eBay Global Shipping marks items delivered before they are delivered

[e_syndrome]

Anyone else is having the same problem?

In "my eBay" tracking incorrectly shows item as delivered to my PO Box and that I signed for it. Australia Post has no record of the parcel and informes that it would not accept anything directly from FedEx or other carriers. The package tracks through Pitney Bowes and FedEx but not Australia Post. 

It happened twice in a month with parcels from the US.The first time, I opened a case that eBay automatically closed it based on their incorrect tracking info. I immediately appealed and got a "courtesy" refund. In a week I actually got the item that was supposedly delivered a week before it arrived in a local Australia Parcel with no reference to the seller or any of the eBay tracking IDs.

The second time I made a query to FedEx, let the seller know that despite eBay, Pitney Bowes and FeDex assertions, I did not get the package. I also asked Australia Post to look into what was happening if they can. I have good relations with my posties and today got a call that I got a package with a FedEx reference (not given by eBay). Apparently someone in Matrville sticks an Australia Post eParcel sticker onto the FedEx package and  signs the FedEx delivery in my name. Once this happens eBay marks the package as delivered. However the package does NOT actually arrive for a few more days or like last time a week later. In this case I got the Item in 3 days after it was marked as delivered.

Anyone knows how to prevent these problems?

[lyndal1838]

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@e_syndrome wrote:

The note for this forum "Technical Issues" says that this forum is "regularly checked by eBay staff." If this is true, I am sure that, unlike you, they will see the problem with their IT/GSP setup  

As this is a new forum....just a month old, it remains to be seen how often ebay staff come here.  If Michelle does come here and read your concerns I can guarantee that she will tell you that it will be referred to the Technical Team and that is the last that you will hear of the matter

possibly as a seller yourlf you're not interested in any factual proof of the problem ...

Wrong....I am not a seller on this or any other ID and as a buyer only there just is not a problem...it is all very clear to anyone with the patience to actually read the tracking history, not just the word "Delivered".

FedEx's or Pitney Bowes' tracking is not given by eBay itself. I found FedEx's and Pitney Bowes' tracking after some research the second time when I saw the "fictive" assertion by eBay itself that the package was delivered to me well before it was delivered.

Ebay has nothing to do with the GSP apart from raking in the fees paid by Pitney Bowes and ebay members.  They neither understand nor care about the tracking

BTW, it is you who seems to get emotional and "chucked" a tantrum because I disagree with the authoritative good word you dropped to me. I did not rant, I merely presented the facts of two recent problems I encountered. I did not seek a lecture, I merely asked if anyone else encountered the problem. There is nothing in what you wrote before that woud contradict my facts and you did not add anything to them. 

 As previously stated no-one else has encountered the problem because you are the only one who has a problem with a system that has been in use for a few years now.

Does anyone like the GSP.....NO, but they live with it if they have to use it and avoid it if they can.

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[e_syndrome]

Once I got the item a week after the case was closed with a refund, I Contacted seller to pay him again. He wrote that eBay did not bother to take the payment from him so he did not care. I tried to let eBay know but the case was closed and cannot access it any more. I guess no-one cares :-).

[lyndal1838]

Which is exactly why sellers like the GSP....they are protected from bad feedback mentioning the GSP delivery issues, they have full insurance and tracking and are fully protected from claims against them once the item has been received in Erlanger KY.

[e_syndrome]

Before I mark "imastawaka" (paraphrased as why should I care if no-one does) as the answer humour me employing the K.I.S.S. principle::

Say you are a just vanilla eBay user expecting a package which was posted to you with tracking. Yo do not know of any other tracking options beside what eBay gives you on your screen after you log in.

Say you log on to eBay today and see that the relevant eBay screen tells you that you got your package yesterday. Yesterday, before you logged off eBay showed that the package was "in transit" or just that it was "posted." You also checked your PO Box yesterday and you know that you did not get it..                  

What is your reaction?

1. It must be all BS and let's just wait it will turn up!
2. The post office must have made made a mistake, let's ask them!

If your choice is 1. how long you would wait wait to see if the message is still just BS. A few days, few weeks or more?

If your choice is 2. and your friendly postie tells you that they have  no record of any of the tracking numbers you have from eBay, what is going to be your nex response?

1. It's all good let's wait, and it will surely turn up (how long would you be willing to wait for an allegedly delivered package before trying to find it?).
2. Get upset and slam the seller with a negative feedback (Most people do this and sellers respond saying they should have contacted tem first)
3. Ask the seller what happened with the tracking numbers and/or try to notify eBay that you did not get your package regardless what their tracking system says.

If your choice is 3. you'll soon realise that you cannot notify eBay and the only choice the system lets you do is to open an item not received case against the seller. Once you did that eBay tells in literally minutes that according to the tracking the "seller gave" to them you got your the package and p*ss off, your claim is refused and closed. Say you don't behave like an sheep, immediately appeal and tell eBay that would reverse payment, unless, they give you a tracking number that you can actually use to open an AP investigation to find the package that they must have lost or put in the wrong box (happens very rarely). eBays response to this is letting you know that you won your appeal and get a refund the next day.

There is nothing wrong with GSP ... !? BTW, like waht you said about GSP, China Post tracking also stops once their Item gets into Australia but it has never switched my eBay screen to delivered before something got delivered. I guess, if it were China Post doing the same we'd be up in arms that their notification system needs to be fixed. It's, however, all good when the Yanks do it.

[lyndal1838]

There is a vast difference between China Post and the GSP.....the GSP is a courier service and IS trackable from seller to Australia and then in the hands of Australia Post.....and then to you.

If I saw an item marked as Delivered and I did not have it I would certainly not react by opening a dispute.  It is so much easier read the Tracking History and see that it had been given to AP....and then wait a few days for it to be delivered to me by AP.

[*tippy*toes*]

What ever did we do in the days before tracking? Oh the horror! Probably the same as the days before mobile phones. We survived. We were a heck of a lot more patient that's for sure. 

[lyndal1838]

I still do what I have always done.....wait patiently until a reasonable time has elapsed for the item to arrive,  If there is no sign of it only then do I even bother to check the tracking.   It usually arrives within a day of so of the date that I estimate it should arrive....I ignore the ebay estimated delivery dates.

I probably look at the tracking for one parcel in ten.

[dianerob1969 · Accepted solution]

Where does it say handed to AP on global tracking ?
eBay doesn’t acknowledge that and they must know they just insist at the end of global tracking saying it’s delivered when it hasn’t been that it has been delivered!
Essentially calling you a liar yes ? Great customer service guys If this is common practice acknowledge it and explain to people (customers) that yes you know it’s been handed on Puzzling

[dianerob1969]

It’s like an episode of little Britain Where the computer says No

[e_syndrome]

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@dianerob1969 wrote:
eBay doesn’t acknowledge that and they must know they just insist at the end of global tracking saying it’s delivered when it hasn’t been that it has been delivered! Essentially calling you a liar yes ?

If this is common practice acknowledge it and explain to people (customers) that yes you know it’s been handed on... 

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in which case one (the customer) would delay taking action...

Thanks, you're spot on. Has it happened to you too? Sounds like it because, that's exactly what happens.