Lost item

Was the mailing address confirmed with Paypal?

If so then the purchase is covered as long as you used the confirmed address.

There's a scam that's been going strong for about a year and a half. And it works most of the time to get the buyer their money back plus they have the item in hand.

The buyer states they didn't receive item and seller fearing a neg refunds money.

Check on the shipping address and lemme know if it's confirmed or not.

Good Luck,
Donna

I usually tell them that the postal service shows it was delivered (date). Perhaps someone else in the household got the mail and didn't tell them? Then I describe my packaging. (Small brown bubble mailer, white bubble mailer, box, whatever).

Often a family member has gotten the item and the spouse doesn't know. Or that's what they say. That has actually happened to me as a recipient, so I know it really can happen...

See what they say after checking with family members.

You can also call the local PO and get more info if needed. Sometimes they can give more info.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Suthrnjewl:
Was the mailing address confirmed with Paypal?

If so then the purchase is covered as long as you used the confirmed address.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the Post office:

Delivered, March 08, 2006, 12:30pm, Oxnard, CA
Enroute, March 8, 2006, 8:54 am, Oxnard, CA
Enroute, March 7, 2006, 3:54 pm Bell, CA
Enroute, March 4, 2006, 7:39 pm Des Moines, IA
Elec. Shipping info received: March 2, 2006

Seller Protection Policy – Eligible

Attention Sellers: You must ship to the address shown below to be protected under PAYPAL’S SELLER PROTECTION POLICY

Shipping Address: XXXXXXX
Oxnard, CA
Confirmed
Payment from: XXXXXXXX (the sender of this payment is Unverified
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He knows it was delivered and asked that I describe the package and what delivery (Parcel Post) was used.

If he contacts me again, I will ask about family members My other thought is that someone stole the package from his mailbox....and I assume he would be responsible for proving that.

quote:

Originally posted by tennisntrains:
My other thought is that someone stole the package from his mailbox....and I assume he would be responsible for proving that.

Or it could be that it was delivered to the wrong address. I get my neighbors' mail pretty frequently. And I've had 2 of my packages delivered to the wrong door - one UPS and one FedEx.

If the buyer is any form of a reasonable human, then he will understand that it is beyond your control. You have the tracking information (big yay for delivery confirmation!) and can prove that you sent the box to the right address. You couldn't have done anything to prevent this and you didn't do anything to cause this.

Hi guys, guess what I received in this morning's email!!!!

My "missing package" has been found!

From my buyer: "Plz disregard previous message as the item was deliverd today."

Although I'm curious where it has been since the USPS delivered it on March 8th, I'm just happy that it re-appeared. I'm not even going to question the person.

My lesson... NEVER send anything without a confirmation...it scares me to think how many items I've sold through the years by just happily putting them in the mail and trusting the USPS to get them where they were supposed to go...no conformation or anything.

I feel so good about having this forum to ask questions and receive help. Thank you all so much.

quote:

Originally posted by tennisntrains:
Hi guys, guess what I received in this morning's email!!!!

My "missing package" has been found!

From my buyer: "Plz disregard previous message as the item was deliverd today."

My lesson... NEVER send anything without a confirmation

I feel so good about having this forum to ask questions and receive help. Thank you all so much.

WOO HOO!!!!

YEAH!

So glad the package showed up.

Delivery confirmation is a gotta to me. With the discounted amount via USPS/Paypal it really makes sense.

I was REALLY glad to see the buyer had a confirmed address, too. So you were covered if they wanted to do a chargeback. (Even though Paypal sometimes doesn't stand by that)

Have a good one!
Donna

quote:

Although I'm curious where it has been since the USPS delivered it on March 8th

Does the Delivery Confirmation date refer to the package actually being delivered to the recipient or does it refer to it being scanned at the recipient's post office?

It's supposed to be when put in mailbox. Of course, if they put the parcel in the wrong mailbox, then the whole thing goes kablooey and the recipient wont get it until the person who received it returns it to the carrier or PO and it gets redelivered to proper mailbox.

Yep, this is the same answer that my postman said..."its clocked in when it is delivered to the door or mailbox"....HOWEVER, as stated above, if it's delivered to the wrong address, delivery confirmation doesn't do much good.

Now, if I could just get the delivery confirmation downsized to fit on my smaller boxes, I would be a happy camper. I've thought of printing the label, putting it on my scanner and reducing the size, then printing.

I don't sell enough small items (ho scale train engines, train parts, etc.) to make it worth while to buy a label printer. Would rather just pay the $.35 or $.40 to the USPS for a delivery confirmation label.

Yeah, it seems little iffy. Does the letter carrier really scan each DC package while at the mailbox? Seems more likely that it'd be scanned before actually leaving the post office -- which, of course, opens the door for more potential problems.

I'm not really complaining, though -- just curious. I haven't had any problems with Delivery Confirmation yet.

According to my post office, in theory it would be scanned at the time of actual delivery but in practice it is scanned when it leaves (OR arrives at) the post office.

I have had 2 packages lost out of 2500. I had extras so I resent the book for just the cost of the s/h fee. The buyers were happy to pay it and I was happy to oblige.

If I had paid for DC on all those packages, I would have spent way more than I 'lost' by resending an extra book. It's a business decision each person has to make and it depends on many factors unique to each person's situation.

I'm glad the jeans 'showed up'.

quote:

Originally posted by scholartime:
According to my post office, in theory it would be scanned at the time of actual delivery but in practice it is scanned when it leaves (OR arrives at) the post office.

I have had 2 packages lost out of 2500. I had extras so I resent the book for just the cost of the s/h fee. The buyers were happy to pay it and I was happy to oblige.

If I had paid for DC on all those packages, I would have spent way more than I 'lost' by resending an extra book. It's a business decision each person has to make and it depends on many factors unique to each person's situation.

I'm glad the jeans 'showed up'.

Our mailman walks from house to house, and I have seen him scan packages before putting them into my mail box. The scanner is a little hand held thing about the size of a video cassette, maybe smaller, and he clicked on it with a stylus, then put my package into the mailbox.

(I'll bet he is not happy having to do that each time he has a "delivery confirmation" package. No doubt the additional work slows down his delivery time)

That's awesome! I think it must depend on each post office's postmaster. I go to three different post offices depending on where I happen to have other errands. You can count on it...I will always be given a different answer to the same question, depending on where I am and even on who I ask. Believe me! I've done it on purpose as a test.

~Lisa

Yeah, if the scanning-at-actual-delivery is actually followed across the board then that's pretty awesome. Then your only possible problems are probably if they leave it at the wrong house or if it gets stolen out of your mailbox.

quote:

Now, if I could just get the delivery confirmation downsized to fit on my smaller boxes, I would be a happy camper. I've thought of printing the label, putting it on my scanner and reducing the size, then printing.

I don't sell enough small items (ho scale train engines, train parts, etc.) to make it worth while to buy a label printer. Would rather just pay the $.35 or $.40 to the USPS for a delivery confirmation label.

I pay the electronic rate for DC. It used to be $0.13 for first class...I think it is $0.14 now. It's free for Priority and Express.

I like having it for the peace of mind, and it's covered with my s/h. But it's a personal preference thing.

For labels, I use USPS Shipping Assistant. It does have an option to print just the DC portion, and that with a smaller typed or handwritten label will often fit when the 4x7 or whatever it is label won't.

quote:

Originally posted by scholartime:
If I had paid for DC on all those packages, I would have spent way more than I 'lost' by resending an extra book.

This kind of confuses me... does this mean that your books cost less than the price of DC?

I pass on the cost of DC to the customers - no complaint yet.

Yes, basically. I buy my books very cheaply. But, that's not exactly the point I was making.

Say I ship 1000 items and pay for DC on all of them. That would cost me $550! (I think that's at the new rate.) I could pass on the cost of DC to my customers but that makes my pricing less competitive. I also could take it out of my handling charge, but I need to use that to pay my eBay and Paypal fees.

What I do is save that $550 and use it as my "slush fund" in case a book gets lost. If it happens twice out of those 1000 books, then it costs me about $10 cash out-of-pocket. That $10 is way less than the $550 I would have spent.

I may not be explaining it very well, but I hope that makes sense.

~Lisa

That does make sense, thanks for explaining it. And that's a good idea, too.

One thing that I found, though, is customers getting all antsy around the holidays - "where is my box???" Do you ever wish you had DC in those cases?

When I sell textbooks, no. I explain in my 'shipping notification' letter that media mail will take much longer during the holidays. When I sell valuables, antiques, gifts, etc., I usually do charge for DC.

~Lisa