I think I see how this will end, question is only ... when.

[chariot_badges]

A VERY high percentage of the stuff I mail (USPS) doesn't make it.

This last batch of 14 I sent I got two claims of "not delivered."

One of them WAS delivered, the other one the buyer gave me his old address (he admitted this in a message.)

I am currently at a Transaction Defect Rate of 1.08%, so I am already paying an 8 percent fine for my laziness and bad customer service.

Adding these two in on that will bring my TDR to about 1.2% -- at 2% I'm fired.

This trend is not good:

The post office isn't going to improve.  In fact I think it will get worse.

You guys will be glad to see some competition going away.

Ebay isn't going to cut a small seller a break. (they don't want small sellers here and are doing all they can to eliminate as many as possible).

And, no matter how hard I work to please the buyer, 

it is not possible 100% of the time.  Ebay knows this and is using that

as a tactic to eliminate as many small sellers as they can, and convince us that

it's our fault for being 'bad'. 

I've asked for advice here before and it really appears that there isn't any.

The only thing I will say is the "just do a better job" advice ... isn't really advice. 

[chariot_badges]

---

@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

I use USPS and rarely have an item which has a not delivery claim.

Well, that must be because I suck.   Right?

And I should be fired.  Right?

[chariot_badges]

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@tinsoldierunderground wrote:

I'm not wanting to poke the bear here... but the responses you've left on the neutral and negative FBs you've received are not helping your cause.  Reading through that would give me pause as a buyer, I try to avoid angry sellers.

---

You think that 'tone' is accidental?

It is not.

I don't NEED those kinds of 'buyers'. 

Don't want them either. 

I want them to stay away, and if my response to 

stupidity offends them, they can shop at YOUR store.

[bonjourami]

"Well, that must be because I suck.   Right?

And I should be fired.  Right?"

Noone has said that. Its just odd that in all of your bad feedback, there is not one complaint of inr, so that doesnt seem to be your problem.But  all the snad and cancellation complaints seem to be the problem.You can do something about that.

[inhawaii]

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@chariot_badges wrote:

---

@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

I use USPS and rarely have an item which has a not delivery claim.

Well, that must be because I suck.   Right?

And I should be fired.  Right?

---

Wow what kind of response is that?

Just like I did, we were simply pointing out that we hardly ever have packages lost in the mail, let alone a "high percentage".

[12345jamesstamps]

It might be how you ship your items out.

I am also in California and 2 items not received this year...both which not the fault of me...buyers don't know their address...LOL

I only use tracking for expensive sales...not unusual to get a sale from a buyer with 20+ items purchased at once.

I prefer to take everything I mail in person in the post office.

Anything needing tracking I prefer a clerk to add that and I just paid...more expensive maybe...but no headaches for something missing or such.

Never made a shipping label yet...probably don't know how to do it...LOL

And I do ship out a lot sometimes.

If I have a claim open for a refund to buyer...I just pay it and not argue with a buyer.

I have had quite a few International Buyers lately plus 'freight forward' so I have been lucky.

[chevymontecarlo88]

Hang in there @chariot_badges !

[tinsoldierunderground]

No I don't think your tone, as you call it, was accidental.  Seems quite deliberate.  My point was that a decent, honest buyer may well be put off by your responses, not just the buyers you don't 'need'.  But by all means, carry on.  Your original post is on the way to becoming self-fulfilling prophecy. 

[nyr134]

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@chariot_badges wrote:

A VERY high percentage of the stuff I mail (USPS) doesn't make it.

---

I’ve had a few shipments lost over the years and I’ve found that most of the time USPS either finds it after I’ve initiated a missing mail search or reimburses me because of the Ground Advantage insurance.  
How has your response been when following up with the Post Office?

[powell-collectibles]

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@chariot_badges wrote:

---

@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

I use USPS and rarely have an item which has a not delivery claim.

Well, that must be because I suck.   Right?

And I should be fired.  Right?

---

Well, maybe you are a great person. But a good seller you are not. My advice would be to look for a different way to make extra money.

[meme6253]

Do you use tracking?, If you don't you really should.

[luckythewinner]

A VERY high percentage of the stuff I mail (USPS) doesn't make it.

This last batch of 14 I sent I got two claims of "not delivered."

One of them WAS delivered, the other one the buyer gave me his old address (he admitted this in a message.)

This trend is not good:

The post office isn't going to improve.  In fact I think it will get worse.

I am confused. You say a very high percentage of the stuff you mail by USPS does not make it, but the only two transactions you mention had nothing to do with the post office.

So can you tell us what that "high percentage" is?  I have not had a dispute or a lost package in two years at least, so if ther is an issue with the USPS I don't think it is universal. 

Ebay knows this and is using that as a tactic to eliminate as many small sellers as they can, and convince us that it's our fault for being 'bad'. 

I don't think eBay is trying to "eliminate as many small sellers as they can". I think they are trying to eliminate as many sellers who attract defects, regardless of their size.  

[a_c_green]

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@chariot_badges wrote:

A VERY high percentage of the stuff I mail (USPS) doesn't make it.

This last batch of 14 I sent I got two claims of "not delivered."

One of them WAS delivered, the other one the buyer gave me his old address (he admitted this in a message.)

---

I've read this several times but I am still not seeing the complaint here, as you say that neither of your most recent claims against you were supported: one of them was delivered anyway, and the other one presumably was as well, just not to the address that the buyer wanted, but to the one that he actually provided. His fault, not yours, and an INR claim should have been found in your favor. (Was it?)

As for international shipments, are you using eBay International Shipping?

[natoman777]

So, seems like a lot of posts about USPS lately.  The two examples you give are not USPS issues, eBay issues, or seller issues.  They are buyer issues.  People give wrong addresses, claim don't receive when do (which eBay will always have your back on with tracking).  The defects are tough, but both examples you gave wouldn't have counted against you.  Late shipments do (meaning not shipping in your handling time). 

USPS was horrid in 2020-2021.  I have seen improvements, other than the USA tour some packages take due to routing issues.  I personally have had issues with both FED EX and UPS as much as USPS in the past 5 years

[albertabrightalberta]

I don't know the OP, I don't know how they ship, I don't know whether they ship with tracking and I cannot comment on their business plan. 

I believe there's definitely something going on with USPS. Whether it's a lack of help, closed postal locations, weather, employees who may not GAS or the threat of privatization, service isn't what it once was. 

However I have my own couple of recent experiences, one of which is very current, in fact, not yet delivered. 

Over the last 6 months, I've had 2 shipments that stalled several days into their journey, receiving only automated "on its way to next facility" updates. Then just as quickly as those auto-scans started, they stopped and real tracking showed "out for delivery" and delivered. 

The most recent case is for an item that was bought, paid for and scanned as accepted on May 13. (ETA was May 15-19.) 

When the buyer emailed to ask about it on May 20 because tracking hadn't updated, I saw that tracking still showed only the "acceptance" scan. 

I wasn't able to open a missing mail claim until May 21 and did so yesterday morning. I've had decent luck in finding that "lost" and stuck items are shaken loose when searches are started. 

Within 6 hours of filing, the scanning updated and the item arrived at the Boston hub distribution center. I suspect it was misplaced in my local post office and found when the claim was filed. 

But in checking today, it subsequently arrived and departed another distribution facility but again, is just "In Transit to Next Facility." 

I have no idea when this item will be delivered to the buyer but she told me that this is (sadly) her recent experience with USPS on nearly all her online purchases. 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

Are you using the ESE?  Do you have a PO problem at your location?  29 years & in all that time, I've had a grand total of 1 item that was truly not received.  I get an INR once every 6 months or so & 99% of the time, it turns up within a day or 2.  Either it's at a neigbor's house or box or they were impatient & it just hadn't gotten to them yet.