Ebay item in the dead letter office... EEP can anyone help??

[StarGleamer]

I am not having any luck selling this year at all, between me and the shelter I work for selling stuff on ebay we've had 4 things break, one torn package with the contents missing and now this item!

the buyer is thankfully, also a seller and are really understanding. they were annoyed at first and kind of seemed to accuse me of not packing it well... which i thought was strange cuz its NOT a breakable item at all!!

here is why this is so strange and I decided to come here. The buyer was wondering why the package was late, when they checked the tracking it said the package was DAMAGED and being sent to the Mail recovery center (MRC aka dead letter office) when I went to the post office myself and got their tracking (slightly more detailed) it doesnt show up as damaged and when the buyer checked again the damaged comment disapeared!!! The postal lady seemed to think it was probably a damaged label since I print my labels and the buyer;s address was def correct and so is mine. I shipped it priority and filed a claim, but beyond that theres not much I can do. The buyer REALLY wanted the item for a new years party and I dont have a replacement for them so they are needless to say really upset by this.

we both tried calling the MRC, no answer. Not surprising this time of year. Supposedly sometimes they actually pick up and if you talk to an employee they can try to locate it for you.

What i really dont get is they scanned it in to say it was being sent to the MRC, why cant they scan it and see the address its supposed to go to???  Even super markets can SCAN items and see what they are supposed to be by their UPC.

This is beyond frustrating! Can anyone offer advice, insight, has this ever happened to anyone else? My bf had a package go missing, filed a claim and the item turned up eventually and he got the $$ back, lucky him, but it was in like march... not xmas time!!

[Ringlets]

What a pain!   *nods in agreement*  I'd have thought that if they can scan it to send it to the MRC then they should be able to see the addy where it should be going.  You'll prolly get more joy if you try calling them after xmas ( if you have time you could try to keep calling over the next few days too )   - when someone is more likely to answer the phone and have the time to take a look for you.
I had an pony get lost (I was the buyer) a few years back and apparently it sat around for 3 months before someone realized that although the packaging was damaged and my own addy was torn off/unreadable, they still had the senders addy - so eventually it went back to the seller  (I had been refunded. I believe the seller had also claimed with the PO) . You or your buyer might get the package anyways ..eventually.. once the xmas rush is over and someone takes the time to check the situation out properly, but its still best to try and get them on the phone if you can, and it wont stop you or your buyer being disappointed that they probably wont be getting the item in time for new years

[StarGleamer]

oh wow thats really good to hear, so there is still some hope that it will show up. with a printed label and tracking that is still scanable i figure there MUST be away to get it to one of us. I refunded the buyer and now we must wait. they have been wonderful about the whole thing and said they would pay if it showed up (i would hope... but nothing I can do if they dont!!)