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Hi, guys. Got a return request today and, despite the buyer’s untruths regarding my packing, I have already refunded the buyer, she can keep the item, etc., but wanted to copy and post what she claimed the Post Office told her about insurance and was wondering if this was true or not. I ship Priority always and thought insurance was automatic. Thanks in advance for your help, Eric.
Her message:
“One of the four plates arrived broken. I contacted the seller and she told me to go to the USPS for a refund. I did that. They said they will not reimburse for anything because of a few reasons: 1) it was not packaged properly (ie there should have been bubble wrapping between each plate) [NOTE: this is not true as i double wrap every individual breakable item, but alas] 2) because she shipped from home, she didn t have to answer the question of anything fragile which when it is done it in person they actually mark it in the system as fragile (apparently the stickers don t help) 3) using pitney bose he said she had the option to add fragile/insurance for $1.15 but she declined it – he looked up the shipping options based on the tracking numbers and said she hadn t paid for that. I am asking for a full refund of both the cost of the plates AND the shipping (which she over charged me for). I will send the plates back to her at her cost (not mine) if she wants that. I am attaching a photo of the broken plate but am happy to send more of the box, the other plates, the packing materials etc if needed. I have saved it all. Bottom line, I did not get what I paid for and I would like a full refund.”
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Yes, you do get insurance when you ship via Priority mail. However, the seller is the one who is supposed to apply for reimbursement, not the buyer. The best process for customer satisfaction is for the seller to get the photos from the buyer, refund their money, and then apply for insurance.
That said, the USPO is currently having financial issues and (in general) is pushing back on insurance claims. While you are responsible for requesting reimbursement, they are often requesting that the item be brought into the PO with the packaging and shipping box for inspection. That means you have to get the buyer to do this for you. Good luck with that if you’ve already given them their money back.
One note on shipping breakables: even with the bubblewrap, make sure that they can’t move around in transit. I’ve found that if I don’t tape them together or use packing so that they can’t move, the items will hit against each other and break.
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Agree with Sharyn. As a buyer, I’d be angry if a seller told me to deal with USPS for a refund. The seller is the one who shipped so the seller should deal with USPS.
Here’s our process when a buyer says an item was received broken:
–Ask for photos.
–Apologize and give a full refund (or partial refund if only part of a set was broken).
–We file a USPS claim and hope we get payment.
–Then we make sure we didn’t do anything wrong so we don’t have another broken item. Otherwise, these things happen and best to just make everyone happy.
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We started asking if sellers would like to file the claim since USPS is requiring the physical evidence, at least in these here parts. If not, we do it for them. Bubblewrap, taped together, and boxed, every time. What about the claims regarding printing labels at home and not being able to tick FRAGILE? Should we start taking items into the post office so we can state fragile? Also the pintney-bose statement regarding the insurance option for $1.15? Thanks for your help!
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The fragile option is a special service that you can pay for in the PO. I’ve heard that it costs over $14. The insurance should not be affected by that if you package your items properly.
Priority shipping comes with $50 insurance automatically. If you are an eBay seller with top ratings, you should have $100 insurance automatically. You should not have to buy anything extra through Pitney-Bose or anyone else. There is an option on eBay to purchase insurance from an a different company (Shipsaver, I believe), but it is an extra cost in addition to what the USPS already provides.
Either your buyer didn’t want to go to the PO and/or deal with the insurance, and she just made all this stuff up. Or, the PO gave her wrong information because they’ve been told to push back on insurance claims.
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