SUBJECT: EBAY-Pay Pal Costly Delivery Requirements

Did you know Online Delivery Confirmation and Feedback, does not Mean Delivery for EBAY or Pay Pal?

Question: When is a delivery not a delivery on the USPS site according to Pay Pal and EBAY for items selling for over $750?

Answer: When the buyer says it's not delivered. This is true in China and elsewhere for that matter....unless you have Signature Confirmation... From eBay's Terms and Conditions.."

Note: We require signature confirmation for transactions of $750 or more. Having signature confirmation can help protect you if a buyer reports that they didn't receive an item. Learn more about the eBay Money Back Guarantee."

And therein lays the rub. The USPS does not offer Signature Confirmation in China and hundreds of other places around the globe. In other words, EBAY-Pay Pal Costly Delivery Requirements are much worse than many might imagine.

NOTE: This signature requirement is an odd one, seeing as everyone's experience I know who sells to China have never had an item marked Delivered on the USPS Site when it wasn't. So why require a signature at all? Its a preventative cure without a disease.

This past week we had whats known around our office here as a "shipping situation."

• First I must admit to being rather reluctant to tell this story, when you read on, you'll know why. It well may convey something to buyer's in China they were unaware of and elsewhere who are less than honest and may lead to an increase in fraud. I mention China specifically as sales to old CATHAY  accounts for roughly 40% of our annual sales and 100% of our headaches.

The Problem, A Case In Point, Read This....

In late November we sold two items for a couple thousand dollars each to a fairly new Ebay buyer in China. After some delays the bill was paid and we shipped the items promptly. So far so good.

After a couple weeks the buyer contacted us asking where the items were. So we checked, according to the USPS tracking information the pieces were in transit and had arrived in China five days earlier. A call to the USPS revealed the boxes were in customs awaiting Duty Payments.

So, we contacted the buyer suggesting he go pick up his items.  He didn't, after another week he filed a claim-dispuite with Pay Pal for non-delivery, at which point Pay Pal put the buyer's full payments on Hold. We again contacted the buyer and again asked him to pick up his items. As an encouragement, we suggested to him we would initiate a Customs Investigation on the matter if he failed to do so.

Two days later the items were marked "Delivered" on the USPS site and Feedback was left for us. Great huh! NOPE, not so fast.

We then checked our Pay Pal account to see if the money had been released back to us. It hadn't been, so we called Pay Pal. We explained the Delivery confirmation which they verified was true. They also verified that Feedback had been left.  HOWEVER, Pay Pal could not release the money back to us and would be required to refund the FULL amount of the transaction to the buyer if he escalated the claim. The reason you ask? The items had no signature confirmation, the option is not available, to begin with, which Pay Pal knew all about.

Again we contacted the buyer and asked that he let Pay Pal know the items had been received. After a few more days he did tell them and the money was Released back to our account.

NOTE: This same buyer or any buyer for that matter could just as easily not filed a non-delivery claim prior to delivery and opened the claim after the packages were delivered without signature requirements and gotten a refund.

What To Do?

This whole thing obviously did get me thinking. What if the buyer was a crook and not just reluctant to pay his taxes? He could have escalated the claim and in a few more days gotten a 100% refund including shipping. He then would have gotten his items for the cost only of the Duty, despite having left Feedback for the items and the online USPS Delivery confirmation.

Pay Pal, then told me, if the buyer did nothing, the money would sit in Pay Pal indefinitely.

Other Options?