Media Mail for Fabric?

[olive*drab]

My estimated delivery date went from March 4th to March 11th for some fabric I bought, and package was stuck in oblivion for days.  I see the seller used Media Mail. For fabric? What?

[mtgraves7984]

Yep... the seller screwed up. If USPS catches it, your fabric will go back to the seller. Fingers crossed for you...

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@mtgraves7984 wrote:

Yep... the seller screwed up. If USPS catches it, your fabric will go back to the seller. Fingers crossed for you...

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Depends where they catch it; it might be delivered to the buyer with Postage Due.

[12345jamesstamps]

'Delivery : estimated delivery date March 4 - March 11'...if this is what it states in the item sold seller has until March 11th for it to be delivered.

[gator08041971]

I thought USPS can also confiscate the item?  Not sure what the action may be, but good luck.

I ship books and movies and stuff and use media mail for those.

Some people don't read the restrictions, some don't care and try to save a few bucks.  Its like lithium batteries.  Those are supposed to ship with a label indicating they have batteries in the package and it can only be shipped ground shipments (mostly with used items).  And you don't have to pay extra to ship those, but you do need to label the package with the appropriate hazmat.  I bought a roll of labels for that purpose as I ship items with lithium batteries fairly often.

But yeah, you can't use media mail for anything other than media commercially made items - Books, cassettes, DVDs, Blu-Ray, Vinyl Records, VCR tapes, etc.

[simba6]

Yes they do look in many media packages checking for contraband.  They often return it to the sender or back bill the sender.  In a few cases they will from you when it's delivered.  As you know it's fabric is not allowed. 

I suppose if it had some Shakespeare printed on it................................................

[fm2000]

Nowadays, the package will be delivered to the buyer, but the USPS will do a shipping adjustment and charge the seller for the difference in cost after the fact.

Very few MM packages are actually inspected, but if they are and the seller used the wrong service for the item, the seller will be in for a nasty surprise.

[onefootflipper1]

How can you tell that they used Media Mail?

Just because the listing said that doesn't mean they actually used that. You can accidentally attach any sort of shipping to any listing. I have accidentally attached standard envelope shipping to big heavy stuff in the past, doesn't mean I could actually use the service.

[nobody*s_perfect]

If you enter the tracking number at usps.com, you can see the service at the bottom of the page.

[fbusoni]

Right... if the fabric was listed under books, they might be able to get away with media mail.

But if the fabric was listed under fabric, it's likely that eBay's setting overrode the media mail option that was listed.

Or the seller purchased media mail shipping from an external online postage service like Pirateship.

[olive*drab]

Follow up to my post, thanks for all your input, it's good to know all of it. It looks like the package may be under inspection or something, the last four days March 5, 6, 7, 8  were all recoded at 12:00am, still in transit.  Seems to me it hasn't even left the state it was sent from. Oh well, whatever happens I will be glad if this all turns out bad for seller, I don't need the fabric that bad and I will end up with a refund. Trying to rip-off the US Post Office is never a good idea. I did contact her about it 3 days ago, she was sorry it was taking so long, and yes she did use media mail "to give buyers the most inexpensive shipping." Thank you everyone.

[gator08041971]

@olive*drab 

yes she did use media mail "to give buyers the most inexpensive shipping."

Meaning that she apparently has no idea what it's supposed to be used for.  *facepalm

Well, yeah, I hope she gets burnt and learns a lesson, but I also hope you get your item eventually.

Time will tell.  Good luck!

[aproudparent2010]

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@olive*drab wrote:

Follow up to my post, thanks for all your input, it's good to know all of it. It looks like the package may be under inspection or something, the last four days March 5, 6, 7, 8  were all recoded at 12:00am, still in transit.  Seems to me it hasn't even left the state it was sent from. Oh well, whatever happens I will be glad if this all turns out bad for seller, I don't need the fabric that bad and I will end up with a refund. Trying to rip-off the US  ntonin gitPost Office is never a good idea. I did contact her about it 3 days ago, she was sorry it was taking so long, and yes she did use media mail "to give buyers the most inexpensive shipping." Thank you everyone.

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I'd educate her on what Media Mail is really for..

I might even leave feedback mentioning it