I'll never ship another package without getting it weighed/scanned at the PO and getting a receipt

[adkhighker]

Anyone else have this happen to them?

A couple of weeks ago during the Christmas rush I went to the PO with a single package with a prepaid label. 99% of the time I will wait in line to get my packages weighed and scanned so I can get a receipt. On that day, though, there was a huge line of people ahead of me, so I set my package on the end of the counter where you can leave prepaid packages. It was a package that weighed 3 lbs 7 oz. The package was delivered 2 days later by priority mail.

Two days after that, I got a notice from eBay that the USPS said I underpaid for the postage.  According to them, the actual weight of the package was 17 lbs 12 oz, which was more than 14 lbs over the weight on my label. In the message it said I needed to call a USPS phone number if I wanted to dispute the claim. Now there is no way that package could have weighed over the 3 lbs 7 oz that was on my label because I always check every package with 2 scales to make sure it's correct. The item itself only weighed about 2 1/2 lbs.

In the meantime, eBay had already taken almost $9 from my account to pay for this alleged underpayment.  Had this been going a long distance, it would have been 3 or 4 times that amount.

I called eBay to find out what was going on. The eBay CS woman checked out my listing and agreed there was no on earth that the package could have weighed 17 lbs 12 oz, but she said I had to call the USPS phone number they gave me to dispute the claim, which I did.  I told the USPS person that someone must have mistakenly weighed a different package or something because there was no way my package weighed what they said it weighed.  That person said it would take between 5 and 15 days before I would get a response from eBay about the dispute. Around 5 days later, I guess it was decided that I won my dispute because eBay refunded me the money they took for the alleged underpayment.

The thing is, the decision could have gone the other way if the difference had only been by a few pounds, rather than 14 lbs that the USPS claimed, because apparently eBay can only determine who is right and who is wrong by looking at the seller's listing.  It's not like eBay can weigh the package themselves.

Bottom line, I will never ship another eBay package without getting it weighed and scanned at the PO so I can have a receipt that shows the weight on it.  I realize that might be hard for those sellers who ship huge quantities of packages at a time, but for someone like me who might have just a few packages to ship on a given day, I'll wait in line to get them weighed and to get a receipt to prevent any future weight disputes.

[stainlessenginecovers]

When you purchased the label, did you input the correct dimensions? Larger boxes are NOT shipped for 'just the shipping weight'. 

or...

Every once in a while usps sends a charge back to eBay but it's wrong- you can 'fight' it by contacting the link provided in the message ebay sent you. Happened to me once, where a package that I ALWAYS use (26x6x6 triangle) came back with a 30 lb surcharge (weighed 2 lbs and this was BEFORE the dimensional changes done in 2020?)

[squinkercat59]

It happened to me once, also. Was even scanned at the post office. Small 4x6 padded envelope, some paper item with a small piece of cardboard that weighed under 2 ounces. Several days later I got a message that somewhere along the route they decided it weighed a lot more and charged me extra. I had my post office receipt that showed it was scanned and sent it through the provided link and they refunded me. I don't know if it was deliberate, hoping I wouldn't notice, or incompetence, but either way I trust the USPS less and less.

[onefootflipper]

I ship 10,000 orders a year. I had all of 3 USPS adjustments this year, all were wrong and all were actually in my favor. 

I haven't given a package to the person at the USPS counter in years. I learned that in all reality that is a great way to have them find a problem with the package.  Change in humidity sent that package from exactly 1.00 pounds to 1.01 pounds and now it doesn't have enough postage on it, media mail packages getting opened and inspected in front of me because they think I am cheating for some reason, no thanks. 

I wouldn't waste my time worrying about a $9 lightning strike like that which can STILL happen if you hand it over at the counter, which you would then still have to fight against. 

[carolynnq]

I've heard more examples of this happening with UPS than with USPS.  The weighing and measuring is done automatically by machine as the packages move down a belt. What typically happens is that a smaller, lighter package is sitting atop a larger heavier package. The label of the smaller package gets scanned and the combined weight and measurement of the two packages is attributed to the smaller package.

At least your charge was under $10 and ebay helped you. On the amazon seller boards, there are sellers who have been charged hundreds of dollars more by UPS, and since the label was purchased through amazon's account, ups won't deal with the seller and amazon doesn't help.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Happened to me that 1 time; also have received 'credits' back probably 5 times- all in the past 12 years and 20,000+ packages.

USPS is the most reliable trustworthy business on the planet. 

[adkhighker]

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

When you purchased the label, did you input the correct dimensions? Larger boxes are NOT shipped for 'just the shipping weight'. 

or...

Every once in a while usps sends a charge back to eBay but it's wrong- you can 'fight' it by contacting the link provided in the message ebay sent you. Happened to me once, where a package that I ALWAYS use (26x6x6 triangle) came back with a 30 lb surcharge (weighed 2 lbs and this was BEFORE the dimensional changes done in 2020?)

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Yes, the dimensions were correct.  The dispute was just a weight dispute.

[dbfolks166mt]

     I learned long ago to never simply drop a package at the PO without the PO scanning and weighing the item and providing a receipt. The receipt has the weight of the package at the time USPS took possession of the package. 

[blingfling123]

With the sheer volume of packages they process on a daily basis, sometimes stuff happens.

It could be as simple as two packages were too close together when it went through the verification system.  The dispute is easy enough and they image all packages. Just an extra step and some time lost. 

tbh, I would rather be fighting a mistake like this than a package falling off the face of the earth any day. 

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@adkhighker wrote:

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Yes, the dimensions were correct.  The dispute was just a weight dispute.

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Out of curiosity, what were the dimensions?

If weight only- just email the link provided in the message from eBay.

[buyselljack2016]

You can stand in line, get the package scanned verifying that you have done everything correctly, and has been noted by another poster, the APV can still initiate a charge back. 

The process will be the same. Appeal, and when they discover that they are in error by viewing the photos you would be refunded. good for your own satisfaction that you were correct, but in the long run................................. not worth the paper that it's printed on.  The APV overrides a counter scan.

[buyselljack2016]

I don't know if it was deliberate, hoping I wouldn't notice, or incompetence,

------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's an automated process. All done by machine.  No one "deliberately, or incompetently" did it.

[adkhighker]

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@onefootflipper wrote:

I ship 10,000 orders a year. I had all of 3 USPS adjustments this year, all were wrong and all were actually in my favor. 

I haven't given a package to the person at the USPS counter in years. I learned that in all reality that is a great way to have them find a problem with the package.  Change in humidity sent that package from exactly 1.00 pounds to 1.01 pounds and now it doesn't have enough postage on it, media mail packages getting opened and inspected in front of me because they think I am cheating for some reason, no thanks. 

I wouldn't waste my time worrying about a $9 lightning strike like that which can STILL happen if you hand it over at the counter, which you would then still have to fight against. 

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First of all, it's not the $9 that worries me.  It's the fact that I don't want to have to waste my time in the future disputing mistakes made by the USPS.

Secondly,  it cannot still happen if you get it weighed at the counter because you will get a receipt then and there that has the weight on the receipt, a weight that shows that the weight on the label is correct.

Also, the eBay CS woman I talked to, mentioned that if you get two such underpayment strikes it can lower your eBay rating. 

Like I said in my post, my way of going about it doesn't mean it's going to be convenient for someone else who mails huge quantities of packages at a time.   A  few extra minutes of waiting in line at the PO isn't going to kill me.

[adkhighker]

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

Happened to me that 1 time; also have received 'credits' back probably 5 times- all in the past 12 years and 20,000+ packages.

USPS is the most reliable trustworthy business on the planet. 

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Despite my one little concern that I posted, I agree with you that the USPS is the most trustworthy business on the planet.  Knock on wood, in the thousands of packages I have mailed, I have never had a single package get lost in the mail.  Or damaged as far as I know.   

[stainlessenginecovers]

Forgot to add: 

I NEVER go to the post office. Pick up from my porch since 2011. 20,000 packages. Sometimes they are not 'scanned' for a couple days, but I use 5 days handling and usually ship in 2-3 so I've ALWAYS been covered and NEVER got a receipt.