What I Witnessed at my Post Office!

[getitright1234]

Day one at my post office:  I wished a buyer having to go to the post office to pay additional postage because the eBay seller misrepresented the actual package as a  flat rate postage  packgee.    The postal employee gave the buyer a receipt; encouraged the buyer to seek reimbursement from the seller . 

Next day at my post office:  I witnessed, the same thing as described above.

So, on two separate visits to my post office, I got to witness first hand the experience of an eBay buyer being charged additional postal.  While I can not prove this was done by accident by the seller, the fact remains:  as a seller you "need" to make it your business to know better.   In both instances:  the buyers were happy with getting a receipt as proof to seek reimbursement.       

The moral of this post:   Sellers get your act together.....big brother (USPS)  is watching....and this is a big inconvenience to your buyer. 

[tiramisu41]

---

@getitright1234 wrote:

The moral of this post:   Sellers get your act together.....big brother (USPS)  is watching....and this is a big inconvenience to your buyer. 

---

@getitright1234,  the sloppy sellers are just fortunate that their buyers didn't refuse the packages and have it sent back to them.   When there's postage due, many buyers will not accept delivery because they have no way of knowing/ensuring they will be reimbursed for the difference.   Not to mention, it leaves a bad taste in a buyer's mouth when the seller was so unprofessional they didn't know how to properly mail and pay postage for a package. Some buyers will even jump to the conclusion they hae been scammed.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Sometimes this is the fault of the PO for looking at the label and deciding the seller did not pay enough postage. They don't always realize sellers can get commercial rates.

It's not always the fault of the seller.

[nowthatsjustducky]

Eeyup.  Or they have the misconception that a flat rate envelope must be flat, and if not perfectly flat; can not be shipped flat rate.

[hafoster]

Ask the USPS worker to examine the rate on the envelope, to check if it is flat.

[nowthatsjustducky]

That was from an incident reported here quite some time ago.  The numpty at the post office who charged the seller's buyer for postage due was under the impression that flat rate envelopes had to be actually physically flat to ship at the flat rate price, instead of the advertised "if it fits, it ships."

[pinkrose442savings2018]

---

@getitright1234 wrote:

Day one at my post office:  I wished a buyer having to go to the post office to pay additional postage because the eBay seller misrepresented the actual package as a  flat rate postage  packgee.    The postal employee gave the buyer a receipt; encouraged the buyer to seek reimbursement from the seller . 

Next day at my post office:  I witnessed, the same thing as described above.

So, on two separate visits to my post office, I got to witness first hand the experience of an eBay buyer being charged additional postal.  While I can not prove this was done by accident by the seller, the fact remains:  as a seller you "need" to make it your business to know better.   In both instances:  the buyers were happy with getting a receipt as proof to seek reimbursement.       

The moral of this post:   Sellers get your act together.....big brother (USPS)  is watching....and this is a big inconvenience to your buyer. 

---

This has happened in two different occasion to me and both were due to size clicked wrong in listing page.  When new I had all sort's of problems going on in the listing page.  Ton's of problems of trying to get the correct mailing cost...lot's of glitches...but I've been on here three year's with only two early in the listing phrase of issues where the buyer had to pay a few CENTS more...then it happen to me several times being the buyer of ink for my printer so I was on the end of paying a few cents more for postage and thought it was so nice of my previous buyer's to go ahead and pay the few cents.  I totally appreciated it.  It's very hard being new so I don't judge some error's here and there...I can attest that I was doing all I could to get everything right...Now if it should happen I'd e.mail the buyer and apology and see if I could refund them.

[iowa_east_coast]

There are sellers that don't weigh the packages and just guess a weight, they throw them in the blue box and most the time they just go though. sometimes they catch it in the system, I received a package that had a 1-2 pound label that weighed 4 pounds and didn't have any postage due. I received a pair of scissors in an envelope with a stamp, no postage due but the scissors were smashed. The replacement scissors had postage due, I refused them and got a refund. Another thick is to wrap a Priority Mail box with brown paper and ship parcel post, if the paper tears and they see it's a priority box it gets charged Priority rate.

[nowthatsjustducky]

---

@iowa_east_coast wrote:

There are sellers that don't weigh the packages and just guess a weight, they throw them in the blue box and most the time they just go though. sometimes they catch it in the system, I received a package that had a 1-2 pound label that weighed 4 pounds and didn't have any postage due. I received a pair of scissors in an envelope with a stamp, no postage due but the scissors were smashed.

---

So you were unlucky and someone else shipped at that same time either a rock or a Spock, since both of those smash scissors.

[pantlandia]

---

@nowthatsjustducky wrote:

---

@iowa_east_coast wrote:

There are sellers that don't weigh the packages and just guess a weight, they throw them in the blue box and most the time they just go though. sometimes they catch it in the system, I received a package that had a 1-2 pound label that weighed 4 pounds and didn't have any postage due. I received a pair of scissors in an envelope with a stamp, no postage due but the scissors were smashed.

---

So you were unlucky and someone else shipped at that same time either a rock or a Spock, since both of those smash scissors.

---

Bazinga! Non-watchers of TBBT won't understand, but I found it funny 🙂

[thatsallfolks]

Buyers can get a refund of their postage due payment from PayPal, who takes it from the seller's account.

[penguins_dont_fly]

---

@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:

Sometimes this is the fault of the PO for looking at the label and deciding the seller did not pay enough postage. They don't always realize sellers can get commercial rates.

It's not always the fault of the seller.

There was a thread last week ... The seller's PO was charging her extra because the clerks didn't understand Commercial Base Rates 😞

---

[myboardid]

As a seller I've had it happen once (in thousands of shipments).  It was an item I had shipped hundreds of at the same price, and I knew it was correct,  but for some reason the buyer's post office thought it was wrong, I don't know why.  I refunded the buyer instantly. 

[valkseller]

Inside most post offices Priority flat rate boxes are provided free at three rate points; small flat rate, medium flat rate, and large flat rate.  The large flat rate box is 12" x 12" x 6"

But the post office also has Priority boxes that can be ordered on line for free.  One of them is a Priority box #07, 12" x 12" x 8" where package weight and distance shipped is the basis for the postage charge.  Several times postal clerks have said that I owe postage because I'm using a large flat rate box.  I have to argue with them and show them the difference.

USPS flat rate boxes are a farce.  I seldom have an item heavy enough that would fit in any of them to make it a lower cost than paying a calculated weight/distance rate.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

USPS flat rate boxes are a farce.  I seldom have an item heavy enough that would fit in any of them to make it a lower cost than paying a calculated weight/distance rate.

UNTRUE

I just started using the Medium Flat Rate box again for many of my shipments. They are not a farce if you ship a lot from corner to corner of the country. Now that the RRB box ships at 5 pounds instead of 4, the Medium is more useful for me.

You cannot make blanket statements like that. How useful flat rate boxes are depend on how dense your items are, what they weigh, where you ship from and to.