Tracking says delivered, am I liable?

adam34996 · #1 06-14-2011

Recently sold an item for about $600. The tracking on Amazon shows it was delivered on the 30th (through Amazon shipping).

Normally, I would refund the buyer but this item is too expensive. I want to know, if this guy files a A-Z claim, am I liable if I fight it sense is shows it delivered?

The sellers email is as follows...

Hello,

My customer has not received the camera ordered on this order. The tracking (USPS 9101900007540534697132) shows delivered on 5/31/11, but the customer does not have a record of this delivery. They have looked everywhere at their location, and cannot find the package. They still need the product. Please advise.

The next email is as follows...

Hello,

The address you have is correct, but my customer is still saying they do not have a record of the delivery, and they have searched high and low for the camera. They now want to just cancel the order since they no longer want the camera. Can you issue a credit for this order due to non-receipt?

Thanks.

bchrist430 · #2 06-14-2011

High value item did you put signature required?

adam34996 · #3 06-14-2011

I sell 30 + items a week at this price, never any problems.

I got more problems from people being angry when I require a signature because they are never home to sign for it.

So no, I didnt.

Gamefreak · #4 06-14-2011

Unfortunately amazon expects you to treat its customers as they would. So yes you are liable for the "lost" package.

stillselling · #5 06-14-2011

You're pretty screwed. And why are you dropshipping for another seller? Are you even shipping to the address on the amazon order page?

adam34996 · #6 06-14-2011

I don't drop ship for my customers. He ordered it and sent it to someone else.

So I should refund him before he files a claim? I have no chance of winning it?

stillselling · #7 06-14-2011

Contact the post office first. Ask for a consumer advocate and explain to him/her what happened. I smell potential mail fraud.

GreenBean · #8 06-14-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by adam34996

I don't drop ship for my customers. He ordered it and sent it to someone else.

So I should refund him before he files a claim? I have no chance of winning it?

Fair enough you do not dropship.

Find it strange you would send an item worth that much to another address.

Do as stilltopseller says. contact the Post Office and take action.
No item, a refund and who is out of pocket? certainly not the buyer

Not unreasonable to advise amazon of what you are doing,ie, tracking what happened to the item.

Will that do any good? Can only hope it might .

adam34996 · #9 06-14-2011

Everyone keeps speaking about drop shipping but that was not the case.

Let me be more clear...

I shipped it to the address that he had set up on Amazon. It was in the system as his default address, so it was not shipped to an alternate address.

I called USPS, they would "look into it" and respond within 48 hours.

Sold over 600 items this year, never a problem like this. :/

koharski · #10 06-14-2011

Could you file a claim with the shipping company on the customers behalf? The tracking shows you did your job as shipper, and if the address is correct then I am not sure what else they could expect of you.

GreenBean · #11 06-14-2011

Read your thread again.
The very nature of advice to help means the facts need to be given ( & understood).

One user made the comment on dropshipping.

There's another variation: are you saying you shipped the item to the address on file but the buyer shipped it elsewhere.

jeffweico · #12 06-14-2011

OK.... I have run across this before.

The OP is NOT dropshipping, but the BUYER is. They advertised this product elsewhere, for more money, and used the OP to fill their order.

They buy products from various online sources, espercially eBay, Amazon and Half.com. Some of them are a pleasure to deal with, and can provide you a steady stream of buisiness, and others are nothing but problems.

My way of dealing with this is simple. Any time a customer wants me to ship to a 3rd party address, I ship the package insured. If they want to claim non-receipt, OK by me, but they need to file a claim first. This insures me against loss, and also acts as a deterrent to scammers. Once they file the claim, if it is found they actually DID receive the item, then it is no longer a simple case of a scamming buyer, it is insurance fraud.

I also use endicia to insure all textbooks. When it comes to college students, you wouldn't believe how many of them "never received" their book. When told they neeed to fill out and sign the claim form, suddenly the book miraculously appears.

GreenBean · #13 06-14-2011

@jeff

Much appreciated reply.

oompaloompa · #14 06-15-2011

from what I read, the OP is insisting it did NOT go to third party address, it went to amazon address, the buyer is also stating in an email that the address is correct. I am not big with amazon, but surely this means that the OP is ok, he just lets amazon know the tracking number right?

and as for filing a claim against shipping company suggestion, why? they did their job, so claim cannot be successful.

I think what you need is the name of who signed. Either this is a scammer, or someone else signed at premises and kept item.

Also how was this paid for? if it was paypal and the address on paypal is different, the buyer may be successful in a non receipt claim as tracking needs to go to paypal registered address.

I am sick of these buyers....

adam34996 · #15 06-15-2011

I shipped to the address on file with Amazon. I am not sure what my customer is doing with it, but it looks like somehow he got his customers address on file.

Thanks for the info Jeff. I hate to wait for the claim to come and take the hit, but its seems like the best thing to do if USPS comes up empty, which im sure they will.

stillselling · #16 06-15-2011

Looks like you missed the dropshipping bit that was obvious to us, the over 40 set. The trigger words I saw was "my customer" that your customer kept referring to.

You can't just walk into a post office and expect them to do anything for you. Ask for the phone number to the consumer advocate and when you speak to her, ask her what would happen if you have your case forwarded to the postal inspector.

Inform your customer to inform his customer that you're initiated a postal fraud investigation and get ready to refund your customer.

Do the math about the insurance, sometimes it's cheaper just to eat the loss given the volume you're shipping. AND GET A SIGNATURE!! USPS has added 2 more signature options, for the extra $2-5 is well worth it.

adam34996 · #17 06-15-2011

I assumed the seller was drop shipping but that point had little to do with my concern and everyone was commenting on it.

My question was "Am I liable?"

I could care less what my customer is doing with it.

ANYWAY

Thanks guys for your inputs. I will keep you posted when I hear back from USPS. Odds are they wont have any news for me and ill end up eating it.

I am still indifferent between insurance and signature confirmation. 600+ orders with 1 problem...numbers still dont add up.

stillselling · #18 06-15-2011

Makes a huge difference in terms of liability. Can't answer your question if you can't determine who's shipping what to whom.

ANYWAY

It's not my $600 on the line.

Melissa1971 · #19 06-16-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by adam34996

Recently sold an item for about $600. The tracking on Amazon shows it was delivered on the 30th (through Amazon shipping).

Normally, I would refund the buyer but this item is too expensive. I want to know, if this guy files a A-Z claim, am I liable if I fight it sense is shows it delivered?

The sellers email is as follows...

Hello,

My customer has not received the camera ordered on this order. The tracking (USPS 9101900007540534697132) shows delivered on 5/31/11, but the customer does not have a record of this delivery. They have looked everywhere at their location, and cannot find the package. They still need the product. Please advise.

The next email is as follows...

Hello,

The address you have is correct, but my customer is still saying they do not have a record of the delivery, and they have searched high and low for the camera. They now want to just cancel the order since they no longer want the camera. Can you issue a credit for this order due to non-receipt?

Thanks.

I would file a claim with the Post Office to find out where the item is, it is actually really easy.

Then give the customer the case number the P.O gives you also, make sure to say you will be contacting his mail carrier. And reiterate the P.O has a fraud unit to combat mail fraud so you should be expecting some info within a few weeks. check the tracking on the USPS site, once for me stamps.com said something different. They are horrible at tracking, only get it right about 60% of the time

Yes, you can refund an item anytime you want for any reason.

For the record, Amazon sellers do not have choices upon where to send the item, Amazon lists the address it is sent to, Sellers cannot refuse.
I am sorry this happened to you

Melissa1971 · #20 06-16-2011

Oh also verify the address you sent it to is a verified address. google the address, do some investigating

THis happened to me. Instead of explaining I will just update my old thread I started about it so you can read it.
You have some googling to do for $600 BEFORE you refund. It's worth it, stay put ok...keep him calm so you can investigate this. You want to deter him