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Am I responsible?

Question regarding delivery confirmation.
I sent out 40+ packages about 3 weeks ago. Looks like everybody received
theirs except for 2 people. One guy in Hawaii, and the other about 1 hour away from me.
Both have not received their package; both did not pay for insurance.
However I did put delivery confirmation on both (for my own piece of mind), and they both only state that it
was accepted on the date I dropped it off at the post office on the usps website. Obviously if it was delivered, it would say "your item was delivered at so and so...".
I obviously don't want neg. feedback for something that is not my fault. I can replace
one item and eat the cost, but can't replace the other as it was the only one.
Both items were about $13 - $15. This happened to me about a year ago when the delivery confirmation
never changed status from acceptance after 30 days, and I did just refund the buyer. I really don't want to end up with no merchandise and no money. These were both paid with money orders, so they can't charge back as that whole weeks auction were no Paypal because a lot of them were all high dollar items. What should I do? What would you do?

Comments

  • MorrellManMorrellMan Posts: 3,240 ✭✭✭
    EEK - I had a little trouble following your description. You say you purchased delivery confirmation. Was delivery confirmed? This becomes a service issue. Have you talked to the buyers? If I was a buyer and didn't receive the material and the seller told me he had a delivery confirmation that the material was delivered, I would realize that the seller did his job.
    It sounds like you have "negatigo" - an irrational fear of getting a negative feedback. I'd suggest talking to your customers, if you do indeed have confirmation of delivery.
    Mark (amerbbcards)


    "All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
  • I always state in my transactions that I'm not responsible for uninsured items lost or damaged. I also save all my receipts. And if there is an issue, I'll scan it along with any other forms (insurance, confirmation), and e-mail them over as proof.

    Some will make insurance mandatory, but this doesn't work too well for smaller dollar items. I only require it for items $150+, anything under is optional.

    My personal take is if you offered it, and they declined, you have no responsibility. If you didn't offer it, that's a little more grey, but I would side with the shipper since insurance coverage isn't considered a standard for shipments.

    I've only sent one package that didn't make it. It was small money for an assortment of 80-81 Topps hockey stars. The guy was putting together a set. I told him I couldn't replace the cards and he didn't insure them anyways. He wasn't angry, but was disapointed, so I ended up sending him a bunch of commons from the set that i was going to throw out and he was happy.

    On the receiving side, I've had two incidents; one was 84T Marino where the PSA case cracked and the other was 81T Montana which never showed up. In both cases, I insured them and got a full refund.

    If the buyers insist you compensate them, I guess you will have to decide if removing the risk of a negative is worth the $15. Negatives are not the end of the world.
  • NickMNickM Posts: 4,895 ✭✭✭
    Give the buyer the delivery confirmation number (and a scan of the delivery confirmation form if you can). This will prove to any reasonable buyer that you actually sent their package.

    Nick
    image
    Reap the whirlwind.

    Need to buy something for the wife or girlfriend? Check out Vintage Designer Clothing.
  • Actually, I'm not really in fear of receiving a negative.
    Whenever someone buys from me within the U.S., I always
    purchase delivery confirmation just so I would know as I've caught
    a couple people before saying they never received when it says that it had been delivered.
    To try and clarify a little better regarding the 2 non-receipts; I've given both of them the confirmation tracking #. Both tracking #s say the same thing on the website that it only shows that it has been "accepted (meaning from me dropping it off on Nov. 5th) at 9:35AM in Palmdale, CA 93550. No further information is available". This is what usually shows up within 24 hours after you drop off the stuff at the post office after it was scanned. It has not been delivered. It may still in fact be sitting there or behind something large and maybe forgotten about. I always fear that the clerks take it home as they know I deal with sportscards. So far, there hasn't been any hostile emails or anything like that. I've explained to them that I did my part and showed them that I in fact have sent it out with the proof of tracking although it seems like it never left the premises. I think I'm just a little frustrated at the post office, and my wife also thinks that I shouldn't be responsible whatsoever because they did not pay for insurance (it was offered in the auction as optional and in my invoice) and this is due to postal error or whatever. I'm going to scan the delivery confirmation to both buyers and they're also both roll dated by the clerk to show indeed that it was sent out. From there on, I guess it's out of my hands. I use to just refund or replace if/when I can even if they didn't purchase insurance, but I'm getting a little tired of being out the merchandise and money. Thanks for advice.
  • MorrellManMorrellMan Posts: 3,240 ✭✭✭
    Okay - I get it now. Thanks for the clarification. Interesting situation. The least I've learned here is to avoid the Palmdale post office. As a side note, FOB means freight on board and is generally considered the point at which the product becomes the shippee's responsiblity - usually when the merchandise leaves the loading dock. It could be argued that your cards never left the "loading dock" (being the post office), or that it did leave the loading dock (your hands, in this case.) Tough call all around, but I would still think that given the confirmations that you have, you have ample evidence that you're not ripping these guys off, coupled with the fact that they clearly refused insurance. Good luck - hope you can work it out.
    Mark (amerbbcards)


    "All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
  • sagardsagard Posts: 1,899 ✭✭✭
    I'd check their feedback and see if there is anything that would lead to believe they are lying. The USPS delivery confirmation web page does not always show every item that gets delivered as delivered. Someone could exploit that if they were a really lousy person and they knew the DC number.
  • gregm13gregm13 Posts: 5,798 ✭✭✭
    If they did not pay for insurance, they are out the $. If you can prove that the item was sent, then you've done your job. I just had a situation where I sent out 8 packages and one person didn't receive theirs. The buyer didn't pay for insurance and I didn't purchase delivery confirmation (which I will do from now on). I scanned a copy of the receipt showing that I mailed a 1.4 lb package to the buyer's zip code. The buyer was satisfied that I mailed the package and promptly drove to his post office and "gave them hell" as he put it. Low and behold, his post office found the package lying around....

    Regards,

    Greg M.
    Collecting vintage auto'd fb cards and Dan Marino cards!!

    References:
    Onlychild, Ahmanfan, fabfrank, wufdude, jradke, Reese, Jasp, thenavarro
    E-Bay id: greg_n_meg
  • kobykoby Posts: 1,699 ✭✭
    The buyer declined insurance and you have delivery confirmation. You are not responsible,

    The only question is whether potentially receiving a negative feedback means a whole lot to you.
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