Problems With Shipping And Receiving Coins On Ebay

Yes, my envelope was a package and I purchases shipping as a package. I paid for 3 OZ of shipping from ebay. You are the second person that thought I treated this envelope as an envelope and not as a package. I paid package shipping rates on that envelope because of the size. I am thinking they charge me as a catalog or something. I emailed the post office asking them nicely to refund the buyer's money. Actually ebay's first class option is called large envelope/package and this was a large envelope. The other package shipped no problem that I shipped the same way. I am sure UPS has it's share of bad employees. I bet the post office has more. The bad employee you are talking about is only one employee. Maybe they are just out to get me. Maybe they are consolidating which is causing problems.
For higher cost coins I tend to trust UPS over USPS just through my experience. I have sent several coins through UPS and never had any issues and they ship fast. They are more money though.

when you put the label on the envelope, how was it oriented? If you placed it so the label was up the 9" side the extra charge would be a "non-machinable" surcharge. The sorting machines can only accept certain sizes and if it doesn't run through the machine an actual person has to do the work :)
I'm sure you have seen those square greeting cards right? They require extra postage because they can't be run on a machine and have to be manually sorted. Just a possble answer............

I can neither confirm nor deny your comment but I may have a blue "costume" that I may have to wear to work while driving a white truck with an eagle on the side

It seems the obvious issue was that because of the envelope used, they treated it like a letter and put it through the letter sorter when it was package. I guess you have to watch what you use with the 1st class package/large letter postage on ebay. It prints out long and all ebay shipping labels fit the same way, the long way. Even the self-serve kiosk postage at the post office prints out postage the long way. I just shipped coins out tonight but used a regular envelope and a CD padded mailer. I have some 6 X 9 bubble mailers, would that be okay for a first class package. I have to got to USPS to check out what they expect things to come in. In those long envelopes, one was obviously sent through the letter sorter. Should I be putting my packages in the mail box or do have to take them all to the post office to make sure they are treated correctly?

I emailed the post office and got an email from my local post office. They said there was nothing they can do as far as refunding a erroneous charge. They need to bring it in to the post office and have them look at it. You can buy a variety of different postage through eBay/Paypal but as far as first class, the only option is package/large envelope. Someone didn't like the envelope I used and didn't check the label to see it was a package/large envelope and not a catalog or something like that. I used different packaging, a CD mailer and bubble mailer along with a regular sized envelope. These will probably not give me a problem. I still have not heard anything about the package that I was expecting to receive that just disapeared after leaving a sort facility in Columbus, GA. I got a form to fill out to locate it but the seller already filled that out. I had ebay refund me and the seller is covered by buyer protection on ebay. As far as the person who claimed they didn't get the coin they bought I can't say whether it was lost or they experienced buyer's remorse and just wanted me to refund them without having to send it back. So that ends that, sending coins without tracking on ebay.

I am a low volume e-bay seller as well. Up until now, knock on wood, I have not had a problem with the USPS delivering any of my packages. I send them Certified Mail, and it works well, every time. I may also be one of the lucky ones, because I have not had any issues with any of the people receiving any of my coins, as well.

I am very perplexed by this statement. Who says you cannot charge more for shipping than the cost of the coin. I do it all the time. My shipping charges have only gone up from $2 to $2.50 over the last 2 years because of the rising cost of postage, mailers, and labels. You cannot count your shipping charges as part of the final value of the item, and you cannot let your buyers feel that way as well. Most of my sales come from folks in small towns. Towns that most likely do not have a coin shop. It is much cheaper for them to buy off of ebay and pay for shipping that it is for them to climb in the car and drive 30 miles or more to the nearest shop.

As for the postal service, sure they make mistakes and lose packages. When you look at the volume of pieces they handle daily I am positive that it is a mere fraction of a percent, which is phenomenal in my opinion. The fact that they act as if they do not care when they lose a package is not a fair statement. The same could be said for you if you did not purchase insurance.

It all boils down to cost. How much are you willing to charge for customer service? Don't comeback with an answer like "customer service should be free." It's not. It is paid for by the customer either it is a portion of the price of the item, or added on at the end, it is still paid for by the customer. Business is just that...business.

I think there appears to be some confusion on the chain of events.
1. I purchased Barber dimes that had tracking. It left a sort facility and disappeared.
2. I sold a coin for $7.50 and the buyer claims they did not receive it. I refunded the money seeing I had no choice.
3. I started using tracking on all coins.
4. One person was charged an extra $3.93 at the door for one V nickel.
5. I contacted the post office and it seemed they blamed me for it coming up with how the overcharge was my fault. I used 3 oz of postage to send a Shield nickel and a receipt.


As far as anyone's opinions are on what acceptable shipping charges are and how people should consider of them, I simply do not care. I also don't care on what their view is on customer service is. Little do people know in my conversations with USPS they told me other carriers use them for small parcels so they are being sent by them no matter what you pay.