Difficult Ebay Situation: Not sure if there is anything that can be done

[tulagirl]

Husband bought me a Christmas gift off of ebay with a bin.  Tracking shows it was delivered but sadly he says we have not received it at all.  We got everything he bought but this one item whatever it is.  We asked the neighbors...nothing.  The post office has no idea because they are highly incompetent and basically say, "it shows it was delivered."  Well it wasn't. Now we are out money with no item and I have no idea what to do about it.  Insurance doesn't help when it says it was delivered.  So do we just eat it? I mean how can the post office say they delivered something when they did not? I realize this isn't the sellers fault at all, but who is responsible?  I am at a loss.  Husband says if only one item got lost he is impressed.  Apparently he bought several things for me off of ebay and he claims 3 items said delivered and he didn't get them until the next day, but its been 4 days since then and this one never showed up.  I know Christmas traffic is probably to blame, I just get frustrated when no one wants to take responsibility for anything in this world.

[Skeen]

It may not be the PO's fault at all.  It could have very well been delivered but someone stole it from your porch/mailbox.  It's happened before.

[Jypsy]

Unfortunately there isn't much that can be done in this sort of situation.

Keep in mind most eBay sellers are constantly having to worry about buyers claiming they didn't get an item, when they did, and demanding a refund, so the seller is likely to be skeptical that it wasn't received when the tracking says delivered.

The post office really can't do anything because as far as their information says is that it "has been delivered".

The only thing I can think of doing is speaking with management at the post office politely, ( this is a hellish time of year for those folks and they will be more likely to help you that way) and explain the situation. Ask if there is any way to file a report that a package with tracking number XXXX never actually was delivered. Check the delivery times if available and see if there is a significant difference in delivered time than the other packages. this may show that it went to a different place and you might have a better foothold to stand on.

Sadly if everything is marked as delivered and the package was confirmed to have shipped from the seller, no one really is at fault, at least intentionally as it may have been misplaced with another delivery due to high volume of the season.

If worse comes to worse, you can report the item as not received on ebay, and open a case on the situation, however with tracking and insurance, it will be hard for you to prove you truly did not receive the item.

Best Of Luck!

[Galactica]

That happened to me with my brand new boots from a department store-

I think someone swiped them right off the porch.  Of course it also could have been miss-delivered and not returned, given the frequency with which I receive packages addressed to various neighbors....

We now have a giant locking mailbox- and I get all of my important stuff sent to my work address- which has a better track record and is more secure.


I think unfortunately you are stuck with the loss.  While Nordstroms and Amazon will re-send a package after it has been stolen, obviously random person selling on ebay doesn't have those kind of resources, and I don't think that insurance covers mail that is stolen after delivery (but I am not positive about that).  I think it would be pretty unfair to open an item dispute with the seller- given the proof of mailing supplied- it wasn't the seller's fault someone stole your package.  I would be pretty irritated if someone did that to me, wouldn't you?

I think you should definitely submit a written report/complaint to your local post office- (particularly if there are irregularities with your mail delivery) - and maybe find out the particulars of insurance (what is the criteria for recovering package that shows it has been delivered)

[ClosetAvalanche]

I'm really sorry this has happened. See if you can speak to the post lady/man that had delivered that day if they remember a package for you. Also, it's a long shot, but if it was a smaller amount item, Ebay might give you a curtesy refund if you complain about it.

[Icecrystalline]

Aw man that sucks! I am in the UK, but we have Royal mail- I would suggest contacting your equivalent and getting them to help since they say they delivered it, sorry I can't be of more help!
x

[tulagirl]

Its not my style to go after a seller when the seller isn't to blame.  As far as it being stolen off the porch...I don't think so. I remember the day it was supposed to be delivered as I got other packages that day...just not that one and I was home.
My post office never has anything to offer. They basically just tell me sorry, we don't keep records...your item says delivered and we can't trace it from there.  Its a waste of time to even try to deal with them. They are complete idiots and I don't mean to be rude....but they are a badddddd postal office.  The carriers just always play stupid with me.  How is the carrier going to remember every package I got that day?  I got like three and we were supposed to get 4.  I had ordered stuff off of amazon and got two packages that day and my husband got one...minus this one he was supposed to get.
It doesn't seem right to me to ask ebay to pay for something they had nothing to do with losing. ARGH....thank goodness this was just a small collectible toy on my wanted list that probably only cost about 15.00 at bin.

[Galactica]

From your post- it sounds like you do have an unreliable post office- do you have any alternative address you can have your packages mailed to?  That is what I finally had to resort to...

[xeevee]

You could try going to consumer affairs or something, it may not do anything, but if the post office is so sloppy that they will mark something off as delivered but not make sure it was safely done so, then there is a problem.  It might shake them into being more careful at least.

[tulagirl]

I will consider that xee...thanks

[coinoperatedgirl]

I've read elsewhere that people have had good luck with filling out this form.  The page that I'd gotten the link from, someone said that every time she'd file a claim for something that went missing, the package mysteriously showed up a couple of days later.

[tulagirl]

For some reason I could not open that link....

[coinoperatedgirl]

For some reason I could not open that link....

Because I am a moron at formatting BBCode.  All better now.

[fingerpaints]

This time of year as well as a poor post office does not help. We are very lucky with ours, I know them that well they will tell me if something is in my Po Box to be picked up. However, I have had items that have been marked as delivered before they actually arrived, this happens alot. I think they may have been delivered to the post office but possibly not sorted yet or something, as they have always shown up.

but, in saying that, I have most of my mail going to my post office box insead of my home address, because our postie is an idiot, and likely to leave parcels, letters or anything else out in the rain, we have a HUGE mail box, and he shoves letters half in, half out, rain, hail or shine. So, they get half soaked if it is raining out.

I am just glad my post office boys are not as stupid.

[Buffy]

Sorry to hear that... I have the same situation at the moment with a pony from Argentina...And my problem is, the seller doesn't answer my pms or help me in any other way... I hope your package will shows up...(and I hope mine will do too)