I've only used eBay twice, and I'm a bit worried about something that's going on with my third order. I bought a camera part from a German seller (with 100% 2500+ Feedback) almost two weeks ago. I hadn't heard anything from them by Sunday so I sent a message asking what was happening and if the item had been shipped because I hadn't received it. They messaged me back saying the item had been shipped the day after I paid but that the post office had sent it to America rather than to Ireland. They've provided me with a tracking code for within the German system that shows a package being handed off to America on the date they said they posted it. They told me that the German post office says it's now on its way to Ireland, but it may take some time. I'm unsure of what to do here. Is this a scam? He could have posted something cheap to America to get the tracking number. How long do I wait to see if it arrives? If he is being genuine then my big worry is that I get hit for customs/import duty now that the package is coming via America. In that scenario what do I do? Do I refuse the charge I'll get from my postman to pay the duty? Will that show up as a package refused to eBay/Paypal and I won't get a refund. Like I said, I haven't used eBay much so this is all new to me. And for what it's worth the item was a good deal, not too good to be true good, but definitely a reasonable price for an eBay seller without a brick and mortar store.
I don't have much to add as this is a rather bizarre situation - can you follow the package via the tracking number? In my experience ebay tends to side with the buyers when there's a dispute. If the seller is genuine he will be interested in solving the situation so that both of you can live with the result, to not get hit with negative ratings.
No, it seems the tracking only worked while it was within the German system. And I can't see what the solution would be. If it's a genuine mess up then I don't know if I'll get hit by customs when it arrives. It could be eligible for import duty and I get hit with it, it might not be eligible for import duty, or it could be eligible and it gets let through. Basically, I'd have to get him to ask the German postal service what they think. I'd have to ask someone here in Ireland if they know if it'll get hit by customs. And if it does I'd need an agreement from him that he would cover my cost in paying the customs duty, and I don't know if Ebay could enforce something like that.
Crap. I could tell you more if you lived in America, since that's where I live and I've used eBay quite a bit. I have no idea how long it would take for a package to arrive, since I'm more familiar with how long it takes things to travel across the country I live in better. First of all, your seller is okay. With that many people sold to and that high a feedback rating, you picked an excellent seller to buy from. I'm fairly certain that negative and possibly neutral feedback affects the percentage, so the vast majority of his customers are happy with him. Your seller did send the package, he just screwed up as to who he sent it to. If he's handling a large number of orders, then I can kinda understand that. Though it doesn't really excuse the mistake. You might want to email the seller again and tell him if you get hit for a customs or import duty. You can ask him if he will refund the purchase price for that amount to you, since an import charge (I assume) wouldn't have happened if the package had come from Germany instead of America. If he isn't an ass, he will want to make his customer happy and acknowledge his mistake. If he refuses to take responsibility, you may be able to open a dispute with Paypal. You'll need to keep a record of everything, and you'll probably also need to provide pictures of the mislabeled package and whatnot. Save all of your emails between you and the seller as well. I don't know if Paypal will back you up on this, but they may. EBay owns Paypal, I don't know if you know that. If worse come to worst, you may just have to leave negative feedback and leave it at that. You might get retaliatory negative feedback, because that's how some sellers roll, but I think you can post an explanation below it.
Unless something has changed, sellers can't leave percentage-affecting negative feedback, they can only leave positive (and perhaps neutral?) feedback. He might include a negative response in it, but I believe you can dispute that, too. eBay is extremely buyer friendly now. You are protected if he doesn't come through. At least, as an American you would be. I see no reason why you wouldn't be as a member of either the European Union or the UK.
They changed that? Because it used to be that they could leave negative feedback. Granted, I haven't bought anything on eBay in about a year or so.
http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/sellerprotection.html They changed it a handful of years ago, but for good buyers it was a pretty silent change - if you're not looking to rip anyone off, why would you take notice? Bad faith buyers, though, saw it as an opportunity to scam sellers who dealt in high dollar items such as guitar gear, photography gear, computers, etc. Then eBay introduced many of the seller protections we have today. It was the right move to make and has made for a far better marketplace, but it definitely drove a lot of the garage, attic and barn sellers away. Some temporarily, some permanently, sadly. Sorry, I digress. :)
It arrived. Well packaged and working seemingly ok (although I haven't managed to take it for a full workout.) There's absolutely no sign it was routed through America though. No markings on the box, no extra stamps, so I don't know.
Did the tracking number matchup with the number on the box? If not then that is obviously an issue and they might only have been covering their ass until they sent your package out. If so, the German postal system might have intercepted it before their American counterparts ever brought it through customs or even before it ever left Germany. I have had something similar happen - sometimes postal systems just make mistakes, the good ones correct them.
Did you have to pay a customs or import duty to get it? I hope not. I dunno, I thought that if the package was misaddressed, it would have been returned to sender and not re-routed. I don't know if your particular seller would have repackaged it if it was returned to him before sending it out again, but it makes sense to do that, since the other stamps and such might confuse the postal workers. If it wasn't misaddressed and accidentally routed the wrong way by the post office in Germany, then maybe there wouldn't have been any extra stamps or markings.
*rant on* Ebay sucks. I've had an account for 13 years for Ebay. That's a damn long time. I haven't been in it for a couple of years, but I wanted to look at bidding for a decent road bicycle. So I go to log in and for whatever reason, my password (the same one I use for most everything) doesn't work. Shit. Ok, this isn't a problem for anyone else. Just go get a password reset. Except to get that, I have to supply a phone number and zip code. Seriously? I've lived in NINE different places in six different cities in four different states during that time. I've had countless phone numbers (home, cell, work) during that time as well - probably approaching 20. Not to mention that when I registered in 1999, this shit wasn't required. There may not even be a phone number on this account. So I call Ebay. They can't do shit. Their advice - "start a new account". Except the one thing that hasn't changed - my email address - is still tied to my old account. I've already verified that. So I can't create a new one without creating a new email. They won't send a password reset to my email. They won't even delete my old account. So there is no way of recovering my 13 year old account or starting a new one. Fuck 'em. I'll look on Craigslist. *rant off*
eBay is a nightmare of security laxity and shouldn't be used by anyone, ever. I could tell you horror stories, but I already recounted them all on the other forum. Suffice it to say that I currently find eBay about as trustworthy as a spam email from Nigeria.
If you want to PM me I might be able to get someone who can do something about it to look into it for you.
