USPS charging accounts after overweighing our package

[tvcollectibles]

This past year, the USPS took it upon their self to make new rules to charge sellers if their packages weigh more than what they stipulated on the mailing label as opposed to just sending the package back to the seller like they used to do.  Odd, in all the decades I been eBaying, I can not recall ever having a single package returned from being "mis-weighed" by us.  Yet this past year along, since they began charging our accounts for the "mis-weighing", I've had 3 packages charged!  One of them which the weight tripled going from a 3.2 ounce package to an 11.6 ounce package!

This 3rd one was the worst yet.  Some postal clerk in the system took it to not only charge us but to change the package from a "First Class/Ground" to a Priority rate tacking our account with $4 more when the package only weighed 3.2 ounces containing a photo, two one ounce cardboard backings and the polybag it was mailed in.  We have a scale in which we weigh the packages with, our local Post Office weighs all of our packages as we bring them in and they probably get weighed again somewhere enroute.

I brought it to the attention of our local Post Office and even they were shocked by it saying that they weight all packages going out wondering how this could happen.

The overweighing seems to be coming from the destination it's supposed to arrive and it's not just one location doing it.

Not sure if this will help but I began writing in ink the weight of all my packages on the label -BUT- I really wish they would go back to the old way where they sent the packages back to the sender.  THEN we would have proof of what our packages weigh because when we now report these instances and the USPS does an investigation on this ... guess who they side with?

Which brings up another whole matter of how they can do a proper investigation if the package has already been delivered?

[robbie31415]

Mistakes are happening somewhere, and I don't know where in the chain this is happening.

The newer technologies that come out the more they catch, but sometimes these technologies make mistakes like when packages get stuck together.

I've personally gotten very very very few adjustments, so it's odd if you keep running into issues.

I will say I am GLAD they don't come back. That leads to unhappy customers. I'd rather have it go to the customer then file for an adjustment review. The few I have had have all been credited back to me.

[lakefor94]

I have had a couple of small debits and a couple of small credits over the last several years from USPS . Nothing to sneeze at. All were chump change. 

Nothing I have spent any time trying to correct.

[glgenterprise]

Count me among the sellers that would rather deal with disputing the rare incorrect correction charge than the PO sending the package back to me resulting in a unhappy buyer.

That being said, I really wish the PO had sent back the mislabeled package a couple of weeks ago.

I apparently printed the same label twice and put it on two different packages. One was correctly delivered, the other showed up at that same buyer's address with postage due - it was a large box with an incorrect media mail label on it (the original item was a correctly shipped media mail manual). The idiot buyer, rather than declining the package, PAID the charge and then complained to me. I immediately made him whole and sent him a a prepaid label to send it back to me. It took him WEEKS and several messages to get him to slap the label on and hand it off to the delivery person.

Fortunately I had an extra to ship to the correct buyer in the interim, but it would have made my life easier if he'd just declined the package in the first place.

[tvcollectibles]

To all the repliers here ... it's good to know I'm not the only one this has occurred with.

And yeah for me, it's been like 1 out of 100s of packages going out so when it's chump change, it's no biggie.

The only bad one for me was the changing of the service upping it to Priority tacking on the $4 charge but oh well.

I'm not sure writing the weight on the package will help though if this is being done by a bot rather than a person.

We all know bots can't read.  😉  winks

[12345jamesstamps]

I prefer to walk into a post office to weight my packages.

You sell a lot and probably use eBay shipping labels...a few mistakes doesn't seem so bad.

[klhmdg]

I always stand in line and get the receipt from the PO.

I have had a couple small credits but last month I was charged for a large weight increase.

I sent in the PO receipt photo and was refunded.

Im very glad they dont return stuff to me OR even send it on postage due.

The boxes themselves are bar coded and scanned also, so people using free Priority boxes and paying for Ground will also see the charge from USPS.

[nickelsanddimes2015]

You can request a investigation to the package through the message you recevied regarding the charge.

[tvcollectibles]

> I have had a couple small credits but last month I was charged for a large weight increase. <

So you go IN the Post Office to have them do the weighing and this is STILL occurring?

w0w that's mind boggling.

But this is what I meant about if they returned the package to us ... then we have proof in our hands what the actual weight is.  It doesn't matter if it's chump change but somewhere down the line, a bigger charge can emerge and we'll have no proof.

You do cos you go in there to get a receipt for your proof but you also pay way higher prices than many of us in order to have that proof.

[tvcollectibles]

> You can request a investigation to the package through the message you recevied regarding the charge. <

I think we covered that here.

It's no investigation since there is no package for them to look at.  The only thing tangible for them to find is record of what was recorded in the weight ... whether it was 2 packages accidentally on the scale when the bot weighed it or what.

Guess who they will find in favor of?

[robbie31415]

I get the adjustment removed. They have pictures to look at.

I'm not sure how it's done on ebay and such but on pirateship there is an easy button to contest and input a few sentences.

Then a credit is issued after review.

[deserdog]

The APV has been around for years, not just since last year.  There is a picture of every item that is weighed and measured by the APV system. Every time when I have had a package changed from a small package to a larger priority package, it was a case of my little package sitting on top of another package. I disputed them and every adjustment was reversed. I have also got credits when I had too high of weight paid for.

[tvcollectibles]

> I'm not sure how it's done on ebay and such but on pirateship there is an easy button to contest and input a few sentences. <

Few sentences as in 200 letters or less.  😕

Pirate was who my last one was with where the USPS switched the 3.2 ounce package from First Class/Ground to Priority tacking on $4 to the charge.  No fault to Pirate's service in this as it was the USPS that did it all.

> Then a credit is issued after review. <

So you're saying the USPS will revert the package back to First Class price in credit even though it's already been delivered as Priority?

Can't wait to see that result.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@tvcollectibles wrote: ... USPS switched the 3.2 ounce package from First Class/Ground to Priority tacking on $4 to the charge.... USPS will revert the package back to First Class price in credit even though it's already been delivered as Priority? ....

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That depends on why your package was upgraded to Priority since that's not just a weight issue.  Some PO staff claim that if you put a First Class package label on a piece that actually qualifies to be mailed as a letter or flat, then it has to be upgraded to Priority because it has tracking and you can't put tracking on a letter or flat.  That doesn't make much sense to me, and I also don't see why it would carry over to lower-weight Ground Advantage pieces, which have no lower dimensional criteria.  But it must be something other than just the package weight.

But to answer your question: Yes, when a credit is given, it's (almost?)  always after the package has been delivered.

[just-me]

About 4 years ago the small flat rate boxes were being adjusted as is they were medium flat rate boxes, that was a real pain, but I was able to contact USPS and have them corrected.  There have been very few in the past few years that were incorrect, and most of the time, I am getting refund adjustments.  It seems to be fairly reasonable for the experience I've had with my packages.  I much prefer them to deliver the package to my buyer and then let me deal with the adjustment and correction if need be vs sending it back to me or making the recipient pay to receive it.