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]

You cannot prevent the "problem" because it does not exist.  The GSP is working exactly how it should work.

Once the package arrives in Australia with FedEx thre are several methods for it to be delivered to you.

FedEx will NEVER deliver it direct to a PO Box or to your local Post Office, however, if it is a small item FedEx will often give it to Australia Post for delivery as an eParcel as you have found out.  The FedEx tracking number will not be trackable on the AP tracking site but the eParcel tracking should work if it has been given to you.

Otherwise, FedEx may deliver it direct to you or if FedEx does not deliver in your area they may give it to another courier.

In many cases, once the item arrives in Australia it will not be trackable any further until it arrives at your address.

[e_syndrome]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

You cannot prevent the "problem" because it does not exist.

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A problem does exists, serious, very disconcerintg and it should be preventable (I am surprised that you do not see it):

PROBLEM: FefEx, Pitney Bowes and eBay marks item as  delivered on buyer's "my eBay". FedEx tracking says buyer SIGNED for item but buyer DID NOT and s/he GOT NO PACKAGE. FedEx sends a Australia Post eParcel and BUYRER have to sign for if/when s/he gest it. A fictive delivery/signature event is sent to eBay that marks item as delivered (attached an example).

CONSEQUENCE: If a reasonable buyer sees an Item marked as it was delivered to him that was NOT, s/he will initiate an "item not received case" because s/he did not get it. eBay automatically refuses the claim based on the fictive delivery event and buyer reasonable response is to reverse the payment because s/he did not get anything. First time this happened to me I did just this. The second time I notified the seller and proposed to wait a week before we "do anything" but the seller could not wait. He was lucky because I got the package only two days after it was marked as delivered and I did not have the time to appeal or reverse the payment.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS (PREVENTION):

1.  If sellers use eBay Global Shipping they should simply require street address and refuse PO Boxes to avoid this problem.

2. Rather than entering a fictive delivery event, FedEx could enter the new Australia Post tracking (like it is done on the US side before FedEx gets the package there)

3. FedEx could wait until buyer actually signs for the Australia Post eParcel that they sent to his/her PO Box insted of  marking item as delivered before it is delivered.

[*tippy*toes*]

You seem to like the word fictive.

FedEx is not going to wait until AP delivers the parcel to mark as delivered. FedEx has done their bit when they hand it over to AP. They have no relationship to each other.

I'd probably take note of what Lyndal says regarding this as she is the forum expert on the subject. No amount of harping or using capital letters is going to change that.

[lyndal1838]

The screen shot is very clear.....the item was unable to be delivered to the recipient and was delivered to an alternative recipient....in this case AP for delivery to you.   If you had a PO box as your delivery address then FedEx could not deliver to you.

It is quite usual for FedEx to hand smaller parcels to AP for delivery as an eParcel as I have already told you.

NOWHERE does the tracking say it was delivered to you....it is clear that it was handed to an alternative recipient.  Have you actually read the Delivery History and not just the one word Delivered?

Of course ebay is going to refuse a refund when the item is still in transit....as shown in the tracking.

Many sellers have no idea they are using the GSP or even that the item has been sold overseas.  All they get is your name, a reference number and an address in Erlanger KY to send the item to.   If you are using the GSP as a buyer you should give an address other than a PO Box as FedEx cannot deliver to a PO Box.

To reverse a payment to the seller when you know the item has reached Australia and is in transit to you is a very low act.   I would not be surprised if you find yourself on a few blocked bidders lists in the future.

[e_syndrome]

Hi, "*tippy*toes*." I used the word "fictive"because the delivery is fictive until it actually happens. You are right, once FedEx passed the parcel to Australia Post they did their job. This does NOT mean I got it or would ever get it. However, eBay tells me on FedEx's advice that I already got the package that I may get in a few days, a week or never. Indicating that I signed for the delivery is fictive if not fraudulent. 

Hi lyndal1838. You are right the creen shot is very clear ...  FedEx tracking says "Delivered" and right under it "Signed for by: S.ANDOR SANDOR GA." What is should say "passed to final carrier for delivery" intead of the meaningless blabbering about a delivery to another address or exception or customer not available, etc. It says I signed for it, doesn't it?

I attached my actual eBay order status to make a last ditch attempt to clarify the problem. On 28 July 2017 eBay postage status: swithced to delivered to my Po Box when FedEx reported eBay the fictive delivery. Printout is from 29 July, when I tried to find the package in my post office, which is open on Saturday and with no success. Got package only yesterday. I am patient if my eBay order status is "in transit" but get very impatient if it my eBay order status switches to "delivered" before actual delivery.

I bought quite a few things from the US over the past 9 years and with USPS they always arrived and tracked correctly. May be it is a specific issue with GSP. And if it is, it should be fixed.

[lyndal1838]

I suspect that the word you are looking for is "fictitious"....there is no such word as fictive.

*sigh*  There is no point in trying to explain anything to you again....you are obviously not interested enough to even read the Travel History of your parcel and now you say you know exactly where the item is.  Just because a package has been handed to AP it does not mean it will be at your PO the next day.

All I can recommend is that you learn some patience and try and understand how the system works.  Nothing is going to change because you think it should.

If that does not work for you just chuck your tanty and rant on....it may make you feel better.

[e_syndrome]

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 that relies on the feedeback of an intermediate carrier and marks items as delivered within eBay for the buyer before it gets it (i.e., fictive delivery is asserted:-)). The practice OF MARKING ITEMS DELIVERD BEFORE DELIVERY may have legal implications in certain special circumstances (irrespective of eBay's disclaimers).

Regarding the wrod "fictive" you should have looked it up before lecturing me in linguistics: see e.g., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fictive - "of, relating to, or capable of imaginative creation"; or at https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fictive - "Created by the imagination"   etc. You, however, are correct to the extent that "fictitious" is a synonym (http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/fictitious).

*sigh* you did not "explain" anything in the first place ... possibly as a seller yourself you're not interested in any factual proof of the problem ... just kept repeating yourself and me, apparently, preferring to "chuck your tanty and rant on" blaming a reasonably intelligent buyer based on whatever past experiences you may have with others.

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.

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. 

[imastawka]

GSP is a nice little earner for ebay.

Bottom line?       They don't care 

And that's not fictive

I hope you repaid the seller who refunded you,  when your item turned up.

[davewil1964]

Branding Lyndal a seller is fictive. Also fictitious (a much more widely used term), imaginative (ditto), fantastic (ditto) and just pure wrong.

But of course you wouldn't know that because you don't do simple research, like looking at a poster's feedback. Or listings. Or reading what the tracking says, rather than want you wish, fictively, it says.