An international buyer raised a case: 'item has not received'. Item still in Australia due to COVID

[raff-coll]

Seeking some advice please:

An International buyer has raised a case againt me regarding not having received their items.

eBay has ruled in their favour as I did not provide a tracking number - This is NOT the case.  

The tracking number was provided when the items were sent.

It is not tracking as it is still in Australia and has not departed, even though it was posted on the 14th April.

I have opened a case with Australia Post and they can corroborate my story with supporting evidence.

Also, on the Australia Post website, they advise "for items sent from the end of March to May, additional delays have occurred of up to 4 – 8 weeks due to limited international flights and government restrictions due to COVID-19". The date from when I sent the items (14th April) is clearly still within the 4 - 8 week window Australia post have indicated on their website.

This has all been documented in the case correspondence and the appeal that I have raised, but eBay has ruled in their favour with the reason of: "Unfortunately, you didn't provide tracking information in time to win this case. You won't receive a refund for this case"

I have contact eBay Australia, but they advise that I need to contact the country in which I am sending to.

Unfortunately this country's customer service is not opened over the weekend. 

I have also tried contacting the buyer, on several occasions, with no response...

I feel like this is an uphill battle and no matter what I do or how much evidence I give them to support my appeal, eBay will not take this into consideration. Everything has become generalised and cases are no longer being looked at on an individual case by case bases. They simply do not defend their sellers like they use too!

Has anyone in the eBay community experienced anything similar? Especially during this COVID-19 period?

If so, how was it dealt and what was the outcome?

Does anyone have any advice on what I should do? Am very interested to know. 

[*tippy*toes*]

There are a few threads on the selling forum of issues with international postage, where sellers are having to refund.

You should have uploaded the tracking number into the dispute. Just putting it in the initial transaction isn't enough. That said, even people who did upload the tracking into the dispute, are still losing.

Which country is it going to? There are still a number of countries where no mail is going in or out. I posted a parcel to the US on April 21 and it arrived on May 31. A lot of international mail is going by boat at the moment.

You could try appealling, but I don't like your chances of success.

Only suggestion at the moment is to stop international postage until this virus stuff is over.

[gutterpunkz05]

You do not appeal until tracking shows item has been delivered.

As you have allready appealed, you have effectively exhausted your options with ebay and are now in a possition of having to rely on the buyers goodwill.   Not everyone plays fair on ebay  and it is widely known that overdue items are virtually free, if you play the game right.

[raff-coll]

Thanks *tippy*toes*. 🙂 

Yes, I guess it's too much to ask of eBay to do some work and actually look at the item the case was raised against, to see whether this information had been provided in the first place!

And for eBay to look at each dispute on a case by base bases... as a one size fits all response / solution is not always the answer. But it shouldn't surprise me that eBay is no longer in touch with its seller community... you can't even call them up anymore, all they have now is an online chat option... what company does that...seriously!!

I have 2 international items where cases have been raised against me: one going to Spain and the other going to Germany.

Exactly the same situation: sent in mid April, items stuck at the Australian customs depot,  tracking not showing anything because they haven't departed Australia and Australia Post indicating to expect delays of a further 6 to 8 weeks on top of their normal estimated timeframes, with the possibility of them being sent by sea mail!

Unfortunately I have appealled with both... with the answer from eBay being: 'Unfortunately, you didn't provide tracking information in time to win this case. You won't receive a refund for this case'

If they actually performed any investigation on the matter, they would know this is not the case, and the real issue is due to COVID-19 and the flight restriction imposed as to why the items haven't been received, but you know... this is too much to ask from eBay!  

They advertise that there is 'additional support during COVID-19 for buyers and sellers on eBay', but it seems me this article is very buyer centric!

And yes, no more international selling for me, not until these COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted.

Thanks once again for you response *tippy*toes*, it's nice have some one within the community to vent out to.

Cheers

[*tippy*toes*]

Ebay normally has the phone option to contact them, but due to the virus, the call centres in the Phillipines are currently closed. Hence why there is only the chat option. I will assume that the workers who man the chat option are able to work from home, making that option available. Once everything is settled down, the call centres will reopen.

Check with Aust Post, but I think Germany and Spain are 2 countries that are not allowing incoming mail. I could be mistaken though. If they are, anything being sent there will just sit in limbo until the borders reopen.

A lot of the dispute process is automated and run by bots, so it's not often a human will actually look at the dispute. That's why you have to do everything that is asked, including uploading tracking numbers when requested. When this MBG first started, the instant a buyer escalated the dispute, it immediately closed in their favour, even if they were in the wrong. It's not quite as bad now, but majority of the time, the buyer will win a dispute. Sadly, a lot of buyers know that, so will open a dispute to get a freebie. Absolutely nothing us sellers can do about it.

[raff-coll]

Not sure whether I agree at only having a chat room because the call centres in the Phillipines are currently closed due to COVID-19. The majority of businesses (if not all) in Australia have their call centres up and running from people working from home, where you can physically speak to someone. eBay is a large global corporation and should have this type of facility up and running very easily and efficiently and not have diminished capabilities instead. 

Plus, when chatting with online help yesterday, they put me through to Spain which they advised were opened. Only to be effectively on hold for 30 minutes to discover that eBay Spain does not operate over the weekend! This is something the online help should have been aware and not just forwarded me across... but again too much to ask of eBay to do their job properly!

Yes I have checked with Aust Post and what I stipulated in my previous response "to expect delays of a further 6 to 8 weeks on top of their normal estimated timeframes"  is what they are indicating for Spain and Germany.

Yes, gathered that their dispute process is automated and run by bots, given the generic responses received. So my statement "a one size fits all response / solution is not always the answer", rings very true here!

Why would a large global corporation do that, especially when they would have the man power to be able to response individually and appropriately, or are they just cost cutting? Again, it shouldn't surprise me, illustrating further that eBay has lost touch with its seller community!

Yes, my bad to assume that eBay would do the right thing to indivdually work together with their sellers and buyers in getting disputes resolved in a professional, fair and proper manner!

Cheers

[raff-coll]

Yes, my bad I should have realised! 😞

It was presumption of me to think that eBay would do the right thing to indivdually work together with the buyer and me in getting the dispute resolved in a fair,  professional and proper manner. Especially when it is very apparent, during these unprecedented times, that postage delays are beyond the control of any seller! 

Yes, won't be holding my breath, in this instance, on the goodwill of these two buyers, given neither of them have responded to my emails! Both buyers, have definitely not played fair and have taken full advantage of the situation. 

Lesson learnt! 

[gutterpunkz05]

Unfortunately everyone gets caught out eventually,  now you have to work out how to reduce your ebay expenses so as to recover what you have lost.

While OS delays are a major concern at the moment, and buyers know that it can work to their advantage, delays are not only confined to OS.  I got within the last 24hrs of being on the losing end of a case, for an item from Qld - WA,  item arrived just in the nick of time.   25 days for delivery when it is normally about 7.

[davewil1964]

Not sure whether I agree at only having a chat room because the call centres in the Phillipines are currently closed due to COVID-19. The majority of businesses (if not all) in Australia have their call centres up and running from people working from home, where you can physically speak to someone. eBay is a large global corporation and should have this type of facility up and running very easily and efficiently and not have diminished capabilities instead. 

Whether you agree or not is irrelevant. That is how eBay works and has for some years. And Australia is a very small part of their operation which they certainly don't service as well as, say, the USA. eBay are not going to provide people who they have to pay to vet every dispute; they have put in buyer-centric automated resolution procedures, which are unlikely to change regardless of any members disagreeing.

Without wishing to be picky, why were you selling overseas in April (or March) when the entire world was shutting down due to COVID-19, and postal services were severely disrupted?

[performance_parts_clearance_centre]

Phone Australia Post - I have an UK buyer currently querying the whereabouts of an item they purchased in early May. Aust Post tracking shows it as still in Melbourne; I rang them on Friday, and they said that despite the tracking showing it still in Melbourne, from what they could see, the item was actually in the UK, and had been for almost a fortnight, just hadn't been formally scanned in.They gave me a reference number, and advised that I get the buyer to institute an inquiry via the Royal Mail's website.

Intertestingly, I had a buyer lodge an Iten Not Received case against me last week, for an item that tracking showed as "delivered" a fortnight ago. The buyer was dissatisfied, claimed it hadn't arrived, and asked Ebay to step in.

Based on tracking, I won - but because I didn't upload the tracking number at the same time I marked the item as sent (the same day as purchased), I got a telling-off for not sending the item within my specified three business day handling time!