I buy a lot of coins on ebay. Out of the hundreds of coins I bought, there have been three envelopes delivered with no coin. Two of the envelopes had a small slit along the edge. The other one looked like it got stuck in the sorting machine. What do you guys do when a coin is missing? I know a lot of ebay sellers don't guarantee postal delivery. That's to be expected. I did contact the sellers. I bought a copper round from a dealer. He was kind of rude. He did everything except call me a liar. He did send me another one, though. I bought a Walker from another guy. He was very polite. He replaced the coin with another Walker. I bought another copper round from another guy. He also was very polite, promising to send me another. He must have forgot, because he never sent me a replacement. I also noticed that each time, the coin was sent loose in an envelope. I hear a lot of horror stories about postal workers. Are these stories true? Thankfully I don't buy anything expensive.
Yes, a few months ago I returned a coin to a CT member and he claims he never received it. I guess it just tough luck on my part. Never Again...
Any shipper who ships just in an envelope should be prepared to replace many orders. I ship double wrapped in a bubble envelope. I once received a priority mail box with 5000 loose wheats just dumped in the box. Cents were dripping out as I carried it in the house.
I buy and sell coins via USPS often. So far so good. Always use insurance if the coin is slabbed or raw with high value.
If you buy a lot from eBay, you need to learn what the rules are. Read the eBay Buyer Protection link on virtually every eBay listing - http://pages.ebay.com/coverage/index.html. Pretty much, if you don't like it, send it back; if you didn't receive it; if you don't like the envelope - you will get a refund. And I could not believe the phone support I got the only time I have had to use it BTW, this trumps every seller's no return policy, restocking fees, and every other contrivance the seller can come up with to discourage returns. As an aside to this, I have bought and sold 2000+ items in the last 5 years and not lost a single item either going or coming.
Sadly True! It is a sad fact of our postal system, but it is true that coins disappear in the postal handling process. Over decades of sending coins through the mail system, I've "lost" many coins, even some that were registered. The fault generally is with the sender, and the postal handling equipment which will easily destroy a package with unsecured contents. Postal employees are theoretically required to inspect all packages to ascertain "non-machinable" items, and charge a separate amount for "non-machinable" shipments. Senders often know better, and place their shipments into the "drop boxes", avoiding the surcharge, hoping for the best. My system has evolved to where I send the coins in an envelope, secured between two cardboard "sheets", with all edges of the envelope taped to a min. 1/2" from edge. After shipping thousands of these envelopes, I have never had one of these shipments destroyed, and if a "questionable" buyer states that they haven't received the package, I refund their payment, and exclude them from future purchases. Sellers are skeptical of "lost" claims, as many eBay buyers have learned how to receive both a refund and the auction item, by fraudulent claims. I have even notified eBay in advance, of individuals who will be making these claims, but an eBay seller hasn't recourse other than to refund, and "black-list". A credible seller will refund or deliver a replacement, but hopefully buyers understand their skepticism.
Yeah. If you just throw a coin into an envelope loose and send it, you have a great chance that it won't arrive. Someone will feel that it is a coin, make a little slit in the envelope, and its gone. I won a Walker in a contest here one time, and ended up getting an envelope with a half dollar-sized slit in the corner, and no coin. The guy was cool though, and sent me a replacement. Also, if you're shipping internationally and you write "coins" on the customs form, you are greatly increasing your chances of the coins not arriving safely.
We must have had the same seller, AdamL. When I lost my Walker, he was more than happy to replace it. One time I bought two halves. They were shipped loose. When i got my package, it looked like it got stuck in the sorter. There were rubber skid marks all over the smashed envelope. There was a huge rip down the back of the envelope, and the coins were still inside!!! I get a lot of coins are shipped the way imrich does it--taped between two pieces of cardboard. That seems like the best way, and that way we can tell what kind of cereal he eats. Lots of recycled food packages being used here. Another time I got a box you could fit a softball into. Inside the box was a loose Mercury dime.
I've always used a bubble padded envelope with a sheet or two of paper inside that way it is really hard to tell what is in it.
Years ago I had a buyer tell me he didn't receive a coin. It was only a $10 coin and he was a very loyal customer. I sent him a replacement no questions asked. After dozens of transactions I had no reason not to believe him. Had it been a higher dollar coin it would have been insured.
WHAT? Someone suspects the intigrity of our postal system. Utterly rediculous. Impossible for any of our well trained, honest, sincere employees of the US Postal system to ever even think a dishonest thought let alone a theft. :goofer: A long time ago someone I know that worked in the post office mentioned how if an envelop is suspected of having a coin inside, it is sort of flipped enought to see if any coins pop out. I once had a coin not get to the place I was sending it to and from that time on, any coins are placed inbetween two pieces of cardboard that are taped together. Then surrounded by a few more pieces of cardboard just in case. Since then, nothing lost.
Several years ago, I purchased an Stella. The seller mailed it to me in a simple envelope. When I got it the envelope had a huge tear in it, the flap was torn and re-taped, and yet somehow that stella was still in there. Quite amazing, I was sure that piece of history would be gone forever.
I've received a couple of envelopes with the coin missing and several where I got lucky including one where the coin rolling back and forth had torn most of the way through the envelope. When the mailman handed it to me the coin was literally hanging half out of the envelope. I took hold of the coin and pulled VERY gently and the coin came right out. Several times I have gottten envelopes with the coin(s) rolling around in them. Just a couple weeks ago I got one with two Condertokens in it. He had put the coins in a safeflip and taped it to the letter. In transit the coins had simply split throught the sides of the filp and were rolling around loose.
