Odd ebay situation...opinions please?

Hi folks,

Here is an odd ebay situation I encountered. On june 10th (or 11th...can't quite remember) of this year, I made a coin-related purchase from a US ebay seller. Everything seemed to go smooth, they provided me with tracking info, etc, etc. About a week later I checked the progress of the tracking info and it said something like "in sorting facility in (location)". I thought, OK, maybe the tracking info hasn't been updated yet. I check back the following week and it says the same thing. A little annoyed, but maybe it's just really slow. Check back the next week, same message. At this point I contact the seller and alert them to the situation. They are hesitant to give a refund as the package may just be VERY delayed and end up showing up, so they say if it hasn't updated by the next week, they will give me my money back. The next week rolls around, no updated tracking. Refund issued (it wasn't a large amount, about $12.50 or so) and I forget all about it.

Fast forward to today, and I get a package in the mail. Curious, seeing as how I hadn't ordered anything recently. I open it up, and THERE ARE THE COINS! Nearly 3 months later they finally get to me. One of the first things I do is shoot the seller a friendly email saying what a surprise, the coins have actually made it to me.

But then it got me thinking...since the coins have finally arrived, do I owe the seller any money that he issued from the refund? Granted, I had NO IDEA that the coins would actually show up. I thought they were lost forever. But now that they have made it to me, I feel kinda funny, like I "took" the coins for free. Is there something I should do in this situation? What would YOU do?

Thanks,

Simon

 

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Since it was initially showing up at the sorting facility, I think this was the USPS's fault and it sounds like the seller did nothing at all wrong. If it were me, I'd pay him the original amount.

 

You know what to do non_cents.

 

If you keep the coins, you owe the seller the money... no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

 

Thanks, that was my general feel of the situation. Once I hear word back from the seller I will offer to reimburse the purchase.

 

I had a similar thing happen once. Less money involved. When the "lost" showed up I emailed and the seller told me not to worry about it. I agree, offer to pay the money back.

 

Good job~! you deserve A COOKIE

 

The seller may say not to worry about it, but I would pay him back anyway. I have enough things I can't control hanging over my head. At least you can control this one.

 

The same thing happed to me on a book
order from a seller's site. For three weeks
the tracking said it was at the distribution
center in NJ. I emailed the seller and he
shipped a second book by priority mail.
Two weeks after that, the tracking said the
same thing-arrived at distribution center ..
That book, the original order, still hasn't
arrived yet and I don't expect it to. USPS has
become Rome waiting to collapse. There's
probably barbarians sitting in the break
room at the NJ distribution center..

 

You should either apologize to your parent(s) or get a refund from your parent(s). After all, someone raised you and yet, you are here asking this question at 19 years of age.

 

Hah. I've just never been in this type of situation before, and I thought I'd ask the more experienced ebay sellers since I'm relatively new to the buying scene. I have a conscience, I swear!

 

I'd just take the route that Detecto would take and notify the seller that he owes me a re-refund of the $12.50 since he failed in his duty to get the coins returned back to him from the PO.

 

I once sold a small lot of silver coins and mailed them out. (like $25 worth) and they were missing for about 4 months! Then one day they came back to ME, not the buyer, in a package that looked like it had been sitting in the middle of the freeway the entire time. It was all beat up and dirty. No clue what happened, but the coins were actually okay. I got no explanation from the USPS, and why they came back to me when the buyers address was still readable. No one seemed to know what happened! But they got mailed successfully the second time around.

Another time I mailed a $100 coin to NYC andit got temporarily lost for about 2 weeks. When it finally arrived to the buyer the package was torn and the coin was gone. He sent me pics of the package, and I ate the loss.

 

I have had the same experience and what I found out after the fact is that the original sorting facility sent it to the wrong depot. Once the piece of mail gets to the wrong depot there is no telling how long it will take to get rerouted as that piece of mail can no longer be processed by the automated machines they have. It needs a living, breathing person to save it from purgatory and sent it back on it's way.

I have found that very little mail gets completely lost by the post office, but if for some reason it get's sent to the wrong sort facility it can take quite a while to correct.

Keep in mind most books are shipped via media mail, not the normal priority mail. Media mail is very, very slow but not due to any error by the post office.

 

I have had this happen a lot on oversea's shipments. The longest time was nine months for a coin from Jakarta. I make sure the seller is always informed and I always pay for the coin if a credit or second item was sent. If the postage has been canceled, the time stamp usually shows it was mailed promptly, and was no fault of the seller's.

 

I once bought a lot of 14 rolls of Lincolns from a seller on eBay. I did receive the box, but her packaging had failed, and she'd used those plastic coin tubes that can crack and BU Lincolns had been dribbling out of the package for some time.

Considering the price I paid I didn't even bother to tell her about it, but I always make sure to box and bubble wrap my coins that I mail.

 

just pay the dealer a simple solution

 

I did the right thing and sent the seller the $12.99. Feel a lot better now.

 

Yupp........that is straightforward, and you did the right thing.