Seller marked item as shipped but has not shipped - is this allowed?

[petitopotato]

I have a situation of a seller who does not wish to sell an item to me that I won in their auction due to deciding that the item was priced too low.

She has marked the item as being shipped but for the past two days the tracking number shows the notice 'Manifest Ack' which means:

"Manifest ack happens when you print out the postage but have not given the post office the physical package.  Once you take to the post office or carrier picks up then it gets an acceptance scan and the delivery time starts."

This means that the item has not been shipped. I believe this seller does not intend to ship the item to me. They initially sent me a message after the auction's end saying that they were going to relist the item at a higher price. I wrote back saying that the item has already been paid for and that relisting the item is against eBay's policies since it was legitimately won.

The seller said she would ship it. But she has not - since the tracking number shows 'Manifest Ack' for the past 2 days.

If I do not receive the item, I will report this seller to eBay and leave negative feedback. Is it against eBay's policies for a seller to mark an item as having been shipped if it has not been?

[pjcdn2005]

The ebay system marks an item as being shipped as soon as a shipping label has been printed if it has been printed through ebay or paypal so if that is the case, the seller did not mark it as shipped..ebay did.

When you check the tracking number, it should say what method the item was mailed. Priority Flat rate envelopes and small flat rate boxes do not have tracking. The tracking number that you get with those packages is a customs number and is rarely trackable. First class international packages to Canada are supposed to have tracking now but I don't know how reliable it is.

So the seller could have mailed the package but if there is no tracking with that service, it won't be updated. It is best to go directly to the USPS site to check the number as I've heard that checking it through ebay doesn't always work.

Have you asked the seller if they have mailed it?

[petitopotato]

Yes, I have sent a message to the seller to ask if the item has been shipped and she replied that it may not have been and that she will mail it right away if not.

The tracking number now shows that the item is 'in transit' so this is good.

I did not realize ebay marks the item as shipped if the seller uses postage through ebay. Thanks for letting me know.

[dtls1948]

First Class International to Canada will often only indicate when the

package was accepted at the origin post office. Often you will see no new

entry after that until the parcel is in your hands as delivered. Only once

have I seen tracking past the origin post office. Getting something sent

by Priority International Post costs more and depending on the value, may

or may not be worth it.