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$1500 gold coin left in my mailbox!

RaufusRaufus Posts: 7,199 ✭✭✭✭✭
I ordered an approx. $1500 gold coin from a FeeBay seller. The coin arrived promptly - in my mailbox where it sat all day. No signature required. Amazing.

If I were a crook I could have easily claimed that the coin never arrived. The seller would be hosed. This is not to mention that anyone could have taken it from my mailbox during the 10+ hours that it sat there.

Just curious as to how common this is. Has this ever happened to you.
Land of the Free because of the Brave!

Comments

  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,942 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Thieves don't have x-ray vision. Stealing mail is a federal offense.

    I think making a package look valuable is a big liability.
    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
  • RaufusRaufus Posts: 7,199 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Thieves don't have x-ray vision. Stealing mail is a federal offense.

    I think making a package look valuable is a big liability. >>



    Certainly true. It was well packaged in a very sturdy brown envelope. Had someone looked it may well have stood out.

    I should add...the seller was great to deal with. It looks like he's been buying for a long time but only very recently selling. His listings are mostly for $1000+ gold coins. I was thinking about nicely warning him about his shipping methods. They seem to me a set up for him to get robbed by a buyer who simply claims that no coin arrived. PP would absolutely side with the buyer as there is no Sig. Conf. as is required and the seller is out of luck. I didn't however want to come across as critical, a know-it-all or as if I'm telling him how do to his business so I didn't say anything. Would you all have said something?

    Land of the Free because of the Brave!
  • 19Lyds19Lyds Posts: 26,497 ✭✭✭✭
    The package could very well have had "Delivery Confirmation" on it. If it was a PayPal Generated Label, it did.

    Next time, email your seller and request and pay for signature confirmation or perhaps registered mail.
    I decided to change calling the bathroom the John and renamed it the Jim. I feel so much better saying I went to the Jim this morning.



    The name is LEE!
  • RaufusRaufus Posts: 7,199 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>The package could very well have had "Delivery Confirmation" on it. If it was a PayPal Generated Label, it did.

    Next time, email your seller and request and pay for signature confirmation or perhaps registered mail. >>



    If I understand PP policy correctly, for packages over $200 only Signature Confirmation protects the seller. Just as when I sell, I feel that it's the seller's responsibility to ship in a PP compliant manner and not for me to pay the extra for Sig. Conf. - that's his expense IMHO.
    Land of the Free because of the Brave!
  • BrolBrol Posts: 266 ✭✭
    If you buy for more than $250 and pay with paypal the seller should add signature confirmation. It's not the buyer business how the seller will deliver goods. Signature confirmation or insurance is for seller protection, not for the buyer.
  • PokermandudePokermandude Posts: 2,713 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I ordered an approx. $1500 gold coin from a FeeBay seller. The coin arrived promptly - in my mailbox where it sat all day. No signature required. Amazing.

    If I were a crook I could have easily claimed that the coin never arrived. The seller would be hosed. This is not to mention that anyone could have taken it from my mailbox during the 10+ hours that it sat there.

    Just curious as to how common this is. Has this ever happened to you. >>



    I bought a group of three gold double eagles from a fairly new Ebay seller not long ago. He sent them parcel post, but didn't pay for a signature. That tiny package sat in my mailbox for at least a couple hours. I messaged the seller about it to politely told him about Paypal signature confirmation requirements. I made sure I mentioned that if I were a crook, I could have claimed non-receipt and he'd have been out 3 ounce of gold. I think he got the point image We've done a lot of business since that time as well.
    http://stores.ebay.ca/Mattscoin - Canadian coins, World Coins, Silver, Gold, Coin lots, Modern Mint Products & Collections
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  • rheddenrhedden Posts: 6,645 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I got a gold coin in a FedEx envelope when I lived in Pennsylvania in about 2006 or so. Left it on my front porch doormat while I was in work. Why hide it in a mailbox? LOL.

  • RaufusRaufus Posts: 7,199 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Some incredible stories!

    Reading that above made me recall the most incredible delivery story of my life....

    Besides coins, my other passion is guns. I was an avid select fire weapon (i.e, "machine gun" by ATF standards) collector for some years before the prices became insane.

    In the late 80s I purchased a Ruger KAC556F - a fully automatic 5.56mm rifle. There was an issue with it. I sent it to Ruger for repair. A couple of months later I was called by the rental office of my then apartment to inquire as to when I planned to pick up the package which had been sitting there for a couple of weeks. Sure enough, front and center in the closet where they kept packages for tenants was the box with the gun. Anyone could have easily grabbed it. There were tons of people in and out of the rental office and this closet was right next to the door. Incredibly, the shipping label said "Ruger" and it clearly looked like a long gun shipping box. I couldn't believe it.
    Land of the Free because of the Brave!
  • RYKRYK Posts: 35,800 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I have had countless gold coins left on my doorstep. Never had a loss or issue. Why worry about a problem that does not exist?
  • RaufusRaufus Posts: 7,199 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I have had countless gold coins left on my doorstep. Never had a loss or issue. Why worry about a problem that does not exist? >>



    Was not worried at all. I was fully protected. As noted in my original post, I was just curious how common this was. I just couldn't believe that a seller would ship a $1500 coin that way.
    Land of the Free because of the Brave!
  • BoosibriBoosibri Posts: 12,665 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Common occurrence
  • BAJJERFANBAJJERFAN Posts: 31,612 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>I have had countless gold coins left on my doorstep. Never had a loss or issue. Why worry about a problem that does not exist? >>



    Was not worried at all. I was fully protected. As noted in my original post, I was just curious how common this was. I just couldn't believe that a seller would ship a $1500 coin that way. >>



    Unless he has his own insurance, the USPS will not cover insurance claims for bullion unless it is sent registered. You might want to have a chat with that sender and eddicate him a bit. You/the shipper might win a future appeal if they fail to perform and don't get a signature IF one was required [I know it wasn't required in your present case].
    theknowitalltroll;
  • ebaybuyerebaybuyer Posts: 2,984 ✭✭✭
    after trying to pry a claim from the USPS (unsuccessful) I no longer insure anything, delivery confirmation for anything under $100 and over that is signature confirmation, haven't had a loss in years (knock on wood)
    regardless of how many posts I have, I don't consider myself an "expert" at anything

  • My letter carrier says that if a package is insured for less than $200. USPS policy is that it is all right for a carrier
    to leave it at the delivery address without signature. If the package is insured for over $200. then a notice for pick
    up is left to pick it up at the zip code post office and the mail is not left. He also says that sometimes a package
    will be "signature required" but will also have a wavier along with that request and can be left at the delivery address.

  • WillieBoyd2WillieBoyd2 Posts: 5,376 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Last year I received three somewhat expensive insured coins left in my mailbox, none were connected with Ebay
    but two were from a dealer and the other from a well-known auction company.

    I was home to receive them in case a signature was required, to save a trip to the PO.

    I called the dealer after the first one but the second one came to the box anyway.

    image
    https://www.brianrxm.com
    The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
    Coins in Movies
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  • keyman64keyman64 Posts: 15,649 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Whenever I ship something out, it goes with insurance and signature confirmation, even if it is a cheap item. Just a habit I guess. I never want to be a victim, even with a $50 item. I would rather lose money or not make as much than be a victim!
    "If it's not fun, it's not worth it." - KeyMan64
    Not really looking for much these days but if I were, it might be a toner. :smile:
  • amwldcoinamwldcoin Posts: 11,269 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Whenever I ship something out, it goes with insurance and signature confirmation, even if it is a cheap item. Just a habit I guess. I never want to be a victim, even with a $50 item. I would rather lose money or not make as much than be a victim! >>



    Have you ever thought about building up a kitty to self insure? This is of course if you pay the shipping. After a bit over 1000 packages it seems my 1st Delivery Confirmation is missing in action. The coin was $32. To insure it would be an extra $2? Basically I self insure the 1st $100 of anything I ship unless I don't feel good about the address...IE mainly apartments. I never purchase Signature confirmation but insure for $300 which requires a signature. So the buyer protection through the bay may not cover me but the Post Office should. I have heard the nightmares on claims...but I never had a problem in the past. This method has saved me well over 2K in the last year!
  • SethChandlerSethChandler Posts: 1,721 ✭✭✭✭
    Its amazing how sellers ship stuff. I do not care who it is, I always walk through shipping when I am buying something expensive, so we are all on the same page.

    I do not want this problem, again........

    Around 1998, The UPS guy placed a 20k Patek Philippe watch at my doorstep. No sig, no doorbell, no nothing. Crazy.
    Collecting since 1976.
  • Cougar1978Cougar1978 Posts: 9,688 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I have everything shipped to my PO Box. I can't imagine taking that risk. Gold coins left on doorstep?, scary.
    Investor
  • BryceMBryceM Posts: 11,927 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yup. PO box for anything & everything numismatic, in or out. Saves headaches both ways.
  • BullsitterBullsitter Posts: 6,185 ✭✭✭✭✭
    2009 UHR left on my front porch. City workers had been working next door for a few hours when I got home.
  • I have had UPS leave a monster box of ase's, 60 atb's
    USPS leave 30 atb's
    Fedex leave 3 rolls ase
    all have been signature required packages that never got signatures
  • 19Lyds19Lyds Posts: 26,497 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>The package could very well have had "Delivery Confirmation" on it. If it was a PayPal Generated Label, it did.

    Next time, email your seller and request and pay for signature confirmation or perhaps registered mail. >>



    If I understand PP policy correctly, for packages over $200 only Signature Confirmation protects the seller. Just as when I sell, I feel that it's the seller's responsibility to ship in a PP compliant manner and not for me to pay the extra for Sig. Conf. - that's his expense IMHO. >>

    Signature Confirmation is not required and delivery confirmation is built in to the label generating software.

    Bottom line, you ordered a coin and received a coin. The seller rolled the dice and didn't crap out.

    Has it ever happened to me? I always leave my maillady (Ms. Tina) pre-signed pink slips so I have no idea.
    Personally, I would never mail something that expensive without Signature Confirmation.
    I decided to change calling the bathroom the John and renamed it the Jim. I feel so much better saying I went to the Jim this morning.



    The name is LEE!

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