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REFUND REQUEST FOR A PACKAGE NOT DELIVERED IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE
Summary: gemand58 describes an issue with a package ordered from an Australian seller that got stuck in Italian customs since June, preventing a refund through eBay as more than 30 days have passed since the supposed delivery date. Despite opening a report with Poste Italiane and communicating with eBay and the seller, the package remains unaccounted for. cizeta1964 suggests that gemand58 could have opened a dispute for the non-received item shortly after the expected delivery date, providing some protection and an option to return the money if the package eventually arrives.
Good morning, I wanted to report the following. On June 14 I purchased a collectible magazine from an Australian seller. The package was sent on June 17 by air with AU Post tracking, which I have been monitoring since that day. It arrived in Italy on June 26 at the Poste Italiane sorting center in Castel San Giovanni (PC) with the note "received from customs for customs clearance operations". Note that eBay writes in the purchase history that delivery is expected between June 18 and 22 (!!!).
Unfortunately (as happened to me 6 months ago with a package from the UK) since June 26 there has been no further update, nor have I been asked for any documentation or missing information, and the package still shows as "in customs" now a month later. A report was opened on July 17 with Poste Italiane, who informed me that customs has up to 90 days to handle clearance and therefore "I have to wait". In reality the package was definitely lost or stolen.
In the meantime I had already told the seller that the package was suspiciously delayed, and finally after yet another phone call to Poste Italiane on July 24 I reported to eBay that I had not received the item in order to start the refund process.
The surprise was that since 30 days have passed from the "expected delivery date (June 18-22)" I can no longer use the eBay customer guarantee. I wonder: if the package arrived in Italy on June 26 why is it not my right to have the 30 days count from at least the date confirmed by tracking? How can eBay assign untrue delivery dates that then become binding for requesting a refund??
The seller wrote to me that on his part everything was done perfectly and that is true.... of course it is customs' fault for holding the package, and as we all know no one can deal with customs.
I am therefore turning to the Community to ask for opinions.
Thank you
P.S. - the package from the UK that I wrote about above is still "in customs" after 6 months :-) and despite complaints, phone calls, an official Royal Mail claim, nobody knows anything about it.
cizeta1964
Mentore2 weeks agoYou could have opened a dispute from 27/06, the seller's burden - even if eBay got the expected delivery dates completely wrong - is to prove that delivery took place, and he could not and cannot do that. At that point you would have been refunded, and it would have been your burden, if the item then arrived, to refund the seller in turn. There are no other solutions.
cizeta1964
Mentore2 weeks agoYou could still have opened a dispute for item not received, after 4 days from the latest delivery date expected by eBay, you would have protected yourself, and if, after the refund, the item had arrived, you could have given the money back to the seller