My Alice An Interactive Museum auction starts now!

[piesel]

I'm an Italian PC games collector and i'm really sorry for what happened to Kitsune, he is a great seller (i bought a sealed King Quest 7 from him) and he doesn't deserve troubles like that. Unfortunately Italian postal system can really be hit or miss, in the years i got over 650 packages (almost all of them from UK and US) sent to me and only 3 or 4 went missing, the main problem is the system organization as packages get rebounded from an office to another before going to the correct destination. Another issue is that at times postal workers steal items, i remember at least 2 or 3 national investigations that ended with people sent in jail for theft.
I keep contacts with a few French and English collectors and they also get problems with their postal services but unfortunately here problems happens more frequently.
Again, i'm really sorry for what happened.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Well, I think I can contact the USPS claims department tomorrow or thursday. The buyer just sent me an email asking what was up, which is funny considering I was going to email him today.

I was thinking of asking eBay if he should open an item not received claim or not, since I'm actually going to refund the money back willingly...

Edit: Wait, I had my dates wrong, I can call them RIGHT NOW and that's what I'm doing.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Well never mind that!

They want me to wait the full sixty days since Italy isn't doing shit.

Does anyone have $600 I can borrow?

[Jorpho]

I declared the full value on the customs form. $549.99.

...Is that really the proper thing to do?

I mean, the game is worth $550 to one person. To the majority of the population who have never heard of this game and have no interest in it, it is not even worth what its retail price was back in the day.

[Ryaan1234]

...Is that really the proper thing to do?

I mean, the game is worth $550 to one person. To the majority of the population who have never heard of this game and have no interest in it, it is not even worth what its retail price was back in the day.

Yeah I was wondering why Kitsune did that. I mean it's the honest thing to do but it's also probably the reason the game disappeared in the mail...

[Kitsune Sniper]

...Is that really the proper thing to do?

I mean, the game is worth $550 to one person. To the majority of the population who have never heard of this game and have no interest in it, it is not even worth what its retail price was back in the day.

Well, what else could I do? I mean, I couldn't get full insurance coverage if I lied in the customs form. If I wrote that it was only worth $10, I'd only get $10. And then I would TRULY have no way to pay the buyer back.

I'm pursuing some options to get a cash loan that would be repaid in June / July. I don't really have another choice right now. I still have a week.

[Ryaan1234]

Well, what else could I do? I mean, I couldn't get full insurance coverage if I lied in the customs form. If I wrote that it was only worth $10, I'd only get $10. And then I would TRULY have no way to pay the buyer back.

I'm pursuing some options to get a cash loan that would be repaid in June / July. I don't really have another choice right now. I still have a week.

Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. Put $600 on your customs form and get insurance, guaranteeing the game will disappear, or lie about the value and take a chance that it will actually get there.

Sounds like you shouldn't have ever shipped to Italy in the first place.

[Jorpho]

...I had posted something here, but this thread has gotten slightly too convoluted to follow, so never mind.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I'm still not quite clear on this. Either the records show that it vanished into the ether, and you get the insurance money, or the records show that it was delivered, and there's nothing the buyer can do - except maybe neg you, and that's worth a few hundred dollars, I would think.

As I said before, I really don't give a shit about the neg anymore. All I care about is not losing access to my only source of income.

[Dark_Sol]

Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. Put $600 on your customs form and get insurance, guaranteeing the game will disappear, or lie about the value and take a chance that it will actually get there.

Sounds like you shouldn't have ever shipped to Italy in the first place.

This. It was too tempting though. 600$!

[Kitsune Sniper]

Okay, so I borrowed the money, put it in my PayPal account, and asked the buyer to open an item not received dispute. The money's been frozen, but my account is safe (I still have to repay the money to the person that loaned it to me.)

... so now what? I've never had to deal with a dispute. I see that either the buyer or myself can escalate this to a claim within 20 days... but I have no idea what to do now.

I mean... let's say that PayPal finds in the guy's favor (as they should, all evidence points to a lost package) but then the item is delivered. What could I do in that case? Can I ask PayPal to give me back the money or something?

[wingzrow]

In my experience one a case is opened the amount of the item is taken from your account. If you win, it's put back there, if not it auto refunds to the customer.

[Cornelius]

You'll have to look in Paypal's TOS, but I believe once a claim is settled it is done and over as far as Paypal is concerned. So even if the package shows up and gets delivered paypal does not care.

That's why I think you should protract the resolution as much as you can. Cooperate and all, but don't be early for any deadlines. Give yourself the longest period possible for a miracle to happen and your package to show up.

I'm not really sure why you had the buyer file a dispute, though. It doesn't change your situation at all, since you could refund his money at any time even if there is no dispute or claim. Certainly it is better for him since he doesn't know if you are honest, but you gain nothing by it, and you already know you are honest.

[Kitsune Sniper]

You'll have to look in Paypal's TOS, but I believe once a claim is settled it is done and over as far as Paypal is concerned. So even if the package shows up and gets delivered paypal does not care.

That's why I think you should protract the resolution as much as you can. Cooperate and all, but don't be early for any deadlines. Give yourself the longest period possible for a miracle to happen and your package to show up.

I'm not really sure why you had the buyer file a dispute, though. It doesn't change your situation at all, since you could refund his money at any time even if there is no dispute or claim. Certainly it is better for him since he doesn't know if you are honest, but you gain nothing by it, and you already know you are honest.

... or am I? ** twirls mustache **

Yep, I'm totally ignoring him for the next twenty days. Unless he escalates the thing himself. >_>

I told him to file the claim because... well I have no idea why. Because I'm dumb I guess.

[Dark_Sol]

Do not ask dude to open a dispute! This is super dumb.
If you want to refund him and loose money then just do it through original transaction.
But it's like pissing over yourself with mouth wide open really...
Why not wait for postal investigation decision?

[Kitsune Sniper]

Why not wait for postal investigation decision?

He was going to open the claim soon anyway. He said the last day to open a dispute was coming up soon.

[Griking]

Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. Put $600 on your customs form and get insurance, guaranteeing the game will disappear, or lie about the value and take a chance that it will actually get there.

Sounds like you shouldn't have ever shipped to Italy in the first place.

Its not just Italy. This could have happened for any international package where there's another post office involved and no true way to track the package.

[Griking]

...Is that really the proper thing to do?

I mean, the game is worth $550 to one person. To the majority of the population who have never heard of this game and have no interest in it, it is not even worth what its retail price was back in the day.

It's what I would do. If a person agreed to pay $549 for an item then the product listed on that customs form is worth $549. Besides, what other figure would you use?

[Eduardo]

not many people are willing to ship such a high value item outside of the country.

A lot of people don't like shipping outside the country. Heck they won't even ship to Puerto Rico or "US Protectorates" as eBay says, and we got USPS down here.

[Eduardo]

Edit: HA. Guess what? That guy I blocked SOLD something to this guy a few weeks ago.

I would explore this angle. There could be a bigger conspiracy afoot here.

Hold on. I dont think paypal is permitted to take out funds unless you agree to it, right?

PayPal can do pretty much anything they want. They can freeze your money, take money from your Bank account or credit card, refund money to a buyer. Pretty much anything.