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Macpilot · Oct 18, 2005, 01:19 AM

Hey folks.

I have had very good luck on eBay and have almost perfect feedback.

I sold a $200 item on eBay. Buyer sent PayPal payment quickly. I sent positive feedback for buyer. Shipped it USPS with Delivery Confirmation the next day. USPS says it was delivered. Buyer says he has not received it and it is now two weeks after item was "delivered".

So there are 3 possible reasons for the buyer claiming he did not get the item.

1- he is lying
2- a neighbor stole it
3- the USPS lost it

Of course I want the buyer to receive the item, and then get the positive feedback I deserve for doing my part.

I have been in contact now with the USPS at my local branch. They have told me to call the branch near the buyer.

I am now having the sinking feeling that I am going to be screwed here. I realize PayPal has protection systems, but even PayPal admits on their site that the seller will fight an uphill battle in this scenario.

Perhaps next time I send something worth more than $50 I am going to send it requiring a signature, and send it via a shipper that provides tracking.

Does anybody here have any similar experiences and/or advice?

Thanks!

iMOTOR · Oct 18, 2005, 02:04 AM

You didn't insure the item??

"Delivered" doesn't necessarily mean delivered, after all, this is the USPS. A couple weeks ago I was sitting in my car filling out some envelopes in the post office parking lot, when I saw a mail carrier totally leave a big box behind in the parking lot after loading her truck. It was too late to get her attention, so I brought the box in and let the clerk know what happened. They acted like I stole the parcel from the carrier.

JazzCatDRP · Oct 18, 2005, 03:14 AM

It could be misplaced. Just this past month I had an item which was marked as "delivered" by USPS online, but I didn't receive it. After repeated calls to the post office, they found it.

Railroader · Oct 18, 2005, 03:43 AM

I had UPS lose a package recently. When I checked their site it said "delivered". I then looked at the signature they captured and it said "Met customer at door". My wife and I were home at the time they said delivery occured. I called and they said that they probably just gave it to the wrong house and would deliver it the next day. Next day, nothing. So I called back and they said that they had the package and would deliver it "tomorrow". "Tomorrow" rolls past and still no package. I call again, (BTW, I get a new person at the office every time) and she says she knows nothing about it and will check into it and bet back to me. She doesn't. Eventually, my neighbor who lives around the corner from me stops by with the package that he says he found behind the bushes by his front porch. I didn't call back UPS and bitch because it wouldn't have done any good.

From now on, FedEx. I'll give them a chance to royally screw up like UPS did.

JustAnOl'Broad · Oct 18, 2005, 04:59 AM

Originally Posted by Railroader

From now on, FedEx. I'll give them a chance to royally screw up like UPS did.

They're referred to as FedSuks in my area; we'll stick with the
gals in Brown (UPs). Fedsuks does not do "rural" very well at all.

I would ship anything I sold on Ebay with a sig being mandatory.
But I'd accept Postal Money Order before Paypal too; they screwed
something up for me up years ago and I'm still pissed.
Never got a" Gee we're sorry we screwed up" - just blew it off.

I'd call the buyers Post Office and bug the daylights out of 'em.
It will probably turn up.

OreoCookie · Oct 18, 2005, 06:08 AM

In this case, I would try to work with the buyer. After all, I suppose you've sent him the UPS package id so he can track the parcel, right?

So if he says, he hasn't received anything, and you have your UPS receipt, I would coordinate with that guy to get the money from UPS. If UPS is sure to have delivered the package and it is unwilling to believe your buyer that he hasn't received anything yet, then things get problematic. I do think there is a realistic chance that UPS' insurance will cover the damage.

acadian · Oct 18, 2005, 07:41 AM

Maybe it was "de-livered " instead of delivered...

tooki · Oct 18, 2005, 08:15 AM

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

... I suppose you've sent him the UPS package id ... have your UPS receipt, ... from UPS. If UPS is sure ... chance that UPS' insurance ...

Not UPS. USPS. Totally different rules: no insurance, tracking, confirmation, etc unless you have explicitly paid for them. And even then it's a crap shoot.

However, USPS customers have a tool that customers of private shippers do not: the Postal Inspector. That's a government agency (officers are armed and everything) responsible for mail fraud and whatnot. Lost things kinda fall under their jurisdiction, and confirmed delivery with the recipient claiming otherwise could warrant some kind of investigation.

tooki

DeathToWindows · Oct 18, 2005, 08:40 AM

I had similar fun with the USPS last month when I sent my D70 in to get repaired... took a week to get a coherent answer out of 'em. Use the POstal Inspector if ye need to.

OreoCookie · Oct 18, 2005, 10:05 AM

Originally Posted by tooki

Not UPS. USPS. Totally different rules: no insurance, tracking, confirmation, etc unless you have explicitly paid for them. And even then it's a crap shoot.

However, USPS customers have a tool that customers of private shippers do not: the Postal Inspector. That's a government agency (officers are armed and everything) responsible for mail fraud and whatnot. Lost things kinda fall under their jurisdiction, and confirmed delivery with the recipient claiming otherwise could warrant some kind of investigation.

tooki

Sorry, missed that.
But I guess you can still ask for an investigation (you can here). My point is that he tries to work with the buyer first.

Eug Wanker · Oct 18, 2005, 10:11 AM

Re: FedEx:

I have found FedEx Air to be great. FedEx Ground, not so much.

It turns out FedEx Ground was an entirely different company that was purchased by FedEx, and even after all this time, FedEx Ground still isn't up to the same standards as the original FedEx.

IFLY2HIGH · Oct 18, 2005, 10:58 AM

Fedex Ground Purchased RPS I do believe and here in my area they are as good as UPS. I get stuff all the time from both companies and have had more problems with UPS than Fedex Ground.

P.S. Overnight Trucking Co. is now a UPS Company, everyone buying out everyone else seesh...

As far as paypal, check your account transaction, it should actually say something if they had purchased the Buyer Protection Program on the transaction. If you have a shipping reciept that shows you shiped a package to xx zip code (I think theirs do), and you have a delivery confirmation that says it was delivered, to me it would be kinda hard for them to say it was not shipped and not recieved. That is not to note that they truly did not recieve the package and need to be taking their own acation as well at their local USPS office stating the sender has a delivery confirmation and ask them where the package is. Talk to their mail delivery person, most of the time you only have one or two people that only deliver to your mailbox anyway and ask them where they put the package.

DeathToWindows · Oct 18, 2005, 05:14 PM

Yeah, I'm currently engaged in a very, very nasty spat with UPS over getting my D70 back from nikon (who the bloody hell sends a $1000 dSLR body UPS-****ing-ground).

And working in a building where UPS can never get the damn address right doesn't help either...

Mastrap · Oct 18, 2005, 05:22 PM

UPS never again. They managed to totally destroy a package of mine, then having the tenacity to claim that the packaging was inadequate. It took me threatening legal action for them to back down and pay up.

olePigeon · Oct 18, 2005, 05:47 PM

(there might be a thread on this somewhere in the lounge, I'm pretty sure I posted about it once before.)

I bought a computer through a company that took advantage of UPS' inability to deliver a package properly. Before MacAddict got involved (explained later), the result was: I payed $1500 for the computer, it arrived soking wet with the side panel completely broken (this was a 9600/350); called the computer company and they said it was shipped in near perfect condition; called UPS, 3 months later a claims investigator came by to examine; determined it was packaged fine and that the package had been dropped at some point and (somehow, don't ask me how) submerged in water (???!!); UPS refund the money and sent the cheque to the computer company (!!!) and not me; the computer was ALSO shipped back to the computer company, and they got both the computer, my $1500, AND the insurance claim amount of $500.

Yeah, they insured a $1500 comptuer for $500 nevermind that it costed a whopping 10 cents more to insure it.

So after several months trying to get my money back, THEY sent a letter to me telling me they're going to sue me for harrassment!!! What the f*ck? Back then I really didn't have the money to hire a lawyer of any sort. The $1500 I had for the computer was after working through highschool and saving up what seemed like for EVER. I tried to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (which, by the way, is absolutely 100% useless) and found out the company had filed to change its name and was no longer listed with the BBB. So I couldn't even file a complaint.

Pretty demoralized, I didn't think I could do anything. About 6 months later I noticed the company had started to advertise in MacAddict Magazine (one of my absolute FAVORITE companies, and here's why!) under their new name, so I wrote a letter to MacAddict and told them they should be mindful of the companies they allow to advertise in their magazine, then related my story to them and how I was out $1500 AND a computer.

About a week letter I got another letter from said computer company saying they're suing me for libel (or whatever) after MacAddict had decided to pull their ad in the magazine.

So I scanned the letter and sent the copy to MacAddict showing them what I'm going through just to get my damn money back, so I got a lette back from their Editor saying they're talking with the company.

Then another week later, I got a letter from that computer company saying (and for some reason I've memorized this line from the ltter) "We've been in contact with our financial partners" (meaning MacAddict) "and have decided to refund the amount of $1,500 in cash or $2,000 from our online store."

Screw that, gimme the cash you bastards.

I wrote a lengthly Thank You letter to MacAddcit, the coolest magazine company ever.

nerd · Oct 18, 2005, 07:09 PM

I had a situation about the same as olePigeon's. Back in the Amiga days I purchased an Opalvision card. I was flipping hamburgers at the time, it took me months to save up for it. It was a DOA. Sent it back to the company and about a month later still no new card. Called and called. Finally wrote a letter to them CCing Amiga World magazine. Got my card the following week with an apology letter.

tooki · Oct 18, 2005, 07:32 PM

Companies hate bad publicity more than almost anything.

My stepdad is a journalist, and he's been blacklisted by many companies because of what he wrote about them (he writes about insurance). One time, his article -- including a scathing review of one company's offerings -- appeared on the same spread as that same company's ad in the magazine. They weren't too happy! (Though it did show that the editorial and ad staffs really were separate!)

tooki