Your worst shipping nightmare

Fuzz

This topic may have already been done but my memories were refreshed after recent discussions with an eBay seller that I have purchased from.
What were your worst shipping nightmares?
I have three I will share
1) Bought a large group of unopened material about 85 from Billy Cladwell. It was mostly late 60's and early 70's complete boxes with an OPC run from 71 to 85 minus only one or two of the really hard ones. There were miscellaneous other unopened boxes and a Nm/MT 76 OPC BB set. The box was a couple of weeks overdue and I called Billy and he assured me that he sent it. While UPS was trying to track it down, I let the dogs out in the back and went out with them which I rarely did since it was fenced in and the gate was locked. Lo and behold, the box was in the backyard up against the house. It had been rained on and the dogs had marked it. But it was a 36" cubed box and amazingly all the contents were unharmed.
2) Same house, same UPS driver. It had rained in the morning and was setting in the living room watching TV with the door opened but the screen door closed. The driver walked up to the door, didn't knock, ring or speak but could clearly see me only a few feet away. He sat my package (an unopened box of 67 Topps BB) down in the puddle on the front porch and left. I almost beat him back to the truck screaming at him.
3) I shipped a six figure batch of graded coins to a dealer to take a look at overnight Fed EX. I waited a couple of days to give the guy time to take a look at them. I verified on the website they had been delivered. After not hearing from them for three business days, I called to find they were not there. About an hour later I received a call that they had been found. Delivered to the Real Estate office a few doors down. The receptionist there not knowing what they were for and clearly labeled to their neighbor, placed them under the hot water heater for safe keeping.

Guess I should be happy that nothing serious happened any of these times and they all did evetually get to where they were going. Is it only me or have any of you had similar nightmares?
Fuzz

kingraider75

worst shipping nightmares occur when someone ships me 100 cards or more loose in a 300ct box, that way all the corners and edges and get dinged along. Another issue is people putting newspaper as a filler, the odor stays for awhile. No horror stories like yours. Too bad UPS won't ship to a PO Box. Does UPS have PO Boxes at their stores? Maybe that would work.

gregm13

Three come to mind

1. I ordered a 1984 glossy football set (about 15 cards) and when they arrived I opened the package and all the cards were loose in the bubble mailer - not in a team bag or sleeves!!!! When I complained, the person said that's how he always mails cards and never had a complaint!!!

2. I ordered about $1000 worth of cards from BB Card Kid. After 4 or 5 days, I started to get a little worried and tried calling Mark to no avail and then Fex Ex. I didn't have the tracking number and Fed Ex couldn't help me without it. I finally realized that the address on file w/ Mark was my old house. This may seem easy enough - but the wife was psychotic and we got into several knock down, drag down fights during the closing. I drove over there, the husband was home and was very nice. He went into the garage, and came back with my box - completely undamaged. I can't tell you how relieved I was.

3. I ordered a 1977 football vending box from Waxme and waited about 10 days of not receiving it before I e-mailed him. He never responded and I filed a fraud claim through e-bay and paypal. Finally after 5 weeks the box arrived. I opened the box and it was 25-30 cards short with all the stars pulled. I filed a charge back through my credit card (since paypal wouldn't do anything since the box arrived) and sent the box back - sending proof to my credit card company and received the charge back (about $250). He refused delivery and the box was returned - which I kept. I ended up pulling 50 or 9/10 gradeable cards from the box and my money back.

Regards,

Greg M.

ydsotter

Weeks had passed and my psa 8 1971 topps trios with alcindor/hawkins had not arrived. The seller assured me he sent it and even showed me proof...
went went on like this for over a month...

I lived in a crowded high traffic apartment complex at the time. First floor... plenty of robberies etc...
My wife and I bought a new sofa and the mover kicked the doormat and revealed a small bubble envelope... the 250 pound mover was holding one end of a 300 pound couch and standing on my bubble mailer.

well, needless to say, those psa slabs are strong! My card was perfect and unharmed. I cannot believe I walked on top of it for over a month... At the time I bought it... it was a $200-$300 card...

Onlypsahockey

I worked in a large memorabilia shop in the early to mid 90's we ran national auctions and did a huge mail order business we had accounts with ups, fed-ex and used the usps also but most of our stuff came and went ups.

Horror story #1- Shipped an Orr game used stick to California. Very well packaged in a large box with numerous layers of cardboard & bubblewrap for protection. Probably shipped over 200 sticks, none so securely. A couple weeks goes by & the winning bidder calls looking for his big ticket item. Call ups yada yada yada...another week goes by and the stick comes through the front door with the ups guy. Great except its in 3 pieces. It looked like it was run over by the ups truck, the ups plane and maybe a zamboni. It may have been used as a jack to fix flats on all three of the above mentioned vehicles. UPS makes good and the customer gets a full refund but how many Orr gamers are out there. It deserved better.

Horror story #2 (This may explain horror story #1) - Slow January day at the same shop. Looking out the front window watching the snow. UPS truck pulls up in front and the driver jumps behind the seat into the back of the truck. Next I see box after box being thrown forward onto the truck front passenger side step. Then the driver comes out kicks the boxes down the steps into the slush in the street. I run out and ask him wtf he's doing and he says "what do you want me to do? my back door won't open!" He then starts kicking the boxes up onto the sidewalk.....so after I got bailed out I put a call into UPS. Never saw the driver again but it really sux when you see the way some packages get treated.

Pack it like it's yours...you never know what it's gonna go thru.

Bob

MorrellMan

mine is still unfolding....details when it's over!

goudeygold

Only one lost package form a flawless feedback seller on ebay from Canada. Waited a month, never got it. I called him and he said he had another and he would send it right out. never got it either. Canada shipping always freaks me out. Luckily it was a cheap card.

Aside:

My cousin worked for UPS for some time, and he said it is unreal how many boxes are damaged. He said he has seen them crushed to shiit, and even had a customer return a box that was so damaged it had one filthy dirty long sleeve dangling out. He said just make sure you let UPS know and they will indeed cover anything and everything provided you bring the box in just like you got it.

GG

jrdolan

My two worst, sending and receiving:

Sending: When I was young and had no sense (a year ago) I shipped a 1956 Mays SGC 88 without delivery confirmation. Buyer claimed it never arrived, end of story. Bye-bye, $560 from my PayPal. Expensive lession: Always use delivery confirmation on anything worth anything.

Receiving: When I was young and had no sense (a year ago) I paid $950, full book, for a 1965 Mantle PSA 8. Seller shipped me a bubble mailer full of worthless 2004 commons, WITH delivery confirmation. My complaint never got past PayPal's screening software, because I specified "item not as described." Case closed instantly in the seller's favor, without a human seeing my case. PayPal didn't investigate "not as described" claims, period. (I think they do now) Expensive lesson: Don't send a lot of money to people with low feedback on cheapo modern cards, suddenly selling lots of very expensive vintage.

jerster

As a Seller: Once sold some rather expensive hockey pucks to someone on the east coast. Package was worth over $600. This was around x-mas time. Sent the package with signatory confirmation. A few days pass, I check on line and sure shooting it was signed for. Case closed.

A few days later, buyer says it never arrived. I send him confirmation of his signature. He says its not him. I asked if a neighbor signed. He said no. I said anyone else at your house. He said yes, there was someone doing home renovation at his house. Nope, wasn't him either. What the heck is going on here?

He talks to his USPS guy, he remembers delivering it ACROSS TOWN to a totally different address than on the box. Um...HELLO? So this guy goes over to the place it wa sdelivered to and asks to speak with the guy who signed for it. "He's not here." So he goes back the next day. "He's not here." He goes back a third time. "He's not here." Fearing this guy skipped out with these pucks, the buyer asks what the hell is going on. Appearantly, the guy was moving and was out on vacation for a few days. They searched his desk and there was the package - opened - with the pucks just sitting there.

Why open something clearly marked for someone else? Man, if I was the buyer I would have put a serious hurt on that character. I think he was just happy to get the pucks. So was I!

wick70

Just received my Fergie Jenkins RC in an envelope with a 37 cent stamp on it after paying $3.00 for S&H. He's about to get an e-mail from me.

Wick

67standup

Mine didn't happen to me, but to bobsbbcards. I'll let him share the story if he wants to.

phreakydancin

<< <i>Just received my Fergie Jenkins RC in an envelope with a 37 cent stamp on it after paying $3.00 for S&H. He's about to get an e-mail from me.

Wick >>

Was it at least in a toploader? I received a lot of 4 cards in a white envelope the other day. They were wrapped in a piece of paper along with a cardsaver, but none of them were actually INSIDE the cardsaver

JonB

I have placed several big orders from sportlots.com. While I have received a few modern cards from dealers on there that ended up grading as 10's, the majority of the dealers on there ship cards (to put it simply) the cheapest way they can. Several of them will smash about 10 or 20 cards between two toploaders and then used half a role of tape to keep it all together. I have several times received loose cards in a plain white envelope with a $.37 stamp, the cards weren't even in a penny sleeve, much less a toploader. At any rate, its really sad to order 100-200 modern cards (even if they are cheap) and see them come so damaged.
Long story short, I don't buy from that site anymore because of how their dealers ship their cards.

jrdolan

One of these posts reminded me of another horror story. This time my early naivete had nothing to do with it.

Bought a vintage SGC card from import_export_co. They didn't ship it, didn't ship it, didn't ship it. Kept on stringing me along with reassuring e-mails until PayPal's 30-day chargeback period expired. PayPal was heartless. 30 days is 30 days, they said (now it's 45 days, I understand). I couldn't get my money, but I left the seller negative feedback. He retaliated in kind and said "Customer lies. Card shipped."

AT THE SAME TIME they were claiming this, import_export_co was relisting the SAME card on eBay. Same SGC serial number. I followed up on his negative feedback and listed the auction numbers so people could see the blatant fraud. Again, he responded with "Customer lies."

My card was won by a dealer who turned out to be much more ethical than this shameless scammer. The dealer offered to split the loss with me, which he was under no obligation to do, but he saw the undeniable evidence of a crime and didn't want to be a party to it. So he sent me the card when he got it, and I sent him half of what he paid. The best I could hope for, and I am grateful to him.

bobsbbcards

<< <i>Mine didn't happen to me, but to bobsbbcards. I'll let him share the story if he wants to. >>


I laughed when I saw the thread title. Thanks for the intro...

Being very nervous by nature, I had never mailed away a card to get graded. Last September, I hand carried complete sets of 1967 Topps Stand-Ups, 1967 Topps Test Discs, and 1967 Topps SF Test Discs to the Ft. Washington Show. I wanted SGC to grade them onsite, but since they had to hand cut the inserts for the discs, they needed extra time to finish them. Much as it gave me the willies, I said OK. They told me they'd ship them FedEx insured (although I originally asked for registered mail).

A week went by. I sent an email to SGC asking where they were (FedEx being a relatively fast deliverer). I was informed that my cards had been shipped out the previous day from New Jersey and I was given a tracking number. I checked the website and saw the tracking trail:

6:00 PM picked up PARSIPPANY NJ

That made sense, I thought. But where were those other lines that would say things like left New Jersey and moving more in my general direction which is not New Jersey? I didn't panic at first since I had no idea how FedEx did things. Problem was, it stayed like that for days. Here is the FedEx tracking screen that I grew to despise:



I contacted SGC and FedEx. SGC was fairly helpful, but had no idea what had become of THE PACKAGE. Since THE PACKAGE had $72,000 worth of my cards in it, I was a bit OUT OF MY MIND WITH WORRY. FedEx was no help at all (at first). The agent assigned to the case kept asking me about THE BASEBALL CARD in the package. I was convinced that FedEx would hop-to-it since the package must have been insured up the wing-wang (meaning "for a lot"). FedEx let me know that I was safe because they would reimburse me $100 if the package was lost. ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!! Turns out SGC insures privately which is probably fine unless the package gets lost. Since the people trying to find the lost package will be out only ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS, how incented are they to find it?

Gets worse.

Turns out there were 11 SGC packages being shipped with FedEx the same day to 11 different people. The FedEx pickup person in NJ put the 11 smaller packages in a larger FedEx box (unsealed and unaddressed). Box was carried to truck. When box got to next FedEx location (still in Joisey), somebody (a true brainiac) sealed the large box even though it had no mailing address, and placed the box in a FedEx tub. Tub then went to God only knows where and when tub was opened, there was a FedEx box--sealed with no label and $72,000 worth of irreplacible cards inside (along with their friends).

AAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!

Good news? The packaged was found 5 days later by a woman at FedEx. Box was opened and she contacted one of the people who was the recipient of another package from FedEx. Hallelujah.

Not so much.

Turns out she left her desk, somebody came along and resealed the larger box (still with no address label) and promptly lost it again. I gave up hope at that point and planned to spend the rest of my days collecting leaves and geodes.

24 days after the package was originally sent, I get a call from a FedEx detective (the hero of the story) and was notified that the package had been located in Memphis and was on it's way to me at that very moment. I kissed him through the phone (but that's another story).

Happy ending. Package arrived on the 26th day. Everything looked great. I had aged by a couple dozen years, but other than that, no harm done.

Moral of the story: FedEx....when it absolutely positively has to be there in 26 days.

Onlypsahockey

Holy Crap!

That is a nightmare!

rugbymarine

Wow, Bob !

That had my heart pounding. I'm not sure I would've made it 26 days. Simply incredible.

IndianaJones

While this story did not end in a nightmare, it so very easily could have that I almost always wince whenever the
shipping part of it comes to mind. Back in the late 1980's, Mr. Mint was the absolute king of the dealers; he had
"the stuff dreams are made of." He had been running his quarterly SCD auctions. Well, he had this regional card
that I REALLY WANTED. Praise the Lord, I won the card! A week later, he calls to say that it went out UPS and that
it would take a steamroller to damage it. Fine. I was so excited; I had never won anything in his auctions (like
winning a MastroNet lot today). The days s-l-o-w-l-y went by. Finally, the card arrived. I expected a cardboard
box for the single-card purchase. What he had done was shipped the card in a 10 X 12 light foam padded mailing
envelope. I was too shocked and scared to be enraged. Upon opening the package, the regional card, being
a little larger than a 52-56 Topps card, was placed in a cut-down quadrant of a 4-pocket PVC sheet, with a single
piece of corrugated cardboard in the sheet for protection. THAT'S IT! Perhaps a steamroller would not harm it,
if the steam was off, etc., but any 5-year-old, if asked, could have bent that card as if it were nothing. Mr. Mint
charged no shipping then. Regardless, for a card costing over $1,000, that was mighty risky and cheap. Again,
praise the Lord. Got to go. Take care. IndianaJones

paigowmichael

Today I received my first ever cracked slab. Not only was it cracked, it was broken completely in half and the card was loose in the envelope. On the bright side, it was only a 1983 Topps common. On the down side, I bought it only because it was slabbed. So I wasted like $3, I guess. If it had to happen some time, this was probably as harmless as it gets.

1967topps

Most are my problems are UPS related.

First one was not cards but a box of recordable tapes. No one answered the front
door so they put it in the porch off the driveway. Not knowingthat a doggie
door lets dogs on to the porch.

Long story short: luckily each tape was individually wrapped, as they were found
scattered around the back yard.

Now I give my courier address as <street address>, front door.

But now UPS either just leaves a package (including today a box that I paid 500 for)
or "knocks on the door". And leaves. The doorbell is right there. The other day I at least
got to yell at the guy "I can't hear you knock on the door from upstairs. There is a doorbell. Please
use it."

Maybe that's why my one friend says UPS is pronounced "oops"

More later as it comes to me

1967topps

There's also a lot of yo-yo's out there (with several hundred feedback even)
who put a card in a card saver type top load, put it in bubble wrap and then put in
a bubble mailer. And are surprised to hear how the card got damaged in shipping.

Because the way they sent it the card could easily be FOLDED NEARLY IN HALF.

Cardboard is cheap and works wonderfully.

1967topps

Oh and here's a note about Delivery confirmation to a PO Box (hello EJGURU)

If it fits in the box they enter the package as "delivered" with a date and time.
No guarantee they put it in the right box.

EJ had sent me a very pertinent card...not on face value,a 1967 Dal Maxvill PSA 8 -
except that it completed the set for me in 8.

Delivery confirmation showed delivered, I had no card. Finally a package
comes in the mail - seems it had been put in someone else's PO Box.

Luckily he was honest enough to pay $2 to hand it across the counter and "mail" it
back to me.

OK that's several UPS and a USPS story....maybe if I keep reading a Fedex or "Little Yellow Truck"
story will come to mind, too.

NickM

I have 2

1) I get a great deal on eBay on a '60 Lake to Lake Braves red Schoendienst SCD 9. The highest PSA and SGC grades on this card were 8's. It arrives with a huge crack across the slab, because the seller packed it with 1 thin strip of cardboard in a small plain (non-bubble) envelope. This one worked out okay. The card was undamaged, and I crossed it over to a PSA 9.

2) I had sent out NPN requests for Topps Pristine Baseball for my own and several family/friends' addresses. At one of the addresses, there is a large outdoor mailbox with a double lid (and no locks on either). The lazy mail carrier opened just the upper lid, and then tried to shove all the mail in the thin little opening at the back between the two lids, rather than just lifting the lower lid as well and putting everything into the box. Not content with that display of stupidity, she then tried to shut the upper lid, which bent all the mail over between the two lids. One of the envelopes was from Topps, and contained a 1/1 Press Plate of a rookie (packaged in a card-size manila envelope inside a thin bubble mailer). Needless to say, it was seriously bent at an angle across the card. Press plates are thin pieces of metal rather than cardstock, so it's only warped instead of creased, but I haven't been able to get the warp out even by putting lots of weight on it flat.

Nick

Tabe

Mine aren't sports card related, but both are UPS-related:

After my wife & I got married, we lived in a small town in Colorado that Roger Clemens fans will recall (Craig). Our apartment complex had no security, just open the door to a hallway and walk right up. My wife & I lived directly across from the manager - our doors were like 4 feet apart. So we got foot traffic in there all the time from people looking for apartments, etc.

So, having set the scene...

1) We ordered our wedding album and prints and so forth. As anyone knows, this can quickly run in excess of $800-$1000 or more. Said album/photos were to be delivered by UPS with insurance and signature required. Package was delivered in the middle of the day, while my wife was at home, without so much as a knock on the door or ring of the bell. Just left in front of the door. Remember: SIGNATURE REQUIRED.

Called and complained, UPS apologized. Big whoop.

2) A year or so later, my wife had some work done on her wedding ring back home in Michigan. My parents sent it back to us via UPS. Same deal, insured, signature required. And, wouldn't ya know it? They left it at the door, no knock, no ring of the bell, nothing. Just left right out in the open where anybody could see it. Again: SIGNATURE REQUIRED.

And, to show you I don't bash just UPS:

Same small town, only this time a post office story. Friend of mine was having problems with his mail - I forget exactly what the issue was (mailman bending stuff or something). Anyway, he complained to the main PO and they said they'd take care of it. A week or so later, he got some photos in the mail clearly stamped "PHOTOS" on the envelope. And, for whatever reason, this particular parcel came with a form of some kind. I don't remember why the form was there, but it was legit and had some real purpose. And the PO made sure my friend got it - BY STAPLING THE FORM TO THE ENVELOPE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ENVELOPE. Needless to say, he was not pleased.

Tabe

CopperJJ

WOW...regarding the 26 day FedEx charlie foxtrot, I'd have ended up in prison...Think I'll stay away from them.

Panama Mutiny (Formerly lawyer05)

HI there ..................

Im new at this message board

Been listening for months and it is finally good to be here.

Some of you i have had the pleasure to bid against.

I collect Panamanian rookie cards high grade PSA and PSA Panamanian vintage player basic cards. Modern Players i collect certified autos only (non-certified).

So basically i grade JUNK!!!!!!!!!

www.panamabaseball.com

My worst experience was with this guy that i forget his name but i would bid on 1996 Rafael Medina RC Bowman's best at 4 x 1.00 a pop.

He would send all four in one TOP LOADER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After geting 12 this way .....

I submited 3 to PSA and got 2 PSA 9 and one PSA 10

GO FIGURE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!11


I have never gotten anything lost except when PSA told me that they had sent the suede Psa covers and plastic boxes i had oredered from them. I asked them for the tracking number and the said they dont track supplies ?



Well they made good and sent me a whole new order.


Collect everything CAREW also as he was born in PANAMA formerly known as PANAMA CANAL ZONE .

MorrellMan

<< <i>mine is still unfolding....details when it's over! >>



Well, it's finally over; two months later and countless unanswered emails that were finally answered on occassion with incredibly rude answers. The material had been loosely placed in too small bubble mailers - there was damage to all and I had paid $20 in shipping that cost the seller a couple bucks and the cost of two mailers. In the end, he refunded all of my money, so I won't mention the guys name, but we will never do business with each other again.

All's well that ends well (in spite of the physical deterioration caused by two months of unnecessary stress).

bobsbbcards

Mark,
I feel your pain. Sorry you had to go through that. Here's wishing the seller a painful rectal infection (or mumps).
Bob

lawyer05,
On a lighter note...Welcome to the boards! Here's a fun Carew auction for you.

1982 Topps Blackless Variation ROD CAREW #500

Panama Mutiny (Formerly lawyer05)

Thanks for the welcome.


bobsbbcards,

I cant bealive you almost lost that shipment. THATS CRAAAZY

I doubt companies like SGC insure with a third party. I hope they do. 4 sharp coreners say they do. I dont know. It sucks because in the state of Florida if that shipment would have gotten lost you may not have beeen able to sue in State Court because it was not your own insurance. If someone else buys your insurance like your employer for example it is a federal case governed by URISA law (FEDERAL). The difference is that in state court any lawyer that practices insurance law would have been able to take that case no money down because of the statute that says if you recover from own insurance you get awarded reasonable attorney fees. If its a URISA case then you you probably would have had to pay your own attorney thus taking from your recovery.

This is not legal advice just a little info on the side of collecting because we all do a lot of shipment and insurance. All states have different laws.

What was SGC stand on the whole thing.... did they say "Dont worry we have it insured" ? or something like that ?

Why SGc and not PSA just wondering ..................