Appealing against INR claim without delivery for an item sold internationally

[and-787171]

Hi, 

I sold an item to an ebayer in Indonesia. I specified International Express shipping with Aus Post which takes 14-19 business days at the moment. However, when the item was sold, eBay provided an estimated delivery timeframe of 4-9 business days. I completely missed this error when it was sold and only realised when buyer sent a message only about 10 business days in saying that they have not received the item. Tracking number has not changed since the 27th of November when it cleared customs and was awaiting departure. I explained the situation that there was an error with the eBay estimated delivery dates and apologised, asked them to be patient as 19 business days had not passed yet. After a couple of messages, the buyer said they wanted to cancel the order and I said that wouldn't be possible and they said they would take it up with eBay if the item did not arrive by today 11/12/20 even though that would only be the 14th business day. I then sent screenshots of my conversation with Aus Post customer service reps explaining why there might not be movement in the tracking (less tracking scans, lack of internaitonal flights etc) and provided links to various Aus Post pages. I basically tried to be cordial and empathetic as possible and asked them to at least wait till the end of next week, 18/12/20 before filing a INR case as that's the 19th business day. However, they just opened the INR case saying "The parcel hasn t shipped yet". 

I am aware that I have 30 days from the time the case is opened to file an appeal with eBay. Has anyone recently successfully filed an appeal against an INR even without it being delivered by citing that they have promptly shipped the item and uploaded the tracking number? That was a solution suggested by the eBay customer service reps. Or has anyone recently sent a parcel to Indonesia? How long did it actually take?

tldr Relying on this unreasonable 30 day appeal policy during an unprecended pandemic, not helped by an erraneous estimated delivery date and a problem buyer!

[jellybirddesigns]

As long as the tracking number has been loaded, you should be ok (hopefully).

You don't need to keep going back and forth with the buyer, just upload the tracking and wait to see what happens - do not ask Ebay to step in and escalate - they almost always find in the buyers favour!

Having said that, selling phones and computers and shipping them overseas is ripe for scamming.

In this current climate, I wouldn't be sending anything overseas anyway due to delays, which some buyers are certainly taking advantage of.

[digital*ghost]

eBay require proof of delivery in order for a claim or appeal to be successful (for the seller).

Unfortunately, this means unless the item gets delivered to the buyer before the buyer escalates it to eBay for a refund, then they will be guaranteed to refund them. You can appeal the decision eBay makes within 30 days of a case being closed, but proof of delivery is required, and results tend to vary (that is, once the buyer has been refunded, any appeal being granted means eBay has to pay you back out of their pocket, so it can be difficult to have an appeal granted - this should not be the case, of course, but I just wanted to let you know to be prepared to fight if it comes to that). 

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/selling/managing-returns-refunds/appeal-ebays-decision-return-missing-i...

[digital*ghost]

Ignore my previous post - I forgot eBay has temporarily changed the policies for MBG requests , currently as long as your account is in good standing and you have valid proof of shipping which eBay can track themselves,  sent within your handling time etc, any refund made to the buyer for an INR case will be paid by eBay.

[designers*n*more]

Even if the item turns up after the dispute has been closed and buyer has been refunded by eBay, when you appeal, eBay will tell you to take it up with the buyer and basically wash their hands of it. Has happened so many times with international buyers which sucks, especially with worldwide Covid pandemic,  

what is also extremely frustrating eBay's shipping times do not Aline with Australia Post.