Should I Be Worried Yet?

[Winter Bones]

I bought a pony from ebay about a month ago, and so far she still hasn't turned up in the mail. This is odd considering I get most of my packages within two or three weeks, though I have heard news about delays from the U.S. to Canada recently. But, since I haven't received any slips from the post office telling me to pick the package up, I'm beginning to think she got lost or delivered to the wrong address. There was no tracking number provided on the listing, so I'm planning on messaging the seller tonight. However, I'd like some input before I get my feet wet so to speak. Is it too soon to write off the package as lost or missing? Is there still a chance she'll show up? The last thing I want is for her to turn up after opening a case and being issued a refund, that would inconvenience both myself and the seller. Or is that just a risk I'll have to be willing to take? Thank you for reading, I'm relatively new to online shopping so I look forward to any input you may have.

[tulagirl]

Its not a bad thing if it shows up after you have opened a case or you are refunded. You just offer to repay for it.  I have personally done this after a package showed up six months after the fact and the seller was so pleased it finally showed up lol.  I repaid her and all was well.  Please do not let your 45 day window lapse though.  A month is long enough I feel to justify a note to the seller. I would contact the seller and let them know that you did not receive the item.  What kind of feedback do they have?  If its really good chances are they are going to work with you to avoid problems.

[ponylady]

It's ok to be worried  especially when your 45 days is fast approaching.

If it were me I would politely message your seller and state your concerns.  I would also let her know since your 45 days is approaching that you may have to file a case if the item has not shown up by then. And that it is to protect yourself and not anything against her. I believe most sellers are aware of the fact that when shipping Internationally it can take over a month, due to customs etc.. etc.. So if she is a good seller she will most likely respond quickly and understand your concern. She may offer another solution that is suitable before the case is even open.

But just for the record if 3 business days have passed since you opened the case, and the seller hasn't resolved the problem, you can escalate the case to eBay Customer Support. But if you want to give it more time, assuming your seller gets back to you, you will actually have an additional 30 days to escalate it. Just don't close the case out for any reason until you get your pony or you will not be able to open it again.

I hope all goes well for you and your pony shows up. 

[Winter Bones]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I've messaged the seller and asked them to track the package if possible and issue a refund if the pony is a no-show. The pony herself isn't especially rare or expensive so it's not too big of a loss to myself or the seller if she never turns up, but it's still disappointing since a new pony is a new pony and money is money. The seller has great feedback and I'm sure they'll be willing to work something out. I'll keep you all updated, hopefully we can at least find out where the darn package disappeared to...

[Teddy]

When I was in the US, I mailed a package to Canada and it took nearly 2 months to get there! Both myself and the buyer were concerned it had gotten lost, but it did show up eventually. It's kind of ridiculous how long it takes to ship packages between the US and Canada. It's faster to ship to/from Europe! lol!

[Sebby6]

Have you checked with your post office if they have a parcel for you? Sometimes my postman doesn't leave the little card.

[Winter Bones]

Have you checked with your post office if they have a parcel for you? Sometimes my postman doesn't leave the little card.

I went today in the hopes they might be open since I didn't get the chance to last week, but they were not. I'll have to head in on Monday and see if it's there. I really hope my postman wouldn't do that, I live in an apartment building so keeping track of mail is frustrating enough as it is.

EDIT: Got a chance to check the post today and there was no sign of her there. The seller agreed to refund me, I'm still waiting on the payment to be sent back (unless they've already sent it and I'm just clueless at paypal and ebay. I'm not seeing any notifications on either site though.)

[Winter Bones]

All right, so now that I've figured out how ebay handles refunds, I figure I should go about leaving feedback for the seller since they left some for me. However, since feedback can't really be altered I wouldn't be able to change it if the pony ever came in... so should I leave any at all or wait a while just in case?

Also, if I do leave feedback, I'm not sure if I should leave neutral or positive in this situation-the seller was quite friendly about refunding me and it is the post's fault for losing the item, but I still never got my pony. What is the etiquette regarding feedback when lost items and refunds are involved? Looking forward to your advice, everyone.

[ponylady]

Personally, I would not hesitate one bit to leave a positive. She was communicative and gave you a refund for a supposedly lost parcel. In my eyes that is a good seller. There are not many folks out there who would do that without a fight, considering they are now out the item and the money.

And then when your pony does finally decide to arrive, because it is very, very rare a parcel really ever does go truly missing  I would resend payment to your seller.

[Winter Bones]

Aaaand positive feedback left, because the seller herself was a pleasure to work with. Thanks for the input ponylady! I'm a ball of nerves so I wasn't sure if I could leave feedback without having the item in hand. Glad to see there's nothing to worry about in that department. Looks like everything's been resolved for now; I'll keep on waiting for my pony and resend the payment if and when she turns up.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

*pony hugs* 

[Winter Bones]

The mystery deepens! It appears that the pony I bought wound up back at the seller's doorstep and was refused by the recipient, even though I never got the package in the first place. Even the post office didn't have anything when I went to check for her. What could possibly have caused this? A sorting mishap? A mislabeled address maybe? I'm beginning to suspect she wound up in the wrong mailbox.

So now I need to figure out what to do. So far I've I messaged the seller with my address so she can double check if it's correct and offered to re-send the payment if she's willing to try mailing the pony again. I'll leave it up to her though, sellers are busy people and I don't want to end up wasting more of her time if the pony doesn't get to me on the second try...

[Ringlets]

Its good to know the pony showed up safe Sounds like the PO messed up or you had a lazy postie who either didnt check it properly and take it to the right addy, or didnt even attempt to deliver it to you and didnt bother to push a card through either (this happened to me last year! my pony was returned to the seller with a sticker on it saying that it couldnt be delivered since no-one was home on the  3 times thry tried to deliver (which was rubbish! there was someone home on all 3 dates they said  and no-one had tried to deliver) plus they said that no-one called to collect at the PO  (of course not since no-one left me a card to say there was a package!).
 I think you did the right thing asking the seller to check that she put the right addy on, and hopefully if the seller wants to try again you'll get your pony this time.

[Stormness_1]

urgh I hate it when that happens! Hopefully you can re-send payment and your seller will re-send the parcel.

[ponylady]

So now I need to figure out what to do. So far I've I messaged the seller with my address so she can double check if it's correct and offered to re-send the payment if she's willing to try mailing the pony again. I'll leave it up to her though, sellers are busy people and I don't want to end up wasting more of her time if the pony doesn't get to me on the second try...

I think you are handling it perfectly. Hopefully the two of you will be able to figure out what went wrong? It sorta sounds to me though that maybe the addy was incorrect but I wouldn't put it past the PO to screw it up either.