eBay

rose-dee · ‎02-28-2017

There are some things you really don't expect to encounter in the ordinary course of selling on eBay. Well, today a customer contacted me to say their local post office had burned down, right around the time my shipment was due to arrive. Excellent timing.

It's not clear whether the parcel arrived just before (worst case scenario) or after the fire (probable delay but not total loss). What is clear is that I sent the parcel February 13th by Small Packet Air (no tracking of course, and no insurance) to the U.S. and it still hasn't arrived in my buyer's hands.

I'm not looking for any advice, as I've already decided I'm going to replace the items if they're a total loss (this is a valued customer who has purchased from me on a number of occasions, and the total value is under $50). I just thought this might -- in some macabre way -- cheer up any sellers dealing with ordinary shipping issues.

You never know about new wrinkles...maybe I shouldn't have shipped on February 13th.

ricarmic · ‎02-28-2017

WOW that's a new one!

At least it is a repeat customer and you know that taking the hit will pay off in the long run.

One never knows maybe it was late getting there that day, fingers crossed!!!

Every day seems to be an adventure in the online selling world!

dutchman48 · ‎02-28-2017

@rose-dee wrote:
There are some things you really don't expect to encounter in the ordinary course of selling on eBay. Well, today a customer contacted me to say their local post office had burned down, right around the time my shipment was due to arrive. Excellent timing.

It's not clear whether the parcel arrived just before (worst case scenario) or after the fire (probable delay but not total loss). What is clear is that I sent the parcel February 13th by Small Packet Air (no tracking of course, and no insurance) to the U.S. and it still hasn't arrived in my buyer's hands.

I'm not looking for any advice, as I've already decided I'm going to replace the items if they're a total loss (this is a valued customer who has purchased from me on a number of occasions, and the total value is under $50). I just thought this might -- in some macabre way -- cheer up any sellers dealing with ordinary shipping issues.

You never know about new wrinkles...maybe I shouldn't have shipped on February 13th.

Is this the one?

http://www.centralmaine.com/2017/02/21/fire-reported-at-building-in-downtown-winthrop/

recped · ‎02-28-2017

If it is this post office....

the fire first was reported at 8:54 a.m.

Carriers would have left for the day with their deliveries and packages for the next day wouldn't arrive until much later in the day (evening).

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
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rose-dee · ‎03-01-2017

Yes, that's the one all right. Apparently the building was only a few years old.

Since there was already so much delay from my end due to the huge storm that hit Nova Scotia on Feb. 13-14, the weekend in between, and the statutory holiday in the States on Feb. 20th, I'm guessing the parcel didn't even make it to Winthrop until after the fire.

My buyer is willing to wait a few days, which is good, so I'm hoping it will show up eventually.

It will be interesting to find out -- if I ever do -- what the cause of the fire was, because I can't ever recall hearing of a post office building burning to the ground. Old churches, yes, but new P.O. buildings, nowhere that I can remember. I did have a customer's post office building flooded out and destroyed during Hurricane Sandy, but because there was warning about the storm, mail had been held back by USPS and re-routed to other post offices for temporary storage.

So not to worry... the odds are pretty slim any seller will ever have to deal with this particular problem again.

rose-dee · ‎03-01-2017

@recped wrote:
If it is this post office....
the fire first was reported at 8:54 a.m.
Carriers would have left for the day with their deliveries and packages for the next day wouldn't arrive until much later in the day (evening).

Well, that could be true, but my buyer is telling me that people in the town are being notified that mail was destroyed. I have no information about what time carriers would have left for the day -- this is a small town with rural delivery routes, so the scheduling might be different than it is for larger centres.

This is ironically one time I'm actually hoping that all the delays at my end (due to the snowstorm, etc.) will work in my customer's favour. Even Halifax airport was shut down until Feb. 15th, and I can imagine all the backlog of mail by then.

zee-chan-jpn-books · ‎03-02-2017

Post office fire is definitely a rare one. Fingers crossed that your mail is still crawling on its way there then!

I'd also ask the buyer to not mark the shipment as "late" if it does arrive, since the fire / weather could cause delays too.

rose-dee · ‎03-02-2017

@zee-chan-jpn-books wrote:

I'd also ask the buyer to not mark the shipment as "late" if it does arrive, since the fire / weather could cause delays too.

Yes, I'd already thought of that, although this is a longstanding repeat buyer, so I'm not so reluctant to mention it as I would be with someone I hadn't dealt with previously.

Actually, because I'm now selling on .com and have my shipping type marked as "Economy outside of U.S.", I believe the maximum delivery window is still around 23 days (assuming eBay hasn't messed around with those estimates again), so I'm hoping it won't be an issue.