bryroth

I know this is chump change to most, but I bought some used 9-speed Tiagra shifters off of craigslist for $50 to upgrade my 8-speed Sora. So then I also bought new cassette, cables, chain.

The guy I bought them from is a good guy if I'm any judge of character, but he lives in another part of the country. I did all this over the phone. So he mails the package with the least expensive, basic way you can through USPS. The things never arrives. No tracking possible.

Would you ask for your money back? I'm out $60 (after shipping) and have to buy another pair of shifters now that I have my bike geared with a 9-speed cassette. Not his fault, not mine either.

Or would you chalk this up as the danger of buying stuff off craigslist?

Febs

How did you pay for it?

mcoomer

You could contact the guy and see if you can get a read on whether or not he actually shipped the parts to you but I'm afraid this is one that gets chalked up as a loss.

Maybe your bike parts will be like the 100 year old postcards that you hear about on the news sometime.

bryroth

Paypal.

MSchott

How long has it been since he shipped the part? I've shipped dozens of times with USPS (mostly Priority shipping) and every single shipment has arrived. Sometimes parcel post takes a while. Most likely it will show up pretty soon.

Thanks, Mike.

bryroth

It's been about 8 business days or so. I appreciate the optimism, though. I'll give it a few more days before I buy anything else.

Medpilot

Craigslist for local. Ebay for out of the area.

Sorry for you loss man.

jgreen25

Paypal was built for just such occasions. Paypal has security mechanisms that you should check out. No reason you should eat the cost because it got lost in the mail. Get on the website and check it out. You should not lose your money on this transaction the seller should lose their goods if anything.

LostitoaBianchi

He gets a receipt if he shipped it and if he cant provide you with one then its his problem. Report it to paypal immediately for being scammed. If he has a receipt and it really was sent and didnt come then you have to take it up with UPS cause they owe you the cost of the contents.

cooker

Stuff often takes longer than advertised to arrive. Hopefully it will arrive soon.

eb314

+1

phillypino215

just give it a few more days. usps takes forever. worst case, complain to paypal. buyer always wins. seller will eat the cost...

intence

8 days for international isn't much. What country was he shipping from? Keep in mind he may not have shipped for a couple days, and it might get held for a day or two in customs.

bryroth

Not international, just another part of the U.S. But thanks for the thought. It will be nice if you guys are right about it just taking forever. I opened a dispute with PayPal just in case.

cooker

It's apparently not international ("another part of the country") but even so, 8 business days is not unheard of. The seller might have mailed it a day or two later than he claimed, or miswritten the zip code or something.

There's also the possibilty it was left at the buyer's door and stolen there.

Namenda

I've had media mail packages take 3-4 weeks to reach me, including one that only had to go from PA to MA. Don't be discouraged...yet.

Servo888

Seller eats the costs, simple as that. Some sellers don't understand that, but that's why eBay doesn't allow sellers to leave negative feedback anymore.

CharlieWoo

I would Unabomb his ass. You asked.

idcruiserman

It usually takes parts 2 weeks to get from Nashbar to me via USPS pack mule.

JTGraphics

I'd say USPS from one end of the US to the other typically takes 10-14 day so give it at least that. As others have mentioned USPS does give a receipt to the sender so ask for a copy then you can check if it was sent, if you want to be nice wait for at least 14 days then contact sender, then paypal with all needed info. Unfortunately this is something one must deal with when getting something from a private party lucky I've never had a bad experience as of yet. Good Luck

.Jared

Yea i'd give USPS up to 14 bus. days to deliver.

ShadowGray

2 weeks isn't unheard of, I'd only worry if it hasn't arrived after week 3. At that point yeah you might want to take a look into it.

Szczuldo

File a dispute, you'll get your money back since the item will never arrive and he won't be able to prove anything. The only time when paypal shafts you is if the item was over 200$ since they can only give bac up to 200.

They don't owe him anything since it was not insured

Ebay is getting bad as well, new CEO, new rules and the rules fail at protecting.

bryroth

In case anyone was on the edge of their seat (that's a joke), I'm a *****, they were waiting for me when I got home. Thanks to all for their suggestions.

On a related note, standard mail is apparently terrible. Spring a couple extra bucks for ups.

Little Darwin

Or spring for a couple of extra bucks for Priority Mail.

In fact, I often check, and find that Priority Mail is about 10% more than Parcel Post for shorter distances, and pay it without charging the buyer any extra.