eBay Buyer Protection doesn’t cover mis-delivery — even with photo and GPS evidence

I’m sharing this as a cautionary experience with eBay’s “Guaranteed Buyer Protection.”

I recently had a package mis-delivered by the last-mile carrier. The seller shipped to the correct address. The issue is that the courier delivered the parcel to a different house. The proof-of-delivery photo shows a different residence, and the GPS coordinates embedded by the carrier do not match my address. Only the house number was the same.

I followed up with the residents in that house because it wasn't far from where I live and they said that they in turn had put the package near the community mailboxes in my residential area. But when I got there, the package was gone. So someone either stole it or picked it up by mistake and didn't bother to give it to me. Either way, the package is lost to me for all intents and purposes.

Despite this, eBay closed the case solely because the tracking status shows “delivered.” No careful review of the delivery evidence was done. I was advised to contact the carrier or the seller, even though the carrier was selected by eBay and the seller did everything correctly. It was an international shipping and the seller used the Ebay International Shipping program.

What’s troubling is not just the loss itself, but the implication: once a carrier marks an item as delivered, Buyer Protection appears not to apply, even when the carrier’s own evidence contradicts that status.

I currently have other pending orders with eBay, and this experience has significantly shaken my confidence in the platform. If buyers are expected to absorb losses caused by mis-delivery from eBay-selected carriers, that’s a real financial hit.

Posting this so others are aware, and to ask: has anyone successfully appealed a mis-delivery case like this, or is this simply a known gap in eBay’s Buyer Protection?