Filling a claim at the USPS

[ComicSupply]

That statement isn't about my true colors. It is about the fact that you had an opportunity to declare the value and insure it.

 

I told you I packed it safely which I did. However, on the off chance that something could/would happen you decided that it was better not to insure or declare to save yourself the duty.

 

Now, how exactly was I or am I responsible for that?

[Kermit the frog]

And no, I am sorry but the way the comics were placed by me during packing made it so that if that exact corner was damaged then all the comics would be damaged by that corner.

 

Not exactly the same spot because some comics were reversed and flipped in the envelope as to not crease spine tension.

 

ok the reverse theory, here we go...but by reversing all you want, the way they were put up, wouldn't concentrate/focus all the damage to one corner only Russ. That's the main point of all this, that they slide/bumped freely around...

 

regards

[Kermit the frog]

That statement isn't about my true colors. It is about the fact that you had an opportunity to declare the value and insure it.

 

I told you I packed it safely which I did. However, on the off chance that something could/would happen you decided that it was better not to insure or declare to save yourself the duty.

 

Now, how exactly was I or am I responsible for that?

 

just thought that at this tiem, on this situation and the way things are moving, your "cheat the system, cheat yourself" is a rather unfortunate comment to present , that's all...won't help anything and even less to communicate and try to fix things up!!!

 

i could said that you also had the opportunity to go the extra mile on packaging (that everyone here sees that it wasn't enough, except you) ...yes it could have made or not a difference, who knows?!

you should have talked to me like that before i've paied you, when i request for the amount not to be declared...like that i would have known with whom i was dealing with!!!

 

regards

[ComicSupply]

OMG, are you serious?

 

The comics were placed in reverse orders. Such as this

 

First comic spine facing left

Second comic spine facing right

Third comic spine facing left

Fourth comic spine facing right.

 

If I packed them all that way, then obviously if that corner was to be smashed the damage would be in all different areas of the book. One some of them the top left spine would be crushed, and in others the top right corner would be creased. Or, if they were reversed upside down, then the other corner.

[Kermit the frog]

OMG, are you serious?

 

The comics were placed in reverse orders. Such as this

 

First comic spine facing left

Second comic spine facing right

Third comic spine facing left

Fourth comic spine facing right.

 

If I packed them all that way, then obviously if that corner was to be smashed the damage would be in all different areas of the book. One some of them the top left spine would be crushed, and in others the top right corner would be creased. Or, if they were reversed upside down, then the other corner.

 

Russ

 

ok, sigh...with this theory you can manage to put them and the damage wherever you want, .

oh, and if the force/impact was so big as you say, how come the cardboards don't repsent much more damage?!

 

ok, thanks, but what i want to know is how we will resolve and move forward on OUR PROBLEM?!

 

regards

[ComicSupply]

Are you serious?

 

You really don't get it do you.?

[Kermit the frog]

Are you serious?

 

You really don't get it do you.?

 

i guess both of us don't Russ...

 

it would be better to focus on how to resolve things up and fix this situation, what do you say?!

 

i never called you out on this public debate (always avoided that, won't help anything as you see) and never stated that all was your fault...try to at least have this in mind, maybe it can make a difference on OUR problem and how to resolve it, ok?!

 

going on a direct hit communication argument won't do nothing, something i've told you before on a PM when things got heated up.

 

let's save petty comments/judgements and try to move things forward, will you?! from my side of the problem and how i see it would make a big difference...and i think it's the best to do, don't you???!!!

 

regards

[tth2]

Does anyone know which countries do not tax reading material? I know when I send to the UK that all reading material is customs free. (Or so a customer told me.) I'd hope that would extend to the whole EU but apparently that's not the case. Anyone know?

 

Marc

Hong Kong is a duty free port, so max value of any shipment to me can be declared!

[boomtown]

ou didn't want insurance, you didn't want to declare it for what it is worth, then HOW AM I 100% RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS? I offered you $100 for this, and to me $100 back on a $260 purchase isn't that bad for something that you requested.

 

...and people wonder why a large number of sellers don't want to ship out of the country. It's easy to criticize the packaging after the fact, but obviously, this system had worked for years now. A box could have been damaged just as easily as the envelope, there really is no fool proof packaging against the post office. There's a reason why most sellers require insurance & let the buyer know he is on his own if he doesn't want to pay for it. I believe the $100 good faith credit was more than reasonable in this case. I've shipped overseas & declared a low value, but the buyer understood he was on his own if the package had problems. All that said, I would probably gone with a box on an order that large.

[Darthdiesel]

If the buyer doesn't want to pay the extra for a secured package, then I'm in no hurry to sell and won't!

 

 

[awe4one]

Aren't you the guy to back out of a couple of October's BINs because you weren't in the mind or spirit to follow through?

 

Jim

[whomerjay]

I see both your point and nerfs. I haven't read the entire thread, but IMO I think the best way to deal with this shipping issue is:

 

1) Like Darth says, pack it bulletproof. You'll avoid 95% of all potential hassles. I just sent $150 of NM/M books to Ireland and it was mistakenly sent by surface instead of Air and took 4 weeks, but inner contents were fine;

2) take it upon yourself to insure or track for most items, don't leave the option to the buyer. I at least always track. This will cover you with paypal and eliminate the A hole buyer who wants to claim no delivery;

3) do the math and decide whether the insurance is a good gamble factoring in your time. Do you insure a $50 item for $1.30 when the odds are 1 in 200 it will be lost or damaged, and if so, it will take at least 2 hours of your time to pursue an uncertain refund?

4) one attractive alternative, especially if you do a decent business, if consider an insurance policy that covers you on items you ship. The cost of this policy (rider?) is probably less than the cost of insuring through USPS and you save yourself a lot of work and piece of mind.

[Darthdiesel]

Kermit,

 

With all due respect I simply do not see how you think that the bumping and shifting is to blame here. Do you really think for a nanosecond that if these books were taped, or wrapped in bubblewrap it would of made a difference?

 

Russ,

 

if the books were secured in such a way that they could not slide, then it would have made a difference. Looking at that package shows that it was most likely dropped on a corner, the inner comic sandwich slid out from the protective overlap of the 2 boards and got the corners and edges bent/blunted as a result.

 

As for the situation, my opinions:

 

You are not 100% responsible for this situation. Both you and Kermit agreed to fudge the value on the customs form and for that, you guys are going to have a hard time getting compensation from the USPS or La Poste (someone is trying to find out if the damage occured in France, right?)

 

As I have told you, all I can go by is what I know. I know that the packages I sent to the UK, Australia, Germany, Canada, etc have all been accepted safe and sound. Now, your saying all the sudden I don't know what I am doing. That I should protect against the bumping and shifting.

 

I wouldn't say you don't know what you are doing. What you have done works for you but I'm saying I'm f'ing surprised, amazed even, that this hasn't happened more often if you don't pack to anticipate sliding? Any way your luck is unbelievable and you could probably chalk this upto the restless French youth in the midst of social rebellion there, taking their anger out on us Americans via slamming down a GP envelope on its corners

 

When in reality, you know what? I did try to protect against that. I wrapped them, I bagged/boarded them, I put cardboard pieces around them that will not crush until at least 60psi is exerted on them.

 

Russ - this cracks me up every time you write it. The 60 psi is imPRESSive if you consider the angle of impact. You pile 60psi worth of stuff on it flat and it could actually help "release the potential" of your book, if you get my drift. Drop that envelope on it's corner, have it packaged in a way that a $300 book will slide and .25psi will do your books in.

 

For whatever reason you feel that there is some magical solution, some magical bubblewrap that will keep the comic books in a static state on the boards. In some magical way all their potential energy is transfered into kinetic state by my mispacking.

 

Here's a suggestion, an example that would have solved your problem for shipping an underdeclared item. with one of October's books, I used bag and board and dropped it in a comic top loader and put it in the middle of a time magazine, and surrounded that with two oversized boards. A drop on any corner would mess up the envelope, maybe even the time magazine, but not the precious creamy middle.

 

I am sorry, I believe I have been more than fair. You bought a book that was listed at $400 on sale for $250. It got messed up by the post office, I am sorry. I offered you $100 credit and all you can tell me is how money doesn't come easily in France and that you have slaved and saved for years for this comic book. How the book isn't worth it now and how sorry and sad and how unfortunate you are for this. Well, you know what I am an easy guy to get along with. But when you out me on the boards for no reason and make me look like the bad guy you will get nothing from me. When you give me some story about how I certainly don't know what I am doing, and that how you are unable to accept any responsibility for this then I am just floored. You didn't want insurance, you didn't want to declare it for what it is worth, then HOW AM I 100% RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS? I offered you $100 for this, and to me $100 back on a $260 purchase isn't that bad for something that you requested.

 

The $100 refund is a nice offer. Hopefully it's cash/paypal refund; otherwise it's useless for a buyer whose already had one traumatic experience to go ahead and purchase more off you using "$100 store credit" on merchandise that you price, and with shipping taken into account, actually it'd be about $80 credit. That's just nutty IMO. No buyer would agree to that as fair comensation unless he was a regular customer of yours and both of you agreed that this was a freak mishap and chalk it up to the cost of doing business.

 

This is how I put food on the table for me and my family. How I sustain myself. If you really think that my packing is poor or that I am unprofessional then I sadly must just walk away and throw my hands up and say, "What else can I do?"

 

Russ, I totally understand that. I just think you should be open to criticism and changing the way you pack your international items NOW in light of this situation to anticipate corner damage and sliding and the following complaints should you decide to ship UNDERDECLARED books again. I think it's your 60psi comments and "over thousands of packages safely" arguments that you fall back on, that are IMO irrelevant here, and don't really help this particular predicament. It's worked for you time and again and I would expect you to go ahead and continue that method BUT IF you should decide to mail internationally. I would hope you'd start securing the books in a way so that they no longer are able to slide to the edges of that protective cardboard sandwich. Use a thin old magazine - Time, Maxiims, Ladies Home Journal and old Heritage catalogs are my favorites for more expensive books.

 

You think my packing is bad, well you know what it isn't. 100's of customers per week recieve the exact same packaging with no problem. Whether it is to Ohio or to Africa it is the same.You can sit and say it is the packaging all day, but you know what, you don't do this for a living. If you were a mechanic I wouldn't in a second tell you how to fix my brakes or my engine.

 

You're packing is good ....but it's not the BEST

 

In the end, you will just have to wait and see what the post office is willing to give. I have been more than fair, more than honest, more than accepting, but your attitude and your woe is me cries have made me sick and ill.

 

I hear you Russ and good luck with the PO. Don't think much will come of it but hopefully you included those pictures that holds them culpable for that corner damage.

 

And so you don't think I'm just piling on you, Russ...

 

Kermit - if you choose not to follow the USPS policies on shipping, you can expect little to nothing by ways of compensation. You should be going hard after your La Poste representative over there and shame them with those pictures, ask them if that's how they deal with all of their priority packages.

There was a bit of blame on both sides here, and the mailers as well. Chalk it up to an expensive lesson hopefully well learned.

 

I have a huge amount of respect for both Comicsupply as a seller and Kermit as a forumite. It always comes down to $$$. By you guys trying to save a few bucks on shipping, the Postal Service gets it out of you in the end, and then some...

[Kermit the frog]

Aren't you the guy to back out of a couple of October's BINs because you weren't in the mind or spirit to follow through?

 

Jim

 

I'm the guy who requested to October the possibility of not going forward on our deal due to this messed up situation presented on this topic, which he kindly accepted and understood.

So what's your point?

 

regards

[Wally's Comics]

Comicsupply vs Kermit...

 

There are fouls on both sides.

One too cheap to pay for good shipping.

The other willingness to provide low cost "damage causing" shipping.

 

 

Solution:

 

I say that CS cough-up one third ($100) back to Kermit

and Kermit cut the comic pack in half and mailing the half of sliced books back to CS.

 

sad to see CS bite the bullet on this one, but negative advertising is never good.

 

 

I for one - have paid good money for shipping of raw books just to see them sent this way

and it brings my blood to a boil. Not to say that CS is the bad guy here, but the two pieces of

card board trick never seems to work for me - I alway demand a box and am willing to pay for it.

 

HECK, I'VE BEEN KNOW TO TIP!

 

NOTE: if there are raw sellers on these boards that ship two pieces of cardbord only -

please announce yourselves now...

 

I can't stand to pay for good shipping and receive slop.

 

 

 

[Darthdiesel]

That statement isn't about my true colors. It is about the fact that you had an opportunity to declare the value and insure it.

 

I told you I packed it safely which I did. However, on the off chance that something could/would happen you decided that it was better not to insure or declare to save yourself the duty.

 

Now, how exactly was I or am I responsible for that?

 

Kermit is wholly to blame for this aspect of wanting to dodge this declaration of market value and avoiding VAT taxes and you were just being a good seller and complying with your customers' wants but I would have been a better seller and:

 

1) tried to dissuade this "cheat the system" game with an expensive book

2) explain worst case scenario by cheating the system (exactly what you have here)

3) not sell the book unless buyer pays for insured shipping

 

But honestly if you decide to go down the path that you did and not take any extra precautions for the safety of the books, I think that is just being needlessly ballsy to the point of being stupid. and don't you have mylars and a ton of comic supplies? Throw it in one of those top loaders - simplest solution IMO

[awe4one]

Aren't you the guy to back out of a couple of October's BINs because you weren't in the mind or spirit to follow through?

 

Jim

 

I'm the guy who requested to October the possibility of not going forward on our deal due to this messed up situation presented on this topic, which he kindly accepted and understood.

So what's your point?

 

regards

 

Kindly isn't the word I'd use since he started a thread outlining Forum member responsibility because of your inability to follow through on your transactions. It sounds to me with that and this transaction that maybe you are more of the problem than those on the other side. It's not rocket science. I'm usually always on the side of the buyers in this type argument but tend to get mighty annoyed when buyers try to pawn their mistakes off on the sellers.

 

You shown a history of flaky, sorry but no other word for it, behavior which tends to dilute your point here...

 

Jim

[Kermit the frog]

Comicsupply vs Kermit...

 

There are fouls on both sides.

One too cheap to pay for good shipping.

The other willingness to provide low cost "damage causing" shipping.

 

I agree that there are flaws on both sides, not just a "perfect guilty part" on this mess...but i would have easlly paied up more extra couple of $$$ if i knew things were shipped like this. Heck, i really don't think with just a cardboard sandwich on a box would prevent this type of situation, the bumping/sliding along the trip!!!

A box won't do nothing if the person doesn't stuff/snugg well the comics inside...heck you have more chances to receive comics in perfect shape from a person who sends it in an enveloppe but packed the comics safely/steadly inside than a person who used a box and a couple of cardboards to sandwich them...

 

Regarding the insurance, yep, my choice and fault...

 

As i've said to Russ in pm's, i don't think the packaging was bad, just think it's far from being perfect, specially to overseas high $$$ comics!!!

I will say again, of course he isn't the only/main responsible for this mess - must be the 10th time i say this - , but to refuse/fail to see the direct relation of the damage and how things were packed just isn't the costumer service a buyer would expect.

 

sad to see CS bite the bullet on this one, but negative advertising is never good.

 

it wasn't me who presented/developped all this...i started this topic mainly to gather some info. that could enlighten me and in the long run help me and Russ to resolve things up. That was my main and only goal, not going on a bashing (which i never did, only replied to the "other side" of the story which presented several incorrections). I've been trying lately to take "baby steps" on this situation because i know it isn't either one that pleases Russ and going on an anger/heated up conflict won't do anything and everyone ends up losing!!! Just thought some comments/attitudes could have been clearly avoided, never looked for this kind of conversation.

 

again, i'm still hoping that me and Russ can fix this situation.

 

an 100$ refund (not a credit store, but i want to avoid to go again on this type of situation) would help already. I'm not asking for a full refund (because this isn't Russ's 100% responsability - 11th time) , but to rely all the hopes on the USPS good will on a case like this one...

 

anyway, i'm trying to move forward, would like the other side to be in the same direction too...that's all!!!

 

regards

[Kermit the frog]

Aren't you the guy to back out of a couple of October's BINs because you weren't in the mind or spirit to follow through?

 

Jim

 

I'm the guy who requested to October the possibility of not going forward on our deal due to this messed up situation presented on this topic, which he kindly accepted and understood.

So what's your point?

 

regards

 

Kindly isn't the word I'd use since he started a thread outlining Forum member responsibility because of your inability to follow through on your transactions. It sounds to me with that and this transaction that maybe you are more of the problem than those on the other side. It's not rocket science. I'm usually always on the side of the buyers in this type argument but tend to get mighty annoyed when buyers try to pawn their mistakes off on the sellers.

 

You shown a history of flaky, sorry but no other word for it, behavior which tends to dilute your point here...

 

Jim

 

Jim

 

Before presenting your blind judgements, have the kindness to contact October to confirm what i've written above.

October presented a topic where he was pissed off about several persons backing off, he didn't mentioned me, i presented myself as a part of those persons who backed off, since i felt directed linked to that state of mind of him.

 

On a mail to october, i asked if it was possible (cancel the deal) and if that wasn't possible or simply if he thought the deal should be done, i would move forward.

He kindly canceled the deal, yes kindly!!!

 

THIS is what and how happened (maybe that doesn't change anything to you, but what the heck, you're entitled to judge freely).

Was my reason good enough to back up my request?! I'll leave that up to you and the others who wish to do so, to judge as they wish...in the end it won't do squat to resolve this mess (which is another situation, i think, but if you want to put everything in the same basket, just go ahead...if that helps you to support your theory/judgement).

 

If the consequences of this situation and after that my request to octobers helps you to build up an opinion about what you think about me, good for you.

 

It's too easy to write all that without any kind of proof, only relying on "what you think" about this...at least try to be informed first and judge after!!!

this situation is as hard already as it is without those shallow comments. but if you have something to say that will help me and Russ to resolve this situation, just step forward and have your saying, if not try to restrain yourself.

 

regards

[awe4one]

If the consequences of this situation and after that my request to octobers helps you to build up an opinion about what you think about me, good for you.

 

It's too easy to write all that without any kind of proof, only relying on "what you think" about this...at least try to be informed first and judge after!!!

 

Thanks...but what this and the other situation tells me is that you're a problem buyer. First you back out of a transaction because you're not in the mind or spirit to continue. And now you're person_without_enough_empathying because of wanting to circumvent postal law and the comic you received isn't what you expected.

 

Here's an epiphany...you don't pay for insurance or added packing and you'll likely to be disappointed along the way. Welcome to the world of mail delivered comics. It's not the seller's fault. It's yours plain and simple. To try to make Comic_Supply assume some of the blame because of your poor planning is ridiculous....and again I'm almost always on the buyer's side in these matters...

 

Jim