Shipping Problems

[FillupD]

I am looking for a little advice from someone who may have been in this situation before. I recently sold a reel. It didn't make it to his hands. The buyer wanted to take a look at it before paypal was sent because my post count is low. I thought sure, "No Problem" the member is an active member here. Communication has been good between us aslo. He is trying to get some answers from USPS.

Here is the problem, the reel tracking number states it was delivered but the reel was stolen or lost in the storm.(it was Mass.) He did not recieve the package. I have shipped many reels and fishing items with no worries so I didn't even think about getting signature required or added insurance. The package is insured for the default $100.00 that leaves $130.00 shy of what it was sold for. We both feel bad and discouraged that this happened of course.

I don't want to be out $130.00( + $100.00 insurance) and I don't think he wants to be out the money either. Is there a good answer? Would his home owners insurance pay for the package being stolen / or vandalism if there ws a police report made? Has anyone ever ran across something like this? Any suggestions on a Happy Ending?

This is just realy a shame, not only the money aspect, but the reel will not be enjoyed by by the potential reciever. We both feel terrible about the situattion.

Thanks for any suggestions or opinions.

[00 mod]

Sorry, No help here but good luck!

Jeff

[FillupD]

My Luck is with dealing with a respected and contributing member on this forum. I think we'll get it worked out.

It still dosen't make that (lead ball in the gut feeling ) go away though.

[HookSetDon]

If I didnt know any better id say you got put through the ringer

[flyfisher]

If I didnt know any better id say you got put through the ringer

I personally would have a tough time sending with no money exchanged especially on an item costing over $200.....mailing items before payment is like loaning money to family.....only do it with an amount you are willing to lose......

Good luck getting it worked out.

[ww2farmer]

As some one who has bought and traded many items here, there is no way in h-e double L would I send some one something without it beeing paid for as a seller, nor as a buyer would I expect ANY seller to do the same. I hate to be so blunt, but that was a dumb move on your part, and a rather sleezy move on the other guy's end as well. Could it be lost, stolen, etc...sure anything is possable, but 9 times out of 10 "lost in the mail" is BS. If this buyer is such a upstanding and well respected member here, he should come on and explain his side, if not, it makes him look bad. Honestly..........I think you might have been hosed.

[0119]

The cop in me says lame story, too many holes.... His insurance will not cover it, everyones deductible is several hundred if not a thousand. UPS says they delivered it but the buyer says alledgedly the "big storm" took it? As insurance would say, Act of God. Funny Charlie hit here ground zero as a Cat 4 and my door mat never moved. A less than Cat. 1 hits a couple states away and a package flew away?

[SoFlaBassAddict]

I can count on one hand the members that I would send something to without payment ahead of time. That's really because I know where they live.

I hope you didn't get ripped off, but from what you've said, the potential is definitely there. Hopefully everything works out for you. Whenever I ship out a high dollar item, I try to make sure it's insured and needs a signature to be delivered.

[deep]

When was this?

A similar thing happened to me once; I was the buyer. USPS website said "delivered", and I never received anything. After a few phone calls (to USPS managers/ postman), and about three or four days, the reel I bought turned up on my doorstep.

[FillupD]

It was shipped the 26th and delivered the 29th a little before noon. I can only hope it will show up but he has checked with the Post Ofiice in MA and they are no help. The PO has no default insurance on Priority mail so it turned I was out of luck there. He did send me $150.00 so it looks like I made an $80.00 mistake. A mistake well learned I might add. I am a trusting idiot but an idiot just the same. Maybe I should see if I can file a police report in MA from NE? The police may pick up someone with a bunch of stolen mail and goods and there would be a long shot it being recovered, or I can just get over it. Probably the latter sounds more sane.

At least I'm pretty confident the guys not feeding me a line.

[11justin22]

I'm still pretty new here but I also play guitar am on several guitar forum. I have traded and sold $2,000 amps and guitars several times. NEVER ship an item unless u have recieved payment no matter how many post they have. Post count does not equal integrity.

[Dogface]

It was shipped the 26th and delivered the 29th a little before noon.

Can you verify the delivery address they have? I had a similar situation except that I was the person receiving the package. I forget if it was UPS or the USPS but they had a record of delivery. It seems they inverted some numbers and delivered it to a house a few blocks away.

[FillupD]

That is kinda funny, the address house number is 66. It wouldn't matter in this case. Thanks for the comment though!

[LgMouthGambler]

No payment, no product. Take it or leave it.

[shanksmare]

I had a similar problem with some fishing gear delivered by UPS. When I called the mail order company to inquire about the shipment, they checked the tracking number and it indicated that the parcel had been delivered.However, I still had no parcel. Then the UPS driver came to the house to find out what happened. He said he had delivered the package in question. Suddenly a light bulb went off in his head and he said he would be right back. He came back moments later with the package. It turns out he delivered the package to the right house number but the wrong street. The house he delivered it to was in foreclosure so no one noticed the error. Hopefully you will have a similar experience.

[Bluebasser86]

I had a member on another forum buy a bunch of baits from me. Should have been there in a couple days but instead took a couple weeks and only one bait was left in the box. I was lucky because it was only a $35 lot so I just refunded his money since I hadn't paid for the insurance and just chalked it up as a learning experience on my part. I honestly think in my case it was an employee theft at the post office. I had a tracking number so I know my priority mail took almost 2 weeks to get a few states away. I wouldn't ever ship without payment either. Online stores don't ship until you pay and you can't walk out of the grocery store if you only pay for part of your groceries.

[TrippyJai]

I've done over 100+ transactions online including on eBay and I live in Canada. Packages are never "lost", they are usually stolen or scammed. If the mailman leaves a package at your doorstep then something might have taken it. I know sometimes packages are delivered to the wrong address. I had about 4-5 packages this year that belonged to my neighbors. If the package was legitimately lost, there will be a delay, but it will get there eventually.

[PABASS]

I have seen packages marked as delivered and it went to my neighbor, has this person checked with his neighbors? Stolen to me sounds like an scam, your telling me this is the first time an item was stolen and it happened to be this 200+$ reel, hmmmm? Was it sent to a bad area? Confirm his address and do a google map and see what kind of area he lives in. Chances are if its a nice area I would almost put stolen out of the equation. Could be held up at a local location sometimes delivered just means delivered to a post office location as well, did he call local post office/ups, of course they normally leave a note and maybe that was blown away?

I have allot of experiences with delivered items and NEVER has a package been stolen, my father in law does ebay again never a stolen item, its a federal offense to steal mail I just cant see the average person in the average location making that choice.

[Siebert Outdoors]

From what I've been told USPS terms Delivered means it was delivered to the post office in that town. This is how it was explained to me by the post master when i dealt with a lost/damaged shipment. I dont know if that is the truth, but that is what I was told. I ended up getting my package about 3 weeks later.

[wnybassman]

I've had a lot of crazy stuff happen over the years. A couple memorables.........

Bought a CD once on Ebay, new in package. Got here and all I got was the CD in a sleeve. Not in the same packaging the seller said he sent it in, and he said the CD was not the one he sent. It was the same album, however. In this case I was suspicious that there never was a new CD.

Sold a large lot of Power Worms on Ebay. Buyer in Florida received the package, in my packaging, but the box was loaded with high end skin care products. He sent me a picture of the box, with my writing on the label. I refunded his money, had him send the skin care products back and I sold them for three times what I originally sold the Power Worms for. I felt kinda bad for the original person expecting a box of skin care products and got a box of Power Worms instead. lol Hope she fished!

[FillupD]

I was told the post office there was contacted and they were not much help. It seemd like they could care less if it was stolen. I would assume if theft was suspected that a police report would be made but it does not sound like that is in the plans for him. Maybe it is something I can explore.

[retiredbosn]

The mailbox at the end of your driveway is considered federal property, theft from it a federal offense. Call the post office ask for the postmaster, if he is no help then inform him that you will contact the postal inspector for that area. Postal inspectors are federal law enforcement agents with arrest powers. Just ask any group of kids caught smashing mail boxes! The postmaster will not want the inspectors snooping around, and will put a concerted effort to find out what happened. This way you are getting the information first hand. You may also mention to the buyer that if he received the package and says he didn't he is committing mail fraud, also a federal offense. Getting pro-active should resolve this quickly.

[0119]

Please.... 25 years as a cop, easily a couple dozen stolen mail reports. USPS is not interested, never will be. For the law enforcement arm of the postmaster generals office to get involved it has to be an organized crime type deal. Big money, a continued effort to defraud. They will tell you contact the local police. Not much effort is put into that, cant be, just a simple report. Especially if his area is dealing with post storm emergency services. Consider the fact you have insurance to fall back on. Cut your losses, unfortunately for him that means he lost the luck of the draw. You have made a concerted effort on the forum to save face. Dont worry so much about a potential hit to your forum reputation. As you can see from the grand majority of the posts, your seen in a good light and you've learned a lesson.

[WRB]

The USPS is unreliable, UPS is reliable with accurate tracking. Never ship anything of value via USPS.

It can take up to 3 weeks to ship USPS, so wait 4 weeks and then apply for your $100. Good luck!

Tom

[retiredbosn]

Please.... 25 years as a cop, easily a couple dozen stolen mail reports. USPS is not interested, never will be. For the law enforcement arm of the postmaster generals office to get involved it has to be an organized crime .....

The joys of being from a rural area, I guess when I was growing up the cops didn't have the drug dealers and all to deal with. I know they scared the crap out of me and a few friends. I've never touched a mail box again!