eBay lost shipment arrives late (CA to US)

[txrngr34]

I purchased a card on 1/21 that appeared to be lost almost 5 weeks from purchase. I gave it a couple more weeks than I normally would because it was coming from Canada to me in the US.

I opened a case and corresponded with the seller on 2/23. Seller said Canada Post returned about 7 of his US-destined packages and that he re-shipped them a couple weeks prior. I let him know that I'm disappointed he didn't communicate this to me at that time, he apologized and ask for patience.

I agreed to give him one more week, since three weeks from the supposed re-ship date should still be sufficient.

About 9 days later my card still didn't arrive and I contacted the seller again through the open case. He refunded me on 3/5.

Another 9 days after my refund my card finally arrives today. The postmark on the package indicates 2/8, which is in line with seller's comments about when he re-shipped my card.

I want to contact the seller and pay him for the card, maybe minus a few bucks for the delay, but assuming it can't be done through the eBay listing.

What's the protocol here?

Do I just offer to pay him PP FF?

[longhornjunkie]

eBay customer service has insisted to me that it's ok to exchange contact info with the buyer on a sold listing. For example, if I refund a buyer early on a Standard Envelope shipment, then the item arrives, I can work out repayment via PayPal within eBay messaging.

[valleynuckfan]

If he shipped on time- twice as it seems with the return- and Canada Post and the USPS delayed the shipments why would you expect to deduct a few bucks for delays?
Not the seller's fault.

[DynaEtch]

Ebay doesnt make it easy to return refunds, but it can be done. Seller has to send his paypal contact info. It's not as simple as him saying "my paypal is xxxxxxxxxx"- ebay automatically flags these and wont even let him send that message. One go around is having him write down his paypal on a paper, take a picture of it, and send it to you. Seller should be pretty happy because no ebay FVF since it's through Paypal. The other option is him setting up a ghost listing on ebay just so you can pay (and you dont actually get anything), but that's less preferable.

I agree with the above poster, I dont see the reasoning to take a few bucks off, I would just send back total payment.

[Sonnys88]

If he shipped on time- twice as it seems with the return- and Canada Post and the USPS delayed the shipments why would you expect to deduct a few bucks for delays?
Not the seller's fault.

I agree 100%. Not sure why the buyer would expect a discount due to the mail system delaying a package.

I give any international shipment a ton of extra more time for delivery right now (2 to 3 months). If the seller provides tracking on time, then I wait it out.

[ckcardz]

good on you for returning the money since the item arrived, but like all the other posters in here I dont see why you would deduct money for a delay. Seems like it was an issue was the PO and not him.

[txrngr34]

I hear yall.

Compared to many forum members I'm sure I don't buy much, so maybe my experience is skewed from that angle.

My experience with typical Canada-to-US shipments is 2 weeks, sometimes 3.

I can't ever remember waiting a month for a Canada shipment. I know it's technically international, but it's not flying over an ocean, and so my experience falls in line with what I would logistically expect. No, I'm not a logistics expert.

The postmark on my received package is over 2 weeks past the order date. I'm not in a position to accuse the seller of lying and whatnot, nor do I care to, but I'm also not going to assume it's true. Why not? Because, as a buyer I'm allowed to expect my package to arrive within stated timeframes - and it did not, nor did the postmark indicate it was mailed off in an appropriate timeframe.

Whether he made a mistake or Canada Post made the mistake by sending him back his US-bound stuff is irrelevant to my situation as a buyer.

As a seller, I expect that I would/should own the fact that an item is not delivered within the expected timeframe. In fact, I have several times over the years. Usually, they stayed lost but one, I checked later, did eventually arrive. For my part, it's an assumed risk of selling. It's why I insure certain values at my own cost and pass on insurance costs at higher values.

Let the flogging begin.

[DynaEtch]

I hear yall.

Compared to many forum members I'm sure I don't buy much, so maybe my experience is skewed from that angle.

My experience with typical Canada-to-US shipments is 2 weeks, sometimes 3.

I can't ever remember waiting a month for a Canada shipment. I know it's technically international, but it's not flying over an ocean, and so my experience falls in line with what I would logistically expect. No, I'm not a logistics expert.

The postmark on my received package is over 2 weeks past the order date. I'm not in a position to accuse the seller of lying and whatnot, nor do I care to, but I'm also not going to assume it's true. Why not? Because, as a buyer I'm allowed to expect my package to arrive within stated timeframes - and it did not, nor did the postmark indicate it was mailed off in an appropriate timeframe.

Whether he made a mistake or Canada Post made the mistake by sending him back his US-bound stuff is irrelevant to my situation as a buyer.

As a seller, I expect that I would/should own the fact that an item is not delivered within the expected timeframe. In fact, I have several times over the years. Usually, they stayed lost but one, I checked later, did eventually arrive. For my part, it's an assumed risk of selling. It's why I insure certain values at my own cost and pass on insurance costs at higher values.

Let the flogging begin.


I think you’re going to find a lot of people on here will disagree with this thinking, simply because a common mode of thought is: you have the item in the end, the item you agreed to pay $X for, so it’s fair to return the $X. Yes, it appears to have been delayed, very possibly outside the control of the seller, being a mail issue. Personally- if this were me and I have the card in the end, then it doesn’t matter…I don’t dwell on it or try to get the card for cheaper.

The only argument I could actually see being reasonable would be to reduce the payment by, maybe half the FVF since, if I’m correct, the seller doesn’t owe that with the refund, and saves on that when you pay direct through PayPal. But if this were me, I wouldn’t even bother with it and just return purchase price- since this is the amount I agreed to pay.

[paparoke]

I had the same thing happen to me. The buyer refunded me and the cards arrived weeks later. When they did, I paypal gifted him the same amount I was refunded. I think this is the best way to handle it.

[valleynuckfan]

I hear yall.

Compared to many forum members I'm sure I don't buy much, so maybe my experience is skewed from that angle.

My experience with typical Canada-to-US shipments is 2 weeks, sometimes 3.

I can't ever remember waiting a month for a Canada shipment. I know it's technically international, but it's not flying over an ocean, and so my experience falls in line with what I would logistically expect. No, I'm not a logistics expert.

The postmark on my received package is over 2 weeks past the order date. I'm not in a position to accuse the seller of lying and whatnot, nor do I care to, but I'm also not going to assume it's true. Why not? Because, as a buyer I'm allowed to expect my package to arrive within stated timeframes - and it did not, nor did the postmark indicate it was mailed off in an appropriate timeframe.

Whether he made a mistake or Canada Post made the mistake by sending him back his US-bound stuff is irrelevant to my situation as a buyer.

As a seller, I expect that I would/should own the fact that an item is not delivered within the expected timeframe. In fact, I have several times over the years. Usually, they stayed lost but one, I checked later, did eventually arrive. For my part, it's an assumed risk of selling. It's why I insure certain values at my own cost and pass on insurance costs at higher values.

Let the flogging begin.
So if the USPS sits on a package of yours and delays it- through no fault of your own- you are OK with the buyer asking for a few bucks back?
OK, that's you.
There are assumed selling risks, yes.
As a Canadian seller I know all too well. To compete with US based sellers I have to reduce my shipping charges on lower valued items, so a lot of stuff up to about $50 I have to send with no tracking or I'll never make the sale.
Guess which items I get INAD cases for? Yup, the occasional item shipped with basic postage of about $4. Never has a tracked package ever gone missing in the system either here or in the US.
And I refund as part of the cost of doing business.
However, don't ask me for a discount after the the fact when an item shows up a month after I mail it out.

[txrngr34]

So if the USPS sits on a package of yours and delays it- through no fault of your own- you are OK with the buyer asking for a few bucks back?

OK, that's you.

There are assumed selling risks, yes.

As a Canadian seller I know all too well. To compete with US based sellers I have to reduce my shipping charges on lower valued items, so a lot of stuff up to about $50 I have to send with no tracking or I'll never make the sale.

Guess which items I get INAD cases for? Yup, the occasional item shipped with basic postage of about $4. Never has a tracked package ever gone missing in the system either here or in the US.

And I refund as part of the cost of doing business.

However, don't ask me for a discount after the the fact when an item shows up a month after I mail it out.I didn't ask for a discount. I offered to pay for the item after I already received the refund, minus a very rough calculation of fees and currency conversion that would safely ensure the buyer wouldn't net more than the original sale would provide.

To your point, as a seller, if I ever had a package returned to me, causing me to ship it 2 weeks after the purchase date - I absolutely would discount it, if asked.

However, I also would've contacted the buyer first to negotiate new terms, if needed, rather than just ship it off again 2 weeks late and never let the buyer know.


Anyway, for anyone who cares, I sent him $20 USD PP FF (plus I paid a $1 conversion fee) on a listing that was $34 CAD.

I guess I could've asked the seller what his net on the sale would've been, or done the math myself, but I'm not putting that much effort into a card that shipped 2 weeks after I purchased it, then took another 5 weeks from then to arrive.

The seller was plenty happy with my offer.

[valleynuckfan]

Actually I think the seller just accepted what you offered because it wasn't worth it to him to be bothered about a $34 card, which you ended up paying him about $25 CDN for.

[TradingCardsLLC]

eBay takes advantage of this situation. Here is how. If I send something to a buyer and the buyer files a claim and get their money back, eBay counts that against me and if this happens enough times, eBay says I am "below standard" meaning they will now collect additional seller fees every time I sell an item. Never mind that I did send the item, that it even had tracking. The problem is the USPS loses the item, or it never gets scanned, and so I lose the item, and the money from the sale, and I pay for shipping, and worst of all, eBay uses this to charge me extra selling fees. It is an outrage. I understand the buyer's position, and I have been in that position as a buyer not receiving an item. But I think eBay is being unfair when it takes advantage of USPS incompetence and dysfunction to rip off sellers to the tune of higher seller fees. Any advice on how to address this?