Advice on how to handle stolen or missing package

Steve Engelbrecht

Steve Engelbrecht

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I recently sold a knife and shipped it USPS Priority with insurance. The tracking info shows that the package was delivered but the buyer says it isn't there.

He contacted me about it and I am unsure what my responsibility is.
 
That sucks, it’s my understanding that it is your responsibility to get the package to the buyer. Insurance is for the shipper not the recipient.

Others with similar experience my offer their advice.
 
You write STOLEN - in your thread title - so are you suggesting that the buyer is scamming you? In any case this is a full SUCK situation. BUT - you are responsible, as the seller and as 3fifty7 3fifty7 writes - the insurance was for your benefit not the buyers. Now - the question is can you collect? You will need to start tracking the package by contacting the USPS. Find out more of the details of the delivery. Apparently, though insured, you did not request a signature on the receiving end? Oh man :( I wish you the best in resolving this but it won't be easy and I can't really suggest much that will help. Contact your post office.
 
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If the post office tracking shows DELIVERED, then the seller has technically met their responsibility, in my opinion. The seller cannot be responsible if someone drives by and steals it out of the buyers mailbox or off their front porch.

That being said, all parties should work together to try to determine what happened and how best to mitigate and minimize the loss to all concerned.

I speak from experience. One of my purchases showed DELIVERED on the tracking and it was delivered - a mile and half away to the wrong address! I eventually received the package about 2-3 days later, in good condition, so my experience had a happy resolution.
 
A lot of carriers do use a predictive model for online tracking so that leads to packages arriving before they think they will or a delivery notice when it's still in transit. They do that because it's a huge burden to be uploading each step of the journey as it moves through hubs.

Contact the carrier, explain the issue and ask if a supervisor can pull the scanning history. That's more real time.

And this feels more like a GBU thread than tech support.
 
As a buyer, I've had a few cases where the tracking said delivered, but the item didn't actually show up till the next day.

As a seller, I've only had this happen once so far (knock on wood), many years ago. USPS denied the insurance claim since their tracking said it was delivered. So I refunded the buyer...luckily it was only like $40. Later the buyer told me he found out someone was stealing packages from his porch. Oh well...
 
It’s best to try and resolve this with the buyer. For future sales I would use signature confirmation. The extra money is worth it, when the need arises to prove that the package was received.
 
Contact your local post office. If it was misdelivered, they will have the GPS info for where it was delivered and will retrieve it and deliver to the correct address.

I have had this happen a couple times and the package magically appeared in my mailbox the next day.
 
The good news is that the knife showed up today. I apologize for posting in the wrong area. I've only sold a few knives and have t been involved ina many of the other forums.

I most certainly did not intend to imply that the buyer stole the package. He did however report that it was marked delivered but it was not in his possession. So missing may have been a better choice of words in the title.

Either way, it appears that for items of a significant value, signature required would be the best way to ship.

Thanks for the input.
 
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Package theft off of porches is an increasing issue now days so "stolen" is not a huge stretch in many cases.

I feel as a seller my responsibility is for the package to get delivered to the buyers address. If USPS, UPS or FEDEX accomplishes that and it is truly delivered a seller really cannot be responsible for what happens after delivery to the correct address is made.
 
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With the way things are today, it’s not uncommon for packages to show delivered while they’re still en route. I’ve had it happen to me with signature confirmation.Yes, it is a concern if you’re the buyer.
Make sure you’re packing job is above average, tape is cheap. Sign up for tracking notifications and provide the buyer with a acceptance receipt from the P.O.
I’ve also done registered mail on occasions
 
Steve Engelbrecht said:
The good news is that the knife showed up today. I apologize for posting in the wrong area. I've only sold a few knives and have t been involved ina many of the other forums.

I most certainly did not intend to imply that the buyer stole the package. He did however report that it was marked delivered but it was not in his possession. So missing may have been a better choice of words in the title.

Either way, it appears that for items of a significant value, signature required would be the best way to ship.

Thanks for the input.
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I started doing signature required for valuable items, but apparently with Covid, carriers have the option to not get a signature, so you may not get the service you are paying for.
 
Have the buyer take the tracking number to the post office and talk to the postmaster. More times than not, they just delivered it to the wrong house. Sometimes the carrier is a collector. And sometimes there are porch pirates. But 95% of the time if the buyer applies enough pressure; the package will show back up.

Paypal, Credit cards, et.al. consider your responsibility fulfilled when the USPS scans it delivered.
 
knifeswapper said:
Have the buyer take the tracking number to the post office and talk to the postmaster. More times than not, they just delivered it to the wrong house. Sometimes the carrier is a collector. And sometimes there are porch pirates. But 95% of the time if the buyer applies enough pressure; the package will show back up.
Click to expand...

This. I had a case some years back where the buyer contacted me and said the same thing. I had both insurance and signature confirmation so I asked to see the post office to see the signature. When they sent it, it did not belong to the addressee. I then called the local post office and determined that the signature belonged to the delivery person. When I pinged the postmaster on this it turned out that this was a thing that the addressee and the mail carrier had worked out for deliveries prior. I then sent my findings to the addressee and the package magically "showed up" Within a few hours. Get the delivery confirmation and signature.
 
LastRodeo said:
I started doing signature required for valuable items, but apparently with Covid, carriers have the option to not get a signature, so you may not get the service you are paying for.
Click to expand...

I just received a knife yesterday that should have required a signature automatically , due to the value of the insurance. It was just placed in the mail box. Luckily I am in a very safe area.
I wonder though how this would play out if it were stolen, and if the PO is not covering the loss, I certainly don't want to pay for the service.
 
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