EBay buyer protection? - you be the judge.

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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Here is the situation. It is a long discussion, so beware of that. I ordered an item from Ebay like I have done more than a hundred times before. The item is addressed to be delivered to a Florida freight forwarder. The seller uses USPS and has a signature requirement on delivery.

The USPS mail carrier tries to deliver to the freight forwarder on a Saturday, they are closed and he leaves a notice of delivery. The carrier should know better than to try and deliver on a Saturday, but I think it is a substitute for the normal person. He is, by USPS policy, supposed to return automatically on Monday to a business to deliver the item. That does not happen.

I start a Buyer Protection case with Ebay and am assured I will not lose my money by the Ebay representative.

I check further into why the item has not been delivered. I call USPS with the tracking number. They cannot tell me where the package is, but give me the local post office to call. They give me the wrong number. Online I set up a redelivery for the package. Nothing happens. I call back. I set up another redelivery while on the phone. Nothing happens. I call USPS again and get the correct phone number of the post office and the item cannot be found. I am told to call Consumer Affairs and get a case number which I do. Nothing happens, but I finally get the correct phone number of the local post office and they try to find the item, but cannot.

I call Ebay again and am assured I will get my money back. Ebay buyer protection policy says that I should receive my product or I get my money back. But read on....

Meanwhile the seller tells me he won't accept giving me my money back for an item not delivered. I understand he sent it, but I never got it. The case proceeds in Ebay and he wins. I am out my money. I appeal that decision because I never got my item. I am denied and I am out my money, no further appeal is possible. The explanation from Ebay is that the attempted delivery is good enough for the seller to get off the hook and Ebay is done with the case. No refund to me. Quite the loophole in the stated policy that I get the item or a refund.

There is some slight chance the the phone was returned to the seller by USPS, but there is no tracking information to indicate that was done. The more probable situation is that the package was "lost" in the USPS system. All I know is that the package was never delivered to me and I am out my money. So much for Ebay buyer protection in such a situation.
 
Sep 4, 2012
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Thanks for sharing this. I would escalate with both USPS and EBAY. Further I'll look into CC if you paid with it, most of them have insurance and protection with issues as such. Good luck and post results.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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Thanks for sharing this. I would escalate with both USPS and EBAY. Further I'll look into CC if you paid with it, most of them have insurance and protection with issues as such. Good luck and post results.

I paid with PayPal which is Ebay. That is how you get the "Buyer Protection" in the first place. I am still talking with USPS to some people there that are trying to track down what happened. I will talk with USPS again on Monday. As far as Ebay, I don't know if I have any options to go back at them short of starting a lawsuit which I would do in small claims court if in the US.

It may be better from now on to pay using my credit card which may indeed offer more protection than PayPal's obviously flawed policy.
 

AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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As an eBay seller, I am really shocked to hear this. If I ship something and it's not delivered, they bully the seller until we refund the money. In a couple of instances where I was totally in the right, they paid the buyer back themselves, nothing out of my account, just to make the buyer happy. A seller is REQUIRED to prove delivery, I can't understand what went wrong in your case.

Go to the USPS.com website, and track the package - then click on the link to receive e-mail updates. You'll get an e-mail if the package moves anywhere. I've had several "lost" packages suddenly found after doing that. If it goes back to the seller, the e-mail will detail that. It's worth a shot, it may suddenly 'appear'.
 
Sep 4, 2012
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One more reason why I always pay everything with CC, even PAYPAL and EBAY. I'll continue to harrass them both until someone hears you out. SC is also an alternative but aren't you in DR?
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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As an eBay seller, I am really shocked to hear this. If I ship something and it's not delivered, they bully the seller until we refund the money. In a couple of instances where I was totally in the right, they paid the buyer back themselves, nothing out of my account, just to make the buyer happy. A seller is REQUIRED to prove delivery, I can't understand what went wrong in your case.

Go to the USPS.com website, and track the package - then click on the link to receive e-mail updates. You'll get an e-mail if the package moves anywhere. I've had several "lost" packages suddenly found after doing that. If it goes back to the seller, the e-mail will detail that. It's worth a shot, it may suddenly 'appear'.

My best friend is also a seller on Ebay and he is shocked that this "loophole" as well.
 
Sep 4, 2012
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Hence me mentioning you living in the DR, ah, I see; you did clearly stated that you would IF you were not living in the DR. My bad, got confused but back on topic. Get back to ebay and USPS.
 
May 29, 2006
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Sounds like an issue with USPS. The seller asked for a confirmed delivery and didn't get it. Maybe have the seller file a claim with USPS? USPS leaves it on a doorstep then says they tried? WTF?
 

Bob K

Silver
Aug 16, 2004
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Are you sure you are not mixed up after staying up all night with a few too many presidents, and are really talking about ede norte?????

Bob K
 

cjp2010

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Mar 25, 2013
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Sorry to hear that. As said previously, always best to pay with credit card. A lot of times you can file a claim with them too and the credit card company will fight on your behalf and refund your charge. I have done that successfully a few times in the past. They have a lot more fighting power than you do.

Also, USPS is a joke. I hate USPS. I would only buy from people that have UPS or FedEx for delivery options and choose those. USPS "lost" a few things for me in the past and even with tracking could not tell me anything. I only use USPS for stuff that is not important or if I insure it for the full amount that the item is worth. USPS has really become nothing more than a junk mail catalog. One nice thing about not living in the U.S. anymore is I don't have a mailbox full of junk mail.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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Sounds like an issue with USPS. The seller asked for a confirmed delivery and didn't get it. Maybe have the seller file a claim with USPS? USPS leaves it on a doorstep then says they tried? WTF?

I am the one who had to file the claim with USPS. Keep in mind the seller now has his payment and no reason to file a claim. I have such a claim and I am still talking to the people at the local post office where this item " disappeared". I have little hope they will find the item at this point.

I will also call Ebay and their buyer protection group again, but I don't expect that to go well for me after my last conversation where it was explained to me that an attempted delivery with a notice left was sufficient to meet the sellers responsibility. Ridiculous I know, but that is what I was told. Will that change simply by my calling back repeatedly?

Using a credit card for future payments sounds like a way to go , forgoing Ebay buyer protection for Credit Card buyer protection, but keep in mind this is the first time I have had this issue in 10 years and many shipments.
 

bob saunders

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Jan 1, 2002
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Sorry to hear that. As said previously, always best to pay with credit card. A lot of times you can file a claim with them too and the credit card company will fight on your behalf and refund your charge. I have done that successfully a few times in the past. They have a lot more fighting power than you do.

Also, USPS is a joke. I hate USPS. I would only buy from people that have UPS or FedEx for delivery options and choose those. USPS "lost" a few things for me in the past and even with tracking could not tell me anything. I only use USPS for stuff that is not important or if I insure it for the full amount that the item is worth. USPS has really become nothing more than a junk mail catalog. One nice thing about not living in the U.S. anymore is I don't have a mailbox full of junk mail.

I used UPS to ship an important letter from Jarabacoa to Charlottetown PEI Canada. I shipped on Thursday and it was received on the next Tuesday. I have normally used FedEx with great success but the price was $40 more and I had to ship from Santiago. UPS I could ship directly from Jarabacoa. UPS is at fault in this case.
 

Luperon

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Jun 28, 2004
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USPS sucks, it is the American Airlines of the delivery business.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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I used UPS to ship an important letter from Jarabacoa to Charlottetown PEI Canada. I shipped on Thursday and it was received on the next Tuesday. I have normally used FedEx with great success but the price was $40 more and I had to ship from Santiago. UPS I could ship directly from Jarabacoa. UPS is at fault in this case.

In my case we are talking about USPS, not UPS. Keep in mind that when buying from a US seller on Ebay, the vast majority of them ship using USPS because Ebay's system is set up to automatically go that way with minimum seller interaction. Saying something like buy only from sellers who ship UPS would greatly limit the ability to purchase on Ebay.

Also if you are buying an item from a Chinese seller, they send packages, frequently at no extra charge for shipping, that then go into the USPS system upon arrival into the US.

My point it that it is very hard to avoid using USPS with Ebay.
 

cjp2010

New member
Mar 25, 2013
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In my case we are talking about USPS, not UPS. Keep in mind that when buying from a US seller on Ebay, the vast majority of them ship using USPS because Ebay's system is set up to automatically go that way with minimum seller interaction. Saying something like buy only from sellers who ship UPS would greatly limit the ability to purchase on Ebay.

Also if you are buying an item from a Chinese seller, they send packages, frequently at no extra charge for shipping, that then go into the USPS system upon arrival into the US.

My point it that it is very hard to avoid using USPS with Ebay.

Didn't realize that about Ebay as I don't use them much. Amazon has a lot of good deals on items too (not sure if they would have on this item) and they almost always have FedEx and/or UPS shipping options.
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
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Jan 9, 2009
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Quick story. I sold 5 items to one person, shipped USPS. Missed the carrier pickup, so next day I dropped it in a mailbox at the main post office for our county. A couple of days later the buyer sends me a message saying the tracking indicates it's coming back to me. I check and she's right. No idea why. Nothing came back. Finally, I did the tracking updates by e-mail, and all the sudden they found it and it started moving again.

It came back over a week after it was mailed a couple of miles from me. Why? Because the date mailed wasn't the same as the date on the label. I pulled off the little yellow label, and stuck it back in my regular mailbox. It arrived 2 days later.
 
Sep 4, 2012
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OP,

you mentioned you paid with Paypal. Have you contacted them and open an inquiry? You should also be covered by Paypal buyers protection.