So my worst fear happened: Buyer purchased a high end card from me, eventually gets to their town’s distribution center via registered mail with signature on Nov. 6th. Today I get an update on the tracking saying:
“November 9, 2020
In Transit, Arriving Late
Your package will arrive later than expected, but is still on its way. It is currently in transit to the next facility.”
A few hours later, buyer immediately opened up a case with Ebay saying that they contacted their post office and said that it isn’t there yet. I informed them that the tracking still states it’s in transit and hasn’t reached his post office yet and asked them to please be patient.
My question is this: What’s the best way to contact USPS about this?
I am concerned because I just looked up the distribution center in question and it seems they have lost people’s packages in the past. I tried contacting the USPS directly via phone but all I could get was an automated agent who told me the same thing I received in notifications.
It is likely not lost, but things can get stuck for quite a while nowadays. My package has spent more time in Jamaica NY than it did at CGC for the entire duration of registration and grading
I really hope the buyer is reasonable, because it would be just ridiculous to jump the gun so hard in modern times.
Buyer now states that they will drive to the distribution center tomorrow to see if they can resolve the issue. I have no idea what to tell them. Ebay states that the buyer can escalate after Nov 14th if there’s no resolution.
Edit: Correction - they said that they will drive to them tomorrow, but they already called them and the distribution center allegedly said it wasn’t at the facility.
If you can provide tracking information to eBay, it will do wonders for your case. Like someone said above, the buyer has already demonstrated that they are unreasonable, which may work to your favor in the event of an escalating dispute. I wouldn’t sweat it that you turned up evidence of incompetency at the P.O./distribution center branch. Every post office loses stuff with regularity. A few months ago, I dropped off like ~$200 worth of eBay packages in a USPS dropbox near my house, and every single one of the packages was “lost.”
It’s disconcerting, but even though it happens all the time, the reason it happens all the time is the sheer volume of mail being sent. People get in car accidents all the time, but the chance of it happening to you on a given day is still extremely low. If you’re looking for dirt on a given postal operation you’ll probably find it, because the handful of instances of lost or stolen mail will attract much more lip service than the hundreds of thousands of packages that arrive smoothly.
I would bet on your package arriving eventually. The buyer sounds like an impatient, unprofessional twat. USPS is nuked right now and lots of things are taking longer than usual to arrive. If you have to fight the eBay case, just explain the entirety of the situation, give them the tracking number (along with any updates you’ve received from USPS), etc. Good luck, man! It’ll work itself out.
Thanks, @politoed666, do I have to update tracking if tracking is already attached to the item? Or just wait till the case is escalated to provide tracking again?
The latter. If tracking is already attached to the item, they should have access to it. But in the event of an escalated case (which has unfortunately happened to me on several occasions), you’ll have ample opportunity to present your side of the story, which will include providing the tracking info again.
Thanks @gemmintpokemon, I’m hoping it’s just the case that they’re just a nervous buyer. Got a message today saying they’ll wait till the end of the week to see if there’s any update on the tracking. Seems like they were hoping to submit a bunch of cards to BGS on Monday and my card was the last one they were waiting on. They were worried about damage and I promised them that it would be incredibly difficult to damage the card with the three toploaders and extra bubble wrap I packed them in.
@azulryu do not worry mate it will get delivered. Registered mail never gets lost. USPS cannot be trusted to competently locate some package that they do not care to. They don’t run the operation like that. Everything is scattered and automated, it is haphazard. Even with the cage containing registered mail. The buyer is just paranoid about his expensive card getting there, and like you said, may be in a hurry to get it. Just give it a few days and it will get woven into the sorting for the delivery. I have never heard of registered mail getting lost, and I don’t think it will start now. Registered is signed for by every employee who touches it. It will get there, I assure you. Let us all know how this resolves. We all want you to succeed in this endeavor!
Since I had some people ask me about this in PM’s I figured I would give an update.
The card eventually reached its destination by the end of that week on November 13th (Friday the 13th, no less) and Ebay automatically closed the case over the weekend since the buyer didn’t raise any further concerns. I never did hear back from the buyer after my last message.
I don’t think they were being intentionally sketchy - just an incredibly nervous wreck who jumped the gun too many times in a short period of time. Least to say, I will not be doing business with this buyer again but don’t think it necessarily warrants a blacklisting.
Hey I have a similar situation right now. Buyer does seem to be an ok person but they opened an item not received against me because eBay had marked estimated delivery date to be the 27th of November.
However… I shipped on November 11th, and the package only left Finland on 25th of November. Buyer opened a case on 30th.
The weirdest thing about this is that the tracking never updated on eBay directly. On eBay it only says “tracking number provided”. So I provided the buyer direct link for tracking actually even before they opened the case against me, because I didn’t want to look shady.
Since they opened the case I sent them the tracking link again and told them the package has left Finland on 25th of Nov and there is no updates since. And as the buyer hasn’t closed the case, eBay is now threatening to step in tomorrow.
I’m super scared. Am I forced into a refund because the tracking doesn’t work directly on eBay?? Even though I provided a link to the tracking (that is in English) to the carriers website?
It’s a package from Finland to the US. And highest value I’ve ever sold. I’m so freaking nervous. If I have to refund it will be a big hit for me
Call eBay and explain, I’ve gotten them to input tracking numbers in other tracking systems before (like Canadian post) when the US tracking stops or never updates.
How can I call eBay from Finland? They don’t give any phone numbers when I go to the customer service pages. I already checked and wanted to call but didn’t find any phone numbers. The only option they gave me was email…
@xzini , I changed the title so others didn’t pass the thread by. I’m sure there’s a way to contact them outside of the UK/US but can’t remember off the top of my head. I’ll look into it after work.
Edit: Looks like @fiery provided a possible solution, I’ll still look into it though.
