eBay Buyer Requests?

Might be better to start offering Priority shipping only on more expensive items.

 

Chances are you won't hear from USPS for quite a while, and by that time your package will probably have been delivered. That's my experience.

Yes, I would not appeal again until the package is delivered. Of course, if it doesn't get delivered, then you'd lose anyway. And do anything further with eBay on the phone, not by email.

BTW, if this is a media item, this is a case where you would have better off shipping media mail, where the promised delivery time is far longer.

 

That's exactly what I asked them and I was told that the promised date is calculated based on the handling time that I indicated on my page. I explained to them that if they looked at the tracking I provided them with two times, they could easily see that I did ship within the two-day handling time and that that still didn't explain anything. They never responded to that and basically reiterated that the case was closed.

From now on anything I ship with USPS is getting shipped Priority. Since I'm done selling on eBay, I'd like to think that customer service will be more helpful and that my buyer would be more understanding if I experience USPS delays on any other platforms that I sell on because this is such a mess.

 

I'll do that, thanks. It was a t-shirt so I had shipped it first class. I usually do ship media through MM and I've never had a bad experience with that method, weirdly enough.

 

This is the best advice. To ignore, or to ignore and block is not a good option as it will only make the buyer angry. Communication is always the best policy. Back in April, I had to wait six weeks for a package to be delivered from New York City to New Jersey. The seller and I communicated frequently and eventually it did arrive. Had he ignored me, I wouldn’t have been happy.

Packages will be slower during the pandemic and there is nothing you can do about that.

eBay and Discogs (and this Forum) are really the only games in town so you just can’t write them off.

 

Gone missing in the mail is an unfortunate, but predictable, cost of selling stuff on the forum and on eBay. In the last year I have had three packages — two to forum members and one of them a $95 Beatles mono box — go into eternal “in transit” limbo. Over the years of selling off my comics and CDs, it has happened every now and then. Sometimes they eventually shake loose, but just as often, they do not. In my experience, you will get absolutely no help from the post office finding packages with tracking that are forever “in transit.”

It is not the sellers fault that stuff goes missing at the post office, but there is no way to win with eBay and PayPal. I did refund my (patient) forum buyers because it certainly wasn’t their fault the post office lost their purchase. As stated in above posts, insurance is for the seller. Insurance is not that expensive, but I imagine getting reimbursed by the post office is probably even less fun than tangling with eBay and PayPal.

 

Well, I knew this would happen. Looks like the package was delivered to the buyer today. I did what eBay suggested and asked the seller to pay me again, so we'll see how well that goes over

 

Patience is a virtue

 

Maybe for sellers they could rename it uPAY?

 

It sure is! The buyer responded saying he would of course make things right and would send me the money, and then ended his message saying that USPS really must be having some serious issues. No kidding! You'd think he would've understood that all the times he checked tracking and saw the COVID disclaimer, or the two times I mentioned that when the claim was open.

I asked him to send me the money via the Friends & Family option so that I don't lose out on more fees, explaining that I lost a lot in fees during the initial transaction and then again when eBay refunded him. We'll see if he is capable of doing that or if he'll play dumb again

I'm surprised they haven't already! As soon as this guy pays me I will be removing the rest of my listings and calling it a day with uPay

 

For those that have been following this mess, the buyer ended up sending me the money via PayPal, but not Friends & Family like I asked In the note he claimed he "wanted to have a record" of him actually paying for it, and as anyone who has ever used PayPal knows, they alway sends a receipt regardless of how you pay. I uploaded the tracking number to the PayPal transaction so he's unable to try anything else.

I'm still annoyed I can't leave negative feedback for this guy, but I'm glad he ended up paying me and I'm glad this headache is finally over.