eBay purchase held by U.S. customs

[Ima Pseudonym]

Originally Posted by darwinbulldog

I have a card that I purchased on eBay last month and which was shipped from Canada to my U.S. address on April 14. Tracking shows it as being held by U.S. customs since April 15. My question, for anyone else who has experienced this or otherwise knows the answer, what is the average amount of time and the maximum amount one can reasonably expect to wait for a card (specifically from Canada) to be released by U.S. customs to the USPS? It's worth about $500 if that matters.

I have experience with this... very, very painful experience.

My Cracker Jack Branch Rickey card, that I bought for $1500, shipped from Canada and got held up in customs... the card was never found, and I haven't been able to find a deal even half as good as I had on that card!

Canadian brick and mortar stores have a habit of putting their company name on the packaging, which is a giant neon sign for thieves. When I buy from any store now I instruct them NOT to use their company name.

I noticed that Greg Morris has also stopped using their company name on all deliveries too, probably for that reason.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by Ima Pseudonym

I have experience with this... very, very painful experience.

My Cracker Jack Branch Rickey card, that I bought for $1500, shipped from Canada and got held up in customs... the card was never found, and I haven't been able to find a deal even half as good as I had on that card!

Canadian brick and mortar stores have a habit of putting their company name on the packaging, which is a giant neon sign for thieves. When I buy from any store now I instruct them NOT to use their company name.

I noticed that Greg Morris has also stopped using their company name on all deliveries too, probably for that reason.

Awful.

[samosa4u]

I once had a postal worker in Canada tell me that US customs agents can destroy packages that don't have an invoice (either attached or inside). Now, I don't even know if that's true cause' it never happened to me. From my experience, if any agent opens the package and sees that the importer is trying to avoid paying taxes (by putting a low value on the package), then the agent will just put the proper value down and have it shipped to you. There is no reason to hold it up. Now, there are exceptions here. For example, if the agent finds a diamond Rolex in there, then yes, he will likely phone up the importer and demand an explanation.

Also, I've never heard of customs agents stealing things before. Postal workers? Yes.

[Exhibitman]

FWIW, years ago a few rare boxing cards I bought from the UK ended up disappearing in customs in NY. Happened more than once.

[icurnmedic]

Another flag is shipping insurance. I stopped using that once I started using Collect Insure.
I lost a package once shipping to Beckett that was insured for $5k. No doubt the thieves saw that in a small box and thought.......

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by icurnmedic

Another flag is shipping insurance. I stopped using that once I started using Collect Insure.
I lost a package once shipping to Beckett that was insured for $5k. No doubt the thieves saw that in a small box and thought.......

Registered Mail is the only logical option if insuring for high value.

[darwinbulldog]

An update: It has now been held in customs for 52 days with no additional steps in the USPS tracking. Does anyone know if, at some point, eBay would issue a refund to the buyer without taking it from the seller? That is, does eBay have insurance to cover the cost of packages that were properly shipped but not received? And if so, how long they would wait before doing that? Is there essentially no chance they would ever consider a package lost or stolen if it was last shown to be in the possession of U.S. Customs? Or is my refund dependent on the USPS deciding in favor of a Canadian seller who insured a package that was, shall I say, disappeared by the U.S.?