Two box shipment. One item accepted; One item unclaimed. What to do with postage due?

[oldbearvintage]

Hello Sellers,

On July 3rd, I shipped out two lots of CDs from Los Angeles to New York to one customer via media mail. I had to ship the lots in two large boxes to accommodate the size.  

The first box was delivered to my customer on the July 9. But the second box was returned to me today, September 13, because it was unclaimed/failed delivery and had $47.29 postage due. I was not present at the time of the attempted delivery and so I have not paid the postage/received the package back yet.

How does one handle this situation? My customer made no attempts to contact me about the missing box (I wasn't even aware of the problem until today). The total shipping paid by the customer was $42 for the two boxes. A refund would be complicated because the lots were separated into two boxes (the value of one lot's CDs is higher than the other lot) + one of the boxes was accepted by the customer.

The value of the contents is higher than the postage outstanding (he paid $67 for one lot and $113 for the other + shipping). I assume that if I informed him about the missing CDs, he would want them reshipped as he paid for them, but who would be responsible for the $47.29 postage due?  I can pick up the package tomorrow after 10am, but I wanted to talk to the experts first. Thank you!

[nobody*s_perfect]

I would go to the PO tomorrow and find out WHY there is postage due. It sounds like somebody decided that your package wasn't eligible for Media Mail.  If it was eligible, you should be able to talk your local PO staff into releasing  the package to you or re-shipping it to your buyer. If it was returned to you merely because it was unclaimed, then you should only  be responsible for one-way MM postage.

 Was there anything in the package that might have made it ineligible for MM?  ANything at all other than the CDs and an invoice?

[oldbearvintage]

It was 100% CDs. Apparently, there's a surcharge on Media Mail when it's unclaimed vs. Priority mail which would be returned for free which explains the $50, I suppose.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Yes, package shipping doesn't get free return shipping as Priority does.  But IIRC you should only have to pay for one-way postage at the MM rate.

[sam9876]

It isn't a surcharge.

It is a charge for return shipping.

[lja440]

I am a mail carrier. The Postage Due is for the return, Media Mail is one way and does not cover the cost of returning the package or forwarding. (the buyer would have had postage due if they had moved also).

The big question is Why was it unclaimed?

It almost sounds like you copied the shipping label for the second box. In that case one box would have been delivered as normal and the second treated as if it did not have any postage and would have arrived Postage Due for the full amount. Also if it were unclaimed this would have it returning to you owing for both the original and return trip.

[robot-hands]

Not enough information.

We need to know why it was "unclaimed", what unclaimed acutally means and what your tracking says.

[oldbearvintage]

I purchased two separate shipping labels (one for each box with the appropriate weight/dimensions). I'm less concerned about the postage due (I understand it was for the re-delivery) and more curious about who is responsible (seller vs. buyer) for the cost if the buyer wants the second box returned to him that was originally unclaimed. I'm not sure what the precedent is for this situation.

For instance, if the buyer does want me to ship the second box, would I make him pay for the postage due + the postage to return it to him? Or if the buyer does not want me to ship the second box, would I refund the cost of the second box minus (the postage due + original shipping cost)? 

[oldbearvintage]

I'll probably go down to the post office today to ask some questions, but I just wanted to see what the general thought was before I plopped down $50 to get my box back.

[nobody*s_perfect]

---

@oldbearvintage wrote:

---

 ... For instance, if the buyer does want me to ship the second box, would I make him pay for the postage due + the postage to return it to him? Or if the buyer does not want me to ship the second box, would I refund the cost of the second box minus (the postage due + original shipping cost)? 

If the original postage on the package was just $12, then it becomes even more mysterious about how the Postage Due got to be $47.  I'm going to bet on somebody at the buyer's PO  disqualified the package despite its being eligible for MM.

As far as dealing with the buyer, you can do whatever you like, and whatever you think is fair.  He seems to not have noticed that he only got half (or maybe 2/3) of his order, and the deadline for filing a claim with eBay expired in August. Frankly I'd just keep quiet.

[oldbearvintage]

For those who are interested, I just got back from the post office. The USPS tried to deliver the package twice in NY over the course of two weeks, but failed, either because of the postage due/refusal or because my customer was no longer there (it's not entirely clear what happened as I received no contact from my customer).

The postage due was because they inspected the package and disqualified it because I used packing material to protect the CDs (a little bit of foam, bubble wrap, some old paper). My USPS employee went through the box with me and decided that the NY USPS claim that my package didn't qualify for Media Mail was bogus and only charged me the original $12.35 for the return postage vs. the $47. Great for me, but still a strange situation all-around.

Does the timeline for making a claim expire 30 days after the first attempted delivery? If so, would that mean that my buyer had until 9/23/18 to make a claim as 8/23/18 was the first attempted delivery (according to the notes left on the box)? Thank you, everyone, for your feedback thus far.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Thanks for the update!  Glad you got your package. Do a get a prize for guessing the reason for the high Postage Due?

For an INR claim, the buyer must file within 30 days after the latest estimated delivery date.  If the buyer refuses the package because of Postage Due, he can still file (as a SNAD, I suppose) but must provide proof of why he refused the package.

I entered the tracking number as shown in your screen shot, but the info on usps.com only goes back to the RTS instructions on September 6, with no clues as to when the delivery  in NY was first attempted.  Mid-August seems like such a long time after the July 9 delivery of the other package. And the package tracking still says action needed, rather than delivered.

[oldbearvintage]

Haha yes. I suppose I'll just wait and see if my customer gets back to me. Thank you for your help!

[lja440]

Normal packing materials wouldn't disqualify a package for Media Mail unless you included any portion of a priority mailer. Not too long ago I received a box of records that the seller used 28 padded Flat Rate Envelopes as packing material putting one 45 inside, folding it over another and sealing it with each and every record. It was a royal PITA to unearth my records and in the course of doing so my scissors slipped running a large scratch across one. When I ship loose 45's I bundle them in acid free packing paper closing the bundle with blue painters tape, then the same with bubblewrap, also closed with blue painters tape.

I avoid using newspaper or ads when packing any package except for troop care packages, I guess if someone was being overly critical newspaper could be considered a periodical and disqualify a MM package.