Question for EBay sellers 1 1

[Roo_Phillip]

About a month ago I spent 15 bucks on some cheapo reader comics on EBay that were shipped Media Mail.  They ended up getting stuck in USPS tracking purgatory and after no movement for more than a week I contacted the seller to let them know.  They replied they were aware of the problem, and told me to check back if there was no movement for two weeks.  After two weeks passed, I checked back and the seller refunded my $ including shipping.  

Today, just for fun, I checked the tracking again, and lo and behold they have shown up at my local post office and the estimated delivery date had been updated to today.  I'll believe it when I see it but it appears they may show up after all.

Here's my question (forgive me if it's a stupid and naive one but I've never sold on EBay):  Did the seller of these books just take it in the shorts when they refunded my money, or did they have some recourse and make a claim with USPS to get their money back?  The seller did say that I could just keep the books "as a token of our appreciation" if they did eventually arrive, but I don't want anyone to get hosed and will gladly pay for these books if they do show up and the seller has not been made whole.  Thanks for any info...

[ADAMANTIUM]

12 minutes ago, Roo_Phillip said:

About a month ago I spent 15 bucks on some cheapo reader comics on EBay that were shipped Media Mail.  They ended up getting stuck in USPS tracking purgatory and after no movement for more than a week I contacted the seller to let them know.  They replied they were aware of the problem, and told me to check back if there was no movement for two weeks.  After two weeks passed, I checked back and the seller refunded my $ including shipping.  

Today, just for fun, I checked the tracking again, and lo and behold they have shown up at my local post office and the estimated delivery date had been updated to today.  I'll believe it when I see it but it appears they may show up after all.

Here's my question (forgive me if it's a stupid and naive one but I've never sold on EBay):  Did the seller of these books just take it in the shorts when they refunded my money, or did they have some recourse and make a claim with USPS to get their money back?  The seller did say that I could just keep the books "as a token of our appreciation" if they did eventually arrive, but I don't want anyone to get hosed and will gladly pay for these books if they do show up and the seller has not been made whole.  Thanks for any info...

if you highlight the tracking number and search it in google, it will then show up as "track usps?" or whatever carrier it is. If it is USPS, I know that once you track it via usps, you can then click on "product details"..... that will show approximate how much the package was insured for....

NOW as far as did the seller "win their claim" it would be better to contact the seller etc..... but is your trepidation that the "seller getting paid twice: once by insurance and then you?"

If the seller did the honorable thing and refunded you, best to give them the benefit of the doubt and contact them imo  

Edited September 28, 2019 by ADAMANTIUM

[Roo_Phillip]

9 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

NOW as far as did the seller "win their claim" it would be better to contact the seller etc..... but is your trepidation that the "seller getting paid twice: once by insurance and then you?"

Yes, that's what I was wondering about.  I checked and there is no insurance data in the tracking.  

 

11 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

If the seller did the honorable thing and refunded you, best to give them the benefit of the doubt and contact them imo  

I will, thanks ADAMANTIUM!    

[alexanderjk]

What @ADAMANTIUM said. Sounds like the seller is just being a good dude. I’d contact to thank for their generosity and leave positive feedback. 

[nochips]

I doubt they seller insured a $15.00 package, so yes, he lost out. If you get the books send him the money back.

[Junkdrawer]

eBay will rip that money right out of your acct and pay the seller

[Roo_Phillip]

UPDATE:

The books did arrive yesterday.  The box was surprisingly unscathed despite its month-long Media Mail journey from Modesto to Paso Robles via Reno (and God knows where else). I'm very happy with the comics.  I contacted the seller and told him I wanted to pay him.  Here is his response:

"We are very pleased to hear that you have finally received your order. As we stated when your refund was issued the items are yours as a token of our gratitude. We will not accept a payment for the items that were delivered in an untimely fashion however we would happily accept a positive review if you feel as though we provided a positive service."

Wow!  Well, I tried.  Not sure what else to do, except give him extra-positive feedback (done), go shopping for more books in his store (done), and give him a big shout out here for being such an awesome and generous EBayer!   His seller name is loon1980.  

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 9/28/2019 at 1:15 PM, Roo_Phillip said:

About a month ago I spent 15 bucks on some cheapo reader comics on EBay that were shipped Media Mail.  They ended up getting stuck in USPS tracking purgatory and after no movement for more than a week I contacted the seller to let them know.  They replied they were aware of the problem, and told me to check back if there was no movement for two weeks.  After two weeks passed, I checked back and the seller refunded my $ including shipping.  

Today, just for fun, I checked the tracking again, and lo and behold they have shown up at my local post office and the estimated delivery date had been updated to today.  I'll believe it when I see it but it appears they may show up after all.

Here's my question (forgive me if it's a stupid and naive one but I've never sold on EBay):  Did the seller of these books just take it in the shorts when they refunded my money, or did they have some recourse and make a claim with USPS to get their money back?  The seller did say that I could just keep the books "as a token of our appreciation" if they did eventually arrive, but I don't want anyone to get hosed and will gladly pay for these books if they do show up and the seller has not been made whole.  Thanks for any info...

This has happened on a couple of bulk MtG sales I was involved in. In all cases that I'm aware of, the seller took the loss. In one case, the seller asked me "to mark the package RTS and drop it in a mailbox" if they ever got delivered, but I completely forgot to do that.

[fastballspecial]

I had a package priority go missing for 2 months show on their doorstep. Refunded the money and had forgotten about it till the buyer sent me a pic of the package with arrival  date.