Asking advice on a transaction

[Chloe]

I’m the buyer. When the item was shipped, I was given a shipping option of priority or first class, with two payment amounts. I chose the cheaper amount, yes, but I was never told that the item was being sent uninsured.

I appreciate that it sucks that you are out the item and the money, but all I did was purchase the item from you. I have sold tons of stuff through here, and always consider whether or not I can “risk” it to send uninsured. If I can’t make up the cost of the lost item, I will only send insured….because I feel it’s the seller’s responsibility to provide what was paid for, or to refund the purchase price.

I don’t really understand why I should have to pay half the cost for something that I never received. 🙁 Can someone please explain what I did wrong in a way that I can understand why I should be out money for nothing? This whole situation just sucks. 🙁

I know if I sent someone something and it was lost, I would feel fully responsible.

[Chloe]

I hope my comment does not sound argumentative, it’s not meant to be at all. I am just genuinely curious as to why everyone seems to think that splitting the loss is more than fair. Please help me understand. 🙂 I wish I had the money to just say, “it’s okay. Stuff happens. Don’t even worry about it.” But….unfortunately…..that’s not the case. 🙁

[Dandr13]

Not taking anyone’s side here, just making a suggestion for the future. As a seller any time I sell anything expensive (windstones, electronics, etc.) I always foot the insurance cost myself, because when a package is not received by the buyer more often than not any dispute will always result in the seller having to lose out. Even if the buyer doesn’t ask for insurance if you want to be free and clear as a seller, you should always buy it anyway. It’s not worth it to save a couple bucks and end up losing out on everything if something happens to the package. Unfortunately, since neither stated they wanted insurance purchased it becomes a tricky issue to resolve.

Personally, I have trouble handling putting a package in the mail even with insurance (I have severe anxiety issues). I can’t relax until I know it’s gotten delivered properly. It’s why I don’t sell very often.

Good luck to you both, I hope you work everything out peacefully.

[Chloe]

I’m sure one way or another we will work it out peacefully. 🙂 We have done tons of business together, so there should be no reason for discord over this in the long run, I would hope.

Does everyone think I’m being a jerk? Would you all just say, “Yeah, it sucks. Half’s fine. Thank you.”? Tell me if you think I am–I can take it!

[Chloe]

You have to get in touch with the Atlanta Mail Recovery Center. It is a royal pain in the you know what, but I have gotten several lost packages recovered from there. All “lost” articles end up there eventually and if they are there long enough unclaimed then they auction the items off and keep the money they raise. Nice huh?

You have to HAUNT them, but they will give you an online claims form and you need to provide the tracking and a picture of the item. I got a PYO Foo Pup recovered from there once. You have to google them because the USPS website doesn’t give you squat for contact info on them and they ASK USPS phone line is a complete waste of time.

Man, I would be totally willing to wait to try to get the kitty, this seems like a win-win. Let’s try this first.

[Sikek]

I’m the buyer. When the item was shipped, I was given a shipping option of priority or first class, with two payment amounts. I chose the cheaper amount, yes, but I was never told that the item was being sent uninsured.

I appreciate that it sucks that you are out the item and the money, but all I did was purchase the item from you. I have sold tons of stuff through here, and always consider whether or not I can “risk” it to send uninsured. If I can’t make up the cost of the lost item, I will only send insured….because I feel it’s the seller’s responsibility to provide what was paid for, or to refund the purchase price.

I don’t really understand why I should have to pay half the cost for something that I never received. 🙁 Can someone please explain what I did wrong in a way that I can understand why I should be out money for nothing? This whole situation just sucks. 🙁

I know if I sent someone something and it was lost, I would feel fully responsible.

Neither of you did anything ‘wrong’, but someone will have to cover the cost. You’re right this is usually the seller’s responsibility.

I hope my comment does not sound argumentative, it’s not meant to be at all. I am just genuinely curious as to why everyone seems to think that splitting the loss is more than fair. Please help me understand. 🙂 I wish I had the money to just say, “it’s okay. Stuff happens. Don’t even worry about it.” But….unfortunately…..that’s not the case. 🙁

I’m sure one way or another we will work it out peacefully. 🙂 We have done tons of business together, so there should be no reason for discord over this in the long run, I would hope.

Does everyone think I’m being a jerk? Would you all just say, “Yeah, it sucks. Half’s fine. Thank you.”? Tell me if you think I am–I can take it!

You’re not being a jerk, you’re entitled to either get what you paid for or your money back. If you were still covered by Paypal you could have filed a claim and received your full refund simple. Since your payment was ‘personal’ though, you’ve left yourself unprotected there (Just another reason people should never send personal payments for sales).
It’s easy to be sympathetic to both sides of the story here, neither of you are to blame, you’ve both just run into some tough luck (assuming the parcel never surfaces).

I hope you can both resolve this, or better yet, I hope your item shows up somehow.

[Kim]

I know when I thought one of my boxes from Windstone was lost that I paid first class shipping for I expected that if it didn’t turn up that they would refund or replace it. I was quite surprised when they told me that if it was sent first class, they were not responsible if it was lost. I was upset because I expect when dealing with a company that they would do whatever it takes to make the customer happy. When it’s a transaction between two people though I can see how that is a bit different because it’s not like there is a company involved who can foot the loss, it’s two collectors who both lose. So I can see from a middle perspective how that is a tricky thing. In a perfect world if I was a buyer, either way I would hope that the sender would refund it or try to locate it with the postal system. If it is possible to find it by checking that ‘lost’ centre, I think that’s the best for both of you.

Looking for rainbow or pink & teal grab bags!

[drag0nfeathers]

You have to get in touch with the Atlanta Mail Recovery Center. It is a royal pain in the you know what, but I have gotten several lost packages recovered from there. All “lost” articles end up there eventually and if they are there long enough unclaimed then they auction the items off and keep the money they raise. Nice huh?

You have to HAUNT them, but they will give you an online claims form and you need to provide the tracking and a picture of the item. I got a PYO Foo Pup recovered from there once. You have to google them because the USPS website doesn’t give you squat for contact info on them and they ASK USPS phone line is a complete waste of time.

Man, I would be totally willing to wait to try to get the kitty, this seems like a win-win. Let’s try this first.

Not taking anyone’s side here, but just wanted to add more information here.

So depending on the method shipped they only hold the “lost article” for so long. I think First Class was only 30 or 60 days and Priority was 90. I googled the phone number to this place (and I found lke 6 or 7 numbers, I called them all until I got a human, to which the human was like “How did you egt this number!?”) BUT! I digress, I spoke to the post master of my area and even they were unwilling to give out the direct line information for the Atlanta Mail Recovery Center. It’s a way for the post office to make easy money by auctioning off lost packages in my opinion. If you pester them enough they probably will find it unless it was mis delivered and some dishonest person kept it for themselves. If it wasn’t delivered, I’d say you have a 50/50 chance of recovery, especially if it was a distinguishable item. i.e. a grab bag or an ebay piece, somthing one of a kind. I mean, I also got a DVD box set recovered from there too before. The Foo Pup was easier because it was a very distinguishable one of a kind paint job. Not something you just buy in a store, you know. They surcharged me to get it, not much like 6 bucks COD to have it sent back to me. The sender had highlighted the words on the label and it screwed up the automatic sorting process even though all my address information was correct. The most important thing is to located someone there with half a brain, who cares about helping you. Get their name and ALWAYS talk to them! 90% of the people I had to deal with made me want to blow my brains out and give up on the whole thing just because they were either stupid or just didn’t seem to want to care to help me retrive my item, but there ARE people who still care about their jobs. You have to find one of them at that place! LOL!

When I get home from work I’ll see if I can find the information. I know I saved it and put it somewhere safe… so safe.. I’m not sure where it is >_<

In any case I hope you guys can work it out. <3

Got a busted Windstone?
drag0nfeathersdesign@gmail.com
*OPEN for repairs*

*SEEKING GRAILS*
Arc-en-ciel Emperor
Siphlophis Male Dragon
Calypso Hatching Empress
Ivory Moss Sitting Baby Kirin
Tattoo Mother Kirin
Emerald Tabby Male Griffin
Tie Dye + Orion Hatching Royalty
Indigo Rockfish + Flame Tabby Little Rock Dragons
Dragon Quail + Obsidian Frost Old Warriors
Betta Sun Dragon + Male Dragon
Dreamscape, Orion, Poison Dart, Fireberry, Spangler + Tigerberry Dragons

[drag0nfeathers]

This is what I found so far from bits and scraps from my desk

Inspector General
1-800-USPS-OIG

option #2

then
option #1 sends you to consumer affairs (basically the ASK USPS hotline)
option #4 I have written down as forms
option #6 was a live analyst

then I have an email contact of
hotline@uspsoig.gov

That’s all I got so far, I’ll keep looking!

Got a busted Windstone?
drag0nfeathersdesign@gmail.com
*OPEN for repairs*

*SEEKING GRAILS*
Arc-en-ciel Emperor
Siphlophis Male Dragon
Calypso Hatching Empress
Ivory Moss Sitting Baby Kirin
Tattoo Mother Kirin
Emerald Tabby Male Griffin
Tie Dye + Orion Hatching Royalty
Indigo Rockfish + Flame Tabby Little Rock Dragons
Dragon Quail + Obsidian Frost Old Warriors
Betta Sun Dragon + Male Dragon
Dreamscape, Orion, Poison Dart, Fireberry, Spangler + Tigerberry Dragons

[drag0nfeathers]

Also, this is like a year or two old… so hopefully it’s still up to date

Got a busted Windstone?
drag0nfeathersdesign@gmail.com
*OPEN for repairs*

*SEEKING GRAILS*
Arc-en-ciel Emperor
Siphlophis Male Dragon
Calypso Hatching Empress
Ivory Moss Sitting Baby Kirin
Tattoo Mother Kirin
Emerald Tabby Male Griffin
Tie Dye + Orion Hatching Royalty
Indigo Rockfish + Flame Tabby Little Rock Dragons
Dragon Quail + Obsidian Frost Old Warriors
Betta Sun Dragon + Male Dragon
Dreamscape, Orion, Poison Dart, Fireberry, Spangler + Tigerberry Dragons

[Amstaff]

They surcharged me to get it, not much like 6 bucks COD to have it sent back to me. The sender had highlighted the words on the label and it screwed up the automatic sorting process even though all my address information was correct.

OMG !! If the address was indeed correct, and the only issue was it had to be manually processed instead of through the machines, then I dont understand why in the world they would have held onto it… why they didnt just fix said bar-code or what not and mail it on…. and at the VERY LEAST they should NOT have charged you to get it from them since the address was correct…. sheesh !! ( I work at Canada Post, and we have similar issues with automated machinery reading bar-codes etc. Sometimes the customer uses a wrong postal code, resulting in a wrong bar code being produced by the post office, resulting in it being sent to the wrong area, and sometimes Canada Post itself produces the incorrect bar-code, through no fault of the customer. This CAN result in a parcel looping around and around in the system, continually being miss-sorted by machines, until eventually a human handles it and blocks out the invalid bar-code. Then it is manually sorted and goes to its proper place. Something such as what you speak off would have been delivered eventually here, and would have NOT gone to the “lost parcels” office… grrrr…. what your office did to you was totally unfair, but I guess things are done a bit different by USPS)

Back on-topic… this is a bad situation for both parties, and I dont think anyone here is being a jerk or being unreasonable. Since it wasnt clarified that insurance wasnt being offered with that shipping method, it does make things a bit trickier. I do hope things get worked out in the end, and that the piece is found eventually 🙂

[Melissa]

Chloe, I apologize if I upset you. That’s not fair to you. And you’re definitely not being a jerk, your posts struck me as extremely levelheaded and brimstone-free given the situation.

If there was a miscommunication or misunderstanding about insurance, that makes it more complicated.

Regarding your question, (and to muddy the water even more) it’s IMO reasonable to hold a larger business to a different standard than an individual. If you were purchasing from a large or medium company, the package got lost, and they chose to refund, because of their overall volume, their loss would be proportionately small, with your benefit being much larger than their loss.

In the same situation with an individual, it’s as large a cost to them, as it is to you.

In your situation, would I accept half? Yes, but even though I think it’s more than fair, I should admit there would be head-desking and unrepeatable language (in private) on my end. Heck… if I was on either end. Even if you don’t agree, I hope this explains things a little more.

Hopefully drag0nfeather’s advice sees this through, you find someone at the recovery center with a brain and that cat makes it home. I’ve also heard rather epic stories of wayward packages making it home after rather epic journeys. You and fairyhearted both seem very reasonable, I’m hoping for a happy ending.

[Author]

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