still get a Christmas present or two at this rate

1jester

SMS, you don't bring heartening news. Is this the end of privacy, and the ability to send things safely?

SMS

<< <i>SMS, you don't bring heartening news. Is this the end of privacy, and the ability to send things safely?

>>



All of my packages had been confirmed openned at the Denver, CO "central processing". I was advised that "privacy" was not a right when sending packages through the USPS (though it is with letters...just not parcels) because of issues of "national security." From my understanding, the "discovery of contents" is NOT random, but based upon a "per capita" of contents based upon the postal zone (so a town of 5000 like I'm in, a few hundred packages processed a week means they have to start openning everything, I guess). I think it's just plain stupid using such reasons as I was given. There are quite a few people upset in town over this whole situation. The only good thing is (unlike the FedEx horror I recently heard about with insurance and theft) is that the USPS is "committed" to acting quickly on any insurance claims involving such packages. Still, it is very upsetting knowing that some idiot could devalue one of my items by hundreds of dollars in an instance.