tracking

[awnbuyer]

30 mins ago eBay's tracking claimed my order is finally 'in transit' after four working days at 'sent' status, but has now reversed that 'in transit' status and has gone back to 'sent' status.

My $600 order is where? The correct tracking number is? When do I have to be at home to sign for my order? Do I have to sign for my order or has the seller given the courier company who doesn't know where my order is or what the tracking number is, 'authority to leave' it where?

Unfortunately (for me the customer) no-one is willing to answer any of my legitimate questions because that is how eBay works.

I'm never again buying anything on eBay worth more than $10 which I am prepared to lose.

[awnbuyer]

It has occurred to me that if an unscrupulous seller didn't have an item in stock they could just issue a tracking number in order to satisfy eBay's sending promptly requirement, but hold back that tracking number until they receive the stock in question. The seller then just sends the item when (and if) they get it from their supplier using the held back tracking number (or not using any tracking number) and blame the courier. This would be especially easy to do if they use a courier service with a bad reputation like castaway has. Indeed, if a seller wanted to do that they would use a bad (and cheap) courier service like fastway. How many other scams could I think up if I was a seller who has total control over the 'mug' buyer? And the more I ponder how eBay works to the advantage of the seller only, the less I think of the eBay experience which is pretty much like being a 'mug' tenant. The seller is the landlord, eBay is the property manager, and the buyer is the tenant who has to pay the seller, but has no (enforceable) legal rights. And now that I think of eBay in that way... 😞

[imastawka]

Doin't let it get you down.

Ebay has some positives to it.....somewhere  hahahaha

Not all of it is bad.

Just do some  research on who you want to buy from, as much as you can, before clicking that BIN button.

I have had very few 'bad' experiences in buying.

But your scenario works IMO and  I wouldn't put it past that beastly company.

[digital*ghost]

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@awnbuyer wrote:
It has occurred to me that if an unscrupulous seller didn't have an item in stock they could just issue a tracking number in order to satisfy eBay's sending promptly requirement, but hold back that tracking number until they receive the stock in question. The seller then just sends the item when (and if) they get it from their supplier using the held back tracking number (or not using any tracking number) and blame the courier. This would be especially easy to do if they use a courier service with a bad reputation like castaway has. Indeed, if a seller wanted to do that they would use a bad (and cheap) courier service like fastway. How many other scams could I think up if I was a seller who has total control over the 'mug' buyer? And the more I ponder how eBay works to the advantage of the seller only, the less I think of the eBay experience which is pretty much like being a 'mug' tenant. The seller is the landlord, eBay is the property manager, and the buyer is the tenant who has to pay the seller, but has no (enforceable) legal rights. And now that I think of eBay in that way... 😞

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In order not to get a late shipment marked on their account, the tracking number has to show the parcel was lodged with the courier within the seller's handling time, so just creating the shipping label won't prevent that. (eBay don't have a "sending promptly" requirement, they have a "seller should ship within their handling time" requirement, and handling times can be up to (I think) 20 days). 

If a seller marks an item as shipped and never supplies the tracking number, the buyer is asked if the item arrived with eBay's ETA, to which they can only answer yes or no. A 'no' results in a late shipment - the only way the seller can get that removed is if they can prove the package was handed over to the courier within their handling time.

Granted, late shipments don't have a huge affect on a seller, unless they rely on marketing options like TRS, guaranteed delivery, etc.

The item has to show delivery as far as the eBay MBG policy is concerned, as well. 

[awnbuyer · Accepted solution]

My review for this seller was...

Item not sent, seller untruthful, and eBay had to refund me because seller wouldn't... was edited to read... Item not sent, seller untruthful, and eBay had to refund me.

But for some reason eBay doesn't want buyers to know that eBAY had to refund me because the seller wouldn't because...? The seller lied to me that they had refunded me on multiple occasions before eBay refunded me but eBay...

I bought the $580 dollar outboard engine bracket that arrived today on Amazon 🙂 It is available on eBay of course, but now that I'm eBay wise I decided to buy it from Amazon.

Problem resolved!

[kalshyguy]

I just had a similar experience with this tracking ....I looked at the tracking on EBay, was showing item posted the day I paid for it ...great....then I checked the Aust Post tracking and got a notice that the item had not been picked up ??  Personally, I think that the tracking is pretty stuffed up with both sides, and also Aust Post or anything to do with them should be stopped as well...there must be other delivery options available to buyers ??  I'm not very EBay proud qas I've been caught a few times with purchases and delivery issues, so hence my wanting other delivery options.  Sigh, it's not a perfect world at all... LOL