Need help from EBAY veterans please!

[cvjw]

I am new to selling on EBAY, and I have a question that I can't find the answer to in the resolution center. I shipped out an item last week via the post office with a tracking number, but it seems to be lost in the mail. After a week and a half, the tracking detail hasn't changed. What do I do? Do I refund the money to the buyer? What would happen if I refunded the money, then the item finally showed up? I would appreciate any advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation!

 

[Purseval]

If it's that regular tracking you pay a little extra for it doesn't change until the parcel arrives. It's not like UPS or Fedex that notifies you on every step of the journey.

 

[JediMaster]

Let time pass, dont worry . If the buyer has not received it in 30 days , he/she will notify you. From there you should receive an email from Ebay that states the buyer did not receive goods from seller. The money will come from Paypal if they sent you money from there. So just sit back and relax , until you get THAT notice. Good luck

 

[ksloane]

is your buyer asking questions yet? I had a buyer who was throwing fits at 10 days and already started a claim so then the answer is different.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

It's way too early for it to be declared "lost in the mail". The post office won't even let you file a claim until it has been 30 days. Ask your buyer to be patient. This is the busiest time of the year for the USPS and everything is running a little slower.

OP - I see we live in the same state. I just had another package "lost in the mail" - the second since we moved to Georgia this summer. I had delivery confirmation on both. I think the post office down here needs a major overhaul or investigation. This seems to happen WAY too often compared to other parts of the country.

 

[ksloane]

OP - I see we live in the same state. I just had another package "lost in the mail" - the second since we moved to Georgia this summer. I had delivery confirmation on both. I think the post office down here needs a major overhaul or investigation. This seems to happen WAY too often compared to other parts of the country.

My recent pakg referred to other wasn't lost in the mail. It was delivered to the wrong place. The delivery confirmation verifies sent to one city, delivered to ANOTHER! And they basically tell me "sorry, tough luck." Now that is a BIG problem!!

 

[LexiC123]

If it's that regular tracking you pay a little extra for it doesn't change until the parcel arrives. It's not like UPS or Fedex that notifies you on every step of the journey.

Actually, it does. I use the USPS almost exclusively for my shipments, and it does track the package from location to location.


OP, I just had the same thing happen. After 10 days, the package was still listed as received by my local post office, with no other movement. I contacted the buyer to confirm that it wasn't received, then went back to my PO to see what could be done. They advised me to wait a few more days, and to ask the recipient to check with their local PO, on the off chance that the package was just sitting there. It wasn't.

After 18 days and no package, I refunded the buyer's $$ and we mutually canceled the transaction. Luckily, the item was insured and I was all set to file a claim after the 30 day period.

Guess what turned up on day 19?!

The buyer transferred the $$ back to me within minutes, and told me she appreciated that I was so pro-active in staying on top of things.

Hope everything works out and your package turns up.

 

[las3888]

I just had a similar experience, but I was on the buying end. I ordered something for my dad on 11/11 and realized around 12/2-3 that I didn't receive it. They had tracking info but it was really strange and said something about waiting pick-up and it never changed. It was obvious though that it didn't actually get delivered. I contacted the seller 3x over the span of a week and what got me was that this was a high volume seller and they wouldn't respond to me. I would have been really understanding if they just contacted me and said SOMETHING! I just got no response. So my 3rd email to them was that if I didn't hear from them in 24 hrs I would go to the ebay dispute center and file a claim plus I would give them a bad review. I never got an email from the seller, but I was credited my money. It is now 12/15 and I still didn't get the item. It was only around $15 so it wasn't a huge deal. All I can say is if your seller contacts you to please respond!!!! IT would go a long way! Good luck and hope it turns up for you!

 

[lucyem]

I am new to selling on EBAY, and I have a question that I can't find the answer to in the resolution center. I shipped out an item last week via the post office with a tracking number, but it seems to be lost in the mail. After a week and a half, the tracking detail hasn't changed. What do I do? Do I refund the money to the buyer? What would happen if I refunded the money, then the item finally showed up? I would appreciate any advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation!

I recommend speaking to your local post office about it and contact the buyer and have them ask at their post office. I have seen weird stuff happen with packages at non holiday times of year.

Other then that there is nothing to do until you can file a claim with the post office. They ask you wait 30 days. This is the worst time of year for packages being on time.

You have the tracking number, your buyer has the tracking number and knows you are being honest. Worst case they file a claim and Pay Pal investigates and sees you sent the package. Usually by the time the claim etc has gone through it will be at the 30 days because eBay requires something like 10 days - 2 weeks before you can even report an item not arriving. Then you will refund their money and the USPS will refund your money. I owned a store and mail order catalog business. Been there, done that.

Oh I should mention this all assumes you insured the package. If not you will only get the cost of shipping back.

 

[cvjw]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Yes, my buyer has already contacted me, and I let her know that I was tracking it, and it still showed as "in transit". I dropped off around 15 packages at the post office that day, and all but that one shows being delivered. I just didn't know at what point you actually give up on the package and refund the buyer. I will wait at least another week, since it is the holiday season. I want to make sure that I do everything right, but don't want to refund too soon, in case it does show up.

 

[pixiewings71]

I would give it about 30 days, I've had things show up very late from USPS. I've had items shown as delivered that I didn't get for another week after it said delivered!

As for the tracking, this is how my PO explained it to me. Each PO is supposed to scan the item upon receipt, unfortunately the don't so the tracking never gets updated. Once it leaves their hands it's not their responsibility and the local PO won't help us track any further then their hands, the shipper has to contact the subsequent locations that the package goes thru to find out what's going on. Tracking thru the PO is (imo) a joke, it really doesn't work like it should.