sticky situation with an ebay auction. advice needed.

[faramir]

Thanks for the help everyone! I spent about two hours last night and found the receipt. It was sent economy letter post (4-6) weeks. The receipt shows the Label# which I believe is the "tracking" number. No results came up when I used the website, so I'll go in to the post office and see if they can figure out what up. Thanks again.

If that number starts with RR (or another two letter code) then you can definitely file trace papers on it. Go to your local post office, tell them that your shipment is long overdue and presumeably lost. They will fillin the form and send it to the final post office at adresee's end - he'll have to fill in his side of the story, postal clerks on his side will verify their records (those tracking numbers are logged,eve though you cannot access the tracking information online). After a while (the two months round-trip i mentioned above) that form will be returned to your post office and they'll either tell you that shipment has been delivered on certain date (if that's what the records on other end indicate) or they'll tel you that they lost your shipment and issue a refund. The amount of that refund depends on whether you insured the shipment or not - if it was uninsured you'll only get the shipping costs back. If you insured it you might be able to reclaim full value.

I was in this situation twice before, both times i was the adresee - in one case the shipment got lost completely and never made it to our post office and the sender (from US) got partial refund ($40 out of $80 or so, 'cause he was a tad too stingy on insurance), On the other occassion the shipment actually made it to our post office but since it has clearly been tampered with (= its concents were stolen, as the postal clerk confirmed on my behalf) i refused to accept it and had them put the papers together so that the sender (also from Europe) got a full refund, some $120 worth. It took a while but they coughed up the money. IIRC postalservice has insurance contract(s) with insurance firms as certain percentage of shipment inevitably gets misplaced/lost/stolen.

 

[SIFU1A]

here is how i do international stuff FWIW, i make it plain from the get go that i will ship the knife (or whatever) anyway they would like, mark the box however, anything to help, then the buyer pays the cost of the knife and whatever the shipping method they decide on costs. also i make it clear that once i ship the item any and all responsibility on my part is fullfilled and if there is any probs with the shipment i will make any neccesary statements/etc to whoever neccesary, fax/mail all shipping info i have/etc anything to help BUT ultimately the problem is between the buyer and the shipper, my obligation is fullfilled. have shipped 3-4 times outside US and have always done it like this, no problems yet and the buyer always has agreed to the terms so far.

its just so much hassle shipping overseas imho with customs/etc that its not worth it to me to have to assume any responsibility once it leaves my hands, so i always make this clear,

 

[Keith Montgomery]

here is how i do international stuff FWIW, i make it plain from the get go that i will ship the knife (or whatever) anyway they would like, mark the box however, anything to help, then the buyer pays the cost of the knife and whatever the shipping method they decide on costs. also i make it clear that once i ship the item any and all responsibility on my part is fullfilled and if there is any probs with the shipment i will make any neccesary statements/etc to whoever neccesary, fax/mail all shipping info i have/etc anything to help BUT ultimately the problem is between the buyer and the shipper, my obligation is fullfilled.

If the knife is insured it will be you that has to deal with the shipping company, not the purchaser.

 

[TrackerDan]

I once sold an item to a person in Canada, before I knew any better, via Ebay and under declared it per his request. I did buy $50.00 worth of insurance though for the basics.

Well in short order the person emailed me and said they hadn't recieved their item and wanted to file a claim. I was fit to be tied and went to the post office to inquire about the process. The post office said they would have to run a trace on it first. That is how I replied to the buyer. Never heard a word from him after that.

End of story.

 

[petenh]

Hi,
On August 25, 2004 I sent a Buck 120 to the UK via US Post Global Priority.The package came back to me Dec 27,2004 staing it was not deliverable.The guy I shipped to posted a netural feedback to me saying something "like he says lost in shipping???????" I contacted him again and after trying to get him straight on where to ship I sent again.The guy really was a jerk about the whole deal.He wasn't at home to get package the first time and never went to his post office to check and see if it was there.He was very quick on letting me know he didn't believe me though.Anyway he got the knife the 2nd time and I had to contact him to see if he got it.No thanks or a sorry I jumped on you.
I had sent another package to the UK and that supposedly didn't arrive after 6 weeks.Never heard from him again,so it may have got there.
Tell your customer to give it some time.I think the UK customs may hold knives up on purpose sometimes.I have had a few other problems with UK shiipping also such as holsters and gun grips which I guess they don't approve of.
I no loner ship to the UK.
Pete

 

[silenthunterstudios]

I'm now done with eBay, they've suspended my account because someone tried to get into it, and after several days, they have not responded to any of my emails. I appreciate the security, but I have orders to ship.

 

[neotoy]

Eat this one...and move on! One of the BIGGEST reasons I DO NOT SELL OVERSEAS....... Unfortunate as it is............With the broken english and all the HOOPS on tracking...it just isn't worth the hassle.... Anyway- good luck!
Sorry to see it happened...