STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Andrea Julia · Coach

Return to sender?

lsubatgirl · Gucci

I don't understand what happened. How did you mail it? In an envelope with the addresses on it? If so what the heck were they doing opening it? They don't have the right to do that. I'd be complaining but I dont' know how far it will get you. Why the extra .80? Didn't they know how much to charge you when you mailed it?

Andrea Julia · Coach

quote:
Originally posted by: lsubatgirl
"I don't understand what happened. How did you mail it? In an envelope with the addresses on it? If so what the heck were they doing opening it? They don't have the right to do that. I'd be complaining but I dont' know how far it will get you. Why the extra .80? Didn't they know how much to charge you when you mailed it?"

I went to the post office, bought a mailing envelope there because I didn't have a big enough one at home, and then put the book and the printout with the details in the envelope. I went up to the post office clerk, he weighed it and put postage on it and I paid him. He asked me if there was a letter included with the book and I said no because there wasn't a letter (although, in retrospect, I guess they would have (and obviously did) considered the printout with the details of the sale as a letter). This was on Tuesday.

Then, today, I opened my door and there was the package with a big "return to sender" stamp and the reason given was that there was a printout other than the bound media (book) in the package. The only way they would have known that is by opening it. AND obviously they didn't just open it, they ravaged it, because the package is all beat up and the corner of the book is ripped (and it is a hardcover textbook!).

They are allowed to open mail. That is why I'm not sure if I really will be taken seriously if I complain. They will probably just point to the sign in the post office that says mail will be randomly opened.

mikacat · Coach

Sorry to hear that. I would been mad too. I know people were taking advantage of the media mail thing---ebay sellers were shipping everything media mail up until about 6 or 7 months ago and then they cracked down at the post. I think your story is taking it a bit far though. They must have seen you tuck the piece of paper in the book when you packaged it and wanted to "teach you a lesson". At our post you have to leave the package open so they can see it before you send it media mail.

Andrea Julia · Coach

quote:
Originally posted by: mikacat
"Sorry to hear that. I would been mad too. I know people were taking advantage of the media mail thing---ebay sellers were shipping everything media mail up until about 6 or 7 months ago and then they cracked down at the post. I think your story is taking it a bit far though. They must have seen you tuck the piece of paper in the book when you packaged it and wanted to "teach you a lesson". At our post you have to leave the package open so they can see it before you send it media mail."

Media mail just sucks! I never had any problem mailing anything until I started using media mail. The thing is, half.com only gives you a shipping allowance that covers media mail shipping and that is what they tell you to do. I'm thinking I will just start shipping first class mail and just deal with the couple extra dollars I'll have to spend and I will just not sell anything that is so cheap as to not make it worth it.

mikacat · Coach

AJ--

you could use Parcel Post -- cheaper and slower that 1st class but faster than media mail.

Andrea Julia · Coach

I wrote to the buyer telling them what happened. This is what they wrote back:

OK, I am a little confused as to what "print out" you put in the shipment and why was that a problem? I've had books come to me with "printouts" and I did not go through this. Most importantly, when will the book come? If the book can't be here in 2 days I will buy it somewhere else because I thought it would have been here yesterday. Please give me an exact delivery date so that I can decide if this will work or not. I also expect an immediate response or I will have to move on.

What am I supposed to do now?

lsubatgirl · Gucci

WTF? Just put it in the mail tomorrow and email them back saying too bad you already put it in the mail to them. Just say the post office said it would be anywhere from a few days to a week and they couldn't pinpoint a time because they paid for media mail not expediated shipping.

e_doli · Dooney & Bourke

that kind of sucks. if you are planning to do any more selling on half.com, it might be worth eating the extra cost to send the book to them priority (how far are you sending it? if it's not too far sometimes it only takes a day or 2). this will let you avoid negative feedback

-- b/c i know when i'm buying books (it's usually books for school that i wait until the last minute to buy so i need them right away), if someone said they had a problem getting the book from a seller, i would probably avoid the seller. it sucks, but you should really try to accomadate the customer for the sake of future business.

lsubatgirl · Gucci

Don't do priority because most textbooks are around $11 to send.

The thing with half.com is that I don't know how to send them a refund. So that might be weird. I know also in the future you might want to change your shipping method and set a price that would cover the shipping (account settings). I will say I've never had a problem on half.com so maybe this is a one time thing with one person. Hopefully it will work out.