Should I bother? (1 Viewer)

[MikeNick]

Hi.
I need your advice.
I sent a package of toy soldiers to Greece at the end of January but they have not arrived so the buyer is filing a claim against me.
The question I have for the forum readers is should I bother fighting the claim in the hope that the figures will turn up? Will having tracking via US customs to Greece be enough proof that I have for paypal to keep me from refunding the payment?
I would appreciate your advice. I cannot pay sellers for other figures without also having to pay for the claim. Thus, your advice would lead me to hold out or just accept the loss.
Thanks,
MikeNick

 

[noli-poli]

Did you get insurance at USPS? If you did, call USPS. They will process the claims with Greece postal service. A portion will be paid by USPS and the other part Greece. When advertising your product for overseas sales always emphasize on the shipping condition that product will be insured and buyer has the responsibility of filing claim at their postal service and you will coordinate tracking with USPS. Here is a sample the usual copy I use:

U.S. Delivery
It is the responsibility of the buyer to claim insurance of damaged items from the carrier.

Please notify seller of the damage and I will forward to you carrier, shipping and insurance information.

International Delivery
It is the responsibility of the buyer to claim insurance of damaged or lost items from the carrier.

Please notify seller of the damage or lost package and seller will initiate the call in the U.S. The U.S. Post Office will process the claim and will interface with the Post Office of the receiving country. The receiving Country Post Office will issue the insurance monies

 

[jazzeum]

You should fight it on the hope that it may show up while the claim is pending. In my experience everything eventually shows up. Ultimately, if it doesn't and you refund the purchase price, please ask the buyer to notify you on receipt so you can arrange for return or payment. Hopefully, he is honest enough to do so.

 

[ucla1967]

Hi Mike,

I would also fight the claim in the hopes that it ultimately shows up in Greece. Up to now, I have been fortunate in my international shipping (e.g., Canada, Denmark, Singapore, South Africa, etc.) endeavors with everything arriving as scheduled. I always ship by the less expensive Priority Mail International or 1st Class International Mail without insurance, but they don't offer tracking like the more expensive services do. There is a new collector in Greece (where I have not shipped to previously) that I have a pending shipment for. If you don't mind, could you please send the name of your Greek customer to matara42@roadrunner.com. If he is the same person, I will insist that we use Global Express with tracking and insurance. Thanks.

Mike

 

[Sote]

Hi Mike,

I'm a fellow collector from Greece.
In case you have available a shipping registration number, e.g. CV123456789US, you can try to track and trace the delivery status from following link:

http://www.elta.gr/en-us/personal/tracktrace.aspx

USPS shipments are delivered locally by Greek Post (www.elta.gr).

If no registered shipment applied, it might take some times 4-6 weeks for the delivery.

If you would be ok for you to provide me the shipping registration number I could try to check the status for you.
I have also some connections in local customs in Athens airport from where I would certainly verify if package entered Greece or not.

Note also that in case declared custom value was much higher than $100 its very possible that parcel is checked in local customs. In this case 5-6 weeks is normal and buyer will be notified in written that there is a parcel in customs.

Let me know if you need some further support.

BR,
Sotiris Theodorakis

 

[Charlie Brown]

If the shipment was sent by a "tracked service". Then it should be possible to view the status on the USPS website. I've often tracked incoming packages by this method into the UK.

Unfortunately if you didn't ship by this method. Then you are onto a loser as Paypal will default you. Unfortunately there are many dishonest collectors around. Even here in the UK I never ship untracked.