Shipping Problem, Anyone Ever? (1 Viewer)

[gk5717]

I,ve been receiving and shipping items since the late 70,s and up until now had only one item I never received, some baseball cards never received in the late 70,s. I never had an item I mailed not received by the buyer until now. Shipped a K&C figure, small box, 1st class on 3-20 from St Louis, Mo. to Ft Lauderdale, Fl., no delivery confirmation, my mistake.
Buyer claims he never received the item, I refunded him his money, $90, yesterday.
My question is has anyone else shipped within the continental U.S. and had this problem?
Talked to a dealer friend of mine who does this for a living and he stated it never has happened to him, so I,m wondering how rare of an occurance is this or did I just get taken?
Gary

 

[jazzeum]

I had this happen to me in the USA once (but never overseas, although I did have a delayed shipment once). It was for a piece of baseball memorabilia that the buyer claimed she never received. It was a lower priced item and I shipped it USPS. I now generally ship things UPS so I have confirmation. It's possible you may have been taken but there is no way to know for sure.

 

[MarkeytMaker]

I had this happen to me in the USA once (but never overseas, although I did have a delayed shipment once). It was for a piece of baseball memorabilia that the buyer claimed she never received. It was a lower priced item and I shipped it USPS. I now generally ship things UPS so I have confirmation. It's possible you may have been taken but there is no way to know for sure.

I shipped a very expensive item on trade to a member here with USPS signature confirmation, which is a step above USPS delivery confirmation...post office confirms that the person signed for it...the post office will not help, so what good is any confirmation?

 

[Spitfrnd]

I,ve been receiving and shipping items since the late 70,s and up until now had only one item I never received, some baseball cards never received in the late 70,s. I never had an item I mailed not received by the buyer until now. Shipped a K&C figure, small box, 1st class on 3-20 from St Louis, Mo. to Ft Lauderdale, Fl., no delivery confirmation, my mistake.
Buyer claims he never received the item, I refunded him his money, $90, yesterday.
My question is has anyone else shipped within the continental U.S. and had this problem?
Talked to a dealer friend of mine who does this for a living and he stated it never has happened to him, so I,m wondering how rare of an occurance is this or did I just get taken?
Gary

I am usually on the receiving end but it has happened a few times to me. Certainly it is not common but it can happen. Ironically, I have never (knock on wood) lost a package from the UK.

One interesting side note is that if UPS loses an item, they make the driver pay for it. He then has the option of requiring an in person signature for all future deliveries. So much for guaranteed delivery; use it and you will be thereafter inconvenienced.

 

[jazzeum]

I shipped a very expensive item on trade to a member here with USPS signature confirmation, which is a step above USPS delivery confirmation...post office confirms that the person signed for it...the post office will not help, so what good is any confirmation?

Not much apparently. That's too bad.

 

[Gideon]

If you are shipping within the USA, especially for a higher priced figure/item, there's no reason not to ship Priority Mail. First Class is like $3 and change or $2 and change and Priority is like $5 with tracking and/or delivery confirmation.

If a buyer tells you they want domestic first class, don't let them bully you into shipping that way.

In the end, what you wind up bargaining over is 2 to 3 bucks and your entire transaction amount if the buyer wants to claim they never received it.

 

[jazzeum]

Saving money is not always worth the hassle. In the case of the missing memorabilia, the buyer, several months after the transaction, filed a claim with paypal and left me negative feedback, never having once contacted me to report that she never received the item. Live and learn.

 

[theBaron]

Only once or twice have I had a package sent to me not arrive. In both instances, the sellers were good enough to make arrangements for a refund or for replacement.

In the one case, the seller mis-addressed the package-he got the house number correct, but the street was wrong, and the combination doesn't exist here in Bethlehem. He never received it back, and I suspect that it may have ended up in the dead letter office at our post office. But he refunded my money.

In the other case, I had a package coming from a seller in Canada, and it just never arrived. But he gave me my money back, too.

I've had more problems in which the seller didn't package something properly, like the lady who sent me a little stoneware mustard jar in an envelope lined in bubble wrap. Of course, it was damaged. But it wasn't that much, so I let it go. Some toy soldiers have come like that, too, wrapped in tissue paper and stuffed in an envelope. In those cases, it wasn't worth it to follow up, because seller obviously didn't get it.

Prost!
Brad

 

[MarkeytMaker]

If you are shipping within the USA, especially for a higher priced figure/item, there's no reason not to ship Priority Mail. First Class is like $3 and change or $2 and change and Priority is like $5 with tracking and/or delivery confirmation.

If a buyer tells you they want domestic first class, don't let them bully you into shipping that way.

In the end, what you wind up bargaining over is 2 to 3 bucks and your entire transaction amount if the buyer wants to claim they never received it.

Again...re-read my post...they can receive it and claim they never received it regardless of the delivery or signature confirmation. It's all a make you feel good system and when something goes wrong they don't let you feel good anymore..LOL!

 

[Toy Soldier Brigade]

After eleven years in business and having shipped thousands of packages I have never had an order not show up in the US. I do ship a large percentage of my orders first class mail. Which in most cases arrives as fast or faster then Priority mail. Priority mail is a scam since first class mail and Priority mail are combined and shipped at the same time. It is not prioritized in any way. Since I print all of my postage from my office I do have the option to add a delivery confirmation number. It has come in handy a few times. I was shipping an order to a customer in the next town over from me. It took three weeks for him to get it because it took a nice vacation to Hawaii for a few a few weeks. I have lost a few overseas orders however, but it is a very small percentage.

In my opinion if someone claims to you that they did not receive an item it was probably stolen from outside of their house, or they are trying to get over. As screwed up as the post office is they do mange to get the mail out. And if on the rare occasion you do have a lost item GOOD LUCK. That is the post offices biggest weakness CUSTOMER SERVICE. They are accountable to no one, and basically do what ever they want to.

 

[Somerset]

Again...re-read my post...they can receive it and claim they never received it regardless of the delivery or signature confirmation. It's all a make you feel good system and when something goes wrong they don't let you feel good anymore..LOL!

It sounds to me like you are discussing two different issues; 1. packages not arriving and 2. buyers scamming you.

As for the latter, if the buyer is paying via credit card, the credit companies tend to side with the buyer and the burden of proof is on you. I don't know if they will accept UPS confirmation as proof or not. If anyone knows I would like to read their input.

As for the former, a UPS carrier once told me that items with a high insurance amount get special treatment. He even put his high dollar parcels in a particular place on his truck. That was a long time ago and I don't know if it still applies. I do know that expensive items are not supposed to get left on the doorstep. I've been at the UPS station numerous times when people have come in to pick up items that would have arrived when they weren't home. I make it a habit to over insure domestic shipments. I don't dare do that internationally because I don't want customs to charge the buyer more.

I don't know how helpful this is, but good luck.

Ron

 

[BLReed]

Priority mail is a scam since first class mail and Priority mail are combined and shipped at the same time. It is not prioritized in any way. . .

I disagree. Maybe it has something to do with distance. With Priority I receive items in two days from the East Coast. With First Class it takes six days. Buyers pay the shipping anyway. It's my money, and I'll pay for Priority.

I've never had anything lost. I did have a package sit in Customs in New York for seventeen days. Los Angles Port of Entry is in and out in two days. Can't complain though as I've never been charged a custom fee.

 

[VIRIATO]

Having ordered from all around the world really, for years, only once didn't an item arrive. It was coming from the UK but the seller sent me a new one. The first one never arrived. I remember there were similar situations with this seller reported on e-bay feedback, so,possibly either something wrong with the seller himself or with the local post office guys... It was years ago now...
On the sending side never had a problem, always use trackable.
I guess there is always a risk something goes wrong though, you can get unlucky...(fingers crossed on my coming order).

Paulo

 

[gk5717]

I think someone said it all. "The post office answers to no one"
From most everything I heard and read even with delivery confirmation the parcel can still be lost between here and there. And even with confirmation the buyer can still claim he did not get it as a signature is not required.
The one thing I learned from doing ebay is the seller takes all the risk.
Gary

 

[Gideon]

As far as protection goes - if I ship an ebay order or a web order from my website and I have delivery confirmation then I am protected by paypal and by the credit card processor.

I have had two instances where I had delivery confirmation from usps that the package was scanned when delivered and the buyer insisted that the item was not delivered.

When they filed for a chargeback I provided the delivery confirmation and I was credited. I don't know what happened on their end with their credit card but that really has nothing to do with me. I delivered as promised.

I asked one person who lived in an apartment building that there were no special instructions left for delivery to the lobby so how could I know otherwise what to do. Wasn't a good enough answer because it wasn't what she wanted to hear - as usual. So she disputed the charge and the delivery confirmation saved me from losing $80 +.

Sucks, but that confirmation does come in handy.

 

[Somerset]

As far as protection goes - if I ship an ebay order or a web order from my website and I have delivery confirmation then I am protected by paypal and by the credit card processor.

I have had two instances where I had delivery confirmation from usps that the package was scanned when delivered and the buyer insisted that the item was not delivered.

When they filed for a chargeback I provided the delivery confirmation and I was credited. I don't know what happened on their end with their credit card but that really has nothing to do with me. I delivered as promised.

I asked one person who lived in an apartment building that there were no special instructions left for delivery to the lobby so how could I know otherwise what to do. Wasn't a good enough answer because it wasn't what she wanted to hear - as usual. So she disputed the charge and the delivery confirmation saved me from losing $80 +.

Sucks, but that confirmation does come in handy.

Thanks, Gideon. That's good to know.

Ron

 

[Gideon]

I'm not saying it always works but that delivery confirmation scam is enough to scare most who would try to pull a scam away if I insist on priority.

Also, on ebay, if you have a transaction valued over a certain amount, they require you to purchase signature confirmation. So, ebay is willing to protect the seller - but only so far.

 

[Iron Brigade]

I,ve been receiving and shipping items since the late 70,s and up until now had only one item I never received, some baseball cards never received in the late 70,s. I never had an item I mailed not received by the buyer until now. Shipped a K&C figure, small box, 1st class on 3-20 from St Louis, Mo. to Ft Lauderdale, Fl., no delivery confirmation, my mistake.
Buyer claims he never received the item, I refunded him his money, $90, yesterday.
My question is has anyone else shipped within the continental U.S. and had this problem?
Talked to a dealer friend of mine who does this for a living and he stated it never has happened to him, so I,m wondering how rare of an occurance is this or did I just get taken?
Gary

Dear Gary:
I have had a few "damaged" shipments reported to me via eBay buyers that I shipped to, but no lost shipments. In some cases they did not put in for Insurance refund which made me wonder if there really was any damage. On most items I sell on eBay or on a few off eBay deals I always ask for Insurance coverage & confirmation of delivery. Better safe than sorry.
Regards, "Iron Brigade" 4/6/2010

 

[Toy Soldier Brigade]

As far as protection goes - if I ship an ebay order or a web order from my website and I have delivery confirmation then I am protected by paypal and by the credit card processor.

I have had two instances where I had delivery confirmation from usps that the package was scanned when delivered and the buyer insisted that the item was not delivered.

When they filed for a chargeback I provided the delivery confirmation and I was credited. I don't know what happened on their end with their credit card but that really has nothing to do with me. I delivered as promised.

I asked one person who lived in an apartment building that there were no special instructions left for delivery to the lobby so how could I know otherwise what to do. Wasn't a good enough answer because it wasn't what she wanted to hear - as usual. So she disputed the charge and the delivery confirmation saved me from losing $80 +.

Sucks, but that confirmation does come in handy.

Your are not always protected by PayPal with a delivery confirmation number. If the customers cc issuing bank does a charge back PayPal will stick you with it. I had a regular customer who for some reason decided to dispute a charge with his bank. I had a delivery confirmation plus the package was signed for and PayPal stuck me with the charge back. The customer even taunted me and few other dealers by email gloating that he got over on us (which I forwarded to PayPal). I figured I was covered by seller protection, but PayPal told me they they abide my the decision of the card issuing bank. Seller protection does not cover a disputed charge only a lost item. I could have had a video on YouTube showing this guy accepting the order and they still would have stuck me. He was lucky that he was in CA because if he was closer I would have taken my money out of his _ _ s !

 

[Gideon]

Wow! Was he an ebay customer? if so, also, please pm me the id so I can block