Advice needed for appropriate recourse...

[Shortknock27]

I have found myself in a bit of a quandry, and it is mostly my fault. Not too long ago, I sold a knife to a buyer overseas (Italy, if that has any pertinence to the discussion) even though I generally prefer not to. Not the buyer's fault. I have only shipped outside of the US a few times, but never had any problems, everything went smoothly. However, I made a mistake at the post office. I used a USPS Priority small flat rate box with the assumption that USPS tracking would be sufficient in tracking the package. P.O. didn't inform me that I needed to either purchase an additional service to track outside of the US or to have used a medium flat rate box. At any rate, the package shipped out at the beginning of April to its destination overseas. I emailed buyer with the customs form number and figured in about 10 business days I would receive an email from the buyer saying he had received the knife and all was well. Well, as you may have guessed already, the knife still has not arrived at its destination. I called USPS since tracking stopped two days after the knife shipped and left the country. That was on April 4. It is now May 11. USPS informed me of the error of my ways and that there was nothing they could tell me about the package at that point. The buyer says he is not able to track the knife with his postal service with the customs form number. The receipt from shipping has been discarded with the accompanying customs form receipt. And, of course I did not purchase insurance. My question after all of this is that, is there anything at all that could/should be done at this point? I'm most likely going to issue the buyer a refund of his money with the agreement that if he ever receives the knife he will pay for it or send it back to me, but I still wonder if there is anything else that can possibly be done to salvage this situation? Is it likely that it has been seized by customs? (It was an Arno Bernard button lock folder but most definitely not an automatic knife). I filled out the customs form exactly as the buyer instructed me to. Is there anything he can do on his end with customs, etc. to try to locate the knife? Sorry for being long-winded but I have never encountered this problem and am just trying to turn an expensive lesson into simply a lesson. Thank you in advance for your help.
Scott

 

[Blades]

It still may show up, but now days if I ship overseas it is with the understanding that I have no control once it leaves the US, and can't guarentee it's arrival. I'm not sure about refunding the money, it wasn't your fault it was lost, it left the US okay, so...

Good luck.

 

[rycen]

You owe the buyer the knife or a refund.

 

[Karda]

It still may show up, but now days if I ship overseas it is with the understanding that I have no control once it leaves the US, and can't guarentee it's arrival. I'm not sure about refunding the money, it wasn't your fault it was lost, it left the US okay, so...

Good luck.

How so? He shipped it following improper procedures.

 

[flatblackcapo]

I would look into filing a lost/stolen claim with the postal inspector. It might get them (USPS) to at least look for your package.Good luck!

 

[Deputy572]

You owe the buyer the knife or a refund.

That's what I would expect as a buyer and what I'd give as a seller.

 

[Marcel54]

The only thing you can do is wait. I was once on the receiving end of a similar problem. The US based seller made the same mistake you made. In the end the knife arrived at my doorstep but it took 8, yes eight, weeks to get there.

And yes you owe the buyer either way imho.

Marcel

 

[JDieseljoe69]

I believe the only true way to track a USPS package outside the US is by Express mail, that s the only way I will ship expensive knives international now.

 

[Jack O'Neill]

was this knife illegal where it went ? How did the customer ask you to feel out the customs form ? It very well could be customs seized the knife . I have always been able to track the customs form # to at least let you know if customs has received it .

 

[PropThePolecat]

I dont know if its any consolation, but my experience with the Italian Postal service has been, that they are extremely slow. Im located in Europe and ive sent packages to Hong Kong, and that turned out to be way faster, than a package to Italy. My last dealing with Italy took IIRC 15 days, and that's extremely slow considering there were no customs to clear

I have had no packages lost incl. dealings to Italy, so i wouldnt write the whole thing off just yet. I've got another package that been 12 days underway to Portugal now, with no sign of it since it was sent, so even within Europe (no customs) there can be quite a delay.

Be patient and hopefully it'll turn up.

 

[JCP1969]

I sent a knife to Germany and it took 4 weeks, buyer at no time was concerned and had to tell me to be patient. He knew what to expect with customs and the time it could take. What are your buyers thoughts? He may have the most experience receiving knives from over seas to Italy. Hope it all works out.

James

 

[stelug]

Italian customs may be terribly slow. Somethime they end upp calling the customer and askim some more documents about shipping and values. <So far is wey more better payng Ups to take kare of the whole process, just for peace of mind. It is also real that the receiver has non way to come in the whole process and be aware about where package is stopped. So if You can ask USPS to verify if the package is stopped somwhere that would be a good way. Otherwise you can ask the customer to wait just a little more to see if the knife shows up. About beeing the knife aloud here it is possible to sel authomatic knifes (most are made juts here in italy, ie beltrame) but is non legal to bring them aout of home.

 

[Allen R.]

Hope you have an honest buyer, and learn from your mistakes, Ask yourself If you paid for a knife from Italy and you never got it what would you expect the seller to do??? Remember also now you have made all of this public , so if you don't make it right and the seller comes in here saying you did him wrong, a lot of folks will not want to do business with you in the future. Reputation is everything on a public forum, if you want to do buying/selling/ or trading, If it were my transaction I would make it right with the buyer, only way to save your reputation...On the flip side of that coin the buyer could have the knife in hand and just by knowing you can't prove that he ever received, He could be scamming you out of a knife and the money, It's a tough spot to be in really, May just haft to eat this one and chalk it up to lesson learned. FWIW every knife I sell or trade now I get Sig confirmation on it, no matter what the price is, I've never been accused of not shipping out a knife or anything like that, but for my peace of mind I make everybody who gets a knife from me haft to sign for it , that way there is no disputing if they got it or not.