eBay

jam731 · ‎04-25-2020

I sold a set of dishes and buyer posted address as PO box. It is to be sent USPS parcel. Do you think there will be a problem with this. I sent an email to the buyer and asked for a street address.

mtgraves7984 · ‎04-25-2020

There's nothing wrong with shipping to a PO box. No worries!

a_c_green · ‎04-25-2020

@jam731 wrote:
I sold a set of dishes and buyer posted address as PO box. It is to be sent USPS parcel. Do you think there will be a problem with this.

Absolutely not; that is preferable to having the carrier leave a big tempting box on the buyer's porch. Keeps it out of the rain as well. It doesn't have to physically fit in the buyer's PO Box. If it doesn't, the PO will simply leave a Front Counter pickup notice in the box instead.

@jam731 wrote:
I sent an email to the buyer and asked for a street address.

If they have paid, you would be giving up your seller protection against an Item Not Received dispute by shipping it elsewhere. If they have not paid and are agreeable to having it sent to a street address instead, make sure that they add that address to their stored Ship To addresses on eBay, and select it when sending you their payment.

nkmipgolf · ‎04-25-2020

I have to use a PO box in my town as that is were I pick up all my mail, no choice. Only UPS or FedEx will come to the house.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎04-25-2020

There was no need for you to ask for a street address. Customers with a PO Box can accept packages of any size.

If the package won't fit in their box, they get a pickup slip, similar to what would be left at your home if the carrier decided not to just leave your package (due to weather, risk of theft, etc.). Shipping to a PO Box is a guarantee that the package won't be left on your buyer's doorstep to potentially be stolen on rained-on.

soh.maryl · ‎04-25-2020

Perhaps you are not aware of this, but a post office box is a locked box located in a Federal building and is about the safest delivery address around.

The postal employee will leave a card in the buyer's PO box, the buyer will go to the window and present the card to pick up the package.

No package left on the porch in the rain. No tempting large package for porch pirates. Package will not be delivered two streets away.

mvls1 · ‎04-26-2020

One thing you all are not considering is the cost factor. Those dishes that the OP sold they might have been expecting to ship by FedEx for say $15-17 and shipping to a PO box might cost $30-35 with USPS rates. On larger heavier packages USPS is generally too expensive and FedEx doesn't ship to PO boxes.

We have run into this from time to time and have started excluding PO boxes for larger heavier items. It is the only way to avoid these problems.

cream_couture · ‎04-26-2020

The OP already stated in the post that they are using USPS, so there is nothing to consider regarding Fedex being cheaper. It appears the OP uses calculated shipping, so that would be based on the address/zip code so there won't be any additional costs based on PO Box vs street address.

lja440 · ‎04-26-2020

@mvls1 wrote:
One thing you all are not considering is the cost factor. Those dishes that the OP sold they might have been expecting to ship by FedEx for say $15-17 and shipping to a PO box might cost $30-35 with USPS rates. On larger heavier packages USPS is generally too expensive and FedEx doesn't ship to PO boxes.

We have run into this from time to time and have started excluding PO boxes for larger heavier items. It is the only way to avoid these problems.

I won't ship with FedEx, simply way too much damage. Beside that with USPS there is no additional fees. FedEx charges $11.45 just to pick up a pre-paid package from my house. USPS has free carrier pick up.

On average damage from the 3 carriers per my personal experience.

USPS No outgoing damage, 1 incoming damaged package very poorly packed.

UPS I have only shipped one package and it arrived OK, also one poorly packed package with damage.

FedEx Shipped 3 prepaid packages ALL lost, Around 50% of FedEx packages arrive either with damage, have been left exposed to elements or just a door tag slapped on the front of my mailbox on the road. (I can not get from work, 40 minutes south of my house to the FedEx terminal, over an hour north of my house before they close for the day). We have actually been in the yard and drive and watched the driver barely stop and slap a tag on our mailbox, twice. I followed him up our dead end lane watched him reach out and slap the tag, swing around in the school bus turn and come nose to nose with my Jeep. And he tried to tell me no one answered the door.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎04-26-2020

@mvls1 wrote: ... they might have been expecting to ship by FedEx for say $15-17 and shipping to a PO box might cost $30-35 with USPS rates.....

As noted by the OP, they are shipping via USPS. Also, if they don't want to ship to PO Boxes, they must set up the appropriate buyer block. Finally: Most PO Boxes can be set up to accept packages from FedEx and UPS; there's a service called "Street addressing":

https://www.usps.com/pobox/customer-agreement-for-premium-po-box-service-enhancements.pdf

mvls1 · ‎04-26-2020

It was late last night and I guess I missed that the OP was shipping USPS. That acknowledged, I stand by my fact that larger heavier packages are almost impossible to sell when listing with USPS shipping. We ship from CA and almost without fail USPS rates are substantially higher than FedEx, sometimes double.

As far as FedEx being worse than USPS for damage, that has not been our experience. We pack our packages so they can be dropped from 6 feet and survive and just don't have problems with either FedEx or USPS. From the sounds of your FedEx experience it sounds like you are having a FedEx employee problem. I am basing that on the fact that we have shipped over 10,000 packages (approximately two thirds USPS, one third FedEx) without problems. We have never had a single complaint from any buyer. We sell many, many breakables every week and the only message regarding an issue was when one of our packages was literally tossed over a 5 ft wall and landed on a pool deck on the other side. The owners saw it from inside their house, got the package and found no damage when they opened it.

We love USPS shipping, but sadly with recent rate increases some items just can't be shipped with them any longer. Our buyers just won't pay the additional costs.

As far as your FedEx driver issues go, you should make them aware of your concerns and try to arrive at an agreeable solution. If they continue to give you problems you need to call FedEx and report the problems.

lja440 · ‎04-26-2020

@mvls1 wrote:
It was late last night and I guess I missed that the OP was shipping USPS. That acknowledged, I stand by my fact that larger heavier packages are almost impossible to sell when listing with USPS shipping. We ship from CA and almost without fail USPS rates are substantially higher than FedEx, sometimes double.

As far as FedEx being worse than USPS for damage, that has not been our experience. We pack our packages so they can be dropped from 6 feet and survive and just don't have problems with either FedEx or USPS. From the sounds of your FedEx experience it sounds like you are having a FedEx employee problem. I am basing that on the fact that we have shipped over 10,000 packages (approximately two thirds USPS, one third FedEx) without problems. We have never had a single complaint from any buyer. We sell many, many breakables every week and the only message regarding an issue was when one of our packages was literally tossed over a 5 ft wall and landed on a pool deck on the other side. The owners saw it from inside their house, got the package and found no damage when they opened it.

We love USPS shipping, but sadly with recent rate increases some items just can't be shipped with them any longer. Our buyers just won't pay the additional costs.

As far as your FedEx driver issues go, you should make them aware of your concerns and try to arrive at an agreeable solution. If they continue to give you problems you need to call FedEx and report the problems.

FedEx equally bad with Express, Home and Ground here.

I ship a lot of art glass and china I have shipped 9 sets of china to replacements.com plus a multitude of individual pieces. All through USPS and all arrived without damage and at a fair price. Through eBay I mainly sell and buy vinyl and buy a lot of large lots. Also no damage either way.

You are zone 8 from me in Ohio, I shipped over the 10 years my sis in law lived in LA tons of breakables and vintage mid century modern items. My brother in law would sell in their shop space. MCM doesn't do well in my area, we made more even including shipping by me sending it to him to sell.

Probably I have shipped 30 or so sets of china with USPS between the in laws and replacements. Not a single chip. FedEx managed to break a plexiglass parrot feeder that was supposed to be macaw proof. If you know about them their beaks have enough power to break the bones in your fingers if they want to.

mvls1 · ‎04-26-2020

It definitely seems that most carrier issues appear to be geographically localized or are specific to the delivery employee. At least that is what it appears from reports here on the community boards. Good packaging is our best defense against rough handling and all we can do.

7606dennis · ‎04-27-2020

If you are shipping via USPS there should be no problem shipping to a PO Box.

"It is an intelligent man that is aware of his own ignorance."

lja440 · ‎04-27-2020

@mvls1 wrote:
It definitely seems that most carrier issues appear to be geographically localized or are specific to the delivery employee. At least that is what it appears from reports here on the community boards. Good packaging is our best defense against rough handling and all we can do.

Agreed, if the packing is poor then no matter the carrier the outcome will not be good.