Well, the week after having received a refund from PayPal on my complaint of nondelivery of several Zeus items from Klaus Jeworowski, aka Charlys-Auktonien, and 6 weeks and a day after the auction ended, the items actually showed up. Everything is as advertised, just about a month too late. I can't find any legible marking on the parcel to confirm or refute his claim to have shipped it Dec 29 (a full week after I paid for it by the way). So if anyone is considering buying from him, it is only fair to point out that he did ship the items in this case.
However, if you don't pay for FedEx or something similar and a German seller ships Deutsche Post as Klaus did, expect to wait 5 or 6 weeks for delivery to US. This puts you beyond the deadline to file a PayPal complaint. And in Klaus' case, if you don't insure the parcel at a large additional charge, expect him to disavow all responsibility, although evidently that didn't wash with PayPal, which extracted a partial (almost complete) refund from him. You can ship insured FedEx, but the shippping can wind up being half the price of the goods or even more.
Now that I have, against all odds, actually received the goods, I will of course refund the refund Paypal extracted from Klaus, as soon as it has been credited to my MasterCard account. I think I will leave Neutral feedback stating that the goods were as represented, but received 6 weeks after payment. He probably doesn't deserve Negative, but given his week delay in shipping and his "not my problem" attitude, he doesn't deserve Positive either. Hopefully PayPal and I got his attention in regard to his responsibility for shipments insured or not.
Hope this experience helps those considering purchases on German eBay weigh the benefits against the risks.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Houston, TX
> I waited 29 days to see if the mail was just slow, then filed the
complaint
> just before the deadline. A week later the parts still hadn't arrrived,
but
> I was informed that my money had been refunded, or at least most of it..
30
> days plus one week is a bit over 5 weeks.
>
> Considering the very long shipping from Europe, PayPal should allow more
> time to file a complaint. If one gives the seller the benefit of the
doubt
> and waits 5 or 6 weeks before filing a complaint, then it will be too late
> to file with PayPal. I don't expect either of my purchases will ever
> arrive, but there may be cases where one files a complaint at the
deadline,
> then the goods eventually arrive. In the unlikely event that occurs for
me
> I will of course refund the refund.
>
> This deadline puts buyers in a predicament. When one has waited 29 days
> with no delivery, one must decide whether to trust the seller or file a
> PayPal complaint. In the case of these two sellers, it was my first
> purchase from each of them, and one had been the source of many past
> complaints from other buyers, so filing the complaints was a no brainer.
By
> complete contrast, it has now been about 30 days waiting on an order from
> Renaissance Cycles, but I would never dream of filing a compalint. The
> difference is that, not only is BC a list member, but his reputation is
> impeccable. I've probably made a dozen purchases from him, often for $500
> or more each, and never been anything other than delighted. He also
> reassures buyers through excellent communications. He cautions US buyers
> that shipping can take 3 to 4 weeks, and if there is a long delay, he
> responds to emails.
>
> Shipping from Holland has been slow for a couple of years. Early last
year
> BC advised me that US Customs seemed to be especially scritinizing parcels
> from Holland to retaliate for what the US viewed as a lack of cooperation
by
> the Dutch authorities in suppressing the international drug trade. Later,
> that blew over and deliveries from Holland improved, but now Holland and
> Germany are again experiencing long delays, evidently related to terrorist
> concerns. Oddly, parcels from UK and Denmark still arrive promptly.
Maybe
> US Customs believes that terrorist activity is more prevalent in some
> European nations than in others, or maybe it's just that parcels from
> different countries enter the US at different points.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "WD Baseley" <wdb@pobox.com>
> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2004 6:36 AM
> Subject: Re: [CR]PayPal and German eBay Purchases
>
>
> > At 09:52 PM 1/30/2004 -0600, jerrymoos ushered forth:
> > >Well, the eBay saga continues. After the previously posted problems
with
> > >Cyclo_Network, I also failed to receive any goods 5 weeks after paying
> > >another German seller, charley's-auktionen. The seller claimed no
> > >responsibility because I had not paid for insured shipping, and stated
he
> > >had shipped on Dec29, but offered no proof. I again filed eBay and
> PayPal
> > >complaints just before the 30 day PayPal deadline. I received notice
> today
> > >that PayPal had determined the seller was at fault and had obtained a
> refund
> > >of $153 of the $160 price.
> >
> > How did you manage to file a complaint within 30 days -and- wait 5 weeks
> > for shipping? You must have a Tarsus hiding in there amongst the bike
> bits ;-)
> >
> > I have made purchases from Charlys Auktionen in the past, and never had
a
> > problem with delivery -- although shipping was always slow. With
certain
> > overseas sellers I am accustomed to waiting weeks and weeks for items to
> > arrive, and Charlys is one of them.
> >
> > I wonder how much of the recent problem has to do with greater scrutiny
of
> > packages arriving in the US from overseas. If that is a factor I also
> > wonder if packages from certain countries are scrutinized more, and/or
if
> > the manner of packaging and the completeness of identification by the
> > shipper might play a role.
> >
> > rgds,
> > Dave Baseley, back into the single digit temperatures in Berks County PA