Fraud: Tracking Number Issued, Item Not Shipped

[bonafide_bidder]

I ordered an item from a Chinese based seller who advertised items are shipped within one business day. The tracking number was issued on December 8, 2020. After a few days, I noticed the item had not shipped and sent the seller a message asking when it would be shipped but I didn not receive a replay. As of today, December 17, 2020, the item has not shipped which was confirmed by an eBay representative. The order cannot be cancelled and I have to wait until January 12, 2021 to file a request for reimbursement even though eBay knows the item hasn't shipped in accordance with the seller's own shipping policy (within 1 business day). Even though I have been a very long term eBay member ,and this is the first time I have had this problem of an item not being shipped, I am very disappointed in eBay for allowing sellers to issue a tracking number to lock in the sale and prevent buyers from being able to cancel the sale when the item is not shipped within a reasonable period from when the order was made and paid for.

The current eBay policy of requiring the buyer to wait until the latest delivery date has passed to file a reimbursement request is unacceptable, it encourages fraud. Instead, the sale should be cancelled within a reasonable period after the purchase is made, even when a tracking number is issued, if the item is not shipped in compliance with the seller's handling and shipping policy or a time period limit imposed by eBay. Doing that would prevent fraud by sellers issuing a tracking number but not shipping the purchased item(s). 

[pjcdn2005]

Both of those services are scanned when the item is accepted by the postal system so even in the rare event that there are no others scans, there is always at least one scan before delivery.  The op's package apparently does not have even  an acceptance scan.

[marnotom!]

Okay, sorry, I read your question as a query about shipping methods that feature periodic event scans versus ones that don’t offer those scans as a feature.

I’m pretty certain my wife or I have received items from other countries where an acceptance scan has been the only scan that’s shown up on the tracking record until the item reached Canada. I can’t offer proof of this, though, and I certainly don’t recall if these were sent by mailing methods that offered just delivery confirmation.

[Anonymous]

Exact same problem, this time with a german watch supplier.  Never answered my messages, and 10 days later issued a tracking number and everything stopped since then.  Went onto the couriers website, tracked item, and never went past registered status.  The tracking number is in fact meaningless, and does not mean that item shipped.  It does not even mean that it was picked up by the courier.

I also need to wait another 10 days before taking action because of ebay policy.  I too think that a policy change would be in order.

Convinced this is fraud, lets see if I get my money back through ebay.  I suspect an uphill battle.

First and only time I've had ebay problems.  Going to be super careful the next time I order.

[reallynicestamps]

and never went past registered status. The tracking number is in fact meaningless,

Registered? Was the German word "Einschreiben"?

Registered Mail is only tracked within the country of origin.

For international shipping it has been superceded by faster and more expensive services.

In Canada, Expedited/ExpressPost/Priority Post are those services.

The point being, that a Registered item would do exactly what you describe.

This of course only works for the postal system. If your seller uses a courier like DHL or UPS, they have their own system and usually track every step.

It is important to understand the differences, unless you have a lot of Prozac in the medicine cabinet.

The ten day delay is a worry. Is the seller in Germany or one of the Eastern European countries?

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.