TL;DR:
Package marked delivered on April 7th, but never arrived. USPS verbally confirmed it was misdelivered to the wrong address due to a substitute carrier. Post office said they’d try to retrieve it but never followed up, and it’s now been a week with no package. Seller shipped correctly and isn’t at fault. I have an email from USPS customer service confirming it was not delivered to my address.
What’s the best next step—contact the seller first or file an “item not received” claim on eBay? And is USPS email confirmation enough for a refund?
I ordered a package and it was supposedly delivered (per my informed delivery emails from USPS and tracking the package, it was MARKED as delivered that morning) on April 7, 2026. I was super excited so I texted my roommate to grab it from outside. My roommate replied right away and said there was nothing outside. I initially thought but maybe it was just checked off as delivered early and that it would arrive later that night. When it didn’t, I worried that it was stolen, although that has never happened to me in my neighborhood.
It was a bigger purchase than I usually make, and I was upset about it, constantly thinking about it. So after a few days of trying to be patient and thinking, maybe it was just delayed in someway, I decided it’s obviously something went wrong. I went to the post office and confirmed that it was in fact misdelivered. Conveniently, my regular mail carrier was out on this day and a brand new person was filling in for them and delivered it to the wrong address. The woman at the post office even said “is this the address that it was supposed to be delivered to?”, while pointing at my address. I said it was and she replied, “ that is NOT where it was delivered to”.
Suspicions confirmed, I just wanted the next course of action. She told me that she would was in touch with her supervisor, (which she apparently was while I was there too), and that they would contact me the following day. She also said they’d get a hold of my regular carrier and have them go to the place. It was delivered to try to retrieve it. Well, that was on Friday, the 10th and to make a long story short, they all completely dropped the ball. Never received a phone call from anyone, never got the package, nothing.
Fortunately, when I was at the post office, I asked if I had a case number if there was anything to kind of refer back to you in case I need to reach out, and I was given a phone number for a woman who is apparently the secretary of the supervisor. I called her yesterday and left a message with my information and received a call back from another person with a different name. She basically acted like she had no idea what was going on and asked me although in my message yesterday I said I haven’t received it and I’m trying to figure out what’s going on. She asked me if I had received it since leaving that message I told her no I haven’t. She said she would be looking into it and would update me with new info. She also said she’d contact the mail carrier for my neighborhood (which I was told would have been DONE last week?) to see if he could retrieve the package. At this point, it’s been a full week and given that I ordered a popular perfume while living in a college neighborhood, I’m very doubtful that I’m gonna get my package. So I’m just wondering what my next steps are and how I can do this the RIGHT way without eBay denying it.
The seller shipped my product on time, early even, to the correct address. It’s absolutely not their fault and I hate that they could be penalized for following through on what was expected.
USPS is 1000% at fault and the only thing I have in written proof at the moment is an email saying that they’re gonna try to retrieve it and if they can’t, she said:
“You may accept this email as proof that we tracked the package and can confirm that the package with the tracking number (tracking number) was not delivered to your correct delivery address of (my address)”
So I guess my questions are: should I first contact the seller to see if they are able to send a replacement (although that’s not something I’d expect when it’s no fault of their own and they did their end of the transaction), or contact them in general just to let them know what’s going on? It’s a reputable seller who has an actual website and happens to sell on eBay as well. Or would it be better to just market is not received and follow that process? Also is a email like the one I’ve provided above enough for eBay to refund me or will I need something a little bit more official? At the end of the day, if I’m not getting what I ordered, I want my money back. I don’t really know how to do that without the seller being penalized in someway which makes me feel bad, as it’s absolutely not their fault.