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Lost in the mail!


Boom!pa

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:mad: I'm looking for some advice regarding a situation I'm sure I'm not the first to run into. I have had an email from a fellow cacher that he has not recieved his coins and at this point they could be lost in the mail. We are trying to find a way to resolve this but I am stuck on what is fair. I understand that the person is frustrated in buying a couple coins and not having recieved them and he is now out of pocket for the cost of them but having sent them, is it now my responsibility (and is it fair) for me to eat the cost and ship a couple more out? There was no insurance bought on the shipment (as most people don't want to pay more then they have to for coins). I'm not opposed to sharing the cost but don't know what is expected or should be expected of me or the customer. Please, any ideas from others would be greatly appreciated. :yikes:
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Only you can do the right thing. What if the shoe was on the other foot? What would you want done?

 

Your right, I would be upset as well. But keep in mind, I purchase alot of stuff on eBay and I ALWAYS buy insurance to protect myself. This is due to the first eBay transaction that I did and never recieved the package. Insurance adds tracking and works better for bothe the seller and the buyer. As long as the buyer doesnt mind the extra cost.

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How long ago did you ship and to where?

It still might arrive.

 

The coin was sent from British Columbia, Canada and went to Georgia, USA. Shipped out between July 8-10th (sent out a batch of coins each day but can't remember which shipment it was in!)

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I traded coins with someone from Canada just recently. He mailed the coins to me in the US on July 12th and I got them in the mail yesterday. I've had this happen on several occasions - not just Canada.. I think any international mailing has the potential to take 2-4 weeks.

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How long ago did you ship and to where?

It still might arrive.

 

The coin was sent from British Columbia, Canada and went to Georgia, USA. Shipped out between July 8-10th (sent out a batch of coins each day but can't remember which shipment it was in!)

In a case where I had shipped out packeges in Batches, I would certainly consider that maybe I had made a mistake in the shipping process, and send new coins. I tend to be on the generous side though and that's why I can't be a very successful business owner. If you plan to continue selling coins, in the future you may want to insist that insurance is bought, and include it in the cost of shipping

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1. There is a Customs Number on the package if from Canada,it can be traced.

No exactly how it is done would be up to the Canadian side.

 

I asked at the Post Office because I thought I might have the same trouble sometime but never have....yet!!

This is for all International Orders as well.

 

2. From what I read at e-bay you are insured anyway up to a certian limit.

I always add tracking U.S. it is not that much for knowing where it is at all times...like a trackable coin...Hey..now.

 

3. If it were me I would follow all leads then if not found I would either refund the money or send another coin(s).

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Over the past 3 years of geocoin purchasing.....

 

I've had one parcel from Canada to New Zealand take over 3 months to get to me.... the supplier & I kept the lines of communications open from about the 7th week onwards.

She was prepared to replace the items, just as they finally turned up.

 

Eventually tracked it all down to the Postal agent quoting one price for postage (air) then someone changing it to slow boat mail....

 

One other small package never made it, and the seller had no record of sending it, so sent a replacement immediately.

 

I have continued to buy from both parties with no further problems.

What I find best is both parties remain polite, if not friendly. No accusations etc.

 

When in retail or service industries, I am constantly reminding everyone that today's customer is a potential sale tomorrow....

 

Good luck.

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This will be a simliar post that I made earlier somewhere else. If your buyer did not receive your coins, that's just plain too bad for you. Provided they are smart. Lemme splain.

 

If they paid with paypal, they simply open a dispute. Item not received. It doesn't matter one bit if you bought insurance, have proof you mailed it, or ask them to wait a few more days. Paypal will refund their money, guaranteed. Now, that's assuming they are smart enough to read their buyer policies and follow the guidelines. You as a seller have no recourse, they will take the money from your paypal account (or bank account if your paypal is zero), and refund it to the buyer.

 

As a seller, you should offer to provide a replacement set, to save yourself the paypal fiasco. If you provided delivery confirmation, and you have total proof the package was delivered, well, you get to be the winner.

 

If the buyer is not savvy enough to dispute their payment, well, you've lucked out. But, like posters before me, it's the cost of doing business, since you're a vendor selling coins. Send a new coin.

 

TMA

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is it now my responsibility (and is it fair) for me to eat the cost and ship a couple more out?

IMHO, yes. You, as the entity that shipped the package, took a risk in not insuring the package. Most of the time, that's a reasonable risk. This time though, it didn't pay off.

 

It's generally customary for the buyer to expect the seller to delivery the agreed upon goods (assuming that payment was made, of course.) If the shipper loses said products, the seller can try to recover from the shipper but in the meantime, they still need to make good with the buyer either by delivering the product or by refunding their money.

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p.s.

 

Read your paypal policies carefully. No insurance on a package doesn't count for jack. If the package shows up not as intended, not at all, or otherwise doesn't show up, it will be your (seller) fault. Insurance not paid by the buyer means ZERO. You (the seller) will be paying the buyer back all their cash. Don't believe me? Well, give it time til your shipment doesn't show up :anitongue:

 

TMA

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I just purchased a Geocoin today. Insurance was offered for less than $2, I paid it. Period. As a buyer, I've gone through the trouble of searching the item out, bidding if needed, etc, and for the cost of a soda I'm going to cover my OWN a** and pay for the insurance. I don't trust anyone to do the right thing if they don't show up. CYA plan.

 

However, I've sold 100's of items on eBay, and as a seller I don't even OFFER an option to not have insurance. On small items, USPS First Class W/INSURANCE, or UPS, etc. Again, the CYA plan...Cover Your a**.

 

I would say as some others have, learn the lesson, do the right thing and take the hit, send them again, THIS time you pay the few bucks extra to get a delivery confirmation at the very least. From this point forward, don't offer a payment plan that doesnt' include at least a delivery confirmation or insurance...some form of tracking you can follow up on.

 

I know if I was on the buying end, I would want someone to default to the right thing, send me the replacements, and I would in turn thank them profusely and tell all my product-buying friends about the seller who replaced the product, no questions asked.

 

Good luck!

 

Peace,

K

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Interesting thoughts here.

 

I don't consider a transaction between two individuals to be a business so I guess I look at it otherwise.

You, as an individual, did your part by getting the coins in the mail to the carrier - it's their responsibility to get it to the recipient.

 

Now, over hte hundreds of trades that I've done through the mail, only once had the coin not showed up (on my end) and I'm pretty sure it was never sent (but that's old news at this point).

 

If I did a trade with somebody and their coin never showed up, I wouldn't hold them accountable. I'd be disappointed that it never came, but I wouldn't hold it against them - assuming they have a good track record.

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Hi

 

As the other cacher in this equation, I thought I'd share my thoughts. First off, I'm not here to grind an axe or anything :wub:

 

Second, I had no idea (my bad, probably) that this was an international shipment. For some reason I had it in my head that they were coming from inside the USA. The coins could easily be stuck in customs hell so I'm happy to wait a couple more weeks to see if they still turn up or get returned to you. If still no luck, then we can figure what to do about it :laughing:

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This is really a tough issue to resolve.

 

I recently participated in my first trade-forums trade. I dutifully sent my coin off the day after the trade was agreed to. The recipient has acknowledged receiving the coin I sent, but over 3 weeks later I am still waiting for my half of the equation to arrive. (It's a US to US mailing). Mind you, the "other half" of this trade is a well respected coiner with an EXCELLENT trade record, and I'm a relative unknown... a newbie trader.

 

I think it's hard to find "fault" in a situation like this. Am I being premature in posting this after "only" 3 weeks... possibly, but I haven't been told when my coin was sent out, and I would think that after over 3 weeks the coin would either be delivered, or returned to the sender.

 

Lesson learned... continue to leave my extra coins in caches as gifts for future finders. In that way, I've already "written off" the coin and have the satisfaction of knowing that someone will get an unanticipated find... and I dont continue stalking my mailman :D .

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We Aussie Flipper's have done a couple of trades, and a couple of missions, and a heap of ebaying, so things take their time to go and come from where ever, it is amazing the time frames that have happened, when sending and recieving we notify when we have sent and when things have arrived. Recently we ordered tickets for the Great Dorset Steam fair, they took 7 days to arrive from England. We also had some help for arranging train tickets from England, these were shipped before the Dorset tickets, but because they looked suspicious, the package of tickets were opened by customs, and took a month to get to us!!! Our tickets looked like a bunch of credit cards, so of course the xray machine targeted it for inspection!! All here safe, and well, one just has to take it as it comes and keep your fingers crossed all goes to plan.

Cheers

Gayle & Mark

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This is really a tough issue to resolve.

 

I recently participated in my first trade-forums trade. I dutifully sent my coin off the day after the trade was agreed to. The recipient has acknowledged receiving the coin I sent, but over 3 weeks later I am still waiting for my half of the equation to arrive. (It's a US to US mailing). Mind you, the "other half" of this trade is a well respected coiner with an EXCELLENT trade record, and I'm a relative unknown... a newbie trader.

 

I think it's hard to find "fault" in a situation like this. Am I being premature in posting this after "only" 3 weeks... possibly, but I haven't been told when my coin was sent out, and I would think that after over 3 weeks the coin would either be delivered, or returned to the sender.

 

Lesson learned... continue to leave my extra coins in caches as gifts for future finders. In that way, I've already "written off" the coin and have the satisfaction of knowing that someone will get an unanticipated find... and I dont continue stalking my mailman :D .

 

three weeks is long enough. call the coiner on the phone and ask them when the coin was shipped. i have only had trouble with one coiner, another well-respected, well used to be well-respected, forum member. after lengthy emails with many excuses and my promise of a lovely chat that evening by phone, my coin was "resent." finally got it.

 

most coins get clear across the country from my little out-of-the-way burg in about 3 days. heck, germany in a week!

 

the rest of us are really nice folks and good traders. i remember how thrilled i was when my first couple of trades went through. my reaction was "really?" WAY COOL! practically ran to the p.o. to mail coins. :D

 

time for you to get tough! find out when it was sent.

 

lara

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As a buyer on eBay I have started to always purchase insurance for items shipped USPS. UPS and FedEx automatically insure for the first $100 of value so normally I don't have to bother with that cost.

 

Now as a seller on eBay and learning that PayPal will always take the side of the buyer in lost packages cases I am now going to make insurance mandatory on all my sales. This way I can get my money back. Buyers may not like this that much, but I'm normally the guy with the lowest prices on the items I sell. If buyers figure in the cost of insurance when placing their max bids then I figure they are being smart.

 

While I have not anything I have shipped lost; I have had things being shipped to me lost. One of which I know was not sent. That mistake cost me $300. Another person I purchased something from and they shipped it to a friend of their's "by mistake". They promised me a refund and being a trusting person I waited to long and before I knew it I was unable to dispute it with PayPal.

 

Now if I'm not happy with a shippment I open a dispute if the seller is unwilling to work something out, or if the seller is slow in resolving the issue. My mistakes/learning experiances have been expensive and I'm not going to allow that to happen anylonger.

 

maldar

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I'm bored so I'll post too :D

 

I think that either a refund or resending the coins is the appropriate thing to do in the big scheme of things.

 

Personal experience: As a seller, I make someone wait 30 days before I would refund or remail coins (be them locals or overseas). I don't think I've ever had a package for a sale not show up (yet) but I have had trades go missing going and coming in. Customs does hold onto packages and some countries are worse than others. Germany and a couple provinces in Canada have held onto packages I've sent for a good month to 6 weeks a couple of times (ok, I think that's what happened, lol).

 

Insurance in my opinion overall is a waste of money unless the value is higher. The problem with insuring a package is the process one must go through to recover the funds (you better have your ducks in a row):

http://www.usps.com/insuranceclaims/welcome.htm

 

Delivery Confirmation is a waste of money in my book too (lol). I know it's not to alot of others but all delivery confirmation does is tell you that the package you sent was delivered to a mailbox not the proper mailbox. I have had a few people send packages to me with delivery confirmation only to end up frustrated because it said the package was delivered to Billings, MT which is 4 hours from me. Yet about 1 - 2 days later it will then show delivered to Helena (me, supposedly). I have more of my mail end up in a mailbox about a half-mile away (the dirt road south of my road). We share the same numerical address but not the same road. My mail ends up in her mailbox (alot lately-new postlady). So if someone sent a conf. delivery package and the postlady dropped it off down the road it would show delivered just not to me. Not to mention Fed Ex has never been able to deliver a package to me properly and usually gives it to the USPS to get to me, lol. Thanks goodness UPS knows what they are doing and they give my dogs treats :D

 

Ok, there's my 5 minute time waster answer :D

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p.s.

 

Read your paypal policies carefully. No insurance on a package doesn't count for jack. If the package shows up not as intended, not at all, or otherwise doesn't show up, it will be your (seller) fault. Insurance not paid by the buyer means ZERO. You (the seller) will be paying the buyer back all their cash. Don't believe me? Well, give it time til your shipment doesn't show up :D

 

TMA

 

Yep, Pete has it right. No insurance and paypal will side with the buy 99 times out of 100... did you offer insurance?

 

Edit: The same just happened to me, I chanced it and will now replace the coin with another. However, the post office does say it might take 30 days to deliver. :D

Edited by avroair
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Insurance in my opinion overall is a waste of money unless the value is higher. The problem with insuring a package is the process one must go through to recover the funds (you better have your ducks in a row):

http://www.usps.com/insuranceclaims/welcome.htm

 

For me it is not that much of a hassle. Most of the local post office staff buys things from my place of work and the office is a couple miles from there so taking a few minutes drive before or after work is no big deal for me. I know others that have to make a special trip to make it to the post office, but I have always been lucky to have situations for the past 14 years where they have been close by. Heck, I even shared a drive with them for the house I lived in while in East Lansing, MI.

 

As for having my ducks in a row. I was taking classes to become an accountant, so record keeping and all has made me a small time pack rat sad to say. I print-out and keep most everything for 5-7 yrs. Then it is normally all in order or easy to find. There is a method to my MADNESS. :D

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Well as a seller on Ebay also, and a good friend sells on there also, we have noticed a trend lately. Since late April we have both seen an increase in lost packages or empty packages through USPS. I personally now have had 5 packages either completely lost or lost for 3 plus weeks and then show up. My friend has had a package show up damaged and empty. And that was a priority mailer envelope.

I have changed my policy as a seller on Ebay to require insurance on any purchase totalling $20 or more. But I am also dropping my shipping charges to help ease the pain of requiring it.

 

Essentially it comes down to a lose, lose situation for everyone. If I could see a pattern to where the packages were having problems at USPS I would see if I could avoid the "black holes" in the USPS system. Unfortunately it seems that they exist all over the US. Interesting though that all of my overseas packages seem to make it there just fine...

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