What do you do when it goes missing?

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Mtnclimber69

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I recently sold a knife, sent it via priority mail, no insurance, and the buyer claims it has not shown up for two weeks. I did send it and have never had this problem before... what do you all suggest??? I sold the knife because I really needed the money.

Cheers
 
it is the responsibility of the seller to get the item to the buyer ... the buyer does not assume the risk of lost/stolen shipments. what would you say if the buyer mailed a money order and it did not arrive?

usps delivery confirmation shows if it was delivered or not..was it purchased? it is 45 cents or so

the value of usps insurance is controversial. i have never needed to file a claim and some have had trouble filing a claim.

that being said...i always buy it when sending a package and all the customs i order from makers are sent insured. i think (perhaps mistakenly) that it adds some degree of improved handling of the package.

i have never lost an insured usps package



you need to refund the buyers money if it does not arrive soon




if you want super security...send via registered mail.. expensive but every person touching the package has to sign for it. very expensive items like jewelry are often sent this way
 
I just filed a 'Lost Package' claim yesterday with the USPS. I sent a LARGE package (2'x3'x8") on the 15th of this month and it has never arrived.

I was hesitant to ship this time of the year but did anyway, mistake on my part..... The Delivery Confirmation is only to show when the item was put in their system and when it was supposedly delivered at the requested address.

I have been told that the north eastern, large cities, are like a blackhole in the postal chain. With the 911 thing going on, security is extra tight and delays can be long.

The US Post Office needs to own up to the fact that 2-3 Day Priority Mail IS NOT GUARANTEED TO BE DELIVERED IN 2-3 DAYS, that's just their best try/guess.

Chances are that you'll refund the $$$'s, which is only right, and then he'll probably have it delivered the next day.......Murphy's Law.
 
Your level of obligation depends on the sales agreement. If you said "delivered", then yes you are liable 100% if the item is not ultimately delivered. If you offered the knife "shipped", then in essense you have fulfilled your obligation. I'd suggest under such circumstances that a 50-50 cost sharing might be in order.
 
How long since you mailed it? I've had one priority mail take 10 days, while another took a full three weeks.

Doug
 
I think you are in a tight spot here. In the future, please take steps to protect yourself a little better.

The unasked question appears to be the trust level with the other party. (Please forgive me if I am wrong) A search for references prior to trading is helpful. Unfortunately, even if the other person in this situation is of questionable repute, without protecting yourself, you are kind of stuck.
 
I don't agree with wam03 at all. Carefully defining terms to apportion blame away from yourself would be very Clintonesque. The 50-50 idea is ridiculous.

I was in this very situation a few months back...except I was the one who did not receive the knife. This was an AR for GB trade. I sent the GB priority mail...insured...with delivery confirmation. It got to it's recipient within 3 days. The other party tossed the knife to be shipped to me in a big envelope with some plastic wrapped around it...slapped a few stamps on it...and dropped it in the mailbox. Pretty dumb, if you ask me.

Anyway...two weeks later...still no knife on my end. I contacted him and he'd already traded the GB. Swell. My feeling was that he was gonna be on the hook for the $$$ 'cause he was not "with it" enough to insure the knife. In addition, without any proof of his mailing it...there was no proof that a knife had ever been sent to me. In essence, he was at my mercy. I could have been lying...said the AR never arrived...what was he gonna do?

Well...to make a long story short...and to give you some hope...it eventually showed up. I want to say after about four weeks...but my memory is a bit fuzzy. It was fine...and he had indeed mailed it when he said he had. BUT...he almost ate the money. It's an accident waiting to happen. You put yourself at risk from thieves in the post office...and unscrupulous buyers...just to save a few bucks.

I also had a Ferret I bought off the board here show up after three weeks...in its box...which was in a bag (considerately provided by the USPS)....with about half a cup of water in said bag. It was soaked. I was about to cry...but...the seller had the knife padded...and in a ziploc bag. It was none the worse for wear.

Moral of the story is...ship knives in baggies :D and use delivery confirmation...and insurance if it's an expensive knife. The other moral is that sometimes...the stupid USPS takes a long time to get things from place to place...but they do arrive.

Keep a good thought. It may yet get there...
 
I would give it a bit longer buddy, see if you can get an agreed extension to wait for delivery.

My parcels have been taking twice as long as usual at this time of year...

My fingers are crossed, but I reckon she could still be in the system...
 
The best practice is to state the shipping conditions up front rather than "ass-u-me" anything. This applies for trades as well as outright sales. Why leave the insurance decision up to the person shipping the knife to you? That leads to emotional outbursts of frustration like LynBob's post above. I won't absolve a recipient of his obligation to fully understand and agree upon whether a knife shipment will be insured.

If insurance is not incuded in my price, then I give the recipient the choice to pay for insurance. Either way the shipping conditions are understood and agreed upon. Ditto when I have a knife shipped to me. Many times I paid for insurance and the sender failed to insure the package, but that's another topic.

The only lesson worth learning in any of these posts is to insist that all packages be insured, and not to assume anything.
 
wam03,

No emotional outburst intended. I thought I was quite factual.

I still say, however, that if I buy a knife from a dealer...or an individual...and it doesn't arrive...that's the seller's problem. If you insist otherwise, I would respectfully question your ethics.

What buyer is going to say..."oh well...buying from wam03 is a crapshoot...I'll eat half the loss"...??? You've got to be kidding....
 
LynBob,

Your comments are off base - no one that has ever dealt with me has been treated unfairly, and never will. Grow up and accept that you as a buyer have some responsibility to make sure shipments to you are insured. Why didn't you ask your trade buddy about insurance just to be sure? Be willing to pay for insurance and insist on it.
 
wam03,

Not trying to be confrontational...but I'm not off base at all. Next time I buy something from amazon.com and it doesn't arrive...I'll only ask for 1/2 my money back. You are so not ethically with it...

I'll tell you this, you say that no one you've dealt with has been treated unfairly? I guess they are just lucky. If you sent me a knife...and it didn't arrive...and you only wanted to refund 1/2...and you couldn't prove you sent it with insurance or delivery confirm receipts......I'd be thinking mail fraud.

I'm not saying people who have dealt with you have been treated unfairly. I am, however, saying that if you expect only to be on the hook for 1/2 when you don't insure a shipment...you are ethically challenged. I would never do business with someone who evidenced such an attitude. Take some responsibility as a seller. Your attitude is hard to fathom.

Now, back to the original intent of the thread. Always, always use delivery confirmation and insure expensive knives. You, as a seller need to be able to prove you shipped something.
 
Please :rolleyes:
The buyer is responsible for getting payment to the seller, and the seller is responsible for getting the purchased item to the buyer.
They are equally responsible, for their end of the deal, for their own actions, not the other person's.

edit: that was directed at the comments about the buyer's responsibility, not LBs last reply
 
Just so everyone will know that there is still hope in the world of the USPS and Priority Mail Service............

The large box that I sent out on the 15th of December arrived Wednesday afternoon via 2-3 Day Priority Mail........only took 16 days.

:grumpy:
 
LynBob,

If you had traded a knives with me, the one I sent you would have been insured. You dealt with a putz and no one enjoys hearing about your bad luck. All I am saying is that you need to take an interest in the shipping details BEFORE the item is shipped to you. If you make assumptions you get to live with the consequences. I insure just about everyting I ship, unless a buyer asks me not to.

We disagree on whether the buyer has any responsibility - so be it. It won't be an issue with anyone that deals with me.
 
The price I sell a knife for always includes insured shipping. I do not, nor would I ever leave it up to the person receiving the knife to decide if they want to pay for insurance. I would never expect the receiver to cover half the cost of of a lost shipment. I will always ship a knife insured and with delivery confirmation, because it gives me piece of mind for a very minimal cost.
 
The price I sell a knife for always includes insured shipping. I do not, nor would I ever leave it up to the person receiving the knife to decide if they want to pay for insurance. I would never expect the receiver to cover half the cost of of a lost shipment. I will always ship a knife insured and with delivery confirmation, because it gives me piece of mind for a very minimal cost.
Click to expand...

Amen, Keith!
 
Exactly. So...we are all agreed then.

That's really all I was trying to get across. Negotiation on details is irrelevant. I think, as a seller, you have to protect yourserlf with at least delivery confirmation.

As an aside, I have a friend who works for the USPS. He tells me it's better to have delivery confirm and no insurance than insurance and no delivery confirm. Says there's a bit more "H" to pay with DC problems. Don't know if this is universally true...but since that time...everything I sell goes with DC.
 
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