Shipped oversea with tracking and buyer says did not receive after about two months...

[xy2291]

So I sold an item a to buyer in Singapore.

I insisted the payment through Paypal. I shipped with the label printed on Paypal.

He said no tracking number would be fine, and I found it fishy, so I paid for the better shipping method with tracking number out of my own pocket.

The item shows as delivered on 12/02, and now he sent a message to me saying item was not received.

He has about 800 positive feedbacks, so I trusted him.

I am a new seller, not so sure about the rules regarding the situation.

What should I do? ;_;

Thanks!

[i.am.vivian]

What you should do, in my opinion, is tell the buyer to ask all his neighbors if they received the parcel by mistake, and to ask everyone in his house if they received it and put it somewhere.  Tell the buyer to check around the yard, behind the plant pots, the barbeque.   Tell the buyer if he suspects fraud he should contact his local police force as well as his postal system to report the theft.  Reassure the buyer you will be happy to cooperate with the authorities.  

Then, if the buyer tries to open a claim, you enter the tracking number that says DELIVERED into the claim.  What you do NOT do is refund the scammer buyer.  

If you have a tracking number that says Delivered, it will negate any claim he tries to make.  Probably why he is trying instead to wheedle a refund out of you under the table.  

He almost tricked you but you outsmarted him.  Good!  

[xy2291]

Thanks for the reply!

I already messaged him and advised him to double check the location, as his address on paypal is likely a company or studio. There should be someone there to receive it upon delivery. 

The tracking showed as delivered on the page for sure, and it was about two months ago...

Not sure why he found out he did not receive it right now. I even sent him a message with the tracking number when I shipped the item.

Anyways, I will just wait to see what happens next. 

Really appreciated your help!

[i.am.vivian]

Here's a Frequently Asked Questions page from the PayPal site about 'seller protection'.  About the only protection a seller has is sending an item with Delivery Confirmation.  If you can prove "Delivered" that should get you off the hook every time.  As a new seller you might like to browse a few Qs and get to know the PayPal policy a bit, 

https://www.paypal.com/ca/webapps/mpp/security/seller-protection-faq

[xy2291]

Thanks a lot, I will check it out right away and make sure I am eligible to the protection next time i try to sell something.
I think getting the tracking number was the best decision I have made...

[i.am.vivian]

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@xy2291 wrote:
I think getting the tracking number was the best decision I have made...

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Yes it was!  

I am glad you are so keen.  Here is the eBay seller protection policy.  Just bookmark these things and read them in little bits when you have time.  

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/seller-protection.html

Basically the only protection a seller has is proof of DELIVERY.  Proof of shipment does not help.  So the unofficial rule is to never mail anything without tracking unless you are prepared to lose it all and refund a scammer.  Never let anyone talk you into shipping without, not on those $200 items.  

[reallynicestamps]

Not sure why he found out he did not receive it right now.

Maybe he is honest, but someone else at his address did not give him his parcel.

More likely, he forgot that you had used a tracked service, since he had asked you not to. and moved to his usual scam.

And buyers can only get positive feedback. Check his feedback left for others instead.

Sellers who get a Bad Buyer have Disputes to help with problems, but can only leave postive feedback (with positive comments) or no feedback.

He could have made 2000 purchases and only 800 sellers were willing to leave him feedback.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Good that you paid for tracking! No new advice aside from what others here said, and it should turn out fine.

[xy2291]

Thanks for the help guys, I have bookmarked those links. He didn't contact me after, and it seemed like he didn't file a claim too, so I'll wait to see what happens next.

[maggiebvintage2010]

One thing that I always do is make sure tracking info is entered on the eBay sales information.  Then if a claim is opened, eBay automatically denies it because it has the record available.  Most of the time, if the shipping label is purchased through eBay/PayPal, that number is entered automatically, but sometimes it isn't.  Since those records only show on eBay for 90 days, I like to make sure the info is entered when the item is shipped.

[rose-dee]

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@maggiebvintage2010 wrote:

One thing that I always do is make sure tracking info is entered on the eBay sales information.  Then if a claim is opened, eBay automatically denies it because it has the record available.  Most of the time, if the shipping label is purchased through eBay/PayPal, that number is entered automatically, but sometimes it isn't.  Since those records only show on eBay for 90 days, I like to make sure the info is entered when the item is shipped.

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That's a very good point.  

I noticed today when shipping an order using Tracked Packet USA for example, that the tracking number was not automatically entered on the transaction details in Selling Manager.  This communication of tracking numbers from Paypal to eBay used to work flawlessly for years.  But several months ago it became unreliable, so like you, I now check every transaction and input the number manually if necessary.  

Incidentally, for the OP's reference, on this particular transaction of mine today the "shipped" icon didn't get automatically entered either (not the first time this has occured).  This is another important thing to watch for and enter manually if need be. 

[pocomocomputing]

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@rose-dee wrote:

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@maggiebvintage2010 wrote:

One thing that I always do is make sure tracking info is entered on the eBay sales information.  Then if a claim is opened, eBay automatically denies it because it has the record available.  Most of the time, if the shipping label is purchased through eBay/PayPal, that number is entered automatically, but sometimes it isn't.  Since those records only show on eBay for 90 days, I like to make sure the info is entered when the item is shipped.

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That's a very good point.  

I noticed today when shipping an order using Tracked Packet USA for example, that the tracking number was not automatically entered on the transaction details in Selling Manager.  This communication of tracking numbers from Paypal to eBay used to work flawlessly for years.  But several months ago it became unreliable, so like you, I now check every transaction and input the number manually if necessary.  

Incidentally, for the OP's reference, on this particular transaction of mine today the "shipped" icon didn't get automatically entered either (not the first time this has occured).  This is another important thing to watch for and enter manually if need be. 

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I found that Selling Manager became to have issues when they started developing the new Seller Hub on eBay.com months ago. This affected Selling Manager on both sites even though the hub was only available on eBay.com.

[pjcdn2005]

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@maggiebvintage2010 wrote:

One thing that I always do is make sure tracking info is entered on the eBay sales information.  Then if a claim is opened, eBay automatically denies it because it has the record available.  Most of the time, if the shipping label is purchased through eBay/PayPal, that number is entered automatically, but sometimes it isn't.  Since those records only show on eBay for 90 days, I like to make sure the info is entered when the item is shipped.

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I've read that you should enter the number again when there is a claim even if the tracking number is already entered.  I don't know first hand though if that's necessary.