Card Lost in the Mail

[Archive]

Posted By: Don J

I'd like to pose a hypothetical question. Say you purchase a card on ebay (and don't purchase the optional insurance) and the seller mails it to you with delivery confirmation and it never gets to you. Who's responsibility is it to eat the amount of the loss? Is it not the seller's responsibility to ensure that the card is delivered?

[Archive]

Posted By: Cobby33

Just had that happen to me. In most jurisdictions, risk of loss passes to the buyer at the time of confirmed posting of the item. If not, nobody would purchase insurance. So in my case, I'm SOL for not buying insurance.

[Archive]

Posted By: Charlie O'Neal

The seller has to prove that the item purchased on eBay was delivered to the buyer and the item is in the condition that was described in the auction. Lost/damaged mail is not the buyers responsibility. While sellers always put in the famous words in there auctions that it is up to the buyer, Paypal will side with the buyer everytime mail is lost or damaged.

[Archive]

Posted By: Josh K.

and that is why many sellers refuse to accept paypal. once again, this is a legal issue, not a paypal or ebay issue.

[Archive]

Posted By: T206King

risky thing to talk about. you could say its the buyers fault for not getting insurance, and also u can say, its the sellers fault for messing up the address and shipping of the item. works both ways....

[Archive]

Posted By: andy becker

what does the post office say? if they cannot provide a delivery conformation to somewhere....wouldn't the post office be responsible?

[Archive]

Posted By: Tom Boblitt

seller does not have to prove the item was DELIVERED to the buyer but was SHIPPED via some method. If you sell something on ebay and use the delivery confirmation or UPS and there is some electronic record of having it RECEIVED by that carrier, Paypal has sided with me on those before. If you don't have any records of using any trackable service, they will side with the buyer. Just my experience...........

[Archive]

Posted By: T206Collector

...when I sell cards and the price goes over $50, I will purchase insurance for my own sake. It is not a cost I pass on to buyers. If the price is under $50 and the card gets lost/damaged, I'll eat that cost.

Fortunately, I've never had a card that I sold be lost or damaged in the mail.

[Archive]

Posted By: Cobby33

As I said and as Tom and Josh re-iterated, it is no longer the seller's responsibility once it is posted. Paypal may take the buyer's side, but legally, it is no longer the seller's responsibility. And good luck getting the PO to claim responsibility.

[Archive]

Posted By: JimB

When sent by USPS with a postal confirmation, the shipper will receive a slip with a tracking #. I would think that relieves the shipper of further responsibility if it is lost and the buyer did not want insurance.
JimB

[Archive]

Posted By: identify7

Does it make more sense to self insure sales <$100, and cover greater potential losses? This approach has worked well for me (but I have had no losses).

[Archive]

Posted By: Bill Kasel

In November I won a low end E95 from Mike Wheat off of Ebay. I paid via MO but forgot to include my shipping ($2). Mike had no problem with sending out the card while I sent in the shipping fee. Well the card never arrived and he is refunding me the $35. I didn't ask him to do this b/c I didn't insure the card, but he stepped up and was willing to do this. I cant say enough about how much this type of service means to me. I will certainly purchase from Mike again, and recommend him to any/everyone.

Thank you Mike!

Bill

[Archive]

Posted By: tbob

is that although it is the buyer's loss if he doesn't purchase insurance, paypal will ALWAYS refund the money out of the seller's account (bank account) if the package is lost, EVEN if the seller can show the item was sent by delivery confirmation receipt. How unfair is that when the buyer doesn't pay for insurance? I have been on both sides of this so I speak from experience. Needless to say I eat the 55 cents for a delivery confirmation on EVERY item I sell and ship, even if the buyer doesn't want insurance. That way at least I will know where a card is (or supposed to be).

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

What's even scarier is that PayPal will refund the money if the item gets damaged during shipping. How unfair is that? I've given serious thought to forcing every buyer that uses PayPal to pay for insurance. Big time dealers and wealthier people can afford to eat the occasion snafu like this, but for me, every dollar I shafted on hurts and I'm tired of people not taking responsibility for actions, or inactions as the case may be in not paying for insuring the item.

Jay

I've just reached Upper Lower Class. I am now officially a babe magnet for poor chicks.

[Archive]

Posted By: Tom Boblitt

while I don't really like to support the enemy.......if you print your postage labels from paypal/ebay, you'll only pay 13 cents for delivery confirmation. If you go to ebay and click on 'print shipping label', it'll go through calculations for either USPS or UPS and create a label for you to apply, debiting your paypal account for the actual shipping amount. Really VERY integrated for both UPS and USPS..........

[Archive]

Posted By: Rob Fouch

This happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I buy and sell cards on occasion and use the profits to try and fund my purchases. It's one way to keep my wife, who doesn't get my collecting AT ALL, out of attack mode.

So I sell a 60s-something Mays mid-grade card for $25, the buyer claims he never received it (I have no reason not to believe him; his feedback was good) and puts in a claim with Paypal. I don't require insurance (though I'm seriously considering channging that policy) and the guy of course didn't buy it. I tried to find a way through Paypal's maze of a website to at least tell my side of the story and let them know that I shipped it, but it was such a hassle I just gave up and refunded the money.

It's only $25, yes, but that's a lot considering I got the Mays in a small group of cards I bought to sell for a profit. $25 could get me a couple of low-grade T206s.

[Archive]

Posted By: Cobby33

Someone purchased something from me not long ago with Paypal and which was damaged in transit (or after receipt). They filed a complaint with Paypal who rejected their claim and credited me the money Paypal initially held in abeyance pending the "investigation."

[Archive]

Posted By: warshawlaw

I purchased a card online via ebay paying through paypal with my Citibank credit card. The card never arrived. The seller claimed that the card was taken to the post office and handed over and produced a delivery confirmation receipt for...something. The package was not insured (the seller made insurance optional and I opted not to pay 4% to insure a $50 card). When the card did not arrive, I initiate a charge-back with Citibank. My protest was sustained and the charge was reversed.

Many here appear to be under the misconception that private terms of sale trump credit card rules. They don't. If you as a merchant (even an "amateur" merchant using Paypal) accept a credit card charge as payment for an item, you accept the terms of the credit card company doing business with you, and that may include your being responsible for lost merchandise if the credit card company makes it so.

I'd also advise anyone doing business as a buyer thru paypal to always use a credit card for substantial purchases. Paypal is bound by the credit card issuers' rules too. Its administration of complaints is for crap; the credit card issuers are much, much better and Paypal is bound to accept their decision on charge-backs.

There is nothing wrong per se with shifting risk to the buyer, but if you want to shift the risk of loss to the buyer in a way that will stick, refuse to accept payment except via check, MO or cash.

[Archive]

Posted By: .

.

[Archive]

Posted By: quan

ted for once we agree and all my future transactions will have mandatory insurance, not just optional. i guess the confirmation slip is not enough.

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

I won't send anything without insurance and when a customer buys several thousand dollars worth of merchandise from me and then asks me to overnight it uninsured I tell them it's going registered mail and you will just have to be patient because uninsured packages are a disaster waiting to happen.

[Archive]

Posted By: .

.

[Archive]

Posted By: Anson

Over the past month, I've had several of my shipments take MUCH longer than the guarantee stated with the service. Most of these transactions happened with fellow board members, as a matter of fact.

According to my father-in-law (20+ year with USPS), the post office almost NEVER loses anything. However, things get rerouted or get misplaced on occasion. The holidays also seem to slow things down to a standstill.