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eBay Story - International Shipping - "Item Not Delivered"

Started by Biff_Comics-migration,

46 posts in this topic

Real Elijah Snow

Real Elijah Snow

Posted
Posted
Had a "customer" back in mid August purchase 3 Silver Age Spiderman comics from our weekly auctions. He paid promptly and the item was shipped the next day.

 

I shipped the item with First Class international shipping (cheapest way), however this does not get tracked outside of the United States.

 

So needless to say, about 2 weeks ago, the buyer put in a claim with PayPal stating that he did not receive the books. Shocking as this seems to be a common occurrence on eBay these days.

 

So I thought my tracking information was good, and I submitted it to paypal. They reviewed the information and decided in favor of the buyer. All because the item was shipped First Class International and was not tracked outside of the US. So it appeared that I was going to be out the money and the comics... or was I...

 

I decided to follow up with the USPS and they got back to me within a few hours and stated the comics had left the country on Sept 7th and that was all the info they had.

Wow. Well done.

I then contacted the "buyer" from another email address stating that I was from the "Counterintelligence Anti-Fraud Cyber Crime Division" and that this issue was going to be heavily investigated due to it being an international incident. I guess this was enough to scare him because he responded back in about 5 minutes stating that he did receive the comics a few days earlier and "meant" to notify paypal and repay me the money.

 

Anyone have any similar stories? Seems like eBay has become loaded with scam artists...

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fastballspecial

fastballspecial

Posted
Posted

1st class shipping is fine for small amounts when you get into big money you must do express.

 

My story happened about 6 years ago on ebay. I purchased a set of Silver Age Amazing Spider-man comics 105-135 I think for $50 back then. They were advertised as Fine, but was thinking they were VG at best. Who cares at that price.

 

Well I sent off a money order not uncommon back then. Never recieved a reply and checked and sure enough money order was cashed. Called the guy and he mentioned a divorce yada yada yada. Promise to ship, but no comics coming and he stopped returning my calls. So I called my local police and they told me I was screwed take it up with his local police.

 

So on my day off I called the local county judge in Georgia where he was from. The small county judge talked to me for about an hour and said it was "Theft by Deception" and gave me the local county sheriffs number. I called up the good old boys and they were very friendly. Seems they knew right where they guy lived and they would be more then happy to pay him a visit.

 

Apparently they scared the living hell out of him because I got a shaky phone call the next day and 4 days later I got a priority envelope with a money order inside. Needless to say I called them back to thank them for their gentle persuasion and sent them out some nice baked items in the mail the next week. You can catch more flies with honey.

 

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BigLeagueCHEW

BigLeagueCHEW

Posted
Posted
1st class shipping is fine for small amounts when you get into big money you must do express.

 

My story happened about 6 years ago on ebay. I purchased a set of Silver Age Amazing Spider-man comics 105-135 I think for $50 back then. They were advertised as Fine, but was thinking they were VG at best. Who cares at that price.

 

Well I sent off a money order not uncommon back then. Never recieved a reply and checked and sure enough money order was cashed. Called the guy and he mentioned a divorce yada yada yada. Promise to ship, but no comics coming and he stopped returning my calls. So I called my local police and they told me I was screwed take it up with his local police.

 

So on my day off I called the local county judge in Georgia where he was from. The small county judge talked to me for about an hour and said it was "Theft by Deception" and gave me the local county sheriffs number. I called up the good old boys and they were very friendly. Seems they knew right where they guy lived and they would be more then happy to pay him a visit.

 

Apparently they scared the living hell out of him because I got a shaky phone call the next day and 4 days later I got a priority envelope with a money order inside. Needless to say I called them back to thank them for their gentle persuasion and sent them out some nice baked items in the mail the next week. You can catch more flies with honey.

 

:cloud9:

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RockMyAmadeus

RockMyAmadeus

Posted
Posted
yeah lyke i had the same problem when i use2 ship overseas to amerika and lyke wheree is my packagge? it takes time to go oversese duh!?? oversese scammmers on ebay totalliy!@

 

i dont ship overseas to amerika anymore.

 

I agree. I wouldn't ship overseas to those dumb 'murrkins.

 

I'd just drive to a US post office right over the border.

 

Don't say "Eh" though. You don't want them to call the Mounties on you.

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Dr. Balls

Dr. Balls

Posted
Posted

Ugh. Count me in this as well. I don't ship overseas due to not being able to prove delivery (without huge costs) - and I don't even think I was scammed. I like being able to prove or disprove arrival. Sticking something in the mail and hoping it gets there is for the birds.

 

Checks and money orders? No more. Not enough protection. I hardly sell stuff (artwork, not comics) online anymore anyways - but I can definitely see there are WAY more downsides than there were several years ago.

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supapimp

supapimp

Posted
Posted
Did anyone here consider that by pricing overseas buyers out of your auctions you'd end up loosing more money from lower buyer participation than you would lose from scammers?

 

it costs like $30 to ship to oz, so most buyers down under hardly ever bid. i've only sent one book to oz in the past. thank gawd the buyer was honest.

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pennynike1

pennynike1

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What are you supposed to do when you have an ebay item that doesn't accept international bidders and they bid anyways? Even though I didn't want to ship to the unauthorized bidder, I did so anyways. I waited an hour at the post office to go through the customs paperwork, only to receive positive feedback and have him give me less than 5 stars on the shipping charge after receiving the item.

 

It ruined my perfect 5 star rating. Yes, shipping is more expensive overseas (shrug)

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CAMPER49

CAMPER49

Posted
Posted

Okay, you guys are scaring me now.

I've had my fill of overseas scam artists so my shipping costs over there are horrendous based on Canada Post's Tracking rates just to protect my butt.

 

Right now I have a run of GREEN LANTERN #123 to #200 for sale on eBay with free shipping anywhere in Canada or the USA.

The lone bidder for this auction so far is an Australian buyer.

So now I'm thinking....what if this buyer pays the $100 or so it'll cost to ship these comics and simply launch a PayPal claim anyway even though I paid for Tracking, etc?

Will I still have to refund the cash?

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Chespirito

Chespirito

Posted
Posted
Okay, you guys are scaring me now.

I've had my fill of overseas scam artists so my shipping costs over there are horrendous based on Canada Post's Tracking rates just to protect my butt.

 

Right now I have a run of GREEN LANTERN #123 to #200 for sale on eBay with free shipping anywhere in Canada or the USA.

The lone bidder for this auction so far is an Australian buyer.

So now I'm thinking....what if this buyer pays the $100 or so it'll cost to ship these comics and simply launch a PayPal claim anyway even though I paid for Tracking, etc?

Will I still have to refund the cash?

:eek:
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Gsims718

Gsims718

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Posted

I try to ship overseas as little as possible.

 

When I do I let them know that the only way I ship is by flat rate international priority, and make them pay for shipping.

 

Luckily mostly what I sell is autographed sports cards, so shipping isn't very expensive, even overseas.

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CKB

CKB

Posted
Posted
Okay, you guys are scaring me now.

I've had my fill of overseas scam artists so my shipping costs over there are horrendous based on Canada Post's Tracking rates just to protect my butt.

 

Right now I have a run of GREEN LANTERN #123 to #200 for sale on eBay with free shipping anywhere in Canada or the USA.

The lone bidder for this auction so far is an Australian buyer.

So now I'm thinking....what if this buyer pays the $100 or so it'll cost to ship these comics and simply launch a PayPal claim anyway even though I paid for Tracking, etc?

Will I still have to refund the cash?

 

Wow, that's a TREMENDOUS price you are getting for that lot. I will be watching. I will be shocked if you get another bidder.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GREEN-LANTERN-123-200-complete-lot-78-comics-195-/260856778823?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item3cbc469047

 

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brendanb438

brendanb438

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Posted

For all of you saying you only ship to country X but are getting bidders from country y and z may I ask why are you not setting your preferences to allow only country x to bid?

 

Save yourself the headache by blocking the insufficiently_thoughtful_persons who don't read that you won't ship to them. This way the insufficiently_thoughtful_persons will notice when eBay doesn't allow them to place a bid.

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