James_Douglas Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 People are going to love this one. So on Jan 5th I ordered a small parts kit for my 3-speed transmission from one of the usual eBay sellers. The seller said they were away until early February which did not bother me as I knew I would not need the parts until the last couple of weeks. A couple of weeks ago I never got the eBay email that it was shipped so I write the seller. He replied that they shipped it out and that I received it on January the 12th. He has a USPS tracking number that says so. I never got the package. It went to my Post Office Box. I suspect that the seller either fat fingered the Box Number and it was delivered to the wrong box or that the Post Office put it into the wrong box. The seller will not refund the sale. So, I have to wait until the 26th to ask ebay to step in. Lucky this was not an NOS, NORs or rare old used part that cannot be easily replaced. The lesson here is that if you are buying something on ebay that costs a fair amount of money, then one should demand a signature. I may be out $150 plus my time and aggravation. I am also going to lock out this seller and never buy anything form them again. A word of warning. James 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knuckleharley Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 No,the NOTICE went to your PO Box. Or should have. What PROBABLY happened is the notice that you had a package to pick up with either mailed to the wrong P.O.Box,and the person that received it just threw the notice away,or a clerk at the PO put it in the wrong box and it got thrown away. Go to your local PO in person with all the details on the shipping and WHEN the notice was supposedly put into your PO Box,along with the number on the notice. The clerk there WILL have a record of that number and what happened to that package. IF the notice was put in the wrong box and the parts were never picked up,chances are they are still sitting in a storeroom for undelivered mail at the main post office in your area,and once you show up with the info your local PO can track it down and have it redelivered to you. Be aware that without the shipping number issued by USPS you won't be able to accomplish anything,and the best place to get this is from the seller who sold you the parts,and allegedly sent them to you. Even if he says he no longer has the USPS number,he can still get it from USPS by using his name and the date he is supposed to send it. BTW,IF you can get the number you can collect the insurance on the package IF the seller bought insuruance when he shipped it. Most do because it can save them a lot of grief and money. If he says this is not possible,he is lying and chances are he never mailed it. Yeah,I am retired from the post office. I was a letter carrier though,not a mail clerk. I know what I wrote to be true because I have had to track down missing packages for myself . They are usually just missplaced,not really lost. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TodFitch Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 I haven’t purchased anything on eBay in years . . . It seems odd that the vendor didn’t send you a message or email with the tracking number when they shipped. That seems to be standard practice for every place that I have ordered things from in recent years. All packages shipped by USPS now have tracking numbers so there is no excuse that they were trying to save on shipping by not paying for tracking. Just the lack of a shipping notice with tracking number makes that vendor seem dodgy to me. With respect to USPS issues, we had a relative who said they were going to ship something to us. Not a priority, so we did not know when they were going to ship it. Eventually they asked if we received it and we had not. They sent us the tracking number and we followed up with USPS. Turns out two digits on our street number had been transposed and the people in the house it was delivered to just sat on it. We tried knocking on their door but they never seemed to be home. We finally left a note explaining the situation and magically the package showed back up at our house the next day. All this is to say, the USPS can check the address a delivery was made to based on the tracking number. And we have some people on our street who are not thoughtful neighbors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 Conversely, it seems my mail carrier is illiterate. He routinely delivers my neighbors mail to me, no wrong address issues, just mail dropped at the wrong house. I used to just take it over to the neighbor but I finally had enough, put it out for pickup (neighbor is next house to be delivered to after me) with a note stating wrong address this is 2815 Colorado Avenue. So that same day he picked up that mail, he dropped off a package at my house (correctly) and put my neighbors mail in my mail slot (wrong house, again). I believe there is a saying somewhere that goes like this, never put down to malice that which can be explained by stupidity. If there isn't then there ought to be. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_Douglas Posted February 23, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 1 hour ago, knuckleharley said: No,the NOTICE went to your PO Box. Or should have. What PROBABLY happened is the notice that you had a package to pick up with either mailed to the wrong P.O.Box,and the person that received it just threw the notice away,or a clerk at the PO put it in the wrong box and it got thrown away. Go to your local PO in person with all the details on the shipping and WHEN the notice was supposedly put into your PO Box,along with the number on the notice. The clerk there WILL have a record of that number and what happened to that package. IF the notice was put in the wrong box and the parts were never picked up,chances are they are still sitting in a storeroom for undelivered mail at the main post office in your area,and once you show up with the info your local PO can track it down and have it redelivered to you. Be aware that without the shipping number issued by USPS you won't be able to accomplish anything,and the best place to get this is from the seller who sold you the parts,and allegedly sent them to you. Even if he says he no longer has the USPS number,he can still get it from USPS by using his name and the date he is supposed to send it. BTW,IF you can get the number you can collect the insurance on the package IF the seller bought insuruance when he shipped it. Most do because it can save them a lot of grief and money. If he says this is not possible,he is lying and chances are he never mailed it. Yeah,I am retired from the post office. I was a letter carrier though,not a mail clerk. I know what I wrote to be true because I have had to track down missing packages for myself . They are usually just missplaced,not really lost. Think you are probably correct. I suspect that they put it into the wrong box and often people just toss the items in their box into a bag and don't look at it until they get home. Then they often just toss it out and don't bother to take it back to the post office. I have gotten things for other boxes over the years. So I know it happens. We will see. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eneto-55 Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 I am on the FaceBook group for P15s, but I don't think I would ever buy anything there unless I went to pick it up at the same time that I paid for it. (There are often posts there stating that so-and-so is a fraud, that the pictures he has on his ad are actually parts that belong to he himself, or to a friend.) Not again, I should say. I bought a few chain binders - the type you ratchet to tighten - from a FB user who was friends with several people I know, some from the congregation I attend. They were so bent up that only one of the three is usable. Another looks like it would be alright, but it's froze solid, and I cannot break it free - have been soaking it for over a year now. (This was during the pandemic, and I had a friend who lives close to the seller pick up the stuff, and pay him in cash. Live & learn.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plymouthy Adams Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 (edited) yes, the problem of dealing in cyber space.....I had to just a bit ago block a person who was trying to scam me on purchase (cashiers check Zelle, agent to pick up item) when I said cash only as was the local ad, he got snotty and name calling....lol I deal in person and I deal in cash.....no cash, no deals. This typically weeds out a number of tire kickers and most scammers, a best price over the internet...is the asking price as I feel anyone not willing to show to view...is only kicking a tire....sorry if this offends anyone here, not all will fall in this lumped group but enough do that it makes it easier for me work with. And two folks lived withing 5 and 15 minutes of me and said it was too far for them to travel and to send tons of pictures (they need these pics to scam others) Who are these people? I yield the soap box to others at this time....! PS the guy within 5 minutes of me....showed and purchased and turned out to be decent chap. His wife wanted photos....the other guy, all indignant...I have the history of this guy from others in the area, is reported a time wasting flake. Edited February 23, 2022 by Plymouthy Adams 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggdad1951 Posted February 25, 2022 Report Share Posted February 25, 2022 back when first working on FEF whilst gatherin parts, I bought a NOS wiper switch from one of the more "reputable" epay sellers...never got it, no proof of delivery and never got anything out of it. Needless to say, I stopped buying from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulu Posted February 25, 2022 Report Share Posted February 25, 2022 I have had amazingly good luck and from all the parts I have ordered from eBay I’ve only had one bad experience. I ordered a vintage mirror from Canada, and I never got it. The seller just disappeared. Fortunately I had not spent very much on it. $5 & shipping. I ordered a skateboard deck from one of the guys in the skateboard club, and he had built me two previously. They were very nice but the third one never showed up at all and the guy just dropped out of sight. That was $150 expense. I would feel worse about these things but times are tight, and there but for the Grace of God go I. In other words I could be some poor desperate SOB having to cheat people to get by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallytoo Posted February 25, 2022 Report Share Posted February 25, 2022 (edited) ebay is hit or miss, although i've usually hit. a miss was buying a set of rod bearings from an ebay vendor (rhymes with kim larpenter @ martslouseblearance) who sent 3 of the 6 but took my money for all 6, trying to give some BS about making sure they were the correct parts first. fortunately, ebay refunded most of my money. the joke was that i couldn't leave negative feedback, because ebay "cancelled" the transaction, so he gets to continue to fleece unsuspecting buyers. also, said seller did not send the package via the method he specified (UPS), and instead sent it via USPS, which doesn't work, because i have different addresses for the two, so that further delayed receiving the 3 that he did send. Edited February 25, 2022 by wallytoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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