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Your item is being inspected on shipping hub | Buying | eBay Canada EN

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Your item is being inspected on shipping hub

Summary: bad--45 reports a delay in the delivery of a video game console they purchased on eBay, which is stuck at a shipping hub for over a week with eBay suggesting a month-long delivery time. reallynicestamps and lotzofuniquegoodies provide insights on delivery expectations and advise patience given the role of customs and different couriers. Discussion participants mention the potential involvement of a third-party shipping service, raising questions about shipping reliability and costs, especially concerning eBay's new International Shipping (eIS) service. Some contributors emphasize the learning curve for eBay in addressing these issues, such as reef.retrogame who suspects item mishandling, while marnotom! offers practical tips for tracking packages. Eventually, bad--45 confirms a refund was issued as the package was deemed lost, though reef.retrogame speculates that packages might be stolen rather than lost. Participants express mixed experiences on cross-border shipping and eBay's handling of international packages.

Over a week item still stuck on inspect at shipping hub it’s a video game console I called eBay and told me to wait but says one month to deliver from Illinois to Canada.

bad--45

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Posted 3 years ago·Last reply 3 years ago

25 comments

reef.retrogame

·3 years ago

Hi, eBay has issued a refund to me, probably a few days until I received my money. Money is not the issue my issue Is this has happened before and happens so many times with others, some desired items reaches ebay shipping hub which is just a person's address that works for ebay and is assigned to ship the parcel to me, I have my own opinions on this that these parcels are stolen by ebay workers. I guess they carry out their own internal investigation but never tell us the truth. I didn't ask for a refund. I clicked and selected that I want the item still and want to find out exactly what happened to it.

Instead, they ignored my questions and issued me a refund straight away and closed the case. Even when I didn't ask for a refund, I wanted answers.

Ebay is becoming less and less trustworthy

marnotom!

·3 years ago

eBay International Shipping seems to be very squeamish about forwarding older electronic items or items containing batteries. I suggest that for problematic items like these you bypass eIS by registering with a reputable forwarding service based in a US state where “internet tax” isn’t charged (otherwise you’ll be paying state sales taxes) and using that service’s address as your “ship to” address. Or just have the items sent to a friend in the US who can hold onto or forward the item themselves, just like in the old days of eBay when you’d be dealing with a seller who didn’t want to ship outside of the US.

The downside to these workarounds is that your eligibility for eBay’s Money Back Guarantee program (should there be a problem with the sale) may be limited.

ac05jn

·3 years ago

ebay says "Arrived at shipping hub, item is being inspected". click the link to go to usps tracking website - page does not load.. but go to usps directly and enter the number, it says it has been delivered to someone in CAROL STREAM, IL (1700 miles in the wrong direction).. i'm guessing/hoping this was "delivered" to their 3rd party cosolidation shipper... sigh.

ps, i am very careful not to use ups. the first time was the last time, 20 years ago when they charged me a $20 brokerage ransom on a $20 item from usa to canada.

isn't it interesting how i can get delivery from the other side of the world (china) without paying taxes, duty, or ransom? almost as if somone was trying to give china an advantage over the usa.

marnotom!

·3 years ago

@ac05jn wrote:

ebay says "Arrived at shipping hub, item is being inspected". click the link to go to usps tracking website - page does not load.. but go to usps directly and enter the number, it says it has been delivered to someone in CAROL STREAM, IL (1700 miles in the wrong direction).. i'm guessing/hoping this was "delivered" to their 3rd party cosolidation shipper... sigh.

Unless the item should have arrived by now, it's too soon to worry about its whereabouts and there's really no reason to keep a close eye on your item's tracking at this point. If you really do need to get a sense of how your item's progressing in transit, I suggest using a third-party tracking site that's able to pull together the tracking information from all the different carriers and logistics companies that are handling your item. Parcelsapp is a good one.

But, yes, Carol Stream seems to be the location of a hub for eIS.

bad--45

OP3 years ago

Update opened a case today item was lost a shipping hub getting a refund from eBay.

mod's can close this thread thanks for all the replies.

reef.retrogame

·3 years ago

Your item wasn't lost, this happens way too many times and happened to many times with desired items.
Ebay will never admit but these parcels get stolen by their own workers they probably carry out an internal investigation but never tell us the truth. Is always just LOST

rocketscollectibles

·3 years ago

If this is fowarded to canada post, i think they have issues right now. I've been returned 4 packages shipped with lettermail yesterday, those orders were from 3 weeks ago. They took freaking 3 weeks to return to sender packages supposed to be shipped in a 2-4 business standard. Putted me into trouble. Luckily i had chilly buyers.

reallynicestamps

·3 years ago

@rocketscollectibles They took freaking 3 weeks to return to sender packages supposed to be shipped in a 2-4 business standard.

Hmm.

Were you the seller?

Were they being returned because the PO could not delivery them?

What service was being used?

Because if they were being returned as Undeliverable, eBay does not require the seller to refund anything. The buyer is required to provide a useable address.

If the buyer simply marked the shipment "return to sender" those packages would be a very low priority for the shipper.

Canada Post will not be on strike, but the postal workers will not cross picket lines.

rocketscollectibles

·3 years ago

I mean i sold things. I shipped the orders 3 weeks ago with lettermail. 4 of those packages were refused and returned to me. It was mostly QC to ON shipments. And i received the packages back only yesterday. They took 3 weeks to return to sender domestic lettermail.

Delivery standards are just that: for delivery. Returns don't factor into delivery standards as they're a low priority for Canada Post.

They are but we should expect domestic lettermail returned to senders to be returned in way less than 3 weeks. There was an issue for sure.

reallynicestamps

·3 years ago

4 of those packages were refused and returned to me.

If the buyers refused the packages, you don't have to refund them.

So the time it took for the packages to get back to you is not important.

You don't owe the refusniks a penny.

I copied this discussion a while back.

https://www.ebay.ca/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?...

This is the part I'm referring to

Exclusions and special coverage when the buyer doesn't receive an item

 Items collected by a third party on behalf of the buyer  Not covered 

The buyer arranged their own shipping method, such as a courier pickup  Not covered 

The buyer provided an invalid or incorrect address at checkout  Not covered

An ethical seller would refund the payment, less shipping costs, eBay fees, and international payment processing fees.
But it's my belief that eBay will not require any refund.

Hi @femmefan1946! You're correct in that a refused package is on the buyer and not the sellers responsibility to refund. As long as tracking shows the package was refused, then we would side with a seller if the buyer opened an Item Not Received claim.

I agree that I would not withhold all the money, but it is up to the seller if they would like to withhold shipping, refund the buyer entirely, or keep it all. If the seller is okay with refunding the buyer entirely and being out the shipping costs, then they can cancel the transaction using the buyer requested option since in essence, they did by refusing the package. If the seller wants to retain the shipping costs, then they can message the buyer a heads up (not a requirement but a nice thing to do) and then refund them partially through this flow here.
Velvet,

marnotom!

·3 years ago

@rocketscollectibles wrote:

I've been returned 4 packages shipped with lettermail yesterday, those orders were from 3 weeks ago. They took freaking 3 weeks to return to sender packages supposed to be shipped in a 2-4 business standard.

Delivery standards are just that: for delivery. Returns don't factor into delivery standards as they're a low priority for Canada Post.

bad--45

OP3 years ago

The seller used usps to the eBay shipping hub than a third party picks it up asendia. Usps took 2 days to get from California to Illinois shipping hub I paid almost 200 dollars for shipping and I have to wait a month been on inspect for one week now iv never had this use before. I assume the package is lost.

marnotom!

·3 years ago

@bad--45 wrote:

The seller used usps to the eBay shipping hub than a third party picks it up asendia. Usps took 2 days to get from California to Illinois shipping hub I paid almost 200 dollars for shipping and I have to wait a month been on inspect for one week now iv never had this use before. I assume the package is lost.

It sounds as though your seller is shipping your item through a new forwarding service called, simply, "eBay International Shipping." It's basically a mail consolidation service and judging by the purchases my wife makes from other US-based online retailers, consolidation/forwarding services are often used to get small imports from the US to Canada as they're cheaper and a third party gets to handle a lot of the "dirty work" rather than the exporter. The trade-off is slower shipping times than a direct mailed shipment.

If the estimated time delivery window has not passed, your shipment is not considered lost by eBay.

Unless your item is extremely large and heavy, US$200 sounds really out of line for shipping through a consolidator. I probably would have waited to find a listing with lower shipping costs. In fact, I'm currently advising my fellow Canucks to avoid shipments where "eBay International Shipping" is used for the time being as it appears to be kind of bug-filled due to some sellers setting it up improperly.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·3 years ago

@marnotom! wrote:
@bad--45 wrote:

The seller used usps to the eBay shipping hub than a third party picks it up asendia. Usps took 2 days to get from California to Illinois shipping hub I paid almost 200 dollars for shipping and I have to wait a month been on inspect for one week now iv never had this use before. I assume the package is lost.
It sounds as though your seller is shipping your item through a new forwarding service called, simply, "eBay International Shipping." It's basically a mail consolidation service and judging by the purchases my wife makes from other US-based online retailers, consolidation/forwarding services are often used to get small imports from the US to Canada as they're cheaper and a third party gets to handle a lot of the "dirty work" rather than the exporter. The trade-off is slower shipping times than a direct mailed shipment.

If the estimated time delivery window has not passed, your shipment is not considered lost by eBay.

Unless your item is extremely large and heavy, US$200 sounds really out of line for shipping through a consolidator. I probably would have waited to find a listing with lower shipping costs. In fact, I'm currently advising my fellow Canucks to avoid shipments where "eBay International Shipping" is used for the time being as it appears to be kind of bug-filled due to some sellers setting it up improperly.

@marnotom! wrote:
@bad--45 wrote:

The seller used usps to the eBay shipping hub than a third party picks it up asendia. Usps took 2 days to get from California to Illinois shipping hub I paid almost 200 dollars for shipping and I have to wait a month been on inspect for one week now iv never had this use before. I assume the package is lost.
It sounds as though your seller is shipping your item through a new forwarding service called, simply, "eBay International Shipping." It's basically a mail consolidation service and judging by the purchases my wife makes from other US-based online retailers, consolidation/forwarding services are often used to get small imports from the US to Canada as they're cheaper and a third party gets to handle a lot of the "dirty work" rather than the exporter. The trade-off is slower shipping times than a direct mailed shipment.

If the estimated time delivery window has not passed, your shipment is not considered lost by eBay.

Unless your item is extremely large and heavy, US$200 sounds really out of line for shipping through a consolidator. I probably would have waited to find a listing with lower shipping costs. In fact, I'm currently advising my fellow Canucks to avoid shipments where "eBay International Shipping" is used for the time being as it appears to be kind of bug-filled due to some sellers setting it up improperly.

@marnotom!

Sorry. Have to!! Best laugh all week!!! Good one!!!

"Cheaper"? 🤣😂😂🤣

-Lotz

marnotom!

·3 years ago

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

"Cheaper"? 🤣😂😂🤣

If the seller is setting up their listings properly, yes.

I'm finding cell phones shipping through eIS with shipping prices of US$11.75. The cheapest you can send a USPS First Class International Package to Canada now is US$15.75.

Keep in mind in my previous post I was speaking to consolidation services in general and not eIS specifically, though.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·3 years ago

@marnotom! wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

"Cheaper"? 🤣😂😂🤣
If the seller is setting up their listings properly, yes.

I'm finding cell phones shipping through eIS with shipping prices of US$11.75. The cheapest you can send a USPS First Class International Package to Canada now is US$15.75.

Keep in mind in my previous post I was speaking to consolidation services in general and not eIS specifically, though.

@marnotom!

If you look at the coles notes for EIS there are a number of benefits for sellers to use EIS but as for buyers that is very well disguised. (Like reduced fees for shipping.) IF we had something like that in Canada to say level the playing field, how much longer would it take for our shipments to arrived compared to what we have now? Not ready to imagine that. A good percentage of US shipping to Canada is 1 of 2 choices. Either a consolidator or EIS. The USPS direct to Canada with a actual shipping service are few and far between. Puts Canadian buyers between a rock and hard place. From a personal perspective, if I order something from the USA I want to know how it is arriving with no unexpected surprises or it walking away off my front steps because the seller is using some mysterious arrangement.

I've pretty much given up on trying to find economical shipping for anything I need from USA to Canada. If they happen to use an actual USPS service it's become like looking for a needle in a haystack. The Canadian buyers I have spoken to recently are in complete shock at the insane shipping that now is showing up on majority of listings (US). They will only buy from a US seller as a very last last resort. Due to GSP and now EIS a get a major thanks from buyers looking for something that I happen to have to fill their needs.

-Lotz

marnotom!

·3 years ago

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

If you look at the coles notes for EIS there are a number of benefits for sellers to use EIS but as for buyers that is very well disguised. (Like reduced fees for shipping.)

There isn't much that can be done to "sell" a shipping method to a buyer. It's either fast, slow, or in-between; and it's either cheap, expensive, or in-between. I guess you could include how the item is handled by customs, but that would fall under both speed and cost.

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

IF we had something like that in Canada to say level the playing field, how much longer would it take for our shipments to arrived compared to what we have now? Not ready to imagine that.

Don't forget the added cost to the buyer if this Canadian service relied on sellers sending their items to the consolidation hub by mail or courier. The model that would likely have to be used would be a drop-off system if this service had any chance at all to be competitive with direct mail shipping which would likely make the service a no-go for many rural/remote sellers.

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

A good percentage of US shipping to Canada is 1 of 2 choices. Either a consolidator or EIS. The USPS direct to Canada with a actual shipping service are few and far between. Puts Canadian buyers between a rock and hard place. From a personal perspective, if I order something from the USA I want to know how it is arriving with no unexpected surprises or it walking away off my front steps because the seller is using some mysterious arrangement.

A lot of sellers in the past have sent my wife and me stuff that's been handled by mail consolidators of the seller's choice, independent of eBay. I'm not sure if that's the type of "consolidator" you're referring to here. Those sellers tend to use USPS descriptors in their listings, so even going by the listing page is no guarantee that you're going to get "USPS direct to Canada" from them.

As for "unexpected surprises," I had no idea that surprises could also be expected. 😜

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

I've pretty much given up on trying to find economical shipping for anything I need from USA to Canada. If they happen to use an actual USPS service it's become like looking for a needle in a haystack. The Canadian buyers I have spoken to recently are in complete shock at the insane shipping that now is showing up on majority of listings (US). They will only buy from a US seller as a very last last resort. Due to GSP and now EIS a get a major thanks from buyers looking for something that I happen to have to fill their needs.

Even USPS isn't really all that "economical" now. At current exchange rates, it's about C$20 to send something by First Class Package to Canada that weighs less than half a pound. Many Canadian sellers have already discovered the benefits from using services such as Chit Chats or Stallion for their shipments to the US. Can you blame our US cousins for trying to find similar but different solutions?

Yes, eIS is showing some pretty wack pricing for some items/listings right now. From what I can see, it seems to be mostly seller error causing this problem. Besides, what I observed in the furor over Managed Payments seems to hold true here, too: When has the rollout of anything new by eBay gone completely glitch-free? I'm content to wait until the dust settles before I purchase anything through eIS, and I hope that most buyers are also capable of taking a long-term view of this situation.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·3 years ago

@marnotom! wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

If you look at the coles notes for EIS there are a number of benefits for sellers to use EIS but as for buyers that is very well disguised. (Like reduced fees for shipping.)
There isn't much that can be done to "sell" a shipping method to a buyer. It's either fast, slow, or in-between; and it's either cheap, expensive, or in-between. I guess you could include how the item is handled by customs, but that would fall under both speed and cost.

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

IF we had something like that in Canada to say level the playing field, how much longer would it take for our shipments to arrived compared to what we have now? Not ready to imagine that.
Don't forget the added cost to the buyer if this Canadian service relied on sellers sending their items to the consolidation hub by mail or courier. The model that would likely have to be used would be a drop-off system if this service had any chance at all to be competitive with direct mail shipping which would likely make the service a no-go for many rural/remote sellers.

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

A good percentage of US shipping to Canada is 1 of 2 choices. Either a consolidator or EIS. The USPS direct to Canada with a actual shipping service are few and far between. Puts Canadian buyers between a rock and hard place. From a personal perspective, if I order something from the USA I want to know how it is arriving with no unexpected surprises or it walking away off my front steps because the seller is using some mysterious arrangement.
A lot of sellers in the past have sent my wife and me stuff that's been handled by mail consolidators of the seller's choice, independent of eBay. I'm not sure if that's the type of "consolidator" you're referring to here. Those sellers tend to use USPS descriptors in their listings, so even going by the listing page is no guarantee that you're going to get "USPS direct to Canada" from them.

As for "unexpected surprises," I had no idea that surprises could also be expected. 😜

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

I've pretty much given up on trying to find economical shipping for anything I need from USA to Canada. If they happen to use an actual USPS service it's become like looking for a needle in a haystack. The Canadian buyers I have spoken to recently are in complete shock at the insane shipping that now is showing up on majority of listings (US). They will only buy from a US seller as a very last last resort. Due to GSP and now EIS a get a major thanks from buyers looking for something that I happen to have to fill their needs.
Even USPS isn't really all that "economical" now. At current exchange rates, it's about C$20 to send something by First Class Package to Canada that weighs less than half a pound. Many Canadian sellers have already discovered the benefits from using services such as Chit Chats or Stallion for their shipments to the US. Can you blame our US cousins for trying to find similar but different solutions?

Yes, eIS is showing some pretty wack pricing for some items/listings right now. From what I can see, it seems to be mostly seller error causing this problem. Besides, what I observed in the furor over Managed Payments seems to hold true here, too: When has the rollout of anything new by eBay gone completely glitch-free? I'm content to wait until the dust settles before I purchase anything through eIS, and I hope that most buyers are also capable of taking a long-term view of this situation.

@marnotom!

One would think when consolidators/forwarders were in play with a definite extended time for delivery window that there should be some savings for buyers on the shipping cost. I used to use a freight forwarder where I worked for work for our air freight. Because they had access to space on the plane we got a discount compared to Fedex/UPS.

Seems when eBay is involved in negotiations there are never any savings. Like the "deal" Canadian sellers get for using eBay labels and Canada post. Or the savings we now are supposed to get using Fedex (Almost 10 months) without a view of what the discount is for the limited selection of services available. (Compared to if you were to use direct through Fedex.) There should be a working calculator...by now!!!

-Lotz

marnotom!

·3 years ago

Just an addendum to @reallynicestamps' excellent post:

Tracking shows where an item has been, not necessarily where it is. Your item may have moved on from the shipping hub but there's been a delay in getting the tracking scans displayed on eBay (or wherever you're looking). There are quite a few posts similar to yours on these discussion boards, and those who follow up on their posts say that they received their item and the tracking information caught up to it.

reallynicestamps

·3 years ago

From decades in mail order selling everything from wood stoves to postage stamps, I would agree with the eBay rep.

Any delivery that takes less than three weeks is normal. Less is fast. A month is a bit slow but not anything unusual.

EBay gave you a delivery window. Has the last date for that passed?
If not, mark that day on your calendar and if it passes without recieving your purchase you can open an Item Not Recieved dispute with eBay.

Tips.

Never buy anything online that you need by a deadline. Buy those locally.

Never watch tracking. It doesn't move anything any faster. You can't do anything to make it move faster. And the last report of location was likely made as it left that location.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·3 years ago

@reallynicestamps

According to stamps dot com here are the suggested times with USPS for mailing to Canada. Other sites post the same info. When sellers used USPS to CP we knew what service was actually getting used. Now. Who knows?

Until we can get a handle on how EIS shipments are handled(carrier/courier) it will be mostly wait and see. Just too bad that eBay gives EIS extented estimated transit times whereas what it is shown for Canada to the USA numbers have limited leeway for specific services and forgets to mention that there could be customs delays involved in those times.

-Lotz