Huge Shipping Issue (What To Do)?

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knifehunt

knifehunt

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I'll make this as simple as possible, and keep names out of it for now. I want to do the right thing, but I do not want to receive the short end either.


A member advertises a knife for trade in the TRADE forum and posts his email addy. I contact him with a trade offer, and he accepts. The knives are to be shipped the next day. I work on the road a lot of the time, and this was one of those days so I took the knives with me. I checked my email on my lunch break, and the other involved sent an email asking if I could still ship today, I replied "Yep"....

I now am done with lunch and head to my next site visit, an area in our State Forest with zero phone reception. I'm starting to think about our deal more and more, and I start to rethink the trade. I latter get to the post office, and can not bring myself to go through with this trade. At this point he has already dropped the package off at the Post Office.

I email him when I got home and told him I just can't go through with the trade. I offered to refund his shipping costs, and add some extra for wasting his time. He did email me the tracking number so I assume it had been shipped. Yesterday my wife and I are out doing our Saturday errands, and we got home in he afternoon. We stopped at the mailbox to get the mail, and all that was there was regular mail. I half expected a slip showing they tried to deliver, and they would retry on Monday. This is what happens with insured packages. I then go in and check my email and have an email from the sender stating the package was delivered. I go on the USPS website, and sure enough, it shows delivered.

I could not believe they just left this package in my mailbox, and by now the Post Office was closed. I contact the sender and let him know, and that I will go down to the Post Office Monday morning to find out what happened. I ask him for the insurance label number cause they may need it if it's not on their shelf. Well, he now tells me he did not insure the package, and it's my fault and I owe him for the knife.

I feel it was his responsibility to insure it to protect both himself and me. The knife is fairly expensive, and can't imagine someone shipping it without insurance. He feels this is my fault and owe him a full refund. What a crappy situation.

I can only imagine had he got my knives, I would be out of luck. If I send something and do not insure it then it's on me not the seller, and it has happened and I made good. What to do?
 
I think you do owe him... the cost for him shipping the uninsured knife to you. ($5 to $10 maybe ?)

He didn't insure it, his problem, not yours.

Had you shipped your knife, he'd now have that and you would still have nothing.
 
Call the Post office. Things turn up and the tracking system is not perfect. If it was not delivered, at a minimum I'd expect to see a postal claim for the non-delivery on your end and refund of shipping.
 
You owe him for the money he spent to ship and his knives back

He kept his word and shipped you should have done the same
 
The post office only requires a signature on a package insured for over 200 dollars, they will leave one insured for less in a mailbox.

Thing is the knife was delivered and you seem to be saying it was stolen from your mailbox. Also you did agree to trade and ship and the trading partner did. You didn't. His knife was delivered to you. You owe him the value of the knife. You agreed to trade, agreed to ship, you backed out, his knife was stolen from YOUR mailbox. So, now it's his fault?
 
I had a package that got "delivered " on Tuesday according to the carriers website, but showed up on Wednesday in the mailbox. Hopefully that is what will happen to you.
 
barcbsa said:
I think you do owe him... the cost for him shipping the uninsured knife to you. ($5 to $10 maybe ?)

He didn't insure it, his problem, not yours.

Had you shipped your knife, he'd now have that and you would still have nothing.
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My thoughts exactly.
 
jill jackson said:
The post office only requires a signature on a package insured for over 200 dollars, they will leave one insured for less in a mailbox.

Thing is the knife was delivered and you seem to be saying it was stolen from your mailbox. Also you did agree to trade and ship and the trading partner did. You didn't. His knife was delivered to you. You owe him the value of the knife. You agreed to trade, agreed to ship, you backed out, his knife was stolen from YOUR mailbox. So, now it's his fault?
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Going with your theory, had I not backed out I would be screwed right now cause he did not insure his package. Also, who said it was stolen? It is likely at the post office or delivered to the wrong address, that's my guess. It IS his fault for not using insurance... Had spent $2.00 this would not be an issue at all.

If I choose to send a knife to someone and use insurance and something like this happens, then it's on me and I suck it up. I had every right to change my mind, and he is obligated to make sure what he sends makes it to ME, not a doorstep, mailbox flag or wrong address.
 
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Insured wouldn't even have mattered unless the knife was insured for over 200, then the postal service wouldn't have left it in the box. It's not the senders fault you didn't uphold your end of the deal and do what was agreed on. It's not his fault it was delivered to you and went missing out of your box. You owe him the knife or the money back. It was your mailbox it was stolen from.
 
It may have been delivered, but to the wrong address. I received a call once from a guy a couple of streets over in my neighborhood that received a package intended for me. He had the same street #, but different street name. Had he not called I might have been SOL with the knife manufacturer that shipped the package as the USPS tracking information showed it delivered.

Definitely call your Post Office and report the problem and give it some time for them to investigate. The other party in the trade should have acquired insurance, but it also should have been a requirement in the trade agreement. Hopefully the knife turns up and you can return it and reimburse him the shipping expense.
 
jill jackson said:
Insured wouldn't even have mattered unless the knife was insured for over 200, then the postal service wouldn't have left it in the box. It's not the senders fault you didn't uphold your end of the deal and do what was agreed on. It's not his fault it was delivered to you and went missing out of your box. You owe him the knife or the money back. It was your mailbox it was stolen from.
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HELLO! The dam thing should have been insured for more than $200.00 that's the whole point! Why do you continue to say it was stolen, did you read before responding?
 
knifehunt said:
Going with your theory, had I not backed out I would be screwed right now cause he did not insure his package. Also, who said it was stolen? It is likely at the post office or delivered to the wrong address, that's my guess.
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You should agree to terms before you agreed to trade. Of course you seem to think it's fine to say you will ship your end and back out after the deal is finalized, then say you have zero responsibility for getting him his end back, no matter if the knife turns up or not. It doesn't work like that if the DC numbers show it was delivered and it never shows up elsewhere, you DO owe him.
 
Think of this from his end. He shipped a knife and never got one in return. Now it says the knife was delivered but you claim you never got it. In his eyes, it sounds like you scammed him. Trades are risky and if I were the other guy I would be pissed and probably reporting you for scamming. I'm not saying that you are, but from his view, he's probably panicking right now. Imagine if you were him. How would you feel?
 
jill jackson said:
You should agree to terms before you agreed to trade. Of course you seem to think it's fine to say you will ship your end and back out after the deal is finalized, then say you have zero responsibility for getting him his end back, no matter if the knife turns up or not. It doesn't work like that if the DC numbers show it was delivered and it never shows up elsewhere, you DO owe him.
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Sorry, but you're incorrect. Delivery Confirmation means NOTHING period. All it means is that is was left somewhere. Signature DOES mean something, and if it were insured is would have required a signature.

How can you send something of value to someone you do not know without insurance, it's stupid unless you're willing to suck it up. I have done the same thing in the past, and I had to suck it up.

So if he now had my knives I'd be screwed, and I suppose that would be OK by you.....
 
Translash said:
Think of this from his end. He shipped a knife and never got one in return. Now it says the knife was delivered but you claim you never got it. In his eyes, it sounds like you scammed him. Trades are risky and if I were the other guy I would be pissed and probably reporting you for scamming. I'm not saying that you are, but from his view, he's probably panicking right now. Imagine if you were him. How would you feel?
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I have looked at it from his end yes, I would be pissed as well. Only difference is, I would have insured it so it would be a none issue. If I did not insure it, I would suck it up as I have in he past.
 
knifehunt said:
...I email him when I got home and told him I just can't go through with the trade. I offered to refund his shipping costs, and add some extra for wasting his time.
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Alright, so that was definitely the right thing to do when you've breached a contract.

knifehunt said:
I feel it was his responsibility to insure it to protect both himself and me. The knife is fairly expensive, and can't imagine someone shipping it without insurance...If I send something and do not insure it then it's on me not the seller, and it has happened and I made good. What to do?
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This is actually a very tricky question. Normally, when you are a consumer dealing with a business, risk of loss is on a seller until you receive your shipment. But since you weren't dealing with a merchant and since you breached your contract, the risk of loss during delivery is your responsibility. Feel free to read about this type of legal morass here: http://www.pstcc.edu/departments/lat/classes/2300/notes/chap19.htm - obviously, states differ on this, so this is only a broad generalization of what is considered normal.

So, what this means is that you should probably complete the transaction by sending him the knife you promised him or something else that he feels is fair compensation (cash). I'd also wait a few days to see if the knife shows up. You also might think about going over to the post office with the tracking receipt and have them investigate...maybe it got delivered to the wrong address or the carrier stole it.

Keep in mind that you are in the moral and legal wrong here...even though it might be hard to accept. I mean, there is nothing wrong with changing your mind before someone acts on a promise you made...but afterwards there are consequences.
 
Insured wouldn't even have mattered unless the knife was insured for over 200, then the postal service wouldn't have left it in the box. It's not the senders fault you didn't uphold your end of the deal and do what was agreed on. It's not his fault it was delivered to you and went missing out of your box. You owe him the knife or the money back. It was your mailbox it was stolen from.
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You can add signature confirmation for $2.20 in addition to insurance, regardless of the insured amount, and it is not a known fact that it was stolen from his mailbox. That is speculation on your part as it could have been delivered by the USPS to the wrong address as that happens frequently. I have received a package recently that had been marked delivered by USPS the day before it was actually delivered, so it is possibly that it is still in possession of the USPS.
 
knifehunt said:
Sorry, but you're incorrect. Delivery Confirmation means NOTHING period. All it means is that is was left somewhere. Signature DOES mean something, and if it were insured is would have required a signature.

How can you send something of value to someone you do not know without insurance, it's stupid unless you're willing to suck it up. I have done the same thing in the past, and I had to suck it up.

So if he now had my knives I'd be screwed, and I suppose that would be OK by you.....
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You seem to think it's OK you didn't ship them as you said you would. What about that? You made an agreement you didn't keep and now you're happy because the knife shows delivered and you won't have to make good no matter what.
 
I miss read your post I thought that the knife was delivered

I can easily see that the person that shipped you the knife thinks he is getting scammed

The post office is saying that its been delivered. You are saying it was not. Who should he believe ?

I am not saying this is the truth but with you conveniently not sending your part of the trade you look suspect

Hopefully it shows p on Monday and you can send it back with the appropriate shipping costs refunded
 
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