Lost in Transit - Maybe? - Advice Appreciated

agee · Dec 10, 2020

Had this happen to me just about this time last year
I refunded the buyer and filed a claim with USPS
I sent it Priority-no insurance. I received a $58 check from USPS
and a few days later the buyer emailed that the watch had arrived
I tore up and threw away the USPS check and the buyer sent Paypal
Lesson I learned-any package valued less than $400- insure it
Anything above-send USPS Registered Mail
Hope this works out for you-I feel your pain

JwRosenthal · Dec 10, 2020

This is all very temporary due to Covid for all the aforementioned reasons- we all need to be patient. The postal workers themselves have nothing to do with it and don’t deserve any of the ire. OP- I hope your buyer is understanding, but unless it is officially lost (they may tell you 90 days before they will accept an official claim), you have no recourse and your buyer should understand it is not on you.

I sent a letter to a fellow member in Canada over a month ago and he still hasn’t gotten it- but he sent me a package at the same time and I got within 2 weeks- it’s totally random.

SkunkPrince · Dec 10, 2020

I honestly do not ship anything I can avoid shipping in December. It's just nuts.

Evitzee · Dec 10, 2020

I must be very lucky, I haven't had any issues with FedEx, UPS, DHL or the USPS in the past or this year, everything is pretty much as normal and that includes packages from Australia, France, Switzerland and Serbia and normal domestic mail. I sent a Priority Mail Registered package from my semi-rural home in central Texas to Seattle late last month; sent on Friday and it got to Seattle the next Wednesday. I think it is the luck of the draw and your location, some places tend to have more ongoing issues than others. Some of the delays are Covid related, but the USPS has been a mess for quite awhile, it's not getting any better.

SkunkPrince · Dec 10, 2020

Evitzee
...the USPS has been a mess for quite awhile, it's not getting any better.

Actually, from my persecctive, it does seem to be getting better. Congress insisted that certain stupid actions be reversed, and they have been, within whatever limits.

It's just that this time of year shipping anything in the US is nutso hard. Long lines at the post office, likely the same at private couriers, everyone is sending Christmas presents to everyone else, Chaunikka too (apologize for spelling), and they get overwhelmed. I am at the end of my local mail route, so my normal 4:30pm mail delivery is often 6:00pm this time of year.

Larry S · Dec 10, 2020

lost some 316 bracelet links between Royal Mail and USPS for three months. Took a coordinated effort by the seller and be to break them loose. Right now Covid is slowing everything down.

kip595 · Dec 10, 2020

I'd be less alarmed if the shipment was international, or if it was a December shipment, but a November shipment sent a couple of states away (maybe 600 miles or so) all w/in CONUS has me a bit exasperated.

Just one of those things I suppose. As I said to another forum member today; i guess it was time for a balloon karma payment on always having had good luck with shipments before.

Well, whatever the resolution, I'll let you guys know for those who might be curious! ...When I know, anyway, heh. 😕

SkunkPrince · Dec 10, 2020

My shipment from Griffin GA to Greenfield WI was delayed two days... but I did get it.

Andy K · Dec 11, 2020

kip595
Anyone have experience with this in dealing directly with the USPS? A "case" has already been opened but can anyone recommend any further steps to take, or am I now just at the mercy of the U.S. Post Office?

Been dealing with this exact scenario recently. Here's an abbreviated version of a very long story that's still ongoing:

-Listed a watch for sale here and on WUS in October.
-On 10/24 a buyer reached out with an offer, I accepted. He paid via Paypal right away. He asked to hold off on shipping for a week since he's travelling.
-I shipped via USPS Priority Mail 11/2 from Chicago to Texas. Priority comes with up to $50 in insurance, I insured privately for the full value.
-Per tracking the watch was last seen at a hub near me on 11/3. The tracking said "Your package will arrive later than expected, but is still on its way. It is currently in transit to the next facility" at this point and has not been updated since.
-The buyer (reasonably) got antsy, so I refunded him.
-I opened a customer service inquiry online, spoke to the local post office in person twice, and called the post office hub during the first 10 days or so.
-I opened a Missing Mail Search on 11/10 - (this is a formal search and has to be done before filing a USPS claim)
-I opened a claim with the USPS on 11/23 (Priority mail claims had to be opened at least 15 days after scheduled arrival - I gave it a few extra days at their suggestion due to election-related delays).
-I opened an insurance claim with the private insurer (Secursus) on the same day
-The USPS processed and approved my claim on 11/25, I received a check from them on 11/28 for a refund of the shipping expense plus the $50 insurance
-The private insurer hasn't made a decision but from the questions they ask me they are looking for a reason to deny the claim. I'm really frustrated because the USPS very quickly paid insurance and very clearly has lost the package. This has nothing to do with anything I or the buyer may have done outside their T&C....The package was lost in transit. I can't imagine a more straightforward claim.

Hope that helps. I've shipped hundreds of packages domestically using Priority Mail over the years, and this is the first one that was even late, let alone gone missing.

Good luck on yours!

tgeekb · Dec 17, 2020

Wlcutter
I'll just chime in to note that the USPS, which I've used+loved for years, has never, ever been this bad, this consistently. I'm currently awaiting a package that should've been here last week; it got sent three time zones away, and should be here next week. OP: I'd be anxious, certainly (I've a $2.5k watch that's been "in transit" to me for only a week now, so I relate), but I suspect it will all shake out, but on a pony express timeline.

I agree. USPS is a mess and either needs to be better funded or dismantled.

Thrasher36 · Dec 17, 2020

USPS needs to be privatized and all the deadwood flushed down the toilet, They are using covid just like so many other government agencies to get more money from the federal government...That's your money to fund their shit performance. I send and receive packages everyday and USPS is not your friend. DHL, Fedex and UPS are doing a great job in a difficult situation right now.

kkt · Dec 18, 2020

No, USPS is self-supporting, they don't get tax money, aside from Covid. They have the stupid Congress-imposed special funding requirement for pensions for future employees who haven't even been born yet. They should drop that funding requirement and fund their retirements just like other agencies. The savings should allow them to modernize some of their equipment.

No carrier is perfect, but I have gotten better results from USPS than the others.

kip595 · Dec 20, 2020

To clarify, as I am at this point pretty frustrated, I was the buyer in this situation.

Today, after simply suggesting to the seller that we set up a timeline for refund and if ever needed any return of the watch to him, I was cursed out quite vehemently, called a scammer, and told I was using a fake address...which is interesting, not only because I'm sitting in the house the address is located at as I type this, but also as I fail to see how my sending someone funds for a good I have not received, and for which any insurance (which I'm now fairly certain they've skipped) would reimburse them, not me, even COULD be a scam.

I've been in the hobby for several years now, have an excellent reputation, and frankly, am just flabbergasted by the actions of this seller.

I suppose my only hope at this point is reliance upon the USPS - if the piece was ever actually shipped to begin with, and not just some mis-labeled empty package or the like.

Anyone who wants more details in order to avoid dealing with this individual, please feel free to PM me - I have screencapped all of the exchanges between myself and this seller for records' keeping and stand firmly by my word - particularly, anyone who deals on WUS, beware.

I wish I had a better update to this fiasco.

Hope everyone is well.

SkunkPrince · Dec 20, 2020

Postal investigators are an armed service of the federal government. They take mail fraud very seriously.

I hope this is a comfort to you as you work through this difficult time.

JwRosenthal · Dec 20, 2020

Did you pay via PayPal?

Wlcutter · Dec 20, 2020

kip595
To clarify, as I am at this point pretty frustrated, I was the buyer in this situation.

Today, after simply suggesting to the seller that we set up a timeline for refund and if ever needed any return of the watch to him, I was cursed out quite vehemently, called a scammer, and told I was using a fake address...which is interesting, not only because I'm sitting in the house the address is located at as I type this, but also as I fail to see how my sending someone funds for a good I have not received, and for which any insurance (which I'm now fairly certain they've skipped) would reimburse them, not me, even COULD be a scam.

I've been in the hobby for several years now, have an excellent reputation, and frankly, am just flabbergasted by the actions of this seller.

I suppose my only hope at this point is reliance upon the USPS - if the piece was ever actually shipped to begin with, and not just some mis-labeled empty package or the like.

Anyone who wants more details in order to avoid dealing with this individual, please feel free to PM me - I have screencapped all of the exchanges between myself and this seller for records' keeping and stand firmly by my word - particularly, anyone who deals on WUS, beware.

I wish I had a better update to this fiasco.

Hope everyone is well.

Don't know how much it will help, but I'll add my own experience of late.

FedEx continues to be entirely reliable. USPS has gotten unnervingly untrustworthy, and I say that as someone who'd much prefer deal with USPS at all times. In 6 years of buying and selling watches, only *one* international package has gone missing, and no domestic packages.

While I haven't had any packages lost recently (mostly because I only use FedEx internationally), the current situation with USPS is mindblowingly frustrating. I'm waiting on a package that was shipped 3 December; its current tracking lists it as being in the possession of the USPS it was shipped from. Nothing's changed since 3 December, not once.

Even *more* frustrating, I dropped 3 packages off last week, the 9th of December. The three tracking numbers don't even register as having been scanned at the post office. After 5 days, I asked the post office folks (who I know, and who know me fairly well, having seen me every few days for half a decade). Their response? "Yeah, that's happening right now." I've shipped stuff since the 9th; that's tracked. But those packages, that afternoon, are still not scanning.

I'm so bummed for you, @kip595, and I hope it all works out, for all of us. That said, it sure does seem like the USPS is getting unfathomably slammed, and stuff's just taking way, way, way longer than expected. Hope it works out for all of us waiting on stuff to get to its destination.

JwRosenthal · Dec 20, 2020

Wlcutter
Don't know how much it will help, but I'll add my own experience of late.

FedEx continues to be entirely reliable. USPS has gotten unnervingly untrustworthy, and I say that as someone who'd much prefer deal with USPS at all times. In 6 years of buying and selling watches, only *one* international package has gone missing, and no domestic packages.

While I haven't had any packages lost recently (mostly because I only use FedEx internationally), the current situation with USPS is mindblowingly frustrating. I'm waiting on a package that was shipped 3 December; its current tracking lists it as being in the possession of the USPS it was shipped from. Nothing's changed since 3 December, not once.

Even *more* frustrating, I dropped 3 packages off last week, the 9th of December. The three tracking numbers don't even register as having been scanned at the post office. After 5 days, I asked the post office folks (who I know, and who know me fairly well, having seen me every few days for half a decade). Their response? "Yeah, that's happening right now." I've shipped stuff since the 9th; that's tracked. But those packages, that afternoon, are still not scanning.

I'm so bummed for you, @kip595, and I hope it all works out, for all of us. That said, it sure does seem like the USPS is getting unfathomably slammed, and stuff's just taking way, way, way longer than expected. Hope it works out for all of us waiting on stuff to get to its destination.

I have to keep reminding myself that we are in incredibly unusual times. The lack of travel has people shipping everything- the USPS infrastructure wasn’t prepared for this volume. Yes, there were other political issues afoot prior to November, but this is a matter of a system overwhelmed and unable to keep up. I’m willing to bet (although happy to be proven wrong by someone with actual data) that the USPS is handling a volume far greater than UPS/FedEx combined in the US.
That said- the seller dealing with the OP sounds like a douche- an attitude like that would have me pushing a refund now.

kip595 · Dec 20, 2020

JwRosenthal
Did you pay via PayPal?

Just finished filing with them. Hopefully that brings about a quick, positive conclusion.

JwRosenthal · Dec 20, 2020

kip595
Just finished filing with them. Hopefully that brings about a quick, positive conclusion.

Yup! I know many sellers here hate PayPal for justifiable reasons. But as a buyer, I wouldn’t do a transaction with an unknown seller without it (and I have mine through a credit card for double protection). Package not received- it’s as simple as that. The seller can bitch and moan as much as they like- with PayPal it’s usually pretty cut and dry- you didn’t get it- refund.

airansun · Dec 20, 2020

USPS lost a 105.012-66 HF I’d bought on eBay, that was being shipped from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Tracking information stopped just after it began moving.

For two weeks, USPS told the seller that the package might still turn up. After two weeks, the seller agreed to refund my money (an instance of eBay being an advantage).

To my knowledge, the package never showed up. I believe USPS paid off the seller, telling him that they suspected employee theft and were investigating.

IMHO, seller should be refunding you at this point. Isn’t it his claim against USPS, and not yours?

Lost in Transit - Maybe? - Advice Appreciated

agee

JwRosenthal

SkunkPrince

Evitzee

SkunkPrince

Larry S

kip595

SkunkPrince

Andy K

tgeekb

Thrasher36

kkt

kip595

SkunkPrince

JwRosenthal

Wlcutter

JwRosenthal

kip595

JwRosenthal

airansun

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