I am becoming very frustrated with USPS deliveries. Since buying from EBay, I have lost two medals and possibly a third totaling about $300 due to post office mistakes. The first two were from the medals' marked as being delivered, and I never received them. The first two, due to EBay policies, I lost the money I paid also. The third one may have been stolen from the post office. At least the third one has not been marked delivered, and if need be I may get my money back. Seems as if 99% of EBay deliveries are USPS. How I wish they offered other delivery services even if it would cost a few dollars more. Any thoughts or ideas of how to improve this situation?
Request that your seller sends them Usps but signature required. Most sellers have no issue with this as long as you offer to pay for the added service. It won't stop something from being lost but it will stop something being shown as delivered that was probably stolen from your mailbox or something as you will have to sign for the item to receive it.
eBay seems to promote UPS for sellers as well, but I don't know whether it would work out any better for you, and most sellers still seem to prefer USPS. It's certainly cheaper for small, light packages.
How long should I wait before contacting the seller that the medal is lost? The last tracking information was Processed through USPS Sort Facility January 05, 2012, 4:56 am. This sort facility is thirty miles from where I live. I am beginning to think the medal was stolen.
I have probably conducted over 3000 transactions on eBay both buying and selling. 99.9% have been sent USPS and only 1 was not delivered and one was broken open and the contents lost. The one not delivered I won at about 20% of the going rate and I am convinced they never sent it. As for how long to wait, don't. Talk to the USPS asap. They have access to more info than you do and they might be able to find the problem. I once sent a check to someone in NJ. It took nearly a month to get there. It went through the same facility probably 10 times before they sent it to Harrisburg and then delivered it the next day. The people at my PO were totally dumbfounded at what was going on - and these were well experienced and friendly, helpful employees.
I talked with my post office yesterday. She only ran the tracking information and then told me to wait some more. After losing the other two medals within the last five months, I am rather jaded with the postal service. (I have rented a PO Box, after the second lost medal, to resolve the postal carrier mishandling my packages)
The problem here is not about lost packages. It has been known that USPS employees steal packages with coins and PM in them. They scan the package and mark it as shipped when it is not. I don't know how to deal with ebay on this as the only thing they care about is that its marked as delivered. The best thing to do is to report the items to a PO inspector. Don't know if you will get your money back but at least they will look into it.
This may be true in some remote locations, but is not a national issue. If a few customers on any given route address an issue, the employee involved will be investigated, and if convicted, prosecuted and terminated. Dropping on the doorstep is not my favorite form of delivery. USPS, UPS, and Fedex all do it with some pretty expensive items. This particular case sounds more like dishonest neighbors. Signature confirmation or a P.O. box will resolve these issues.
I have no doubt that one case is a careless/dishonest neighbor. I suspect the mail carrier left the item in the wrong mailbox, and then the neighbor left it in a tray beneath the mailboxes and was then stolen. After this, I did get a PO Box. The first case was someone in a sort facility marking the item as delivered but was never shipped out. This last case, I suspect stealing because the sorting facility it went through is in a bad part of Washington DC. This last case though has not been resolved yet. I have seen things going through this facility take a long time before so I am still holding out hope.
OP, insure that your shipping address is correct. If it is correct and your packages show as delivered but you did not receive them, file a claim with PayPal. Contact YOUR local Postmaster and file a complaint about anything which appears suspicious with your deliveries. Especially if they show as delivered but you never received them. If there is a dishonest person working for the USPS, they DO want to know as their business DEPENDS upon trusted and timely deliveries. The ONLY way they'll ever conduct an investigation is if someone complains. Do your part.
If this is the case, and who knows what happened, this could turn into a PR nightmare for the USPS. Who's barely staying afloat right now. Being a FedEx employee, aside from Ground I wish we had a cheap, safe, and quick logistics solution like the USPS. Hope everything works out in regards to a solution for you.
I buy a lot of coins on ebay (usually at least one or two a day) and I'd estimate at least 1 in 40 or so never arrives or arrives with the item missing. It might go well for months, and then I'll have three over a period of a week. I believe the seller sent them, they just don't arrive. I've had it happen with ones with tracking numbers where they are scanned into the system but never move on. I've also had a card I sent to my dad never arrive, although he lives 30 miles away. It just seems to happen sometimes. Strangely, I've probably sold hundreds of coins and have never had a buyer tell me it didn't arrive. I know it's going to happen someday but I feel like I'm beating the odds.
Knock on wood, but I've never have had an issue with anything that I've bought or sold on eBay due to USPS and I've been dealing with eBay since 1999. I have many other issues with the USPS and my personal mail, but that's another story.
First thing to do is talk to the Postmaster at your Post Office and explain your problem. If that doesn't help, contact the US Postal Inspectors (they have a web site where you can file complaints). The Postal Inspectors take a dim view of vanishing packages and will investigate. Getting a PO Box may help but only if you suspect your local carrier is pilfering your mail, which I would say is unlikely. When you win an item, ask for signature confirmation delivery or, if you really want security, ask that it be sent Registered Mail. I have never had a Registered package go missing and I've been using that service since the 1970s. Downside is that it is slower than regular mail due to the increased security measures.
Maybe it will still show up! I had a coin arrive in my home town, than it got sent to the other side of the nation. Than stayed there for almost 14 days(I was sure it was lost) till being sent back & delivered. I would not write this coin off just yet. It could still show up. Its really hard to perdict the USPS tracking & shipping! I hope it arrives for you since you have already got burned a couple times.
Thank You for your positive replies. Today I had a good talk with my mail carrier, and she gave me some good advice on what to do. I have not given up yet. At least it has not been marked as delivered, and I may get a refund if needed. What bothers me most is the possible loss of this medal. The medal is a so called dollar, which was said to be silver. If it is silver, it may be an extremely rare silver copy of this SCD. (If it turns out to be white medal, that is fine also for it is rare .)
