Didn't receive my package from an EBay seller, but he sent it. Item left on porch. How to proceed?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Need some advice, these are the options I’m considering:

I ordered a set of speakers from a seller with a good rating on Ebay. It appears he sent it, I have no reason to doubt that he did. He has a good rating and the package was only worth 70 dollars. The package was sent USPS Flat Rate package and has a tracking number revealing that the package was left on the front porch. It’s a good neighborhood and many a package has been left there without any issues.

Here are the options I’m considering:

  1. Do nothing. Eat the loss. It’s only 70 dollars and it’s not the sellers fault.
  2. Split the loss with the seller.
  3. ?

Any advice?

2

  1. Walk up the block and check the neighbors’ porches. I once had a $1500 package left in my neighbor’s lawn.

  2. Go to the post office and tell them and fill out a form for an unarrived package. It is possible that the carrier made a mistake, and left the package in the truck, and/or it got lost in the mail facility. This has also happened to me; they found the small package somewhere at the post office and delivered it the next day.

After that, eat the cost. The seller did everything appropriately; they shouldn’t be on the hook for either a USPS error or theft once it was delivered to you.

3

Ultimately if you want to get picky, it is up to the seller to ensure the item gets to you. I believe it is up to the shipper to file a missing package claim, they are the customer of the USPS, not you. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to inquire at the post office first, but in the meantime you might inform the seller that the package didn’t arrive just to let them know. They might do nothing or might be very proactive.

4

You should report the theft to police. There is a major crackdown on ‘front porch theft’ in my area.

That said, file a claim with Ebay within 30 days & they will reimburse you the cost under their "Money Back Guarantee’ policy.

http://pages.ebay.com/ebay-money-back-guarantee/questions.html

5

First of all, when did the USPS tracking say it was delivered? If it was today, I’d wait, at least, until the end of the day, maybe even tomorrow. USPS tracking isn’t tracking like UPS tracking is, it just sort of updates here and there. I’ve had things say they were at the shippers location for days, then suddenly say there were ‘delivered’ when they were actually out for delivery and nothing in between.

Second, USPS flat rate offers some insurance ($50?). You should probably at least attempt to claim that, even if it means hitting the seller for them not actually getting to you.

IMO, you ordered something, you didn’t get it, that’s not your fault and unfortunately, the seller has to deal with it. Besides, if USPS is anything like UPS, only the sender can initiate an insurance claim.