Did I get scammed?

Steve

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A few months ago I posted in the classified section to trade detectors. A member responded that had been on here since 2011 but only a few post.
I'm located international. He mailed his detector... once it was in the air and landed in my country I mailed my detector.
5 days later my detector was at his door... his detector still at customs.
After so inquiries I found out the member didn't write a phone number on the box and didn't keep a copy of the shipping paperwork.
The package was returned to sender. 3 months later I don't have any detector or compensation. He has my atx.
Any opinions on this? Should the other guy be sending me $ since it was his fault. Or did I simply fall victim to a clever scam?
 
Is he responding to you? Does he have his back as well as yours? If he is responding what is he saying? Maybe talk to the kids on here and see if they can contact him. Unfortunately though being a trade I don’t really think you have any form of recourse. Sorry to hear about your deal gone wrong that’s unfortunate. One way or another you should be compensated if the person is a stand up person for sure.
 
He might respond once a week or so. Just seems weird that he doesn't write his or my phone number on the box or shipping paperwork. The trade occurred in August
 
Any transaction like that must have delivery confirmation and PROOF that something got mailed,and PROOF that it’s actually what you want! I could say I’m sending you a solid gold car and just send a package containing a pencil. It’s a “package”,right? If you’re tracking it you think it’s all good but til you open it,you just never know. I hope it all works out,but there are scambags everywhere,so be careful next time if you got fried this time...
 
Any transaction like that must have delivery confirmation and PROOF that something got mailed,and PROOF that it’s actually what you want! I could say I’m sending you a solid gold car and just send a package containing a pencil. It’s a “package”,right? If you’re tracking it you think it’s all good but til you open it,you just never know. I hope it all works out,but there are scambags everywhere,so be careful next time if you got fried this time...
Normally I would have waited for the box to arrive but I was leaving for a 2 week trip. The guy had a small receipt that looked close to the shipping cost with a working tracking number.
Unfortunately an atx isn't a small burn
 
If your a member of Ebay, though this was not Ebay related they likely could guide you on some of the help forums, hope he responds...maybe split the shipping fee to motivate the other person to send.

If he is reasonable he will work with you.

It is not unusual to not be asked a phone number with tracking sometimes.
If he is clearly a crook then play hardball by mail fraud actions etc.
Sounds like maybe he was short on postage fee, not clear where a phone number relates to this case re customs?

Probably try not to accuse him of fraud until all information is known but sounds like not enough postage to get it to you or simply destination address is not clear?
 
Yeah I know it’s not just a trivial thing...I really hope it’s an honest gaff and it gets sorted out. Can I ask what’s supposed to be coming to you? Just curious...I understand if you want to keep it under wraps til you know more.
 
Do you know why the package was returned? They shouldn't just return for not having a phone number if it's addressed properly and deliverable. How is customs sending it back his fault, unless it was missing pertinent info for delivery? He should definitely work with you though to complete the transaction, as much as is possible anyways.
 
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Do you know why the package was returned? They shouldn't just return for not having a phone number if it's addressed properly and deliverable.


Sounds like the other guy miss calculated postage honest error who would know.
 
I hope it was just a misunderstanding somehow , but we have had a few bad deals happen on here. Hopefully the guy will get in touch and make it right. If not , see if the moderators will allow you to add this members name to the "wall of shame ". This could prevent it from happening to someone else.
Good luck.
 
Nothing wrong with postage amount. I assume customs wanted to open the box but had no way to contact me. So they sent it back. Snail mail.

I offered to pay for shipping if he wants to send it again.
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=249841

Customs doesn't ask permisssion to open boxes.

The package should've had an international declaration attached, which really means nothing anyways because they can search ANY package they want. If batteries were included, then they could have returned it for that possibly...but most likely, either something inside like the batteries that are banned for mailing or something else was wrong with it. The sender really is the only one that can tell you what the reason was, as it should be marked on the return package. It could be in the destination countrys language though, depending on how far it went before returned.
 
Oh man it’s not looking good since he hasn’t been on the forum in almost 3 months. Plus the length of time that has gone by and it’s not resolved yet is ridiculous. At least you still are getting some form of communication from him. I sure hope he steps up and makes this right for you.
 
Customs held it for a month and then sent it back. Any idea how long it would take to return to sender from Asia to NJ? Battery was nimh so not sure if that's why they stopped it.
Customs doesn't ask permisssion to open boxes.

The package should've had an international declaration attached, which really means nothing anyways because they can search ANY package they want. If batteries were included, then they could have returned it for that possibly...but most likely, either something inside like the batteries that are banned for mailing or something else was wrong with it. The sender really is the only one that can tell you what the reason was, as it should be marked on the return package. It could be in the destination countrys language though, depending on how far it went before returned.
 
Customs held it for a month and then sent it back. Any idea how long it would take to return to sender from Asia to NJ? Battery was nimh so not sure if that's why they stopped it.

Customs many times is backlogged for sometimes a few weeks especially during heavy package holidays. If the package got flagged for inspection, then it will take even longer. It really depends on several things, like which port received it and what all is going on there. Once cleared or rejected, it should move pretty fast either forward or backward. Obviously backward would take longer, since it then gets treated as "basic bulk rate packaging" since the intended postage only truly covers the speed shipped to the destination...and not for being returned.

More postage won't be needed for return, but it comes back the slowest way possible to keep room open for other packages heading the return way initially. I hope that makes sense. The sender should already have it by now. 3 months is way too long even if customs held it up for 6 weeks.

Honestly, the tracking works the same as the postage as well. It sometimes shows hit or miss for things being returned, because it also is only considered paid for one way.
 
I ship packages from Michigan to many places all over the world (maybe a couple hundred a year). I can say I've had a couple registared packages sent to asia using the post office and it took over 6 months to come back to me. For some reason the guy didn't pick it up in time so the post office sent it back. I've heard USPS won't send one package back, they wait until they get several packages or a container full then send the whole container at one time. It can get aggravating.

If he is a stand up guy, he should send you copies of paper work and tracking numbers and communicate regularly.

For the last few months, tracking hasn't worked very good. Sometimes it works and other times not. The post office is working out the problem.
 
Customs many times is backlogged for sometimes a few weeks especially during heavy package holidays. If the package got flagged for inspection, then it will take even longer. It really depends on several things, like which port received it and what all is going on there. Once cleared or rejected, it should move pretty fast either forward or backward. Obviously backward would take longer, since it then gets treated as "basic bulk rate packaging" since the intended postage only truly covers the speed shipped to the destination...and not for being returned.

More postage won't be needed for return, but it comes back the slowest way possible to keep room open for other packages heading the return way initially. I hope that makes sense. The sender should already have it by now. 3 months is way too long even if customs held it up for 6 weeks.

Honestly, the tracking works the same as the postage as well. It sometimes shows hit or miss for things being returned, because it also is only considered paid for one way.

I figured it would have been returned already.. unless of course he messed up his own address and didn't out his phone number on it either
At this point can pretty much kiss the atx goodbye. Cargo ship would take 6 weeks or so. It may still show up
 
If it does get truly lost and if the sender paid to put insurance on it (priority mail auto includes $100 worth), the he would still need to be the one to file a claim.

Honestly, this situation sux all the way around. I understand that the trader has longevity here, but only 3 true posts? I really thought there was a minimum post count needed to even see the classifieds.
 
2011.. figured he was a lurker. When I was making the excal shafts a couple years ago I was getting 10 messages a day from similar people. I'm pretty sure the guy did mail something as he had a tracking number. It would be a huge gamble to try and scam on his part. I suspect the trade just went south and he feels he tried/Did his part
If it does get truly lost and if the sender paid to put insurance on it (priority mail auto includes $100 worth), the he would still need to be the one to file a claim.

Honestly, this situation sux all the way around. I understand that the trader has longevity here, but only 3 true posts? I really thought there was a minimum post count needed to even see the classifieds.
 
I had one parcel with about 100 in coins lost in mail no idea what happened came back unopened after a whole year. Have ordered parts overseas came after 6 months.. who knows ?

If the other party responds you could eventually receive it.
 
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