Stolen art alert Peanuts! 5 5

[Readcomix]

On 1/1/2024 at 10:41 AM, Buzzetta said:

Billy Joel at UBS Arena where they run the Belmont Stakes.  Fun times.   

Gotta be the quintessential Long Island New Year’s Eve concert! Took my daughter there to see Billie Eilish; great place to see a show as I recall. It’s about as big as a venue can be and still give you a small show feel to some degree.
I was on my way out the door when I saw the thread — went to the Midnight Ramble at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock —- and just knew we needed more eyes and firepower on this one, so I threw out a few Hail Mary tags! Thank you and Happy New Year!

[Buzzetta]

On 1/1/2024 at 11:39 AM, Readcomix said:

Gotta be the quintessential Long Island New Year’s Eve concert! Took my daughter there to see Billie Eilish; great place to see a show as I recall. It’s about as big as a venue can be and still give you a small show feel to some degree.
I was on my way out the door when I saw the thread — went to the Midnight Ramble at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock —- and just knew we needed more eyes and firepower on this one, so I threw out a few Hail Mary tags! Thank you and Happy New Year!

For NYE, it was either Billy at UBS or Phish at MSG.  She won, so I went to Phish myself a few days earlier.  

 

I am the LI stereotype though... I love Billy Joel 

[Readcomix]

On 1/1/2024 at 12:38 PM, Buzzetta said:

For NYE, it was either Billy at UBS or Phish at MSG.  She won, so I went to Phish myself a few days earlier.  

 

I am the LI stereotype though... I love Billy Joel 

THAT an explains why you weren’t at the Phish show instead!  Dang coin toss! 
I’m sure Billy Joel was great though.

[alxjhnsn]

Back to the original topic, I've vowed to use Apple AirTags in all of my packages. I've done it once and found it useful. A friend works for UPS and he says he gets notices frequently that he's being tailed by an AirTag which seems to indicate that I'm not alone is doing this. At $25, they are cheap insurance.

[adamstrange]

On 1/1/2024 at 11:10 AM, John E. said:

Looks like the seller took down the listing. It’s not in his sales history either.

As Buzzetta says, if you’ve already taken the insurance money there’s not much you can do. But the fact that you are receiving missing mail updates probably means you haven’t?

I would also ask usps if they have a record of selling this package in their auction. You can’t take this guy’s word for it either. And think you should also make an inquiry with the Postal Inspector. I think they deal with crimes like mail fraud.

Nicholas Cage was paid by his insurance company for the theft of his Action 1.  When it was recovered, he had the option of paying them back so that he could regain ownership.  This is what he did, only to turn around and consign it to auction.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

someone up the string said this seller handles a lot of Peanuts strips.  Is that true?  Because if it is true, then I call BS on his story.  Does anyone else find it coincidental that a seller who deals in strips paid a dollar for an unopened USPS package and out popped a Peanuts strip?  I might have been born at night, but it wasn't last night.

[gumbydarnit]

I wonder how often the highly insured value packages are lost at the shipping facility vs low insured value packages …. I would love to see those stats from various carriers.

Edited January 2 by gumbydarnit

[gumbydarnit]

I dropped a package off at a big 3 shipper. When the clerk handed it to his coworker to process, she looked a the insurance on the label and excitedly asked the coworker “what kind of drawing is it?!? It’s insured for big money!” 
 

I wasn’t  feeling too good that my package wasn’t going to be unwrapped for a peak at best and at worst, “strange I don’t know what happened to your package.. luckily you were insured.’

My story ended well, I was relieved when it arrived unharmed to its destination. I hate the shipping labels (showing costs) tend to make it a target all the way to its destination.  We are dealing with human nature and that human nature is becoming less impressive with each passing day. 

 

[batman_fan]

I had a ~$20k package of CGC books go missing.  Spent 3 weeks calling with no luck.  Package was shipped registered.  My wife went to the local post office, asked if they had it which they promptly gave to her.  Had just been sitting at the local PO.

[westform]

On 1/1/2024 at 7:31 PM, batman_fan said:

I had a ~$20k package of CGC books go missing.  Spent 3 weeks calling with no luck.  Package was shipped registered.  My wife went to the local post office, asked if they had it which they promptly gave to her.  Had just been sitting at the local PO.

I don’t like that story… for obvious reasons. But good for you nonetheless. 

[westform]

On 1/1/2024 at 6:27 PM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

someone up the string said this seller handles a lot of Peanuts strips.  Is that true?  Because if it is true, then I call BS on his story.  Does anyone else find it coincidental that a seller who deals in strips paid a dollar for an unopened USPS package and out popped a Peanuts strip?  I might have been born at night, but it wasn't last night.

I didn’t see any other peanuts items when I searched his store. 🤷🏻

[Captain ShipWreck]

On 1/1/2024 at 9:31 PM, batman_fan said:

I had a ~$20k package of CGC books go missing.  Spent 3 weeks calling with no luck.  Package was shipped registered.  My wife went to the local post office, asked if they had it which they promptly gave to her.  Had just been sitting at the local PO.

I had a similar issue but as the seller. A few years back I sold a book registered mail through my local PO. It took two weeks to go from Georgia to Texas and then disappeared. After a week with no updates, I opened a claim. After four more weeks with nothing updating, the buyer drove three hours to the last place it was scanned. Turned out the package was sitting there but was flagged because it wasn't initially marked correctly at my PO. Instead of marking it in their back-end intranet system as being held, that location just put it to the side. If the buyer never drove to that location it probably wouldn't have been "found". This was the last time I used registered mail.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

On 1/1/2024 at 9:16 PM, westform said:

I didn’t see any other peanuts items when I searched his store. 🤷🏻

Me neither. I looked too. But @fastballspecial said differently on the first page. If he is mistaken about that, I might have a different opinion. If he is correct about this dealer carrying lots of Peanuts strips, and then he just happened to luck into this awol piece, then my opinion is unchanged 

[Buzzetta]

On 1/1/2024 at 10:20 PM, Captain ShipWreck said:

I had a similar issue but as the seller. A few years back I sold a book registered mail through my local PO. It took two weeks to go from Georgia to Texas and then disappeared. After a week with no updates, I opened a claim. After four more weeks with nothing updating, the buyer drove three hours to the last place it was scanned. Turned out the package was sitting there but was flagged because it wasn't initially marked correctly at my PO. Instead of marking it in their back-end intranet system as being held, that location just put it to the side. If the buyer never drove to that location it probably wouldn't have been "found". This was the last time I used registered mail.

It can be worse with Fed Ex as the drivers routinely sign the packages themselves or do not follow through with properly scanning items as they reach new destinations.  This is why I have had to drop Heritage since they only use Fed Ex and still will not allow me to redirect my packages to someplace secure. 

With Comiclink, who also uses Fed Ex, I can redirect the package to a local Fed Ex store or in my case, Walgreens.  Last month Fed Ex did it again.  They never scanned it properly so it looked like it was "out for delivery" for a full day.   I figured out that the driver never scanned the item to Walgreens so I went there anyway and they took it out of the back room after I demonstrated proof of identity.   Finally at that point the packages was marked as "delivered" in the tracking but it had "skipped a step" for lack of a better phrase. 

If I never go to Walgreens or if in fact the river lost it on a truck between the one from Comiclink to the Bethpage Distribution Center on Long Island, I am never getting my package all because of carrier mishandling. 

 

 

Edited January 2 by Buzzetta

[Buzzetta]

On 1/1/2024 at 10:25 PM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

Me neither. I looked too. But @fastballspecial said differently on the first page. If he is mistaken about that, I might have a different opinion. If he is correct about this dealer carrying lots of Peanuts strips, and then he just happened to luck into this awol piece, then my opinion is unchanged 

The seller has no other Peanuts art for sale. 

The seller's store is named https://www.ebay.com/str/webuystorageauctions We buy Storage Auctions. 

This is typical of sellers like this who buy undeliverable, unclaimed, or lost mail.  He probably also attends auction for storage units that have gone in arrears.  They have sold over 26,000 items and if you take a look at their almost 3,000 items currently for sale, there is nothing of similarity.  This is typical of people who buy cheap mystery boxes and auction off the contents.  I do not think the eBay seller "stole" the art.  I think the Post Office botched the whole chain of possession, it was not scanned or sat in a corner unclaimed and then was auctioned off with other undeliverable packages. 

That't why I believe this is a post office issue and not an ebay one.  This guy probably did purchase the package legally.  It was a mishap at the post office that occurs routinely.  It's unfortunate. 

 

Edited January 2 by Buzzetta

[adamstrange]

On 1/1/2024 at 10:57 AM, Buzzetta said:

If this guy legally purchased the unopened package from the USPS then it is most likely his to do with as he pleases. 

There is no way to buy stolen property that will make it legally yours.  If westform can prove that it's his, then the seller must give it up and the eBay seller can try to recover his money from the USPS.

Retrieving the strip requires proof of ownership, proof of possession (this appears to be admitted by the eBay seller), and, probably, assistance of the Postal Service or a court of law.  I would try to escalate to get to an actual postal inspector to provide them the evidence to see how far they will pursue the matter.  I would also investigate options for either small claims court or a lawyer to pursue a lawsuit directly against the eBay seller.

[John E.]

On 1/1/2024 at 9:56 PM, Buzzetta said:

The seller's store is named https://www.ebay.com/str/webuystorageauctions We buy Storage Auctions. 

 

He might as well change the name to:

ifitlookslikeyourstuffitprobablyis

No wonder his reply to Phil looked pretty canned. Not his first inquiry.

It reminds me of The Big Lebowski, and I paraphrase:

”Did I pee on your rug? Did I go to your house and personally pee on your rug, Mr. Lebowski? Do I owe a rug to every person in town who’s had their rug peed on?”

“Well, no. But that’s not the point.”

[Buzzetta]

On 1/2/2024 at 1:19 AM, adamstrange said:

There is no way to buy stolen property that will make it legally yours.  If westform can prove that it's his, then the seller must give it up and the eBay seller can try to recover his money from the USPS.

Retrieving the strip requires proof of ownership, proof of possession (this appears to be admitted by the eBay seller), and, probably, assistance of the Postal Service or a court of law.  I would try to escalate to get to an actual postal inspector to provide them the evidence to see how far they will pursue the matter.  I would also investigate options for either small claims court or a lawyer to pursue a lawsuit directly against the eBay seller.

Please review the details as to what the original poster wrote.  He even suggested that he change the title of the thread to "missing" and not "stolen" as the package was very likely NOT stolen if the seller did indeed pick it up at auction. 

The USPS has something called the USPS Mail Recovery Center. 

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-is-the-USPS-Mail-Recovery-Center

I will cite the following line, "Undeliverable mail determined to be of value, meaning the content is worth more than $25.00 ($20.00 for mailpieces containing cash), will be held for 60 days if the mailpiece is barcoded, or 30 days for non-barcoded mailpieces." 

• The original poster said that the package has been missing for almost three months in this post earlier in the thread.   
• The original poster states that the eBay seller purchased the item through auction. 

If the Post Office determines that for whatever reason, be it mechanical, human error, act of God or whatever reason that a package is undeliverable, they are going to auction the contents of your package off to the highest bidder.   This is noted in the FAQ for the Recovery Center in the line, "Occasionally, the MRC will auction off the items held. More information on upcoming auctions, including locations and directions, can be found at United States Postal Service® auctions."

Here is the site that lists times and dates of upcoming auctions if you would LEGALLY like to buy the contents of other people's mail.  

https://www.govdeals.com/

 

The post office determined that his package was undeliverable and sometime between three months, whoever had the contents sent it off to https://www.govdeals.com/ where people bid on it. 

I briefly went through closed auctions and found that they have conducted several auctions in the last three months around the Florida area.  I even tried looking for the piece but cannot find it and to be honest I am not going through 89,000 items that they have auctioned over the last three months.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to how they categorize their own listings as a Michael Jordan Basketball card went for $84 and that turned up when I did a search for "art". 

 

 

[Buzzetta]

On 1/2/2024 at 1:38 AM, John E. said:

He might as well change the name to:

ifitlookslikeyourstuffitprobablyis

No wonder his reply to Phil looked pretty canned. Not his first inquiry.

It reminds me of The Big Lebowski, and I paraphrase:

”Did I pee on your rug? Did I go to your house and personally pee on your rug, Mr. Lebowski? Do I owe a rug to every person in town who’s had their rug peed on?”

“Well, no. But that’s not the point.”

I have been invited to participate in the type of auctions that the strip was probably auctioned off through.  They do not just handle lost mail but they also handle seized items.  I did not like the risk involved as if you see these auctions they usually have rules that you can look at what is displayed but you are not allowed to go through it.  So you might see comic boxes and see them through the holes of the handles in the box to know they are comics but you cannot sort through them.   So you could be bidding on a box of Plasm or a box of Silver Age Marvel keys.   You could be bidding on a sealed box that says, "John's stuff" and it could be Pez dispensers, his ashes, or gold coin.   Mystery boxes are not my thing.  

Also people sometimes try to track down their own stuff and do not want to hear that their items were seized by the government and that the new owner rightfully purchased them through auction.  It's not a headache I want to deal with. 

 

 

 

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

You may be right and you may be wrong. Either way, I don’t think these guys are worthy of your defense. Not when their pat response to the true owner is “Tough”.