8mm Forum: Any Missing eBay Shipped Items?

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Posted by Dan Lail (Member # 18) on March 27, 2011, 01:20 PM:

Here's a nifty new topic:

Have you ever sold anything on eBay that disappeared during shipping?

How often does this happen? [Smile]

Just curious...? [Confused]

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on March 27, 2011, 01:37 PM:

Never, thankfully [Smile]

Posted by Wayne Tuell (Member # 1689) on March 27, 2011, 01:56 PM:

Only once. I sold Mike Sands 6 cores of film all shipped in one box a year or so ago. When the box arrived to him it had been opened and two of the films were missing.

I saw photos of the box and someone along the way sliced it open to see what was inside and re-taped it after removing what they wanted.

For what it is worth, Fat Frank had bid on an item and tried to claim it never arrived and wanted a refund...he finally admitted it showed up after I informed him that my local postmaster would be happy to contact his postmaster and start a mail theft investigation.

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on March 27, 2011, 01:58 PM:

Yes.

I sold a 16mm print of Flaming Star with Elvis. It was on two 2000' reels. When the customer got it he said it only had one reel. [Confused]

That was impossible due to weight. [Eek!]

However, Ebay gave the customer a refund under their "buyer protection". [Frown]

I know exactly what happened to the missing reel. It amazes me what some people will do. [Embarrassed]

Pat DAlessio

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on March 27, 2011, 02:07 PM:

What gives, Dan?

Have you had recent experience?

Posted by Dan Lail (Member # 18) on March 27, 2011, 03:02 PM:

Michael O'Regan wrote....

quote:
What gives, Dan?

Have you had recent experience?

I have been shipping since 2001 and have only had one film go missing.

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on March 27, 2011, 04:29 PM:

That wasn't an accusation, Dan, old chap [Smile]

I was wondering whether or not a print sent TO you had gone missing.

Posted by Dan Lail (Member # 18) on March 27, 2011, 07:05 PM:

I have received all purchases I have made. [Smile]

Posted by Vincent Zabbia (Member # 2453) on March 28, 2011, 07:24 AM:

A few years back I ordered a super 8 sound feature called GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS starring Elvis Presley. When I received the film and watched it. It was missing the songs. It appeared that the songs were spliced out. When I contacted the seller, he said that the songs were intact when he had the film. He said not to worry, he had insured the package. Needless to say, I never dealt with him again. By the way. The seller was in the BIG REEL, not Ebay. This also reminds me of the story of the man on the train (man number one) who had his hand in another mans pocket (man number two). When asked what his hand was doing in another mans pocket. The man (number One) replied that he was looking for a match. The man (number two) said "why don't you just ask me for a match. Man (number one) replied "I DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS"

Posted by Barry Fritz (Member # 1865) on March 28, 2011, 09:18 AM:

With over 500 transactions, just one glitch with a golf club I sold. Buyer didn't get it so I put a trace on it and it was found at an incorrect Post Office. Problem solved.

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on March 28, 2011, 09:57 AM:

quote:
Buyer didn't get it so I put a trace on it and it was found at an incorrect Post Office.

USPS is kindly enough to charge 80 cents for delivery confrimation. So at least we know where is our item between one point to another. And even can ask the update by email.

I cannot get it that there are still some people who don't beleive on this 80 cents system and prefer not to pay for it...! [Confused]

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on March 28, 2011, 10:31 AM:

Because most of the time they do not scan the packages. [Razz]

If it's not included I don't add it. [Big Grin]

[ March 28, 2011, 01:59 PM: Message edited by: Pasquale DAlessio ]

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on March 28, 2011, 11:09 AM:

I stopped selling on ebay about 6 months ago (not that I sold regularly anyway) because about 1/2 of what I was selling was going overseas, and 1/2 of that (1/4 overall) the buyers were saying never arrived..I contacted the postal service, and they told me "Buyers know that we don't track them, so it probably did arrive and they are just trying to get something for free." After that I decided I would rather be selling things to people I knew through the forums since I didn't have the time to be doing all sorts of sleuthing of which, there was never any concrete answers anyway... Since USPS stopped tracking everything but express it makes it a little more scary to sell to an unknown person overseas, since the cost of shipping is now so high for international... I have never had any problems domestically.

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on March 28, 2011, 03:35 PM:

quote:
Because most of the time they do not scan the packages. If it's not included I don't add it.

Pat....is that really the case?

From hundreds of shipment I did with USPS, I never had experienced like you mentioned above. All packages were scanned and will be informed when they arrived.

The shipment data is stored in the USPS website for months. I even once visited my tracking numbers that had passed a year and still could see it by asking through one click at the USPS website.

I don't understand why you are saying that. [Confused]

Long time ago (before you joined this forum) I even once praised how lucky people in the US when doing online transaction, both domestic an international post, because USPS was so cheap compared to other shipping company in many countries I have visited. Here is the link:

USPS (Large Envelope) economical and QUICK!

Just to give a description, in Canada sending a package with tracking numbers will double the cost compared to non-trackable service. But in the USA, it is only 80 cents, it is so peanuts.... very cheap. But the most important, it is giving a peace of mind that item has arrived. So no more :

quote:
"Buyers know that we don't track them, so it probably did arrive and they are just trying to get something for free."

like what Dino said above.

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 892) on March 29, 2011, 11:58 AM:

A few years ago I sold a film to a local collector who insisted that I go ahead and ship even though his house was only a few miles from my workplace. Never in a post office have I been so uneasy about the quality of help there, and the film never arrived. Altogether disappointing for everyone. I don't think the buyer was pulling a fast one because he didn't request a refund.

Tracking wasn't standard procedure a few years ago, now it's a given.

Haven't used that post office since. First-rate help available at a different one not far away.

Posted by Wayne Tuell (Member # 1689) on March 29, 2011, 12:35 PM:

Dino, could you shoot me a buyer's list via email for the international buyers who claim shipments do not arrive? It would be good to know who to look out for.

So far I only have had severely delayed packages when shipping out of the U.S.

Posted by Chris Smith (Member # 132) on March 29, 2011, 07:01 PM:

I buy and sell on eBay and have since 1997. I probably mailed around 2000 packages to buyers during that time and many, many of them were films. Only one buyer reported they never received their package and I made an immediate refund to them. It was one of the few times I failed to use "delivery confirmation" and I could kick myself for not using it.

Posted by Tommy Woods (Member # 2437) on March 30, 2011, 07:40 AM:

I have sold over a 1000 items on ebay and have had a handful of claims of non reciept this includes Royal Mail recorded signed for,I have never recieved a claim against anything sent by courier,everything I send overseas now is signed for.

Posted by Dan Lail (Member # 18) on March 30, 2011, 09:27 PM:

Very nifty replies everyone. Keep them coming. [Smile]

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on March 31, 2011, 02:47 PM:

I’ve purchased items that have never arrived in my hands from fleabay in years past. A machine I once sold via fleabay went missing so I gave a refund, then I spotted the machine at a film convention. Asked the dealer who he got it from and he told me the original purchaser’s name. Hmm.

These days I welcome longer serving collectors to our home to view anything of reasonable interest and they usually wind up having a meal and a film show. This month a good number of Super 8 collectors visited to collect my surplus items, 8 of which were fed and entertained with one chap travelling nearly 150 miles each way. As I get older meeting and greeting like minded people is far more important than electronic trading which in my limited view is stalling the hobby of film collecting as people are just not face to face meeting.

Fleabay might well be a good place to bargain hunt providing you have plenty of time on your hands or nothing else to do, but you certainly loose any personal one to one contact with fellow collectors which was why I packed it in some time ago and closed my personal account. If I ever get overloaded or am asked to help someone sell items as result of bereavement as has been the case quite a bit of late my family list as I certainly do not have the time now. My first point on the lost projector just about sums it up for me perhaps.

The Postage and packing issue also used to wind my spring. Everyone wanted to pay the ultra minimum shipping fees which of course meant keeping packing costs and weight to a minimum. They would then get the parcels and complain the items were not packed well enough. So, you packed items with more packing, costing more for materials and making the parcels heavier, net result higher postage fees another complaint. Thank goodness some of us still like to get-together and meet half way to collect items which for me is a far nicer way to meet and greet fellow collectors than fleabay and what better place to meet is at a film convention such as Blackpool.
Bring it on!

Posted by Dan Lail (Member # 18) on March 31, 2011, 08:54 PM:

Good points, Lee. I would like to attend a Film Convention and purchase or swap some film, but the closest one to me is 800 miles. This is not affordable at the moment, especially with the economy in the tank plus I'm only 8 years old. Right now all my purchases are either on the internet or over the phone. [Eek!]

Posted by Bart Smith (Member # 780) on April 01, 2011, 05:54 AM:

I had a claim for non-receipt from a member of this forum about 1 year ago, he is based in South-Western Europe in a country which is well known to have a very poor postal service (no, it isn't Italy!)...

I sent out replacement items to him (and told him I was doing so), then a couple of days later he opened an eBay case against me, way before one might have reasonably expected the replacements to arrive from the UK.

I don't have any issues with sorting out my responsibilities for getting the items to the buyer, but I do take issue with people calling my honesty into doubt. I blocked his eBay user ID.

Funnily enough he just tried to purchase from me this morning using a completely different ID, presumably as I had blocked his main one. I've refunded the payment and am never going to deal with him again, and have told him so.

Posted by Dan Lail (Member # 18) on April 01, 2011, 11:20 AM:

Bart, sorry to hear you had a problem with a forum member. It does happen though. Did you win the Ebay dispute?

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on April 02, 2011, 03:22 AM:

I know what you mean Dan but I was really looking at some of our immovable lot over here. I can remember a guy who came up to Peter and myself at the Group 9-5 event and complained he had taken 2 hours to get to Pimlico that morning and he had a long journey. Pete asked him how far he had come and the answer was 25 mile. We had both travelled over 250 to get there and when we told him how far we had travelled he said “are you bloody mad”. Don’t answer that!

Anyhow back to missing items. [Frown]

Posted by Bart Smith (Member # 780) on April 02, 2011, 05:58 AM:

Hi Dan,

He withdrew the eBay case about 5 days later, presumably when the replacement goods arrived.

Nevertheless I thought that opening the case was calling my honesty into doubt, so I blocked him.

Posted by Trevor Adams (Member # 42) on April 02, 2011, 03:06 PM:

I "loose" dvds every now and then.I think the mail folk probably can't resist them!Trev

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