Angry with USPS and eBay/Paypal

I bought a silver ounce bar from a seller on eBay a while back. The seller mailed with Delivery Confirmation and USPS stated it was delivered, however it wasn't in my locked mail box.

I disputed with eBay/Paypal, but they ruled against me because USPS states that it was delivered.

I then complained to USPS, and after contacting them every 48 hours, they still haven't told me anything about there investigation other than recently when they said "its been resolved, you should have got insurance with your purchase."

I'm lost for words on this. eBay has buyer protection, so even should the item be lost in the mail and the item isn't insured, I'm still be protected. But what gets to me most is that there are a lot of people at the post office is telling me things like "You wouldn't have to worry about this had you insured your item!"

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I'm totally lost on what to do next. I don't have my $, I don't have my silver (which I bought at a great price), and eBay/Paypal are accusing me of attempted fraud :crying:

I'm not sure if this is in the correct forum, if not, could the mods move it please. Thanks.

 

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A couple of years ago I bought a '99 silver proof set from an e-bay seller. When a few weeks passed I inquired (to the seller) as to why I hadn't received the item. He responded that the item had indeed been shipped and, that also, it had been delivered. He provided me a tracking # and when I tracked the shipment the tracking information indicated that the item was delivered to my home at 9:30 AM. The mail man never gets to my house before 12:30 PM. I thought this rather odd and explained this in my dispute with pay-pal. They ruled for me. I got my money back....

 

Lucky for you. I did the same as you, and then asked them to look at my purchase history to see that I've had many items sent to me without Delivery Confirmation, and had never had an issue. The representative chuckled, then in a sarcastic comment said that he'll appeal the previous decision and told me not to hold my breath.

The next day I received an email to my appeal stating it was denied due to the USPS claiming it was delivered.

I called up Paypal and told them that I'd never purchase anything from ebay again and closed my account.

The blame doesn't fall on the sellers part, nor even Paypal's, but solely on the USPS, however they (USPS) are have brushed this issue under the desk without even giving me an explanation.

 

I have no idea what you expect eBay and PayPal to do. The USPS says they delivered it. With all the crooks and cheats out there, why should eBay take your word over the USPS? Think about that a minute. Even if it were insured, I would bet you would be in the same boat.

As for your base question, no. I have never had one go to claims at eBay. I have had packages supposedly delivered that did not show up until later or even the next day when a neighbor was kind enough to deliver it to me. So far, all of my neighbors have been honest.

 

Again....does the delivery time indicated by the postal service correspond with the usual time that the mail carrier delivers?

 

I hear yuh, frustrating to say the least. I'm assuming from you saying that you got a great price on the 1oz silver bar, that you probably paid spot or below spot...and why would someone spend about $5 shipping/delivery confirmation/insurance on a $15-$18 item?

I for one typically won't buy insurance on anything less than $50-$60. From what I've heard, trying to get $ from the post office via an insurance claim takes a lot of time and effort...time and effort that I dont see being worth it for anything less than the amount I stated.

But unfortunately, the post office is right, if you don't purchase insurance, there's nothing that can be done by them in regards to reimbursement. Delivery confirmation just means that the item went out on the scheduled delivery route with the postal carrier, and that the postal carrier placed the item in a mailbox for pickup...it doesnt mean that they confirmed delivery to the recipient; that's signature confirmation. So the postal carrier could've accidentally put it in one of youre neighbors boxes or someone could've stole the item from your box. But from the post offices perspective, the item was delivered. But I wouldn't even deal with the post office for this, just file a claim with ebay...ebay will eat the bill on this one...you get your money and seller doesn't lose out on the sale either.

But you're right, it's frustrating because although you get your $$ back, you're still out a great item at a great price.

-LTB

 

You need to read the original post again. eBay refused his claim. He is out the money.

 

This happened a month ago, still anything. In my opinion eBay should take may word because only a fool would attempt fraud with something that was mailed with Delivery Confirmation. I have had a lot of purchases from eBay that wasn't sent with Delivery Confirmation or insurance in the past and never once had a problem. If I were a liar, thief, crook, or cheat, it would have made more sense for me to scam about something that wasn't sent without Delivery Confirmation.

The website states it was delivered around the same time the postman usually delivers. All my bills (and junk mail) were in the box, but not my silver.

 

Sorry, but there are more fools out there than crooked postmen. And do not in anyway take that to be personal.

 

Here,s another e-bay "horror story" my son bought some Chrome Harts
Sun glasses (Very Expensive, Around $1,000!) The seller had about 700
Transactions and looked reputable after about a week in a half went by
No glasses!! No responses to several e-mails!! Since he paid by pay-pal
He thought he was safe, NO SUCH LUCK!! come to find out this seller had
Several e-bay and pay pal accounts and wad able to manipulate the system
My son filed a complaint with both and lost!! They said they were signed
By some one else but the name didnt even come close to matching his
For a young kid to get _ _ _ _ _ _ (you fill in the blanks) like that hurts!!
To say the least he will never buy of e-bay again

 

Oh I'm not taking it personal. But... I'd love to see your proof/stats that there are more fools out there than crooked postmen, this was perhaps your opinion.

All jokes aside though. I can see where someone from the outside (those it hasn't happened to) would have their doubts, but for myself and others who have gone through this, its a very serious thing that all should be concerned about.

If this were to happen to you, would you simply bite-the-biscuit and take a loss without any accountability, or would you fight back? What would you do if this were to happen to you? As you can see, I'm looking for ideas.

 

I returned a coin for a refund, took postal insurance, and still was denied on a claim. The original seller claimed it arrived unopened but the envelope was torn at the corner and the coin missing. So much for paying for insurance. The Post Office said if they ever find it they would return it to me. I can kiss the coin, my purchase price and my insurance charges good-by.

 

Fight, yes. All I am trying to say is that your fight is at the PO. Sorry to say, but I doubt you will win there either.

 

I don't know how I missed the 2nd paragraph; and I misread the 4th paragraph and thought you were still covered by ebay protection plan...but sheesh, what a lousy protection plan. At the very least they should take your ebay transaction history and claim amount into account before making a such a cut and dry determination.

I mean you have had multiple other transactions without incident and the value is so small, and there was even delivery confirmation on the transaction, do they really think someone is trying to run a one time scam when if that was the intent would choose an easier and more profitable target (aka higher valued item with no delivery confirmation)???

I'm on your side AFC, I would recommend speaking to your neighbors to see if they received it. Silly question, but did you validate that the sender sent it to YOUR address and didn't accidentally transpose a number? Did you get a description of the package from the seller and ask your postal carrier if they remember scanning a similar package for delivery confirmation to your address and placed it in your mailbox? Because the package clearly made it to your delivery route, but got lost/delivered to wrong address/stolen somewhere between the post office and your house.

-LTB

 

BTW, my stats/proof is very simple. There are many more eBayers than there are PO workers.

 

I found out the hard way that Paypal will only refund you if they can recover the funds from the seller. I bought a $178 item it never arrived and posted a claim with paypal. they ruled in my favor. But since there were no funds to recover in the sellers account (He closed it) they would not refund my purchase price. There is no buyer protection despite all their claims. I have had one claim with the PO for insurance on a package that was never delivered it took almost 8 months to get my $841 back from the PO both myself and the seller had to keep pushing continuously calling the PO.
I guess I should consider myself lucky that over several thousand only transactions I have had only two major failures..

 

i also think that the USPS is incompetent

once i had a silver coin i bought on ebay to take 35 days to travel from CA to MD ... the package was registered ... i mean the package would have arrived faster if it was sent on a donkey

another time i wasnt home and they left a note to pick up my package at the local post office ... i went in the next day and they couldnt find the package ... took them 3 days to find it

my mail service is pretty bad as I constantly get my neighbors mail ... and they get mine

if this is how the gov't runs the mail service think about what a great job they will do at health care!

 

Some post office locations are good... some are run by drunken monkeys.

Delivery confirmation is a scam... a con. They only confirm that the package left the post office for delivery to your home. They do NOT confirm (like UPS with a scanner) that the package was actually delivered. If it got left at the wrong house, ect... it will still show up as "delivery confirmed".

Insurance is a scam as well... if you have a claim, it will take forever to receive it. And if it is an item for which value is hard to place (custom work, art, one of a kind items, ect) they dont just write you a check for the amount you had it insured.


I know its a pain to deal with if you are rural, or dont have a store near you... but UPS and Fed ex are simply put BETTER.


Its sad that the OP has lost out. The best advice I can give the OP is to file a complaint at the local post office with the postal inspector on this missing package. filing a formal written complaint with the inspectors is the best route to getting to the bottom of what happened. filing a regular complaint with the post office just has a local post office manager making the decision. No post office branch likes having a postal inspector looking over their shoulder.

Your best bet in getting results is to over the head of the local post office manager.. and go straight to the postal inspectors. The post office has the forms, and the info.. and they have to give it to you.

A few years back, I had a "overnight" package take over a week to be delivered.. and when delivered, had been ripped open & emptied. My local PO manager was no help. could care less. A formal complaint got a result in about a month.

 

no ebay

This is only another reason not to buy from eBay. Probably no help now to the OP but coin shows and dealers shops are where I buy most stuff.
Once you pay your money the coin is in your pocket. No extra fees and no waiting to see if it shows up.

 

True...

i've dealt for years online, and developed good buying relationships with several good sellers. If you do that, you'll find you dont have problems.