On 22nd November I ordered an item from an eBay seller in Germany to be sent to my address in Malta.

The eBay online tracking gave an estimated delivery date of 23rd December. The eBay tracking has not been updated at any time after an initial entry in late November saying the item is being sent abroad.

I was away for four weeks from 15th December. When I’m away, as I often am, the postman leaves parcels with a neighbour.

I returned last week to find no parcel with the neighbour and no “attempted delivery” cards. I sent a message to the eBay seller asking if he could trace the parcel through his local post office. I also went to my local post office. Both post offices gave the same information- apparently delivery was “attempted” on 3rd December, a day when I was at home all day. No card left. The parcel was returned to the sender on 21st December.

As of yesterday the parcel has not yet got back to the seller- of course RTS can take a few weeks as we all know, let alone with Christmas and new year in the middle of it.

Clearly this is a cock-up on the part of Maltapost. The seller isn’t at fault. Also there is a problem with eBay tracking information not being updated. But as of now, I’m around £120 down and don’t have the item I paid for. Hopefully the parcel will get back to him and I’ll happily pay fresh postage for him to ship it a second time.

But if it’s lost somewhere it’s not reasonable for either the seller or me to be out of pocket. Blame lies with Ebay (for not updating their tracking) and Maltapost (for not leaving an attempted delivery card). Any attempt at claiming from Maltapost will frankly be a pissing in the wind exercise, so my best bet is going to be to complain to eBay I guess?

I’d appreciate thoughts and advice, especially if anyone has experienced anything similar.