[DrunkSmurf]

If I buy something from a seller who specifies: "not responsible if buyer doesn't purchase insurance" and the product never arrives, would I have to grin and bear it and give the vendor a green?

This hasn't happened to me (in which I wasn't refunded). But, I'm waiting on a Black Smurf. I'm sure he'll arrive (it's only been a week and a half) and the seller has 99.4% rating.

But, I'm starting to get my "funny feeling" and want Smurf legal advice--before I need to use it.

My other comment: what would keep a seller from abusing this? If his product undersells, but the buyer didn't pay for insurance, don't ship, then blame the buyer. Is this where the rating system serves as a check-and-balance? My main beef lies in that shipping and handling is normally inflated already. Paying a surcharge on top of that surcharge for insurance (at seller profit) seems a scam. Granted, I guess a wise man will always insist at least on tracking. Tracking seems to be both in the buyer and seller's interests...

[Rachel]

Hi Tim, I would say that if it states in the description about no insurance then it would be at the buyers risk BUT having said that, as a seller, I can only ever remember 1 item going missing and I sent another one without question. I don't normally bother with insuarnce for a cheap smurf to be honest because as you say, the costs can get quite silly, especially if the smurf is only worth a dollar or two.

I wouldn't worry just yet, I am sure the little guy will turn up.

[Guest]

It's the difference between buying from a business and an individual I guess. If someone orders something low value from me I don't make them pay for insurance, I don't insure it, and if it goes missing I replace it. If someones buys something higher value and they choose not to insure it then normally I swallow the cost and insure it myself. If someone orders something low value but it is irreplaceable then I often insure under those circumstances just to ensure a safer journey. But buying from someone just selling their old stuff on ebay is a different ball game, if you don't pay for the insurance then you can't expect them to refund you, if they were up front about this arrangement from the beginning. That's the way I see it.

[Tamtam]

I have been having problems with packages from the US. I have two that have been shipped but one has been over a month (the seller said she will give my money back) and the other is a lot of 50 that has been about two weeks. Both are uninsured but on a go forward, I will be paying the extra $2.00, or whatever it is, to have a tracking number incase the package is delayed.

Tam

[DrunkSmurf]

Yeah, next time I'm either going to insure it or read the fine print better. If the seller demands insurance (at an expensive rate), then I may avoid bidding... Too easy for the seller simply not to mail it and blame you.

[attombomb7]

hi!

I must have bought several hundreds of items or more from EBAY

and so far I have only lost items from the USA.. usually small items

under 10usa// but still annoying as we all know its the item we want not

necessarily the money..!

I wonder if there are more postal thieves in the USA mail depts??

all items I bought that were more expensive have always arrived..


I have never insured a thing/// .. as I prefer to make the items valued

as low as possible as for example on a 3 usa dollar item I have paid

$9 in canadian duty and taxes.. the duty for them stopping to check a

item for any reason is usually $7.. which sucks! plus the taxes.

sometimes adding up to $28 dollars depending on the items..


I prefer paypal and now if the item doesn;t arrive with 30 days I get

a rebate...and cancel the sale....which is much easier..

[DrunkSmurf]

Thanks, Attom!

This tariff business is nuts. I never appreciated how tariffs can dampen commerce until I experienced it first hand. If anybody tells us smurfs are frivolous, we should rattle off the lessons in applied economic theory that we learn.

As for packages getting lost in the states, I wonder. I doubt many postal workers are ripping off smurfs. Granted, maybe disgruntled employees mishandle the small parcels.

A paranoid person could go nuts...

Maybe Syd's agents are intercepting them and hauling them off to slavery. That would explain why only the small shipments disappear. Easier pickings. I've been watching his army grow for a year. I think we need a smurf United Nations.

[attombomb7]

hi!

I think you're right about Syd!!

and those agents! be careful!

you're probably right about it not being the postal workers or disgrunlted

courier workers! LOL!!

anything that delays a smurf addicts addiction! is not kool! hehe

[Syd Smurf]

Is that where Syd gets those smurfs from

I never hardly ever use insurance either just like Attom and after hundreds of packages I have only lost about 4-5 and they have all been this year. They were all small purchases like 1 smurf so they weren't worth crying over but they were still annoying as you paid for them and still wanted them for one reason or another. I know if I ever sense a problem with a seller then I would insist on insurance but most sellers are honest and things do go missing too. I sold a smurf earlier this year to someone in Australia and it never turned up. I was fortunate enough to have a spare that I could send off to make the deal good again but I have no idea why that was the case. Some of the ones that have gone missing were from good sellers who it wouldn't be worth keeping themoney from a common smurf witht he risk of neg feedback or a bad reputation. Technically no parcels should go missing but sometimes they do and although there is a risk without insurance I really believe it's not worth paying insurance on every package you buy. If you have bought or even sold something valuable then yes it would be worth it just to cover yourself....otherwise you would actually be throwing away more money paying for insurance that wasn't necessary. This is just my opinion though and of course the risk is always there so it's best to weigh it up for yourselves and from what you know of the seller.

Dyar

[Bunno Smurf]

I think also this time of year the postal service starts getting a bit busier and that adds to the missing packages problem. A seller told me she posted my stuff on the 9th of Oct from Qld. It arrived today..it was actually postmarked 10th Oct but that is still around 20 days!

The Aust Post website says any package within Australia should arirve within 4-6 working days. I also had a package (also from Qld) posted on the 14th Oct that arrived on the 27th and I thought that one was late. I'm beginning to think Queensland is on a different planet, not in the same country. I got a package from the UK bought a week after those two arrive before those two....thats how nuts it is!

So hopefully your package is still on the way, Tim. I am also still waiting on that big package I bought from the Netherlands...thats been 4 weeks now but was sent economy air.....hoping it rocks up soon.

[DrunkSmurf]

Thanks everyone for the advice and encouragement!

Probably what aggravated my sense of time:
Remarkably, a parcel I ordered from the Netherlands arrived in five days, as did another from Nova Scotia. But that's luck of the draw.

There's probably a border dog in Wisconsin right now sniffing my smurf envelope for marijuana or illegal immigrants.

[DrunkSmurf]

Heh. Oops. My Black Smurf arrived a couple of days ago. You were right, Rachel.

"Smurf Panic" -- when ten minutes have passed since you finished the PayPal transaction, but the smurf hasn't arrived. No matter that it's Sunday.

[Syd Smurf]

Hi Tim

I know how you felt. I used to panic a lot about packages last year and one big package sent via airmail did get lost for about 3 months until it arrived one Saturday morning last November after I had written it off.....you should of seen how excited I was. It had my very first raws in it and about 150 or so smurfs all up....at least. So it was going to be quite costly if it didn't arrive.

This year I have lost a few packages but I am so laid back these days that they arrive and I forget that I was expecting them

[Rachel]

Great news Tim, I am glad to hear the little chap turned up. I always hate the thought of a poor little smurf being stuck somewhere all dark and alone lost in the system.