Item sent with tracking through Canada Post, has never been scanned and buyer is asking for a refund

[bleu776]

I recently started selling some of my excess hockey cards through eBay and I've hit my first snag.

I sent all my previous orders with CP using the "Expedited Parcel" service but for some reason I chose "Regular Parcel" for this one, with tracking. It was a 90$ item (plus 15$ shipping) and I dropped it off in person at the local post office to a person working there at the desk on the very day that it sold. That was january 5th. The buyer was in Canada.

Since then the tracking info has never updated and it never said "shipment received at the originating facility". A week later I asked about the item while dropping off another and the lady said sometimes the tracking doesn't work and gave me a number to call CP on the phone. On the phone, they told me to ask the post office and that they had no other info. The package had the label generated by eBay with my address as well as the buyer's. I twice send a message to the buyer to ask if he got it and he said no.

Now it's been three weeks and he's asking for a refund. What should I do? I use tracking for all my items specifically to avoid things like this. Now CP can say they never got the package (they did) and the seller can deny that he ever got it (he probably did).

Is there anything I can do?

[reallynicestamps]

What window did eBay give for delivery?  This does not necessarily match Canada Post's promises.

He can't open a Dispute until 24 hours after that last estimated date.

Although for domestic delivery three weeks is pushing it, especially since we have had no public holidays recently.

BTW- there have been only 16 business days- plus three weekends during which CPO does not deliver.

I twice send a message to the buyer to ask if he got it and he said no.

NEVER do this again.

Respond to complaints, don't generate them!

If the last date has passed, ask the buyer to open a Dispute "to keep the full transaction on record".

A scammer won't, since he wants to stay off the radar. BTW, what does his Feedback Left for Others read like?

When he opens the dispute, enter the tracking number.

If CPO or eBay has a record of delivery that will end the claim.

If there isn't refund.

Sorry.

Add him to your Blocked List, since his address seems unreliable.

This may help.

[marnotom!]

Presumably you still have the receipt for the shipment with the tracking barcode on it, so that's your proof that Canada Post should have the parcel.

I don't know where you or your buyer are located, but I sent something from Vancouver Island by Expedited Parcel on December 27th that didn't reach the recipient in Winnipeg until January 24th.  The tracking information vaguely suggested some delays, probably due to transportation issues in southern British Columbia, but perhaps the cold snap as well.

Expedited Parcel doesn't usually have a huge delivery time advantage over Regular Parcel, but the handling of your parcel may be a bit different in light of all the issues going on right now.  Tell your buyer that if it doesn't arrive by Groundhog Day they should let you know so you can file an insurance claim on it.  See how they react to that.

[bleu776]

Yeah, I shouldn't have contacted him first. I'm a new seller so I should have been proactive but now I realize there is nothing to gain from that. He now knows I can't see the package and may be taking advantage of that. 

I don't have a physical proof I gave it to the post office, so I guess this is the main problem. Last week I sent another package and specifically asked for a receipt and they said they don't have one to give. The only one I ever got was for a package over 400$ value sent to the US.

The feedback he left is all positive so it doesn't seem like he's got a track record of doing this. I guess I'll wait until he files a dispute and see where it goes. Since I don't have a ticket form CP am I correct in assuming I'l eventually have to refund him and that the card is "lost"?

[pjcdn2005]

If the package has had 0 scans from Canada Post, I wouldn't be too quick to assume that the buyer has it.  Anything is possible but I've never had a parcel not get scanned at all. It's possible that it slipped behind something and it is sitting there unnoticed.  Since you dropped it off at the post office it is odd that the person there didn't scan it right away.

[bleu776]

Yeah, normally it shows up in the eBay app within a few minutes that the item was scanned at the post office. I went back to send another package a few days later and they said that sometimes this happens and that I should ask CP by phone. On the phone they coun't tell me anything except to ask at the post office.

Even if the tracking never registered, the buyer's address is on the package and mine is there too. So the two likeliest possibilities are that that the package is sitting in a bin somewhere in their sorting center or that the buyer has it but is trying to profit from the tracking problem.

I've asked the buyer to wait another week but if he doesn't get it by then (or says he didn't get it anyway) I'll probably have to issue a refund I guess.

[intimewithmusic]

Hi @bleu776 

  If I can make a suggestion although some may same I am **bleep** about this when you take a shipment to the post office there are a number of scenarios;  One is a big mistake.

1. You previously put your own postage paid label on your item via eBay Labels, Shippo, PayPal Labels or CP 

online Shap Ship. You waited in line at the post office and presented the package to the counter person. You waited until the counter person had scanned and punched in the code. The counter person gave you a receipt. 

2. You did all of the above and the counter person said, "Sorry, we don't give receipts for these." Everything else was done in front of you while you waited until the person verified your item was properly in the system. Then ask them for the tracking number.  Some Canada Post reps refuse to print you a receipt. Others only print when asked. Still others always print one. 

3. You did all of the above EXCEPT, to avoid the line, you put your prepaid item on the side counter or in a bin.

4. You present an unpaid package to the counter person and purchased postage at the counter. YOu will then be given a receipt with a tracking number. 

  Which one is a "No No?  #3!

   My CP outlet is in the back of a drug store. When the outlet is closed and the store is still open there are no store staff iin that corner. Anyone has access to the mountain of packages behind the counter and if your item doesn't show as being scanned in you are out of luck. A couple years back a seller left a wine box full 100+ prepaid cardboard mailers on the counter... POOF! 

[dinomitesales]

I work at a Canada Post authorized retailer location. There is no way to generate a receipt for a domestic prepaid label except for a few isolated examples (I think labels printed on Etsy will allow a receipt to print because they're processed in a different way)? Despite working at this job for over 6 years now I still don't understand when and how a receipt will be generated for dropping off a parcel; I can generate one for any US/Int'l packages dropped off, but pretty much never for a domestic package.

That being said, if the clerk scanned it in then the tracking should still indicate "Accepted at Post Office".

@bleu776 - did you physically see the clerk scan your package in at the counter? What is the latest entry on the tracking number - is it just "Electronic information submitted"?

[reallynicestamps]

specifically asked for a receipt and they said they don't have one to give. T

When you print a label at home, half the page is your receipt.

I ask my PO clerks to stamp that.

[intimewithmusic]

If you preprint your own label you have the tracking number.  If the post office prints you a label you have the tracking number.  If the clerk won't give you a receipt (domestic or int) and you don't already have one take a picture of the label. The point is not to abandon a parcel until you're certain the clerk has properly scanned it... not simply set it aside as many wish to. At that point you're out of luck if it goes missing prior to acceptance. 

[dinomitesales]

---

@intimewithmusic wrote:

If you preprint your own label you have the tracking number.  If the post office prints you a label you have the tracking number.  If the clerk won't give you a receipt (domestic or int) and you don't already have one take a picture of the label. The point is not to abandon a parcel until you're certain the clerk has properly scanned it... not simply set it aside as many wish to. At that point you're out of luck if it goes missing prior to acceptance. 

---

Yes, I'm well aware, but there's a difference between "having the tracking number" and ensuring it gets scanned in at the post office. Taking a picture of the label isn't going to help you if no one scans it in. It's annoying that Canada Post's system doesn't have an option to print a receipt for any commercial product dropped off - that commercial receipt is proof that you both dropped off the item AND it got properly scanned/originated into the system. 

[intimewithmusic]

 Hi dinotmite

I'm sorry.  I don't understand your debate.

" The point is not to abandon a parcel until you're certain the clerk has properly scanned it... not simply set it aside as many wish to. At that point you're out of luck if it goes missing prior to acceptance. "

@dinomitesales 

 "It's annoying that Canada Post's system doesn't have an option to print a receipt for any commercial product dropped off - that commercial receipt is proof that you both dropped off the item AND it got properly scanned/originated into the system. "

You've said you're a Canada Post  worker and that Canada Post can't print receipts for commercial shipments. Possibly your system is different there than in BC? 

 

Both depots I frequent print them.  I get them all the time. See the attached photo. 

My shipments are predominantly international but if printing a domestic receipt was a problem I would do as @reallynicestamps  does. Have the clerk postal stamp my Shippo label  and take a picture of it or get the Shippo recept stamped.  If there was a scan failure or their system was down the dated postal stamp on either the label or the Shippo receipt is proof enough the item was received by Canada Post.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.  

Thanks.

IT

[pjcdn2005]

To be fair, @dinomitesales  did not say that CP can't print a receipt for commercial shipments.  They did say in post 8:

"There is no way to generate a receipt for a domestic prepaid label except for a few isolated examples (I think labels printed on Etsy will allow a receipt to print because they're processed in a different way)? Despite working at this job for over 6 years now I still don't understand when and how a receipt will be generated for dropping off a parcel; I can generate one for any US/Int'l packages dropped off, but pretty much never for a domestic package."

[dinomitesales]

The image you provided is for a US shipment, and I said before the system can generate receipts for US/Int'l shipments. The problem is with domestic Canadian shipments - the system has no way to print a confirmation/origination/drop-off receipt for those.

I doubt that stamp on your piece of paper is going to be of any help if the tracking never indicates it's been properly accepted at the post office, unless you have a reliable anecdote where Canada Post has accepted that in lieu of tracking information. I've seen glitches where even if an item is scanned it doesn't show up in the system as "Accepted at Post Office"; or instances when someone has brought a ton of parcels and the clerk missed the scan on one or more of them. Having the official RPoS receipt is the one true thing that would unequivocally prove it was accepted at the post office, even if the tracking didn't indicate so.