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Lost In The Mail, Who is Responsible?

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  • #1

    Lost In The Mail, Who is Responsible?

    I am trying to figure out a situation, and I thought some of you Ebayers might be able to help.

    I purchased a book from an individual on Alibris, a book marketplace site. $100 roughly.

    About three weeks have gone by and no book. Originally the tracking information came back as an invalid number. I messaged the guy and got not response, then after a couple of days I messaged him again. The tracking number has been updated, it now works but still no response from him.

    The tracking says "Shipment Received, Acceptance Pending" at a post office in California on June 3. No updates since then.

    I call the post office and they agree it's weird there are no updates.

    The guy has a 4 out of 5 rating, but when you review his feedback, he has 73 positive and 37 negative, and he has disabled the ability to view comments / feedback beyond that.

    Am I dealing with a scammer? Did the post office drop the ball? I have not contacted Alibris yet. I've been looking for this book for months, and his is the only copy I have found available. I figured I'd give it one more week.
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  • #2
    I did have a situation like this with alibris once. I contacted alibris and they helped to take care of it. The negative comments are kind of a red flag for me. I also had this happen with ebay once, like my order went through, but I received no shipping information or followup email from the seller. I contacted ebay and they refunded my money. I kept track of the seller's name so that I don't order from them again. Good luck!

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    • #3
      File an Item Not Received claim with ebay. Go to your Purchase history to do that. That will also show you the estimated delivery date. It must be after that date to file a claim.

      Did you check tracking through ebay or through the post office site? The ebay tracking can be inaccurate so it's always good to check directly with the post office (or UPS or FedEx depending on how it was shipped). If it went USPS Media Mail on 6/3, it may not be considered late yet as Media Mail can take up to 2 weeks I think, but again, your purchase history will give you that info.
      Steve

      * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
      * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
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      • #4
        So we tried to return something to amazon recently and ups "lost" it. Amazon gave us our money since we have the return service reciept. My friend said they likely stole it off the back of the truck.
        LivingAlmostLarge Blog

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        • #5
          I have had USPS tracking get totally stuck, never getting any update, leaving only a single note that the book has been shipped. Yet, the book still has managed to get here. I've bought hundreds, maybe 400, books from sellers online and I'd guess this has happened a dozen times. (I've probably had an equal number of book packages arrive with tire marks on them and that happens whether it was USPS or a corporate delivery service! )

          I don't think I've ever ordered through Alibris, if that makes any difference. But those 37 negative reviews sound bad.
          "There is some ontological doubt as to whether it may even be possible in principle to nail down these things in the universe we're given to study." --text msg from my kid

          "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." --Frederick Douglass

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          • #6
            I reread this and realized this wasn’t an eBay transaction. You mentioned eBay in the first post. Just ignore my answer about what to do through eBay.

            to answer the question, the seller is responsible. You need to contact them. If you can’t then file a payment dispute with your credit card company.

            Alibris has a feedback score of over 400,000 on eBay so they’re certainly a legit company but it sounds like their customer service is lacking.
            Steve

            * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
            * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
            * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

            Comment

            • #7
              Originally posted by disneysteve View Post
              I reread this and realized this wasn’t an eBay transaction. You mentioned eBay in the first post. Just ignore my answer about what to do through eBay.

              to answer the question, the seller is responsible. You need to contact them. If you can’t then file a payment dispute with your credit card company.

              Alibris has a feedback score of over 400,000 on eBay so they’re certainly a legit company but it sounds like their customer service is lacking.
              My apologizes if my post was a bit confusing.

              I purchased the book through the website Alibris. People sell used books through the site like a store on Amazon or Ebay. I figured we had far more Ebay users than Alibris users, and I am assuming the situation would be similar in either case.

              I did call the post office. They agreed it was weird that they had no update since June 3. They opened an investigation ticket. I received a follow up on the ticket that said my package "was is not lost, it is on it's way to me but tracking is not available". So...... I'll give it another few days yet.

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