Shipping risk between holidays?

logger7

One grading service suspended shipping due to risk during the holidays. Is the risk really that much higher on holiday weekends, etc.?

Timbuk3

I'm not sure, but I'd be a lot more cautious during the holiday seasons !!!

JBK

Very interesting that they suspended shipments due to increased risk.

I had a high value item to send ATS last year and I waited until January for that reason.

291fifth

Lots of temporary help increases risk.

logger7

Probably Monday shipping, especially with overnight express is the safest.

Jimnight

I would rather wait a couple extra days to avoid the holiday scramble.

GRANDAM

Registered shouldn’t matter,

jwitten

Who stopped shipping? And yes, I have found that most of my packages go missing in December.

BruceS

Not worth the risk for big ticket items imo, the huge increase in volume you are just playing against the odds.

Coinstartled

@GRANDAM said:
Registered shouldn’t matter,

It was early February when I nearly got hosed by Ebay for over $3000 on a registered shipment. it got tied up in record north east blizzards and didn't move for nearly 2 weeks. I was 24 hours away from a chargeback when it was delivered.

Be very very careful with Ebay on high dollar shipments. New York and New Jersey in my experience pose the greatest risk.

As far as holiday shipping, my last sales will be in November for the year to avoid the inexperienced contract workers that cater to Amazon and trash the rest of us.

jmlanzaf

@Coinstartled said:

@GRANDAM said:
Registered shouldn’t matter,

It was early February when I nearly got hosed by Ebay for over $3000 on a registered shipment. it got tied up in record north east blizzards and didn't move for nearly 2 weeks. I was 24 hours away from a chargeback when it was delivered.

Be very very careful with Ebay on high dollar shipments. New York and New Jersey in my experience pose the greatest risk.

As far as holiday shipping, my last sales will be in November for the year to avoid the inexperienced contract workers that cater to Amazon and trash the rest of us.

That's not an eBay problem, it's a customer problem. He has 120 days to file a charge back. Just because he panicked early doesn't make it an eBay problem.

Registered mail can be notoriously slow but it is the most secure method of shipping and should be used for all high value items.

jmlanzaf

I don't know about lost packages, but you get a LOT of delays this time of year due to the volume of mail and the number of temps.

GRANDAM

New , seasonal or tempory employees don't handle registered mail.

ricko

Stands to reason that the volume of packages during the holiday season is immense. The higher the volume, the more chance for error. Add to that, temporary help and error rate increases. If it is high value, and absolutely MUST ship... Registered Mail is the way to go. Cheers, RickO

Coinstartled

@jmlanzaf said:

@Coinstartled said:

@GRANDAM said:
Registered shouldn’t matter,

It was early February when I nearly got hosed by Ebay for over $3000 on a registered shipment. it got tied up in record north east blizzards and didn't move for nearly 2 weeks. I was 24 hours away from a chargeback when it was delivered.

Be very very careful with Ebay on high dollar shipments. New York and New Jersey in my experience pose the greatest risk.

As far as holiday shipping, my last sales will be in November for the year to avoid the inexperienced contract workers that cater to Amazon and trash the rest of us.

That's not an eBay problem, it's a customer problem. He has 120 days to file a charge back. Just because he panicked early doesn't make it an eBay problem.

Registered mail can be notoriously slow but it is the most secure method of shipping and should be used for all high value items.

True...it is an Ebay problem. Thought I would mention it as many here sell through that venue. Part of the problem is that Registered does not provided tracking information (likely for security reasons.) As the Ebay high volume rep didn't see any movement for 10 days, he considered the package lost.

jmlanzaf

@Coinstartled said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@Coinstartled said:

@GRANDAM said:
Registered shouldn’t matter,

he most secure method of shipping and should be used for all high value items.

True...it is an Ebay problem. Thought I would mention it as many here sell through that venue. Part of the problem is that Registered does not provided tracking information (likely for security reasons.) As the Ebay high volume rep didn't see any movement for 10 days, he considered the package lost.

I once had a priority package (insured for $400) going from Upstate NY to Pennsylvania. It stopped moving for 3 days and the buyer started panicking, filed an item not received, requested a refund. I explained to him that the package was still going to him and if I refunded his money, he'd have a free piece of currency.

I contacted USPS who found the package in 24 hours. I blocked the bidder and life moved on. LOL.

As you say, of course, registered mail is harder to trace. Ironically. But Registered Mail gets 19th century treatment (sealed envelopes, locked bag, signatures at every handoff...) while regular packages with tracking are actually photographed as they go through the sort and scanned (usually!!!) at every facility along the way.

astrorat

@logger7 said:
One grading service suspended shipping due to risk during the holidays. Is the risk really that much higher on holiday weekends, etc.?

Which TPG?

PCGS, NGC, ANACS, and ICG have nothing on their website indicating shipping will be suspended during the holidays.

logger7

Cac said they were not shipping yesterday due to security concerns; I understand that. But my stuff was ready to ship, I said I would accept responsibility so they shipped. They ship some of the highest end material, so I can see where they are coming from.

1630Boston

Interesting, kind of makes sense