My trak ball got lost in the mail

[tz101]

I found a really good deal on a 2600 trak ball off ebay. Suffice it to say that I was anxiously awaiting finally playing Centipede and Missile Command in proper arcade fashion.

 

Then I waited two weeks and it never arrived.

 

I filed a claim with ebay and asked for the merchandise since the deal was not one you see too often. The seller responded and said that he had shipped it and it must have been lost in shipment by USPS. Unfortunately, he did not pay for return receipt so there was no tracking number. Instead, he refunded me the purchase price plus shipping fee.

 

Now I am bummed because all the 2600 trak balls go for too high prices on ebay.

 

Is there any way I can contact USPS and ask where this package is at? If they lost it, then where does it end up? In some USPS back room in Skokie?

[+Random Terrain]

Some mailman probably needed a cue ball for his pool table.

[Mirage]

Someone just had 2 of them for sale here recently. I'm surprised they're expensive at all now. As recently as a year or so ago, they were dirt cheap. I'd keep looking and find a cheap one eventually.

 

I know that doesn't answer your question, but I think without delivery confirmation, the PO isn't going to have any answers for you.

[+thegoldenband]

If it was a "really good deal", and the seller didn't pay for tracking, maybe he never actually shipped it?

 

Unless this is a seller whom you know and trust, it sounds like a variation on the usual "Sorry, it broke/got stolen/spontaneously combusted right after the auction, here's your money back", followed by relisting the same item two weeks (or days!) later.

Edited January 22, 2011 by thegoldenband

[Ranthulfr]

Imagine if you went down to the post office and you were like, "Excuse me, I was supposed to receive a trak ball in the mail." So they start scrolling through a list of lost-and-found packages. Only just then you notice that they have an Atari trak ball hooked up to their computer instead of a mouse...

"Sorry sir, we haven't found anything matching that description."

That'd be a bummer.

 

Seriously though, sorry you didn't receive something you were looking forward to.

[Stan]

If it's lost, it will stay in the hands of whatever post office it arrived at. They'll hold it for FIFTEEN DAYS, and then return it to the sender (the seller), so he should get it back in about a month or so. It will probably happen, I had this occur once.

[fiddlepaddle]

...If they lost it, then where does it end up?

Whenever my wife says she lost her keys, I ask where are they, and she finds them.