I've had several issues with USPS lately but this is a new one.
My buyer contacted me to say he received an empty box, and provided a photo of the box that clearly has the label I attached to it. It was a USPS Priority Small box to which I added substantial packing tape since it contained several pounds of lead fishing sinkers. I have no doubt the box in the photo is the actual box I shipped.
What's unusual here is that USPS tracking indicates delivery has not been made yet.
What's even odder is that there is a difference between the tracking info on Ebay and what it says at USPS.com.
On Ebay there are two entries for March 11, first where it says it went out for delivery, then it says visible damage. There never is notice of delivery completed. Then on March 12 the latest update just says 'waiting for delivery scan' and now 4 days later there is no further activity.
On USPS.com, there is nothing about the package being damaged, just that it was out for delivery on March 11 but no notice of delivery having been made, then a new notification on March 12 that it is awaiting delivery scan, with an apology that delivery might be later than expected.
Meanwhile, the empty box was actually delivered either March 11 or March 12, and my buyer contacted me with the photo of the empty box on March 12.
Four days later on March 16, there have been no new updates on either Ebay or USPS.com.
Since I had another lost package insurance claim pending after a month long saga with a similar package, I figured this is a lost cause so I went ahead and filed a new insurance claim on March 14. Much to my surprise, both the old claim that had been ignored for several weeks and this new claim only 2 days old were evidently both approved for payment today, March 16. At least that's what it says on USPS.com. I have received no email or any other notification. In fact, the website marks both claims' status as "Paid" but I have no idea if that means they mailed physical checks or what.
In any event, I want to make my customer whole at this point so intend to offer his choice of a refund or replacement package.
What I'm not sure about now is how to handle it with Ebay since USPS tracking info does not indicate delivery was ever made. I don't want to generate a transaction defect. Should I just deal with the buyer directly and ask him not to request a refund?
I used to love USPS so much. I am getting reeeeally sick of how terrible it's become since Louis DeJoy became Postmaster General. Lately it seems like hardly a week goes by without some problem or another. In the past even when problems did rarely occur, I used to be able to look up the phone number for some podunk Post Office location and in 5 minutes I'd have the issue worked out with a live human person who actually cared. Now those local numbers just go to the same 800 number computer system if they don't just get disconnected without ever even ringing. Combine these issues with the recent price increases and if something doesn't get fixed soon I'm just not going to be able to afford selling on Ebay much longer.
Not long ago it was always possible to get a hold of an actual person at the destination post office but that is rarely if ever true any more since Louis DeJoy set out to destroy the institution. The local number provided for this buyer's PO doesn't even ring; every time I dial it the line just goes dead after a couple seconds. I have already wasted 2 hours attempting to navigate to a living human person on the 800 number and gotten nowhere beyond the same useless info I get when I search the tracking number online.
I had hoped since USPS knew they had a damaged box on their hands and the delivery was never updated that perhaps they would repackage then contents and deliver within day or two but clearly that's not happening.
So at this point I just want to make my customer whole while minimizing my loss. I have already initiated a damage claim with USPS but gotten no response. I'm not sure how to address the issue with my buyer. I'm not going to just send out another package free of charge
