Angry with USPS and eBay/Paypal

It's the pitts that stuff like this happened to the OP but I look at it a bit differently. First of all I don't think the postman ripped him off and I don't think he was ripped off at all. I think a mistake was made by the postman or something else happened. Before I go any further I just want to say that I have personally known of a postman who was fired for stealing krap so I know it happens, I just don't think it happened in this particular case. Some of the PO boxes are set up so that the postman only has to use 1 key and open 6 or more boxes. Sometimes these boxes lay open all together like apartment mail boxes, it would be easy to place his package in someone else's box if the postman isn't totally focused and that's what I think happened. His package was inadvertently mis-delivered and the person who ended up with his package opened it and kept it. just my 2 cnts

 

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I was very fortunate. A couple of years ago, I bought a 1955 DDO (PCGS MS64 RB) from an Ebay seller. The coin never arrived, but it was insured. The post office did not claim to have delivered it. When a shipment is insured, the seller is the one who has to file the claim because they are the party who takes out the insurance. This seller was extraordinarily honest and decent. Instead of making me wait until the claim was settled, he let me apply the purchase price toward another 1955 DDO (also PCGS MS64 RB) which he promptly sent to me.

The other lesson we learned from this is that when you send something by priority mail, even with delivery confirmation, the post office cannot tell what happens to it from the time it is mailed until it is delivered. If it disappears, they won't be able to tell the last place it was seen. A valuable package should be sent by certified or registered mail which provides more documentation of the intermediate steps in the delivery chain. That seems to make the packages less prone to being lost on purpose.

 

Certified only provides proof of mailing and proof of delivery. There is no tracking.

 

Good advice. I agree UPS and Fed ex might be better, but I have one of those boxes that opens up with a key by the postcarrier. He uses it to open the box and all of my neighbors boxes open up as well. If UPS or Fed ex were to come to my residence, they would have a locked mail box to deal with. They wouldn't be able to open it to leave me a message that my package has arrived and they can't leave it if I'm not home to sign for it. In other words, the USPS has a monopoly on delivering my mail.

I also agree that the package probably was delivered, but to a neighbor. Sometimes when I wasn't home, I'd come home and there would be my package, left in front of the security door that leads into the hallway of my apartment. A hallway shared by 4 other occupants. Did someone take my package that was simply left at an unsecured location....it's anybodies guess. One time I had a neighbor hand me a package that they said the Post carrier had given to them. A post carrier gave them my package? WTF. When this neighbor happened to be in the process of moving, I had two packages that I never got. It turns out that the postal carrier had handed my packages to this neighbor. When I asked him if he had my package, he said no. How can I accuse him when the postal service just hands him packages with my name on it, yet he denies getting them.

It would make sense to only deliver packages to the people whose name is on them, or to leave a card that states package is at the post office, ready for pick up. But giving your packages to your neighbors to give to you....WTF!

 

Had a similar problem, Where i never did get refunded, Pay-pal protection
Yeah right

 

I had the same deal with Pay Pal....E Bay & Pay Pal dumped the seller and I got left holding the bag....no $ ....no goods! Buyer protection is for thoses of us who have linked our Banks to e bay and Pay Pal so yes again they can recoup their loss. However if you are caught up in a deal that the buyer or seller is not honest you are at a loss. As for the USPS well I have shipped several hundered pkgs. and have only a few problems...and if you buy from me and don't pay for insurance it's your loss...not mine as I always insure any item I buy over the amount I don't feel is an acceptable loss in transit.

 

I bought a $500 gold coin on ebay two years ago and it arrived with a slit in the priority mail envelope and no coin. I promptly emailed the seller who swore she put it in but just dropped it in the envelope!!? No baggie, no holder no nothing. Luckily she did insure it and I went to the USPS and filed a claim and they granted it. I brought in the envelope to show them and it took about three weeks and I got a money order from the USPS. I have no doubt a mail handler or sorter stole the coin.

Lesson Learned: SIGNATURE confirmation is the way to go, delivery confirmation is a joke.

Another Lesson Learned: When selling, do not ship overseas without certified, insured, registered, whatever they take. Once it leaves the US it is gone and no way to track it. I shipped two coins to Hong Kong and the buyer claimed to have never received them. My tracking showed they left the US but that was it. I couldn't refund his money and felt terrible. I gave him all the insurance info but now I won't sell internationally.

 

jf7fsu;
That's interesting. I was the sender on the same situation and my claim was denied by the USPS. My value was only $200 vs your $500. Since she was the one who purchased the insurance and paid for it, how were you able to process the claim? She has all the paperwork and receipts. Isn't it her responsibility?

 

The seller physically mailed me her receipt which is required to file a claim. Once you get the original document you can file at the post office. I believe either the shipper or receiver can file. Of course I wanted to file and be in control. I had some doubts going in but all I brought in was the envelope, the ebay ad and the proof of insurance purchased and they took it no problems.