eBay

travis7s · ‎08-26-2017

I was selling a fairly heavy item and a member from Portugal asked if I would sell international. The shipping costs are ridiculous but eventually they agreed to pay for CP International Surface (AKA by boat). The delivery standard is 1-2 months as stated by CP.

Long story short, about half way through the buyer opened a dispute, and eBay has ruled in their favour. Not only a day later the tracking on this item shows it arriving in Portugal, still within the delivery standard time. Is there anything I can do about this?

patphotog · ‎08-26-2017

Hi Travis;

You will have people on this board giving you all kind of advice on how to get your money back and prove your point that the buyer received the item.

But in reality...seller protection does not exist...Buyer is always right in the eyes of Ebay.

You could try to raise a review of the case...I hope your blood pressure is normal because it won't be at the end of the process.

Bottom line...do not sell on ebay an item that is precious to you...and if you do...just hope that your potential buyer belong to the 95% of honest ones.

Put this transaction in the Lost category...block the buyer...and move on.

Or fight it and lose you hair 🙂

dutchman48 · ‎08-26-2017

Of course they would agree to pay any shipping by boat knowing that they can file a claim and get their money back before getting the item, and then wait to get the item free..

Never send heavy items over seas and never send anything surface.

I am sorry for your loss but hopefully you will not do this again.

As a newer seller, you may want to restrict where you sell to and only sell in North America

reallynicestamps · ‎08-26-2017

The shipping costs are ridiculous but eventually they agreed to pay for CP International Surface (AKA by boat).

Which is Portugese for "I want this free".

You were scammed.

There is nothing wrong with selling overseas, but it is important to remember that the seller controls shipping.

The buyer either agrees that the cost of shipping is worth the price or he doesn't buy.

If he can't afford the cost of shipping the item quickly and securely, he can't afford the item.

Too bad for him.

Not every transaction will go perfectly, and this has been a life lesson for you.

I hate those too.

You can, when the tracking shows delivery, send a Paypal invoice to the customer for the amount of the refund.

It might work, especially if it is a company and not a single scammer.

Worth a try anyway.

Best wishes.

hlmacdon · ‎08-26-2017

@travis7s wrote:
I was selling a fairly heavy item and a member from Portugal asked if I would sell international. The shipping costs are ridiculous but eventually they agreed to pay for CP International Surface (AKA by boat). The delivery standard is 1-2 months as stated by CP.

Long story short, about half way through the buyer opened a dispute, and eBay has ruled in their favour. Not only a day later the tracking on this item shows it arriving in Portugal, still within the delivery standard time. Is there anything I can do about this?

If you have proof of delivery, yes. I wasn't aware that surface had tracking, is that a relatively new change?

lady.stark · ‎08-26-2017

@hlmacdon wrote:
I wasn't aware that surface had tracking, is that a relatively new change?

I did send a parcel to Brazil surface once and yes, it had tracking. But you really have to buy "parcel post" and not "small packet". I know I took a risk, but it paid off in the end. I'm not sure I would do this very often though, because it's way too stressful (long story short, sending it this way was my choice by the way because of a mistake I made on the flat rate shipping cost line on .com).

pierrelebel · ‎08-26-2017

"Is there anything I can do about this?"

Yes.

Send the buyer an invoice through PayPal for the full amount that was previously refunded by eBay/PayPal. Indicate on the PayPal invoice that tracking shows the item has been delivered and payment within 48 hours is expected.

It may or may not work - depending if the buyer is honest or not. Worth trying. Beats doing nothing. It has worked for me a few times over the years.

travis7s · ‎08-27-2017

Thanks all for the replies. I'm not too upset about losing the item, but the $85 shipping cost hurts. I'm not totally convinced the guy is an all out scammer, there was a lot of messaging before and after the sale and he waited a long time to finalize the case (unless eBay eventually does anyways?) I'm going to be polite and see how it goes.

Mostlly upset with eBay because its clear they don't even review the case, as they would plainly see the item is still in transit and still on schedule.

pocomocomputing · ‎08-27-2017

@hlmacdon wrote:
@travis7s wrote:
I was selling a fairly heavy item and a member from Portugal asked if I would sell international. The shipping costs are ridiculous but eventually they agreed to pay for CP International Surface (AKA by boat). The delivery standard is 1-2 months as stated by CP.

Long story short, about half way through the buyer opened a dispute, and eBay has ruled in their favour. Not only a day later the tracking on this item shows it arriving in Portugal, still within the delivery standard time. Is there anything I can do about this?
If you have proof of delivery, yes. I wasn't aware that surface had tracking, is that a relatively new change?

Canada Post International Parcel Air and Surface had tracking and delivery confirmation as a feature for some countries for years. International Parcel Air is only offered where Xpresspost International is not offered. International Parcel Surface is offered to many countries.

eBay seller cumos55 used to use International Parcel Surface for years to ship heavy books to Europe and posted a few times that this service was tracked and confirmed. But a couple of years ago cumoss55 stopped using it because the last tracking was in Montreal before going overseas. Delivery times were very long so a seller has to get the buyer to agree to wait a long time for the item. The tracking would show progress to the buyer so they would feel they were not being cheated.