- This topic has 4 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 5 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
So I am debating if I should continue to use Smartpost or if I need to change the way I use it. I love Smartpost because it helps me be competitive when shipping items to heavy for first class and won’t fit in a flat rate envelope. I would love to use USPS ground service but for some reason it’s usually the same price as priority.
The reason for my debate is over the past month I have had two items “Delayed” by the post office during shipping. They get to the city before their destination and stall, it shows them trying to ship the item 2-3 times to the destination city and then it just marks the item “Delayed”. Its cost me about $50 at this point. The post office does loose packages once in awhile but I have only had one other item get lost this year so far (I think I had a total of 2 last year).
I have had the post office pick up my Smartpost items mostly due to the distance to the closest Fedex drop (and the fact that the owner is kinda a jerk cause my items are all prepaid). I wonder if this problem is caused because I am having the post office do the work or if it’s just bad luck. I could solve this part of the problem because now walgreens is accepting fedex and we just got another place down the street that is accepting now as well.
I’m not trying to start a rant about Fedex just want to get some ideas from other sellers and see if I should just change my listings to exclude Smartpost or just continue to take my chances with it to stay competitive.
Just for more info I have shipped 21 items smartpost in the last 30 days and only had issues with 2 of them… before that I would say I ship about that many items a month smartpost and no issues.
-
So I wanted to update this post, I know no one responded to it but still. So I found out that both of the items I thought were lost actually arrived. For some reason the post office will ping pong a item back and forth sometimes, I’ve had them do this with priority before… Item going from SC to NY goes to CA first? Anyway the boots I shipped arrived a day late but the customer left positive feedback so that’s a plus.
The other item that was lost finally arrived 10 days after I refunded the customer. It’s been like a month since then and I only checked because it’s still an item eBay considers eligible for unpaid item case even tho it was just a refund from a open case… Anyway I saw it had been delivered so I messaged the buyer and they said they wanted to keep it so I politely asked if they would consider paying for just the item and not shipping because it took so long and she agreed right away. She said that she had asked ebay how to pay for the item a while ago once she received it but they did not get back with her. So I send her a Paypal invoice…
That being said the only problem I have with Smartpost now is claims, they won’t back up a claim unless they say it was broken, if it arrives broken or the post office has the item they won’t cover it. I am using shipsaver on fragile items so I’m going to see how that works out next time I have a claim.
-
I will not ship fragile items with Smartpost due to the insurance issue you mentioned. I do offer it on some items, but I put it as the last option. I figure if someone is searching for the cheapest shipping possible, then they will find it. Otherwise, I stick with the USPS or FedEx Ground. Note that FedEx Ground can be cheaper than Smartpost when the package gets real heavy and/or big.
I’ve never had the problem you had with the item taking a vacation cross country, or at least not that I’ve noticed. But, I don’t ship with it as often.
-
I’ve said this numerous times on here:
Smart Post is great…until something goes wrong.The handoff to USPS loophole is crap. Fed Ex can play rugby with your package and as long as they hand it off to USPS without documenting condition, you have no claim (they won’t). USPS has no motivation to refuse a package in any condition because they have zero liability.
To top it all off, they aren’t even really that competitive anymore. Occasionally I check smart post prices but I stay with priority or parcel post 99.9% of the time.
-
I list Smartpost as the default on many of my packages, but have a priority Mail option. If someone lives close, the cost to me to ship Priority is often less or very close to the Smartpost price.
In these cases, I will just ship it Priority Mail. It’s quicker simpler for mean and it’s quicker for the customer. I also don’t have to worry about after the fact rate changes.
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.