Ebay postage scam?

[Anonymous]

I received an ebay item delivered notification yesterday, but no item delivered

Royal mail tracking was signed CV19 but they have not recorded who signed for or recieved the item

I contacted the seller yesterday who said they would follow up via royal mail

Ive been to the local sorting office and phoned RM who says the item was shown delivered on my street but none of my neighbors have it and the postwoman can't recollect it being delivered.

Strangely, as of this morning the seller is 'no longer a registered user'

Ebay just points me back to 'contact seller' but them it wont let me send message

Anybody seen this sort of thing before? what do i do now?

Regards

Andy

[Anonymous]

update

I requested a refund from the seller (as that was the only option to me via ebay, even though the seller was no longer registered)

within a couple of hours I received the following from ebay:

Unfortunately, we didn't receive valid tracking information from the seller. We're sorry you had a problem with your purchase.

We've issued a refund of £18.99 back to the original funding source you used to purchase this item. The refund includes the purchase price plus original postage. Please allow 48 hours for it to process.

So it looks like it was a scam / dodgy after all. Thanks for your advice though

[papso22]

It could just as well have been that the seller was removed by ebay and when that happens they are unable to contest a case by supplying the tracking. Or they didn't enter the tracking in the case within the new shortened period of three working days.

But they may also have been a scammer.

[Anonymous]

Do you think if I'd ordered a telly from Argos and it didn't turn up, I should be responsible for claiming off the carrier - I don't think so.

In this case the RM tracking didn't have a signature (yes i know the covid procedure) and didn't indicate to where or whom the item was delivered, furthermore RM couldn't confirm to where or whom the item was delivered. The tracking was therefore INVALID and does not apply.

My contract was with the seller, not RM and as the seller can't prove delivery was made, responsibility goes back to the seller, scam or not.

Unfortunately for sellers it seems, under covid policy RM recorded delivery is not proof of delivery and ebay should acknowledge this

[rusticrye]

Ebay has no involvement in the delivery process. Ebay doesn't sell anything, so doesn't ship anything. The seller ships, the carrier delivers, and tracking then updates to 'delivered'.

Nor has any 'scam' taken place.  The package has simply been misdelivered - it happens.

The postie signed the package as delivered - that's what a signature of CV19 or similar means. All delivery personnel are required to do this - the recipient cannot sign themselves due to Covid-19 Health & Safety rules. You can read all about this for yourself on the Covid-19 information page on Royal Mail's website.

Once tracking proves delivery, the seller's job is done. They cannot be made to refund you as they cannot lodge a claim for their loss with the carrier - because tracking proves delivery. So any Item Not Received case opened (here or with PayPal or with any payment processor) will automatically and naturally close in the seller's favour. That's the whole point of tracking. Under these circumstances, you as the buyer have to lodge a claim with Royal Mail yourself. If Royal Mail have misdelivered and can't retrieve the package, they, Royal Mail, will have to compensate you.

@Anonymous 

[john1297576]

I don't see that a case with Paypal would make any difference, if tracking shows delivered then Paypal must accept that, if not there would be no point in sellers paying for tracking if it did not give any protection.

Tracking is the only protection that sellers have, it is up to the RM Delivery Office to justify the claim of delivery otherwise you claim from them.

[red_magpie]

To use eBay's money back guarantee, as the seller is no longer a registered user, you may need to phone customer support and ask them to open a case for you.

However, because a) this is a hassle, and b) it may have been delivered to another address, and eBay has a reputation for accepting items as delivered when when the addresses don't match correctly, in your position I would forget eBay and file a dispute under PayPal's buyer protection policy, see:

https://www.paypal.com/uk/smarthelp/article/what-if-i-didn%27t-receive-my-item-or-it%27s-not-as-adve...

The tracking number should confirm delivery to YOUR address, or you should be entitled to a refund. Another advantage of using PayPal is that if you're not happy, they have a proper complaints procedure. which eBay doesn't. In the last resort, you could even appeal to the financial ombudsman, which again you can't do with eBay.

If you still prefer to try eBay first, you have up to 180 days to fie a Paypal dispute.