I buy a number of coins, usually one at a time using US domestic (occasionally Canadian) on line sites. I have never had a delivery problem before but I am starting to wonder about something. One of the sites I employ uses first class but untracked mail at a cost of $5. About a little more than twice that to send it priority which I think uses tracking. With the current problems in mail delivery, what happens if an ordered coin, sent first class but not tracked, goes missing? What is the buyer's recourse, if any, and what is the seller's obligation if the coin sent never arrives? Given the volume of mail out there now I can't see the postal service getting much involved in such an issue. Thanks for any information you might have on this.
If it's any reassurance, I've been purchasing coins by mail for more than 30 years and have never had a coin go missing. I've had some where the dealer didn't ship for a month after he was paid (Agora); I've had some that took months to arrive (Vico Auction earlier this year due to the COVID-necessitated shutdown in Spain), but not a coin has failed to make it safely to my mailbox.
In the last nine months many delays occurred; and regularly parcels we sent out came back to us although the address was exactly right (this most often to France and Spain). But nothing was lost completely. All parcels either reached the person who ordered them, even if it was after more than two months, or they were duly returned, we sent them again and they finally reached the right address yet. The longest was a parcel from Frank Robinson, coins that were sent in the beginning of April, that arrived after 87 days in the post. But they were pushed through our letterbox, finally, in July.
I once had a coin that was shipped in an envelope lost (the envelope - surprise - had a hole in it.) Recently I have been getting deliveries marked with the words "Covid-19" on the mailer. Not very reassuring. Recently there was a coin from the Netherlands that took 47 days to arrive, but it turns out that the dealer didn't ship the coin for nearly 20 days after they had accepted payment.
I had this happen recently. I waited two months. I've reached out to the seller (Papillon) just a few days ago and they said they would "look into it". I'm hopeful the seller/auction house has some news or will take care if me as it was a single dirt cheap coin (otherwise I would have paid more for the shipping). I would recommend by reaching out to the seller after an extended time. Best of luck.
Use a CC, or a payment service such as PayPal. It is the seller's responsibility to insure that the item is delivered. Tracking (while convenient for the buyer) actually protects the seller; as does delivery confirmation and insurance etc. Most sellers pass the cost of (priority)shipping and the cost of insurance to the buyer in the total cost. However, the indemnification is still on the seller, unless otherwise explicitly stated in the seller's terms and conditions. A buyer may have to agree to certain T&Cs to be able to purchase from the seller. IE. - "Once the parcel has been delivered to the shipping service, we no longer accept responsibility for it". If one pays by cash(bank transfer) or debit card transaction, then the buyer has little to no recourse when it comes to purchase protection.
Fundamentally, the responsibility for shipping the coin or coins falls upon the seller. If the seller chooses to send by untracked first class, that is his or her decision. You, as the buyer have the right and protection to seek redress if the shipment does not arrive within the timeframe specified by Paypal, eBay or other websites. The fact that the shipment is not tracked does not let the seller off the hook. So, if the coins you ordered have not shown up for, say, a month or more, you first should contact the seller, if you haven't done so, and inform that person of the delay. This will give you the start of an email trail. If you haven't heard back from the seller after, say five-seven days, initiate a dispute. If you purchased the coins through eBay, start the dispute with them. If you purchased the coins through a seller's website, or MA Shops, or Vcoins, initiate the dispute with Paypal. There will be a period allotted to working out a solution with the buyer, before escalation to a claim. After that period, you have a limited time to escalate to a claim for refund. That's how the systems works. Now, we are in a time when mail delivery is quite erratic, especially for the USPS. Some shipments arrive with little or no delay, while others take a month or longer, so you might want to take this into account.
It depends on the site you used. If it's eBay you'll get your money back no problem. If you paid with paypal they require tracking as well and will refund you. There are some sites where you will have little to no recourse so it really just depends
I'm not convinced this is the case. I sell on eBay, and I've had a couple of coins get lost in the mail over the years. When a buyer complains because coin is delayed in the mail, I get a message from eBay saying that a seller has opened a case against me for non-delivery. They ask me to supply a tracking number, which I do, and then that's the last I hear from them, ever, about the issue. If it's a domestic US address and the coin hasn't arrived after 6 weeks, I go ahead an issue a refund--I'd rather lose the cost of the sale than have an unhappy customer--but I do this on my own initiative. EBay has never required this of me. This makes me wonder. Has anyone ever had eBay, not the seller, issue them a refund for a lost package?
HI, Just 2 weeks ago I reached out to a small-time seller in Germany via eBay and mentioned the expected delivery time that was part of the sale information was now a month overdue. So I sent this message through eBay: "Dear Seller, I have waited one month past the expected delivery date. Can you ask your post system for a status on this item please. Thank you. Broucheion" eBay's immediate autoresponse was "We're sorry to hear that you didn't receive the item you purchased. Your request is open, and we've asked the seller to respond and resolve your issue by Dec 8, 2020. If you don't hear back or can't work something out, you can ask us to step in beginning Dec 8, 2020. If that happens, we'll review your request, gather any new info we need, and make a decision within 48 hours." After 48 hours the seller respond with the text below and updated the shipping status to shipped, which was already in the eBay system. Seller's message: "Hi, I initially though the delays are due to the mailing ballots, however later I read the following message from the official Deutsche Post website (https: www.deutschepost.de/en/c/coronavirus.html) stating the following: USA: At this time, transport capacities to the US are considerably reduced. In light of this, special measures are required in order to maintain mail and parcel service. Please note that effective September 15, 2020, we will ship some products to the US via ocean freight until further notice. As a result, very lengthy transit times of at least 25 to 30 days should be expected. For destinations in the western United States or in remote regions, the transit time may be considerably longer. I have customers who have received their packages after 40-50 days of shipping and have trouble reclaiming the funds from the purchase now. Please let me know if the delay would be a problem for you. I am, however, confident that eventually you will receive your items. Best wishes, Mr XXXXX" eBay's response after a few hours was: "Unfortunately, we didn't receive valid tracking information from the seller. We're sorry you had a problem with your purchase. We refunded US $35.38 to your original payment method, which includes item price, shipping, and tax. Please allow 48 hours for it to process." I couldn't ask for better outcome, other than getting the Alexandrian Otacilla 4dr I ordered. - Broucheion
POSTSCRIPT: The coin actually arrived on 2 Jan 2021 (total travel time = 75 days!). The seller then contacted me with a very reasonable comment: "... I apologise for the delay, I hope you understand it is not my fault. Would you like to therefore go through with the repurchase of the item since you were refunded for it." I had no problem with his request. We arranged payment (it was too late to do it within eBay) and the seller reduced the price by the cost of shipping ("I have excluded the shipping costs from the repurchase for obvious reasons."). I have the coin in hand and we are both satisfied, if not happy. I know some might feel the final payment was not warranted. However, I feel these are strange times and the shipping lateness (due not being up to date on his country's foreign mail rules) was a forgivable oversight in these trying days. Why add bad karma to our burdens. - Broucheion
