new scam that i am not aware of?
I sold a silver round and the buyer send me a message stating that he received the padded envelope torn open and in a plastic usps bag, no coin but the packing slip was still inside! I am surprised the post office delivered a open package with no item and a packing slip! I had to refund the money but it just does not set well with me 😞
23 comments
fullers_uk
·9 months agoThe worst item you can send in a weak envelope is ball bearings, if the envelope splits it will bring a mail centre to a stand still for hours.
fm2000
·9 months agoI'd ship it in a small, cube shaped box cocooned in bubble wrap, like the 4x4x4 shipping box eBay shipping supplies sells. That will survive anything, including literally being stomped on. An ounce of silver is too expensive to risk in a padded envelope.
It looks like someone tried feeding a non-first-class-letter padded envelope through the first class letter sorting machines and it was torn out. (I had a few DVDs that were damaged this way in padded envelopes, afterwards I reinforced all my CDs and DVDs in padded envelopes to make them too physically thick to fit into the letter or large envelope/flat sorting machines and it never happened again.) Padded envelopes are not supposed to be first class letter mail and not fed into regular size letter sorting machines for that reason, but it probably happens once in a blue moon.
If you send it Ground Advantage, you might be able to file a claim and be reimbursed up to $100, but the post office might fight you tooth and nail on it. They often deny claims related to packaging, and say "you just didn't pack it properly, claim denied". But it is worth a try.
lm921again
OP9 months agoI wanted to thank everyone for all the reply's. 🙂 I still feel bad 😞 loosing 170usd but that is the cost of doing business.
12345jamesstamps
·9 months agoThe plastic bag should have the contents of the envelope in it from the torn (bubble?) envelope.
Would it be unusual for a buyer re-using the plastic bag from previously?...No
If it's a 'repeat buyer' and a buyer with various positive feedback I would say I trust the buyer.
Strange how the (bubble?) envelope is torn like that.
tinsoldierunderground
·9 months agoNo scam here, just the occasional USPS SNAFU. I had this happen to me back in 2004 with an affidavit I mailed pertaining to a lawsuit - after about 2 weeks I received the corner of the envelope with the postage, and a torn fragment with most of my return address, all in what @simba6 so aptly coined, a 'body bag'.
ccomic
·9 months agoIf you track the item, does the damage notice appear on the tracking? What is the next step when this occurs? Does USPS pay out anything in these cases?
wastingtime101
·9 months agoThere's no scam here. Item got torn up on USPS sorting machinery.
File an insurance claim with USPS for the damaged item. Use a screenshot of the eBay order details page for proof of value. They should pay out for the item, but not the shipping label.
bdmh-enterprises
·9 months agoHey, at least they apologized... Sometimes you just have to forgive and forget...
tobaccocardyahoo
·9 months agoI would have used a stayflat cardboard mailer, and taped the flap.
I rarely use bubble mailers any more. Not even for books. An oversided stayflat is very effective in avoiding dinged corners.
simba6
·9 months agoItems like that can tear out of an envelope. Even has the official USPS we care "body bag" . Always ship in a box.
dirk12955
·9 months agoIn this case the buyer and seller
are both 100% aware of what happened.
For a change.
gloryglorygifts
·9 months agoBody Bag 😂 that's great
stephenmorgan
·9 months agoWonder how often this happens if item is in a box instead of an envelope?
cardsforauction
·9 months agoI got one of these "We Care" bags a few years ago. It was just a 3 page document in a letter envelope. The machine mashed up and tore the pages of the document, and I got about a third of the document in this bag delivered to me. I was in shock that I did not get much more of my 3 page document, very little was left of it.
1786davycrockett
·9 months ago@lm921again
This is one of the hazards of mailing items in padded envelopes -- too many opportunities for open edges & corners to be caught in the belts and rollers at the USPS Distribution Centers.
It's a cheap way to ship -- just not always very dependable.
ALL edges & corners need to be taped down SECURELY.
krazzykats
·9 months agoGot stuck in a postal machine and torn open. The coin fell out.
á“šá˜á—¢
inhawaii
·9 months agoExactly what I think.
I would never ship a coin in an envelope.
gloryglorygifts
·9 months agoIt happens and that's what the post office does. Sometimes envelopes are ripped when they are going through the scanners and belts of the post office. The coin probably fell out somewhere in the processing, the post office repackages it and sends it on the way.
You can try to get your money back from the post office, if you had insurance on it or sent it priority mail. Just go to their website.
ccomic
·9 months agoYeah, let’s go with that. And the employee that finds it will donate it to charity.
gloryglorygifts
·9 months agoIf that's how you want to see it, be my guest.
bonjourami
·9 months agoWhat exactly doesnt sit well? That the post office included a damaged pkg notice on it? I once received a torn open pkg, with the damaged notice,the ring was gone, but the sellers thank you note was still in the pkg.
lm921again
OP9 months agoThe post office should have returned the package to me and refunded all the money i lost. Instead they just sent an empty package to the buyer! Also note: a one ounce silver round falling anywhere is going to catch someone attention! At the end of the day, i am out 92 dollars + a one ounce .999 silver round = 80 usd totaling a loss of 170usd 😞
stephenmorgan
·9 months agoI think you are just out $80, the value of the item. You reimbursed the buyer their money, so you are not out that money.
Did you have the item insured? You could have ship one ounce in a box to almost anywhere in the US for less then $6 using USPS Ground Advantage and there is automatically a $100 of insurance.