eBay

brkryh-l4jepf · ‎10-01-2020

Hello,

A buyer contacted me stating that The contents of the small flat rate box I shipped fell out even though I know I taped all of the openings and made it more secure when I taped the shipping label on. Without request the buyer sent me a picture of just the shipping label with a stamp that said “damaged”however the stamp looks generic. It appears as if the package was stamped with some thing that said damaged and then additional tape was placed over my tape that I had used on top of the shipping label. He did not send me a picture of the full box only the shipping label. I attached the picture. Can anyone please tell me if this is a genuine USPS stamp?

lja440 · ‎10-01-2020

It does NOT look like either of the stamps we use at the Post Office.

Ours say either Damaged in Handling or Recieved Unsealed. Also all of ours are pre-inked with red ink.

There should also be a scan done indicating visable damage at the time that the package was stamped. This may or may not show on the on-line tracking. You can take this picture and the tracking number to your local PO and ask them to check the internal system for a damage scan.

However, I feel sure that eBay will side with the buyer anyhow.

brkryh-l4jepf · ‎10-01-2020

Thanks. I am going to the post office tomorrow because I am very curious about this. I figured ebay would side with the buyer and when I offered a refund he wanted a replacement, so I sent him one. Although I must say he was a lot nicer about this than I've read on other threads.

It looked kinda fake to me and I was able to find an identical one at an office supply website.

I had a person receive a genuine "We care" bag with the broken box, and he gave me negative feedback immediately. Hopefully he will change it in the end. ARGH!!

Both of these empty box claims came back to back but from different states. It was also the first time I had ever scheduled a pick up from the post office instead of going to the office. I am no longer going to schedule pickups, as these last two days have been frustrating.

Thank you so much for your help!

oldwestgold · ‎10-01-2020

I am a retired Postmaster of 33 yrs. I highly doubt this stamp is legit. A couple of telltale signs is the stamp is too perfectly placed. That rarely happens in the PO. The font and color lettering is all wrong. Just my opinion.

matchboxdenmark · ‎10-02-2020

I’ve been selling on eBay since 2001 and have shipped fragiles for years with rarely an issue, maybe a claim once or twice a year. Fast forward to the present, we have had more claims from buyers saying the item arrived damaged...and it’s always on an expensive item. The pics we get always show the item broken into a million pieces, yet there is no damage to the box anywhere. We decided in the last few months to stop selling fragiles, either the post office is damaging all our fragiles or buyers are looking to get items for free. Either way, we were getting tired of having to refund and stressed about getting that dreaded email from the buyer. The 🤷‍♀️

wastingtime101 · ‎10-02-2020

I'd report them to USPS for fraud, then send a message to the buyer:

Buyer,

Sorry to hear that happened. That's not an official USPS stamp so someone tampered with the package. I reported the situation to the USPS and they will want to inspect the package so please hold on to it. Mail tampering is a federal crime - if someone is messing with packages the USPS will take this very seriously. Should you receive more packages like this please report them to your local post office ASAP.

Seller

Hearing that you reported them and that they're on USPS radar will hopefully scare them enough to stop pulling this scam.

GLORIOUS!

debad4042 · ‎10-02-2020

That "Damaged" mark is under tape...

simba6 · ‎10-02-2020

I have never seen one in other that red. It said arrived damaged. It was always stamped on the package and not the label. Never seen a black postal service stamp.

muttlymob · ‎10-02-2020

@debad4042 wrote:
That "Damaged" mark is under tape...

the ink on most of those stamps will smear on many surfaces. The clear tape over the stamp may have been to prevent smearing.

muttlymob · ‎10-02-2020

@simba6 wrote:
I have never seen one in other that red. It said arrived damaged. It was always stamped on the package and not the label. Never seen a black postal service stamp.

I've used red, blue and black ink stamps at various post offices. Sometimes even use preprinted USPS labels for damaged packages. There is a wide variety of stamps and stickers to indicate package damage available.

Though I have never seen just a block letter DAMAGED stamp or label.