"item not recieved" case after 1 week! *update*

[SeashellnBubbles]

It says that PayPal may take up to 30 days to figure out this mess. It makes me happy that at least he can't use the money either while the case is open...a small victory if i look at it like that, and I try to look at the positive side as much as possible.

[CupidStrikes]

I really wish more countries would offer sensibly priced tracking, it would solve most of these problems (we have the same here. Regular international mail is £3.60. Fully tracked is nearly £50) =/ It's such a pain that some countries can offer tracking for a few pounds or dollars and others want a ridiculous fee for the same thing.

I'm so sorry that your buyer is being so unreasonable, and I hope that if you are forced to refund them that they send you the money again when the pony arrives

This!!! This is such a frustration for me and is the reason I am genuinely considering no longer shipping international outside of the EU on ebay sales. Buyers [understandably] will not pay the price I need to charge in order to send something from the UK tracked. The price hike is absolutely ridiculous and with the Royal Mail privatised its not going to get any better any time soon.

Yeah...I don't quite understand how they can justify it, to be honest =/ Considering all tracked mail is treated the same, why not have the same system as JapanPost or SingaporePost where the tracking is something like £4-5 extra on post of the postage fee  The worst thing is...you can't even guarantee the tracking will even be updated (and the Royal Mail themselves knowingly update tracking for inbound packages incorrectly!). It's just an unpleasant situation all round 

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I really wish more countries would offer sensibly priced tracking, it would solve most of these problems (we have the same here. Regular international mail is £3.60. Fully tracked is nearly £50) =/ It's such a pain that some countries can offer tracking for a few pounds or dollars and others want a ridiculous fee for the same thing.

I'm so sorry that your buyer is being so unreasonable, and I hope that if you are forced to refund them that they send you the money again when the pony arrives

This!!! This is such a frustration for me and is the reason I am genuinely considering no longer shipping international outside of the EU on ebay sales. Buyers [understandably] will not pay the price I need to charge in order to send something from the UK tracked. The price hike is absolutely ridiculous and with the Royal Mail privatised its not going to get any better any time soon.

Yeah...I don't quite understand how they can justify it, to be honest =/ Considering all tracked mail is treated the same, why not have the same system as JapanPost or SingaporePost where the tracking is something like £4-5 extra on post of the postage fee  The worst thing is...you can't even guarantee the tracking will even be updated (and the Royal Mail themselves knowingly update tracking for inbound packages incorrectly!). It's just an unpleasant situation all round 

As I understand it, there are multiple databases -each country has its own system, and many of them can't/won't share information or communicate with each other so it's very time consuming to enter tracking codes for all packages.    And programmers and CFO's would ask if it's worth the financial risk to pour money into the venture...  So until they figure it out, the customers get the short end of the stick.  I mean, what other choices do we have? 

[NoDivision]

Even if the buyer does not pay for the service, you still need to protect yourself as the seller and buy tracking. 

I don't think this is really practical for, well, anyone. I'm certainly not going to pay for priority or higher shipping out of pocket if my buyer hasn't paid for it. The difference is often $20-$30. If I sold an item for $10 and first class shipping was $10, and then ebay and paypal take fees, and then I upgrade to tracked shipping that the buyer didn't pay for, I would be basically be paying to give my item away.

I am all for only shipping with tracking from ebay - I do that. But I make my buyers pay for it. I'm sure as heck not going to eat the cost myself.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Even if the buyer does not pay for the service, you still need to protect yourself as the seller and buy tracking. 

I don't think this is really practical for, well, anyone. I'm certainly not going to pay for priority or higher shipping out of pocket if my buyer hasn't paid for it. The difference is often $20-$30. If I sold an item for $10 and first class shipping was $10, and then ebay and paypal take fees, and then I upgrade to tracked shipping that the buyer didn't pay for, I would be basically be paying to give my item away.

I am all for only shipping with tracking from ebay - I do that. But I make my buyers pay for it. I'm sure as heck not going to eat the cost myself.

True, true, I would rather cancel the transaction if the buyer is insistent on having NO tracking. 

Ebay wants anyone selling on their system to be basically a small business. Businesses have to spend "out-of-pocket" expenses all the time.    It's part of the cost of... well, doing business.  That's why it's supposed to be built into your pricing.

If you sell 100 ponies at $5 each and they cost $20 to ship with tracking, then 75% of the price is going to shipping and you're not actually making $5 per pony.  If you anticipate selling 100 ponies and knowing shipping is going to cost you $20 a parcel, then you have to raise your prices so that your profit margin is better than 25%.    And that's counting a pony with no investment value sunk into it - free ponies are quite rare.   

I could go on, but many of our brilliant sellers on the Arena pull it off successfully as a small business all the time!    They had to figure out all this math to be successful. 

[NoDivision]

Well sure, but there's a difference between the occasional out of pocket costs (like buying shipping supplies, initial investment, and losses due to fees) and spending three times as much to ship an item than you charged the buyer for. I'm not talking about the profit margin of an item, I'm just talking about not spending large amounts of your own money to ship something. If it costs $35 to ship an item with tracking then I charge my buyer $35. I'm not going to charge them $10 and pay the rest myself. 80c for delivery confirmation within the US, sure, but not an extra $25 to upgrade to priority international.

[Galactica]

Yikes-  agree with what others have said-  he can't close the case and reopen it, but if he hasn't escalated it maybe he is doing what he said and is waiting.

Also he can't spend the money yet- because he doesn't have it.  What has happened is that Paypal or ebay (depending on who he filed a claim through) froze the amount of the sale pending resolution.  It will either be released back to you if he doesn't escalate after a certain period of time (or "resolves" it), or he will get it if he does escalate.  I am surprised that he was able to open a claim so quickly because usually

Unfortunately-  you are completely unprotected if you don't have proof of shipping.  Honestly I would caution you from shipping to Brazil (or having things shipped to you) first class, because unregistered mail is so unreliable in Brazil (actually, the same goes for Argentina, Mexico and Ecuador in my experience). ESPECIALLY if the address is rural.  I've actually SEEN the regular (unregistered) mail and packages seriously stacked up in the middle of the "post office" having just come off a motorized canoe...

[SeashellnBubbles]

Unfortunately, Galactica, he escalated it 15 minutes after opening the case, so I had no chance to talk with him to come to a mutual settlement. The guy is a thief, straight up, and PayPal is allowing it. I'm going to the post office today to see if there's anything they can do...the PayPal lady I spoke to was very kind and sympathetic, and she admitted that people do this all the time.
I'm just not going to sell to anyone outside of Canada and possibly the States on eBay from now on. It's been nothing but a hassle and i've been bit in the butt more times than not! I'm actually fearful to sell my India Butterscotch on eBay in case this very thing happens again. Losing $38 is one thing, but losing the pony and hundreds is quite another!

[Galactica]

OH that's terrible-  I didn't know you could even escalate a case that quickly!  Maybe because he went through paypal instead of ebay.  Ebay usually makes the buyer wait until the estimated shipping period has passed- and also a certain number of days to try and resolve a case.   If he opened a case and then escalated so quickly- I can only imagine he is dishonest and was planning to do this from the start.  He couldn't really have expected to get a first class package to Brazil in 5 days?

For the future-  you don't necessarily have to stop all international ebay sales=   just set up your auction so that the only possible shipping for international-  is priority.  That way you at least have indemnity in case something goes wrong

[SeashellnBubbles]

Thanks, Galactica, for the advice. I've done the tracked package thing to other countries and it STILL took forever to get there...the latest one was to Italy (I know, their post is attrocious anyway) I sent it at the very beginning of December and it didn't arrive until just this past Friday! Luckily the buyer was understanding, but I was told his package would arrive before Christmas and it didn't. What's the point of paying priority if it still takes forever to get there?
I did write a note to PayPal telling them what i've done as far as writing him and trying to communicate, but his last message was written in Portuguese and all it said, when I translated it, was "Ok I look" I have no idea what that means! I even went so far as to have my next message to him translated innto portuguese so it would be easier for him. Hopefully they look at it and realize he's a scammer, plain and simple, but I think they'll have no choice but to side wth him since I have no definative proof of shipping.

[NoDivision]

For the future-  you don't necessarily have to stop all international ebay sales=   just set up your auction so that the only possible shipping for international-  is priority.  That way you at least have indemnity in case something goes wrong

That's how I roll! If they want it badly enough they'll pay for the more expensive shipping.

[ThriftyPony]

I have been noticing a trend that buyers are expecting packages to arrive within unreasonable timeframes. I had someone message me after four days (not even four business days) as to why they hadn't received an item yet. If you buy something on a Saturday evening, I can't mail it until MONDAY so a few days have already passed. 0.o

Hope things work out for you! I do everything in my power to get tracking, nowadays.

[SeashellnBubbles]

I just spoke with PayPal and they said that they will hold the money for 6-8 weeks until he either says he received the doll or that time is up, so i'm happy about that. At least he won't have access to that money and that's probably as close to a win as I'm going to get :/
I wish I could remove the positive feedback I left him...I don't think eBay will allow that since they'd probably see it as retaliatory. I mean, he's completely within his right to file the claim, but as I said, i think he's using the system because he has buyers remorse. Or he's a scammer. Maybe he's mixing up his purchase from me with one that he's been waiting a long time for? The language barrier isn't a problem thanks to Google translate, so there's really no reason for him not to be communicating with me.
Can i report him to eBay for questionable actions?