Shipping

[janetgarry]

I recently bought two telephones (corded, so I guess you'd call them vintage) from different sellers and both were sent media mail.  Is that allowed?  I thought media mail was for books, CDs, DVDs, etc.  Am curious what sellers say/think about this.  Thanks!

[evry1nositswindy]

NOT ALLOWED!  Yes, it's for books, CDs DVDs, educational material, flash cards for school, etc.  No magazines...and definitely not phones.   I would report them through eBay and through their local post office/postmaster.  They can be charged the difference, which is considerable since the USPS will charge them priority (which is what should have been used in the first place).  I know some members will say to leave appropriate feedback.  

BTW, what did the listing say?  If you paid for priority, that's another problem. 

[toysaver]

It's wrong but you have no way of knowing if it was intentional so should not judge.  It's possible Media Mail appeared as the first label option and the seller didn't even look, I've had that happen.  Could be a glitch if it was from the same category.

It's also possible the PO caught it and 'billed' the seller through a cost adjustment. 

[postingid7659]

A polite email to the seller telling them that phones do not qualify as media mail and if inspected will get it sent back to them, is in order.  Pointing out that some people will really fly off the handle about it and report them left and right would be good also.  

If you paid for a faster rate then I'd ask for the difference back. 

[janetgarry]

One said $6.75 Standard Shipping, so that was vague, and the other I returned, and I don't understand why that makes it disappear from my purchase history.  Btw, I did contact Ebay with the first one and they didn't seem to care.

[janetgarry]

Can't Ebay's system make the correlation with what was sold and how it was shipped?  You'd think the seller would get an error message - this item is not eligible for Media Mail??

[janetgarry]

I paid $6.75 shipping for the last one, which seems pretty cheap = Media Mail.

[evry1nositswindy]

Media mail comes up as economy.  You paid for standard shipping, parcel select, which is ground shipping.  Media mail is cheaper than that.  Not right.

[smabrouk]

Recently, I purchased a wallet which was shipped via “standard shipping” for $13.19.  I assumed that this high shipping fee would be used for USPS Priority Mail, UPS, or FedEx shipping, but it was not.

When I checked the shipping status using the later-posted USPS tracking number, the tracking site revealed that the seller had shipped this leather wallet using media mail.  When I contacted the seller regarding this shipping fraud, the seller’s reply was essentially “Oh, did I do that?  Oops!”  She knew exactly what she was doing — committing shipping fraud as well as overcharging me for shipping the wallet.  Since she had been caught committing fraud, she tried to partially saver-face by sending a partial refund of the shipping fee and promising to be more careful in her future transactions.  

When I received the item, I discovered that the shipping fee and the shipping method were not the only fraudulent aspects of this transaction as the item was not-as-described.  As you might imagine, this was, overall, a very disappointing transaction.  A perfect summary for this transaction would be “buyer beware!”

[lightlily_arts]

Those sellers are dishonest and are attempting to rip off the postal service as phones definitely do not qualify as Media Mail.  Even magazines do not qualify as media mail. I would not want to purchase from sellers that use media mail for items that do not qualify as they can arrive postage due, and if the seller doesn't reimburse you then you are stuck having to open a claim to get your money back.

[lja440]

NOT ALLOWED !!!!

PLEASE report them to their Post Offices, and PLEASE note this in any feedback you leave.

[lja440]

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@toysaver wrote:

It's wrong but you have no way of knowing if it was intentional so should not judge.  It's possible Media Mail appeared as the first label option and the seller didn't even look, I've had that happen.  Could be a glitch if it was from the same category.

It's also possible the PO caught it and 'billed' the seller through a cost adjustment. 

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I call **bleep**.  I deal in media and MM is always the last on the list. In fact when selecting MM on most sites it has a disclaimer  of what it is allowed. 

Also if it was opened for inspection it would be noted.  Frankly we are so busy at the Post Office that the majority of MM is not inspected.