Up until now I’ve been using the U.S. post office to ship all of my eBay packages. I bought a cheap postal scale from eBay and I’ve been using it in combination with PayPal to ship packages without having to wait in line. So far I’ve shipped about 10 items this way.
But last week I received an email from an eBay buyer who never received the item she purchased. I logged into my PayPal account, typed in the delivery confirmation number, and sure enough found that the item had not arrived. I asked the buyer to wait a couple more days, but when the status didn’t change I called the post office to find out what happened.
USPS Loses Packages
First, I called the 1-800 number and was informed by a very pleasant postal employee that my package had “fallen off the grid.” He asked me all sorts of questions, which lead me to describe what was in the envelope, how much the item was worth, where the package was going, and what the package looked like. Then he informed me that I’d receive a call from my local post office after they spent some time researching the issue.
An hour later I received a call from another very nice postal worker who informed me that the package had left my local post office and was never seen again. By the way, this is essentially what I found when I typed the tracking number into usps.com. She asked me to try to track the package myself by calling the post office corresponding to the buyer’s address. I was a bit surprised that the post office would ask me to call another post office. I assumed that one postal worker would call another to find the package, but when I mentioned this to the postal worker she just laughed. The woman directed me back to the 1-800 number, rather than provide the number to the post office I needed to contact.
So I called the 1-800 number and received the phone number of the post office where the package should have been delivered. The postal worker entered the tracking number I gave him and said “yup it never got here.” I asked if he could look around the post office to see if it had gotten stuck in the wrong bin or something. He laughed and said if the computer says it never got here than it never got here. He then gave me the number of a claims department. I called and the number rang and rang. No one picked up and I couldn’t leave a voice mail. I tried calling for three days.
Today I gave up. Because the item wasn’t insured the post office wouldn’t allow me to file a claim. Even if they won’t give me the value of the item, I assumed they would give me a refund the price of shipping. Nope. No such luck. So I refunded the eBay buyer the full amount and sucked up the loss of the item and the shipping.
Next time. I think I’ll ship UPS.
Did you offer insurance? If so, then by not taking it then the loss here is really on the buyer – you have proof that you did your part.
Unfortunately, that is one of the risks of being in the e-bay business, or any business where you ship goods.
Always offer the option of insurance and if the buyer declines it, specify it is THEIR loss and NOT yours.
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Thanks for the tip about offering insurance. I’ll be certain to do that the next time I sell an item on eBay.
That’s a bummer.. sorry that happened to you… I’m not 100% but I think even if you have insurance in order to receive your claim you have to show receipts, etc of the item shipped.
A postal worker told me that years ago… He said insurance was really worthless if you don’t have all the proof you bought item, like store receipts and such…
Again, not 100% sure… over the years that’s just stuck with me so I never buy insurance…
I think you did the right thing. Having insurance would have been nice but since you didn’t have it, refunding the customer was the classy thing to do. Now, you have a satisfied ebay customer that may come back to purchase from you again. Karma, baby! One good deed leads to others!
Jerry
So…you call USPS several times, try to track your lost package, for which they make you do all the work. They verify that yes, they took your money and lost your package. They laugh at you when you suggest they do something about it other than type on a keyboard. Finally, they refuse to refund the charges for a service that they admit they failed to provide.
Maybe you should work for USPS. It appears it is open season there to steal any uninsured package and then laugh at the customer when they dare complain about it. Packages don’t just disappear. SOMEONE has it. Maybe the same guy whose brain didn’t extend beyond his computer screen.
After all, unless you pay them extra (insurance), they apparently can’t be expected to actually perform whatever service you paid for.
In my opinion any postal or ups worker caught stealing a package,letter of any kind should be fired on the spot.They should also work hard to make certain that packages are delivered as they should be to the right person. There are those of us who work hard and or save our money to buy the things that we need and want.We should not have to deal with this sort of problem. I ordered boots off ebay in the beginning of December.Seller communicated to me that package was shipped same week 2 day priority! I understand that mail was backed up due to holidays but here it is almost a new year and 1 month later and still no boots.Seller didnt pay for tracking number so I have no way of tracking item and must wait and hope that its late but in route or was shipped back to sender ,so that she can resenmd to me the buyer! I will not buy from any more sellers who dont offer trackign number and except paypal,because at least with pay pal I can get a refund for an item not received!
First off its a felony for anyone to steal anyones mail, so if a person/post office worker was caught, they would be screwed for life!
2nd, the problem is, the seller has to get the insurance, if the package never gets there and the idiot buyer didn’t get insurance, guess what? The seller still has to refund the buyer the full amount because they never got the package! This is why as a seller you should always require insurance and and as a buyer, you should always get insurance.
If you think the buyer is responsible because they didn’t purchase insurance, think again, because if they file a claim with PayPal, PayPal will side with the buyer, not you.
So keep yourself safe, and don’t listen to idiots who don’t know what they are talking about when it comes to insurance.