eBay

38e_avenue · ‎02-06-2014

Hi,

Something unbelievable happened today. I printed a TP label from my PayPal account. The package has been shipped 10 days ago. Today, it has been returned to me with a label "insufficient postage"! I paid 14.25 for 0.250 kg. The package had 0.244 kg.

The price at the counter - without Ebay / small business discount would be about 15.70 or so. This is a total disaster!

I hope someone from CP reads these post sometimes. That must be fixed ASAP!

Andrew

38e_avenue · ‎02-06-2014

I meant TRACKED PACKET, sorry.

triber · ‎02-06-2014

Is it possible that you accidentally got the weight wrong, it is close to 250g, and if it was weighed and went even 1g over, they may have returned it for that reason.

38e_avenue · ‎02-06-2014

The package had definitely 0.244 kg. This was also confirmed today at the local post office. Also the TP label says "0.250 kg". I decided to re-send it using the same label. I added an additional label saying "printed with Ebay / small business" discount. The CP clerk at the counter added the info "weight confirmed" and put a postal stamp. That was suggested by the CP customer service. They explained it as a "system error" (whatever it means).

38e_avenue · ‎02-06-2014

Possible explanation of the error: the Tracked Packed is the only service, which shows the POSTAGE, which is LOWER than those bought at the counter. Small packets are the same, the accelerated parcels don't show the price at all.

38e_avenue · ‎02-06-2014

Thank you for the explanation. That would be probably true for newbie - a typical error. But I printed probably more than 15.000 labels - not such mistake possible.

femmefan1946 · ‎02-07-2014

Get in touch with your buyer and explain (without detail) about the PO confusion. Let the buyer know that there may be a short delay in receiving the parcel.

38e_avenue · ‎02-07-2014

That's what I did immediately. I also offered him a 50% discount for the next purchase made in my store.

38e_avenue · ‎02-07-2014

I took probably a bad decision. What, if the error was caused by the label itself? I should print a new label (accelerated parcel). I will get a heart attack, if CP returns the package again ;-(

38e_avenue · ‎02-07-2014

By the way: almost every time I try to print a TP label, something goes wrong and I must repeat the process. I am using the TP occasionally - only if an item cost more than 80-100 dol. or if a buyer seems to be a troublemaker.

rose-dee · ‎02-07-2014

You know, you might just be right about the postage amount showing on the TP label (with the eBay discount). Probably some CP employee somewhere along the line looked at the amount printed and thought it was a bit low. They obviously weighed it, checked the amount shown against the ordinary TP price and decided there wasn't enough postage on it. What I think this says is that some CP employees aren't aware of eBay/Paypal discounts. What a fiasco.

It's a good thing you got the local P.O. clerk to mark the parcel as shipping fully paid -- hopefully it will get through to your buyer this time.

There seem to have been nothing but problems of one kind or another with TP since they brought it in. I think it might be worthwhile (if you have the time) to complain further up the CP chain of command about this. It seems obvious to me that they aren't properly training or informing their employees about eBay/Paypal discounts.

e_knny · ‎02-07-2014

canada post is just incompetent and they don't even understand their own product and services

i also have tracked packet parcels randomly returned to me with no explanation whatsoever, what a farce

maggiebvintage2010 · ‎02-07-2014

Another option, would be for PayPal to quit printing the (discounted) price paid on the label. I would like to know their reasoning for doing that.

38e_avenue · ‎02-07-2014

Thank you all for your answers.

Now, I am quite sure that the problem was caused by the lower postage shown on the label.

I hope the parcel will go through (the tracking number is unfortunately still dead).

38e_avenue · ‎02-07-2014

What's really interesting, before they started to print the price paid, the explanation was as follow: "hiding the postage price raises the deliverability". 😉

38e_avenue · ‎02-08-2014

Follow up: "International item has left Canada"!!!!

I did resend it using the same shipping label!!!!!

dutchman48 · ‎02-08-2014

If you use your venture 1 card at the PO, you get a discount as well which shows on the tracked packet.

Call the post office, witch and you will probably get your postage back. Don't let them get away with this BS.

38e_avenue · ‎02-08-2014

Fortunately, the issue has been resolved. I resent the package using still the same label, adding only the info: "this label has been printed with Ebay / small business discount" and asked people at the counter to confirm the weight and write it on the package. it worked! Last tracking number entry says: "USJFKA, International shipment has arrived in a foreign country".

I will surely not use Tracked Packet service in the future! NEVER EVER! Back to small packets and exceptionally to expedited parcels!

And here some strange info taken from the label I found on the returned package:

RETURN TO SENDER:

1. Insufficient postage (that was mine!)

2. This service is not available to that country (so why CP allowed to print a shipping label?)

3. This shipping label cannot be used for this country (same question: why CP allowed to print a shipping label?)

As you can see, Canada Post has more surprises for you!

38e_avenue · ‎02-08-2014

There is also another possible explanation. The scale at the CP dispatch center was not correctly calibrated (what I saw SEVERAL TIMES at different post offices in ON, QC and BC!) and added 6-7g to the package. I often send 0.99 g / 0.249 g or 0.999 g packages (yes, after 11 years of experience on Ebay I am definitely a master of packing!). Maybe should I stop this silly game to avoid such troubles in the future..? Just a thought...