I have a long discussion with a postal work about missing parcels and this is what she said:

Today I had a item not received message waiting for me as I got up.  The item was sent out Jan 20 to Illinois USA.  He stated that he thinks the he didn't receive the item.   I refunded the buyer right away.

 

In Jan, I had a item not received message from Oshawa Ontario.   I was very suspicious on that one as he registered the same day that he bought the CD and had not bought anything else since.  

 

I had to mail some parcels today so went to my local PO.  This is a very busy post office in a suburb of Vancouver.  It doesn't have a lot of business mail, mostly residential mail and parcels.  The clerk I spoke to knows me well and has worked there for about 5 years. 

 

I told her that another buyer stated they did not get their item and this time it was to the US.  I asked her where do these parcels go that go missing.  She stated that I am the only person in the last 5 years that has reported missing parcels for the US or Canada that has reported it to their PO.  She said it is almost unheard of to have missing mail for Canada and the US.  Sometimes she stated that the parcel is returned to the sender because of the address being wrong/not clear but they show up.  

 

She stated that these people probably received their parcels and are just claiming they didn't.   I think that my buyer in Jan registered a new ID just to do that.  

 

I hope that ebay tracks the buyers who claim that did not receive their parcels and after 3 claims on that IP they are permanently banned, their IP address flagged. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I have a long discussion with a postal work about missing parcels and this is what she said:

I think you will find that most sellers will agree with you on both points.

There are definitely more claims of non-delivery when we use an untracked service and that multiple claims of non-delivery should be flagged by eBay, because even if the customer is really not receiving their purchases, then the address is a 'dangerous' one, akin to shipping a cellphone to Nigeria.

 

What can we do in the meantime?

Put the customer on your Blocked Bidder List.

Block bidders who do not have active Paypal accounts.

Use the new 'fast cancel' option if we feel very queasy about a transaction.

Use Cookie Jar Insurance, adding a few pennies to every price to cover the occasional*  'loss' claim.

 

Even so, the vast majority of customers are honest and willing to work with the seller when there is a problem. Don't give up faith in humanity because of one twerp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*And the postal clerk is right, actual loss in the mail is vanishingly unlikely. More likely are thefts from mailboxes, undeliverable addresses,  and specious claims.

 

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I have a long discussion with a postal work about missing parcels and this is what she said:

Another thought.

Tell the customer that you have contacted his local postmaster with information about the loss, since it is most likely that the item was either stolen from the porch mailbox, in which case there may be other cases of theft being reported, or possible that the item is somewhere on a shelf overlooked. Ask him to cooperate with the postmaster and the postal inspectors.

And of course, do send that email/letter.

If he is honest, he will be grateful that you are taking an interest.

If not, it is quite possible that the item will suddenly be delivered.

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