Lost Parcels driving me nuts

[brandeentertainment]

7% of everything Shipped between November 28th and Dec 10th LOST in the Mail ... I am ready to lose my mind .. $120 in Refund this week and $110 in Replacements ...

Is anyone else have this problem or dop you think I am dealing with Christmas Scammers .. Most to me if not all Seem honest about it .. Aside from one  

[bb_cool_stuff]

Steve & yourself seem to have had a hard time the last six months.

Is this common in your category with other sellers or just plain, bad luck?

[brandeentertainment]

I know It seems that way .. I have no clue what is going on but for some reason i really believe these buyers unlike other times..

I remember Puck posting something earlier too it is very discouraging though .. i have Refunded about 30% of my profits for December now it is driving me nuts ..

Next December i will be closed it is just hard to do because my sales triple in November,December

I am debating only selling with expedited but i know that will KILL my sales ..

I don't know this is just stupid though

[puckstopshere]

I have often wondered how items get "lost in the mail".  I had several over Christmas.

Is there a black hole in the post office where things vanish, never to be seen again?  Is there theft by postal staff?  (talked to a long-time postie friend - he says probably - especially over Christmas when they hire a lot of temps)

Do items get delivered to the wrong address and dishonest people open the item, decide they like it and keep the item?  I have seen evidence of that.  Lived in a small town and picked up mail at post office.  Frequently got someone elses mail.  And when I say frequently, I mean two or three times a monthy.  Now I live in an apartment and still occasionally get the wrong mail.

Every so often, we get these newspaper accounts of Christmas cards or letters suddenly being delivered after many years of being lost (the black hole burped). 

And, unfortunately, there are some unscrupulous buyers.  One used to be able to look through feedback left by sellers - positive feedback but negative comments.  One could find evidence of scammers.  Now, all that is removed.  One more level of seller protection down the drain.

There is no end to this.  All we can do is grin and bear it and put them on our "no fly" list. 

I have developed fiendships with a number of sellers in my category.  We share the eBay ID's of those we think scammed us.  Of course, all a buyer has to do is get a new ID.

[puckstopshere]

I remember Puck posting something earlier too it is very discouraging though

Oops!  I did it again. 

There are good stories.  Like the guy who got an item delivered to his address in Montreal.  It was his address and the address on the buyers account - but this guy wasn't the buyer.  He phoned me from Montreal.  I contacted the buyer, got his correct address and sent it to the guy who called.  He hand delivered the item rather than send it back. 

God bless him!

[retro_thrift]

I have shipped a little over 2,000 items since joining eBay and at first I had 3 claims that they did not arrive, all coincidentally were DVDs.  After that, I started sending this generic letter to all US buyers for small packets regardless of what they are buying.   You might want to start doing the same, even though its a blatant lie and the tracking will never ever show up, I have only had 1 item go missing since then and it was to overseas.

Hello,

I just packaged your item and will drop it off at the Post Office first thing in the morning.  I just wanted to remind you that the tracking info provided is for the Canada Post website and will not work on the USPS site.  Also, since the majority of the delivery will be by USPS, it is often slow to update on the Canadian site and often times wont show its delivered until a week or so after you will have already received it.  The estimated delivery time for small packets surface mail to the USA is 6-12 business days depending on how far you are from Vancouver.

Thanks a lot for the purchase,

Retro_Thrift

[worldwandering]

There was some story a while back about all of cp's 'lost parcels' ending up at auction in the toronto area

[toff3]

Retro,

What tracking info?? There is no, and never was, tracking for Canada Post Small Packets. The number assigned by PayPal/eBay cannot be followed on the Canada Post tracking site.

And Surface Small Packet service to USA will be discontinued as of February 11.

Tom

[worldwandering]

toff3, i don't think you read the part where he said "its a blatant lie and the tracking will never ever show up,"

[puckstopshere]

its a blatant lie

You didn't read it all.

I can see that working for someone who is not too bright or wasn't familiar with mailing parcels. 

If a parcel showed up at my door with no indication of a tracking number; if I didn't have to sign anything; I would figure out pretty quickly that it was a lie.  Most people who buy on ebay are familiar with parcels and tracking numbers.  Your message also mentions a courier.  If USPS delivers, the jig is up.  Keep it and say you didn't.

[retro_thrift]

All I'm saying is that since I started doing that for about the last 4/5 of the parcels I sent, 1 out of 1600 have gone "missing" compared to 3 of the first 400.  I have also never once had someone ask me where there package was and why doesnt the tracking info work after I started sending that message, when it seemed like 1 in 5 when I began were sending me a message all the time.

[brandeentertainment]

Any one Hear the story of the Calender in the mailing tube that was delivered 63 years after it was shipped.. Now that is crazy

[dipmicro]

international

one customer returned the money one week after it was already refunded. In my entire ebay and countless refunds this only happened twice including this one and both were from Russia.

did not notice an increase, you may want to discuss with CanadaPost. Perhaps your issue is localized with your post office or sorting center.

[parent_family]

I have had to put in 3 international claims this week with Canada Post. (Spain, Italy and Thailand)

Only had one before about 3 years ago.

All were shipped on different dates.  Also had one show up in Australia after 40 days.  All were sent "Air".

Have a feeling they all went surface.   Issued the buyers all refunds.

Luckily no negatives from this...all were great buyers.

[pjcdn2005]

one customer returned the money one week after it was already refunded. In my entire ebay and countless refunds this only happened twice including this one and both were from Russia.

Interesting...I have had just one buyer return the money after a refund and they were in Russia as well.

[worldwandering]

I recently had a sale from Russia, right around the time dealing with a non receive from Middle East.  The guy had 2 feedback so I decided not  to take the risk purchasing the extra postage and refunded his money.  He left me positive feedback.  The case was an unpaid item, then he paid, but now I cant figure out how to cancel the transaction.  Is it possible?  i think the unpaid item has something to do with it where i cant 'resolve a problem' or im just looking in the wrong place.  Help appreciated!

[toff3]

Parent-family,

Without dates of shipment and service(s) used, anecdotes like yours are meaningless.

Tom

[asyahijab]

Interesting...I have had just one buyer return the money after a refund and they were in Russia as well.

More interesting.... I have had only one buyer returning the money  one month after a refund, and she was in Russia too.