E-Bay Question

[Gerry Mac]

Does anyone here have the "for certain" on E-Bay protocol?



Here is the story. On March 6th, I sold a collectors knife on ebay to a man in Italy. I immediatley packed the knife carefully and shipped it via express Canada Post. It was shipped that same day. It was insured, not for the full value but close. It never left the local Post Office. It was "apparently" stolen from the Post Office by person(s) not yet known. Canada Post advises it takes at least 90 days from the time of the claim before they pay out on the insurance. Just in case it is lost and shows up in Italy. They woun't accept the claim until after they get the proof of loss and they won't send that to you until a full month from the time of shipment. The claim is in now.



The question is this:



Do I refund the man's money (he has been very patient and seems like a great guy) or do I wait for the inurance claim? If I refund to him and then he gets the knife, well then I have a significant loss because Canada Post will not pay the claim if he does end up with it.



Serious responses would be appreciated.

Gerry

 

[Tim Turner]

I would have to say that you should refund the man's money. I know it's taking a chance (and it sucks) if the knife does show up eventually, but I believe that this route is the lesser of the two evils. I know I would not want to take a chance and wait 3 or 4 months for a refund to come from an Ebay transaction.

 

[Casey B]

I had a similar situation where the item never arrived in New orleans from GA via 1st class mail. After 2 weeks I had the PO where I dropped it off at do a paper trace on the package and it got delivered 3 days later. Not sure about the claims process but I remember being told 45 days for a claims process to begin.

 

[David Gianquitti]

Talk to the guy if he is that nice and patient as you say he may understand and wait the month; if it doesn't show up you can reimburse him. I learned the hard way not to deal internationally on ebay or yahoo. Italy is the worst as far as theivery goes and there is nothing the international police will do. I was taken for over $2,000. My situation was different since this gentleman is buying from you the only thing; I would be leary about is him getting the product, saying he didn't and you refunding him his money. Is there some kind of proof of delivery??? But talk to him explain the situation and ask him to hold off for a bit. This stuff does happen.

 

[Gerry Mac]

I guess I should mention the knife sold for $310.50 USD



Gerry

 

[WXMotorSports DecalsPartsAccs]

And, I thought the US Post Office was bad!

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

Holy Sh*t!!!! Was the damn thing made of Platnum or what? For me to spend that much on a knife, it better slice, chop and COOK the food, then clean up afterwards. God!:lol: Anyway, now that I have my wits back, Talk to the guy and see if he is willing to wait. If they say that it never left the post office and that it was "apperantly" stolen, then what's the wait? Either it left or it didn't. If not then they are responsible and they need to fork up the money.

 

[Bob McDonald]

I think you should at least E-mail the buyer and explain the situation and perhaps ask ask if he would be willing to wait out the waiting period, or wants to have the refund back now.

 

[Gerry Mac]

I have been in e-mail contact with the guy in Italy on a weekly basis. He doesn't speak English. I have not said "apparently stolen" to him yet.



Actually I had put the knife up here for $120.00 USD. It is a Puma White Hunter, hand-made in Germany, never used and never sharpened. It was never exported out of Germany. I am told it is quite rare amongst collectors.



Personally, I was glad to get it out of here, I hate knives, they are the chosen wepaon of drunks and cowards.



Thanks for the input guys.



editied to add picture







Gerry

[Broken External Image]:

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

That is a nice looking knife and hand made is cool. Good luck and hope everything works out.

 

[Richard L]

You are responsible for shipping and insuring that the package is properly delivered. You are subcontracting the actual shipping with a delivery or postal service, but you are still responsible for proper delivery. I would refund the guy's money, and inform him that if the knife is found or recovered, you will contact him and give him first chance to buy it at his bid price.



I'm puzzled by the post office requireing you to show proof of the loss??? You sent a package that was insured. They lost the package, and their logs show that it never made it out of the post office. That would clearly indicate that the package got lost, or stolen while in their hands. I would think the fact that you have a receipt from the post office for the package and the insured value would clearly indicate that they were at fault and must pay the insured value.



...Rich

 

[steve twyver]

I am taking the buyer's side in this situation. He paid and didn't get what he bargained for whatever reasons. In your case, you sound legit, but you could easily make this stuff up. I generally have a short fuse for this type of thing. You might get him to agree to hold off for a while, but the bottom line is he didn't get what he paid for. In my opinion it is up to him what leeway he wants to give you. It would be easy for him to give you a bad rating. In my opinion it isn't the end of your ebay life, but certainly limits the number of bidders that go for stuff you sell. I certainly don't bid on stuff from sellers with bad feedback, especially recent feedbacks.



I once purchased some carburetor diaphrams from a motorcycle list. They were new and far cheaper than dealer prices. The guy posted very late at night and I called his posted phone number right away. We spoke for an hour about various motorcycles. He told me he could not ship for a week but that didn't matter. Then he went incognito and I no longer could get in touch with him. I called, sent letters, etc to no avail. After 2 months I gave up. Then 5 months later I saw a TV news clip that said the FBI spends some huge percentage of its time chasing internet fraud. I went to their website and filled in a 10 page form. Low and behold the diaphrams showed up less than a week later. I was thrilled and informed the FBI website I received my stuff. A year later I finally get around to installing them, and they were the wrong ones. Still got screwed.

 

[Paul Maurer 2]

Refund him.

 

[WXMotorSports DecalsPartsAccs]

I think refund is entitled here as the buyer did no wrong. Gerry, you didn't either but it falls on you even when the shipping carrier loses the package. I ship a lot internationally and always had the worse of luck losing packages. I switched them to insured and with customs forms, electronically, and I haven't lost a package in almost a year now. Something as expensive as your item I would send via UPS or Fed Ex as they are a lot more reliable.