eBay

sin-n-dex · ‎08-03-2022

OK, to start, it's 12, not 15 as I original thought. 3 were postcards and similar things and went in a different mailbag.

Chit Chats Express (my cross border courier that takes items to Niagara NY) is doing their own investigation of everywhere the package travelled and contacting USPS in Niagara (I can't, they don't answer the phone, they are exceptionally busy at that sort center).

I did a missing mail on one item to try and get the situation looked into by USPS, but the first contact email I got was from the buyer's home town, so they seemed to miss my note about where the problem occurred, and no one at this post office has contacted me for more info (which is what normally happens the day after I file a missing mail report). I didn't try calling USPS because it's generally a waste of time (and a long time spent on hold).

So the items were dropped off in Niagara on July 28 at 5:30 pm, and USPS never scanned them in. So there are minimal things that could happen, and five business days have passed now. I've been told on here that they might not have gotten to it yet. I've been told it might have gotten on a truck and hasn't been discovered yet (I hear stories often of packages that take a scenic route).

How likely is it that a whole bag of mail got stolen at the post office when hundreds of bags are being unloaded? Chit Chats uses the biggest size semi-truck for their delivery to Niagara NY.

I've contacted all customers. 2 are a bit upset and contacted me first (one notified me of the issue, the other contacted me yesterday). The other ten were contacted today that tell them there is an issue that's being looked into. Nothing more than that. I got a few replies, so I think some people will be OK with how I deal with this if it doesn't end well with the packages.

I figured out I can replace two items (one is identical, the other is the same coin, different date, not sure if that matters, but I guess we'll find out). Three items are pretty uncommon and I will not see another one in my tenure on eBay. I calculated the loss is $355 retail, maybe $100 out of pocket for what I paid for the items.

Coupons have been created and once I get a bit more info on how they work I'll be ready to implement this. If this doesn't end well, customers are going to get their money back in full, plus a coupon to buy something from the store as compensation for what happened. (I know it's not my fault, but feedback is about how customers feel about the transaction, and I don't want anyone to feel bad, especially some of the new eBay members that purchased from me as their first transaction). How much I give for the coupon depends on what they bought, how much they spent, and what is needed to find a similar item in the store as compensation. (Like I expect the French Stamps guy to try to find another lot of French stamps, although the only requirement is that it's coins and stamps category for the coupon).

C.

Anonymous · ‎08-03-2022

What kind of insurance does Chit Chats have against this kind of thing...if any?

onefootflipper · ‎08-03-2022

I feel your pain. A few weeks ago my wife accidentally gave several hundred dollars worth of UPS packages to the normal mailman at her work. I freaked out, we called the post office, they were totally unhelpful, said it was our mistake and out of their hands. My wife and I ended up having a huge argument about it and everything.

Then about 11PM the next night the items popped up in UPS tracking and I could finally start breathing again.

sin-n-dex · ‎08-03-2022

@Anonymous wrote:
What kind of insurance does Chit Chats have against this kind of thing...if any?

You have to buy it. If your postage is printed on eBay, they don't offer to sell it to you.

I have successfully gotten money from Chit Chats over lost parcels in the past (without purchasing insurance), but I had to argue for weeks to get it.

They're still maintaining they were dropped off and USPS dropped the ball. But the Chit Chats drop off scan is something Chit Chats does, it doesn't mean it actually happened. I'll be following up with them by phone more than once a day so this doesn't get dropped. They seem to not mind speaking with me as long as I'm polite.

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎08-03-2022

@onefootflipper wrote:
I feel your pain. A few weeks ago my wife accidentally gave several hundred dollars worth of UPS packages to the normal mailman at her work. I freaked out, we called the post office, they were totally unhelpful, said it was our mistake and out of their hands. My wife and I ended up having a huge argument about it and everything.

Then about 11PM the next night the items popped up in UPS tracking and I could finally start breathing again.

Oh my that's pretty stressful. I've had weird things happen with missing mail (and it seems to happen to expensive packages) in the past. The one day I lost $500 over two packages (Chit Chats related, they paid me $200 which I split with the coin shop owner... we only paid $5 for the items, but it sucked having to forfeit most of the profit).

I have never had it happen with several packages at once. And I don't like the lack of closure on what happened to that mailbag. At least when the $200 registered package got stolen in the mail, Polish Post investigated, told my buyer, who told me, I told Canada Post, and they refunded me within 2 days. (The letter was stolen in Toronto and Polish Post refused the shipment and sent the letters back to Toronto because six letters were missing).

I don't want to, but I can and will take the financial hit... it's the fear of bad feedback and angry customers that stresses me out.

C.

dnasilver · ‎08-03-2022

Maybe someone within chitchats has you marked. Of course when you say the one day you lost $500 on two packages but got 200 from chit chats on items only paid $5 for and still complain about the loss profit. Not sure what you are complaining about. If those are the kind of margins you work with, you should be loaded and ready to retire.

sin-n-dex · ‎08-03-2022

@dnasilver wrote:
Maybe someone within chitchats has you marked. Of course when you say the one day you lost $500 on two packages but got 200 from chit chats on items only paid $5 for and still complain about the loss profit. Not sure what you are complaining about. If those are the kind of margins you work with, you should be loaded and ready to retire.

The two items that were $5 cost were an Oman coin from 1891, and an Indian states coin. Because I can read the language and the person selling them could not (and put them in a junk bin), it was a lucky strike that happened in one day, both sold overnight and got mailed with Chit Chats promising tracking to the delivery country. It turns out the tracking was spotty, both buyers filed an INR (which may or may not be true, I have no proof either way), and I had to refund $500. My argument was that Chit Chats sold me a service with tracking and I pointed to their website. I told them they should not promise it if they can't deliver, people are counting on that tracking and the lost revenue is significant. After 4 weeks of me sending them messages they offered $100 CAD per package as a settlement to make me go away. This was in 2016.

Chit Chats knows whats in all my packages because I need to say so on their portal and how much the customer paid. If they were looking for a bag of mail to take, they picked the wrong bag. 12 packages is a low yield for shipping. Sometimes I have upwards of 30. The agent at the branch where I drop my stuff off doesn't have access to my account to see what I'm shipping (that's on their portal to be submitted to US Customs).

All my good margin items are junk box finds, and I take advantage of the fact I can read Arabic and Hebrew, which most local coin sellers cannot. I can identify a coin written entirely in Arabic and I know if it's a good find or not. I don't have the same success with Asian languages.

Lots of stuff, like silver... is only 25% margin... thankfully there was only a couple of silver coins in that batch that got lost.

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎08-03-2022

I have some more news...

Chit Chats brought packages to Niagara NY today and dropped them off at lunch. I put a notifier on one (the expensive one that I don't want to get lost... I'm very concerned after what happened this week).

I just got a notification on my phone that this package is in Rochester (and I checked on Chit Chats portal, they all are in Rochester, nothing was scanned in Niagara).

My theory with this new info is that they threw the whole bag on the truck to Rochester and they just haven't had a chance to be scanned yet (or are stuck at some distribution centre). Oh, everything from Niagara goes to Rochester NY before it branches out... no exceptions.

C.