Automated Package Verification Ripping Off Sellers

[itiswhatitis]

Attention Fellow Sellers:

Keep your eyes on your Paypal accounts, your email accounts, and your ebay mail.

Today I received a notice from ebay stating that one of the packages I shipped out over a week ago had an incorrect shipping label attached and that the USPS charged an additional $4.89 to my paypal account.

Now then, here is the long and short of it in detail...... shipped a few trading cards in a 6x9 bubble mailer and it weighed 2 ounces (1.9 ounces according to the scale at the local USPS office where I dropped it off).  I marked the shipping label as being 4 ounces as I always allow an extra ounce or two on all my packages.  Besides, 1 to 4 ounces in a bubble mailer all cost the exact same amount of money to ship regardless of the weight you put on it between 1 and 4 ounces.

In any event, paid the 1st class postage fee, slapped on the label, took it to the post office to be shipped, they weighed it, and it shipped with no issues.

Now today, 5 days after the package was received by the buyer, I get the email from eBay stating the USPS deemed the package's label to be incorrect and slapped a PRIORITY MAIL label on it and charged me the extra $4.89 for which I can jump through hoops to dispute it with the USPS to get my $ back.

Seems to me that there is absolutely no way they could have done this by error.  Seems like a direct ploy to just charge your account an extra fee with the hopes that you do not notice or do not care because you are too busy doing other things.  

So then..... I am alerting all other sellers to watch out for this as you could be losing $$$ you work hard to earn all because the USPS is randomly overcharging you for a service you did not receive or ask for.

Bottom line..... Sellers Beware!

[bigdeals.etc]

A little OT question I have but its still related to APV (you don't see many APV posts here).

First Class costs the same from 4oz - 8oz. If I created a label and said its 5oz, but APV caught  the package at 6oz, they won't charge anything extra right? Because the weights are the same price anyway.

[slippinjimmy]

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@bigdeals.etc wrote:

A little OT question I have but its still related to APV (you don't see many APV posts here).

First Class costs the same from 4oz - 8oz. If I created a label and said its 5oz, but APV caught  the package at 6oz, they won't charge anything extra right? Because the weights are the same price anyway.

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That should be correct.

Although the direct billing due to weight/size errors is pretty new, the use of automated package verification is not as new. Before the direct billing these packages would be kicked out from the line and marked for postage due collection.

People seem to blame APV for errors (which obviously has to happen at some level as no system is 100% perfect) I'd guess that most of the APV billing is for actual user errors. If there were chronic ongoing APV errors I think we would see many more posts.

[2....1....0....sold!]

@itiswhatitis I've had this happen multiple times in the last 6 months.

I ship a lot of Regional Rate Box B's (RRB) shirt boxes.

I think I'm at 4 times now that I've gotten a "rate adjustment" because "I put RRB postage on a Large Flat Rate Box".

INFINITELY IMPOSSIBLE because I NEVER use, and DO NOT keep, Large Flat Rate boxes (LFR) in my shipping area.

RRB and LFR shirt boxes are wildly different in size/shape and NO way I "accidentally" used an LFR box...no freaking way.

The first time, I asked them for proof (a picture please) of the box and shipping label...lol..how stupid am I...zero response.

After the second time, I started taking photos of the label on the box.

The third time, I had proof it was an RRB label on an RRB box...submitted it...ZERO response...complete rip off and NO customer service.