What would you do...shipping...

[Zee09]

?

The policy should be that if they want it sent with no signature required, they take the hit if it gets lost or stolen

The way I read your post is why I quoted it.
Yes, you are right but even PayPal will not back private agreements.
I ship overseas daily. Most everyone tries to cheat customs.
I warn them if you put a low value on something that is the insurance limit.
if it gets lost or destroyed, they come after me and PayPal doesn't care what they agreed to and they nail you the sender.
So, I do not cheat customs value.

 

[Zee09]

I sold a quite expensive camera lens on ebay before Christmas, shipped it USPS Priority with 500$ insurance and Signature required.

The Buyer contacted me stating he got the lens. But "it was just dropped in front of his garage door outside, hmmm."
He mentioned his daughter was home and no one rang the door bell ( she says ).
Thankfully the package was delivered intact- but not following endpoint protocol.

This is also where i came to detest the snide and snarky "hmmm"

for a non delivered package I talk to the "senior" person at my post office, in person, They seem eager to assist.
My postman woman always delivers parcels to my door - unless it is in a smallish padded envelope.
Many times I am up on on my roof shoveling it off. She seems amused by that. - Ken

Buyers are always good with the drama.
Tired of it.
The way I see it is I package it to perfection and send it out pronto and insured etc.
After that my job is done as far as the shipping.
If it does get lost or whatever I will file, the claim etc. but after that it isn't my problem unless the parts are wrong etc.
Then I can't correct it fast enough even though they made the mistake and I still take care of it.

 

[dishdude]

I sold a quite expensive camera lens on ebay before Christmas, shipped it USPS Priority with 500$ insurance and Signature required.

The Buyer contacted me stating he got the lens. But "it was just dropped in front of his garage door outside, hmmm."
He mentioned his daughter was home and no one rang the door bell ( she says ).
Thankfully the package was delivered intact- but not following endpoint protocol.

This is also where i came to detest the snide and snarky "hmmm"

for a non delivered package I talk to the "senior" person at my post office, in person, They seem eager to assist.
My postman woman always delivers parcels to my door - unless it is in a smallish padded envelope.
Many times I am up on on my roof shoveling it off. She seems amused by that. - Ken

I guess the buyer mistakenly thinks you're Postmaster General. What an idiot.

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

Scam artists love to say something "never came" when in reality it did. Now, that said.. I have seen it happen too many times, legitimately.. last year with a catalytic converter, as well as various other parts and packages, where, you put the business address it is shipping to, include the NAME of the business in the address as the top line.. and it says delivered..

.. and then the mechanic says No, it's not here.

This happened most frequently with UPS.

In that instance. It took two or three months, but a new catalytic converter was mailed and ultimately installed on my car. But, the question does remain. What happened?

Two or three maybe even 4 share a square of land there, the address of each IS different but either..

1. One of them stole it, recognizing it as a catalytic converter. Fairly large box.

2. The mechanic was lying, I do not think this was the case.

3. UPS guy stole it, marked it as delivered. So he is going to ruin his whole career for a $400 CC? No..

4. Delivered to wrong address, but, again, HOW?

So this question does seem extremely valid.

In my instance, UPS must have reimbursed the selling company so they could mail another, full claim filed, took awhile, it eventually just showed up, but, again, I'm still not sure exactly what happened. Or how.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

I guess the buyer mistakenly thinks you're Postmaster General. What an idiot.

I looked at the address in Google maps. just to see how easy the delivery would be.
Guy had to be a multi-millionaire living in a 6 bedroom, 5 bathroom brick mansion. Buying a $1,400 Pentax/Ricoh waterproof digital camera lens on ebay for 500 bucks. Then he also complained that it was " a lot heavier than I thought it would be"
Weight was clearly listed. Effective 460mm zoom AF lens with large elements is NOT going top be light.
AT least he gave me a good seller rating. I was doing this sale for my wife. So I followed that sale up with many more of my old audio "junk"
- garbage new Oinkyo CD player, a digital desktop amp, ancient high end cables - and made some good money.
Still Ebay is taking over 12% of transaction cost INCLUDING shipping costs, but, I factor that into my pricing.

 

[dareo]

You just cant please about 5% of online customers. Had some return a brand new basketball. “Does not work well.” We sold tons of them and they do exactly what they are supposed to. Hold air and bounce. Sorry that it did not turn you into air jordan pal.

 

[Zee09]

You just cant please about 5% of online customers. Had some return a brand new basketball. “Does not work well.” We sold tons of them and they do exactly what they are supposed to. Hold air and bounce. Sorry that it did not turn you into air jordan pal.

Nuts...lol

 

[dareo]

I should add the basketball was an amazon marketplace deal. Where the buyer can pick lie about a return reason and force the seller to pay shipping. “Defective”, does not work well. People are that pathetic that they will lie over $5-8 of return shipping for a buyers remorse situation. Happens nearly every day.

 

[99Saturn]

If it was me, as a seller, you've done your part if it says delivered.

That said, from personal experience, Black Friday I ordered a smart watch from a retailer, shipped UPS. Get an alert around 8pm the following Friday that my package has been delivered, check the front step no package, check the garage no package, mailbox no package. File a claim Friday night. Get a voicemail in response to the claim Monday morning that my package was delivered to the house next door and the case was closed. I actually had gotten the package from the neighbor (honest neighbor they came by Sunday night) but I can see why a buyer can get frustrated in these situations, I would have been pissed if I listened to the voicemail, didn't have the package and was getting told by UPS to get lost.

 

[John Galt]

Technology is your friend here. I don’t know if sellers have this resource but as a receiver of packages, I have signed up for notifications on the USPS, UPS and FedEx sites. These go by the shipping address so no tracking number is required. If the shipping to address is my house, I get a notification. This is handy since my wife and kids sometimes have things sent to our house. If it’s coming my way, I know about it days in advance. It did make it hard for my wife to sneak things in at Christmas time.

I get an email every day around 0730 from the USPS that includes a picture of every letter that is being delivered that afternoon. Packages are also noted with the sender name but no picture. I also get a text sometimes 2-3 times a day telling me the location of UPS packages being delivered to me. I get a delivery confirmation text within seconds of the post office leaving a package on my porch. Often I go to get the package and I see the mailman walking away as I open the front door. It’s that fast.

Any packages delivered to me from Amazon prime I get progress notifications along with a picture showing the box sitting on my front porch. Again this is within seconds of delivery. Go outside to get it and usually the truck is still there. FedEx does the same thing.