Your INR rate with lettermail/letterpost?

[rocketscollectibles]

I'm selling for over a year and half and did not have a lot. But recently (past weeks/few months) had a noticeable increase. $40 claim last month, $75 this month. It's always old accounts, aka they have knowledge of the eBay and postal system, and noticeable amounts. I know those claims are most likely false. I never get claim a $5 order or by new users

Just curious for those using lettermail/letterpost, do you have regular INR claims? What's your rate?

I can't charge to ship expedited it's impossible to do it and stay competitive in my category if it's under a certain amount. Cost is excessive. Tho those claims start to hurt really bad. I'm working hard for small profit i'm not a large seller. I'm not sure this system is viable long term 

[ricarmic]

85%ish of my stuff is sent non-tracked.

I have not noticed any change recently.

You'll likely recall my annual INR report, 2022 YTD experience I would say is the same story...

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/RICARMICs-Self-insurance-cookie-jar-statistics-to-end-of... 

[mrdutch1001]

I ship items to Canada and USA only; Lettermail items within Canada = 0 problems...I no longer ship any items to USA using letter mail = Small Packet /Tracked Packet only to the USA.

[flipistics]

No issues in Canada. I think I've had 3 INRs in the past 2 years with over 600 items sent out. One of those I know was lost by Canada Post, and I'm 99% sure the other two were due to a substandard brand of label I was using that happened to enjoy curling up and sticking to things. No issues since I changed label brand.

If you're selling sports cards or trading cards though, you'll likely have higher fraud rates (especially on higher dollar value orders).

[38e_avenue]

According to my experience, there is no difference in deliverabilty between tracked and non-tracked service. I tried all of them, shipped tens of thousands. I can tell horror stories about both. Here some recent incidents: 

Tracked ChitChats - lost. (Chit-Chats: "we are sorry, it happens") 

Tracked  Royal Mail to London. Tracking shows delivered, buyer claims INR. 

Tracked USPS to Greece - held by Greek Customs for 7 months, then released. 

Untracked SP Costa Rica - returned ("recipient not at home") - after - attention!!! - 18 months!!!! 

Letterpost to Spain. Lost. Then I find the buyer listed the "lost" item in his store.

SP to Thailand. Lost. Full refund. 

Totally, the problems concerns maybe about 1-3 packages for every 1.000 I ship. It look years to learn how to react professionally: no question asked, just "please accept  my apologies" and full refund. 

[reallynicestamps]

I agree that there is no problem with Canada.

I got a LetterMail back yesterday as Undeliverable to the USA and have enquired if the buyer knows anything, but the label is from Canada Post.

I may just chuck it in the mail again, or move up to Small Packet (also untracked).

I don't ship to Israel untracked anymore.

Most of my items are too low priced for tracking to be an option. Better to lose the odd one to a scammer than to lose dozens of orders over pricing.

And the scammer has to live with knowing that they stole the item every time they use it.

[38e_avenue]

Strange ....... I got returns, too, but all had USPS return labels ..... it hardly makes any sense to me .... 

[flipistics]

One thing I do is check all lettermail addresses with Canada Post's Address Complete. That helps save the odd issue and helps make sure the mail isn't delayed in transit. I just had one today who wrote address dash apartment # (and yes, I'm sure).

[dinomitesales]

Yes that sticker is affixed by Canada Post - "Moved/Unknown" is just the generic reason for returning something to sender when no other information is provided. If I had to guess, it was returned by U.S. customs for not being eligible for Lettermail; perhaps they've stopped affixing the other stickers we've seen in the past and are just handing them back off to Canada Post in bulk and Canada Post is just applying generic "Return to Sender" stickers.

If you want a better chance of your items getting through without issue I would recommend:

1. Stop using a return label with your business name on it - that's a dead giveaway that it's being sent by a business and therefore likely contains goods.
2. Don't apply an Air Mail sticker if it's going to the U.S. - Canada Post's retail procedures specify to only apply Air Mail stickers to (a) International Letter-post to countries other than the United States; and (b) Small Packet Air/Tracked Packet international shipments. The Air Mail sticker could be tipping them off that it's a 'packet' rather than a letter.
3. Use a paper/Kraft envelope rather than the poly envelope. Regular people sending regular letters aren't using poly envelopes - it's a huge red flag to customs.

I fully understand that you may have been mailing this way for many years with no issues, but they are really cracking down on it now and many people need to update their shipping methods to either fully comply or try and sneak under the radar.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Out of curiousity, did that 18 months buyer file an INR? 

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

How long did it take to bounce back to you? I agree with dinomitesales that it got bounced back as it looked obvious as an merchandise rather than actual letter... Polymailer and book seller return address and all...

[avidhiker-33]

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@rocketscollectibles wrote:

Just curious for those using lettermail/letterpost, do you have regular INR claims? What's your rate?

So far only 1 INR (about 0.4%) in 20 months of listing DVDs & blu-rays for sale on ebay.

On another site have had 5 INRs, 3 of which were in 2020 when the pandemic played havoc with all delivery methods.  Excluding 2020 my INR rate on that site is about 0.3%.

I usually use registered mail for DVDs & blu-rays that sell for $40-$100 and Xpresspost for the few sold for  $100+.  No INR claims on any of those, and twice received a refund of Xpresspost fees when Canada Post failed to meet their guarenteed delivery standard.

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[38e_avenue]

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@zee-chan-jpn-books wrote:

Out of curiousity, did that 18 months buyer file an INR? 

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No, just politely informed me he never got the shipment (as I remember, after 2.5 months, or so). I sent a replacement (similar items) to his US address. I did not inform him I got the return.