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Sales, Swaps, Auction & Approvals/Approvals Disc. : Scammed or Confiscated ?

 

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cardstamp
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22 Jan 2019
11:49:37am

Approvals
Well I had another first time buyer let me know today that a shipment I sent on December 7 never showed up. It was a small $30 order to India. I just sent a PayPal refund to the buyer. It looks like this buyer was fairly new to StampORama and I was the one and only person whom they purchased from. So was the small envelope lost or perhaps confiscated because I sent it with a first class stamp (no customs form) or was I scammed ? Guess I will never know for sure.
Anyway - I decided to stop shipping to almost all international countries for now (I will hold off on a few like Canada for a period of time).
Which leads me to my question - in order to block almost every country - it looks like I have to go into he each letter tab and click on every single country to restrict shipping. It would have been easier the other way to only select the countries you ship to - or if there was a SELECT all on the top of each letter page - and then I could un-select the ones I will keep sending to for now.. It is very cumbersome to click 99% of the countries as restricted ? Thanks, Steve
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michael78651

22 Jan 2019
12:18:46pm
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

It's easier to just follow the law and use the customs form.

If you had used the customs form you could see if the mailpiece was held up at US customs and when it left the country. Sometimes you can track it to delivery.

Now, all you can do is speculate.

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michael78651

22 Jan 2019
12:21:28pm
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

To answer your question, on the page where you can restrict where you ship to, the top box has a selection to only ship to buyers in the US. No need to click on every country in the section below that.

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copy55555
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22 Jan 2019
12:45:55pm
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

I think the request was to choose only those countries you wish to deal with. If you only wish to ship to the US and Canada or.... you'll have to mark all the other 200+ countries in order to NOT ship to them.

My question: If I decide to sell on SOR and only deal with US customers (and Canada}, are all others barred from buying from my approval books and/or bidding on my lots?


Tad

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Soundcrest
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22 Jan 2019
02:06:27pm

Auctions - Approvals
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

From my experience a customs form matters not. I recently sent a book to Poland with the customs form properly filled out. The buyer claimed non receipt. PAYPAL said that supplying a photo of the customs form, which I did, was not proof that the item was sent, which makes me wonder what use their so called seller protection is. They refunded the buyer no argument accepted.

I have not had an outside the US buyer here on SOR claim non receipt. The first time that happens I will "click all the buttons" for anything other than Canada,UK, Australia and Europe. I have had problems with India and other places in that area on other sites.

Most of my buyers here are repeat buyers. When I get someone new, I check first to see if they have purchased previously. I know on other sites, a zero feedback rating from outside the US, will make me think twice before sending something expensive.

Greg

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michael78651

22 Jan 2019
04:46:16pm
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Tad, you are correct whereby if one wants to ship to only a few countries, then one has to individually check all the countries that will not be shipped to.

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cardstamp
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22 Jan 2019
05:41:10pm

Approvals
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

I guess I have to click the 200 other countries - I will continue with a few for now but eventually I will switch to US only here. Not worth the time & effort to start dealing with larger envelopes and custom forms for 10 cent stamps !

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copy55555
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23 Jan 2019
01:41:15pm
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

So... concerning my previous question: Does the system prevent buyers from the checked countries from bidding and/or purchasing from the approval books?

Tad

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michael78651

23 Jan 2019
02:19:46pm
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Yes, that is my understanding.

If perchance someone, from a country that a seller has marked as being "restricted from selling to", buys/bids on an item, the seller will not be required to sell the item to that buyer.

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Soundcrest
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23 Jan 2019
02:41:27pm

Auctions - Approvals
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

But then will the stamp show up in the book as sold? If so is there a way to reverse the transaction?

Greg

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Brechinite

24 Jan 2019
06:46:51pm
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Never mind being scammed or confiscated.

With regret, I have just had to refund two deliveries to a good customer of long standing due to the failure of the postal services. I have also refused to accept payment for a third package that was paid for and ready to send.

I will get absolutely zero compensation from Royal Mail as the address was a Post Office Box Number, and as I buy bulk lots I cannot produce an accurate invoice for the cost of the stamps to me.

The customer has now lost being able to buy reasonably priced stamps from me, which he was obviously happy with.

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DannyS
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25 Jan 2019
04:29:31am
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Just a quick comment from the other end of the supply chain. I am lucky because I can get stamps sent to by daughter in Wales which is part of the UK. I actually live in Thailand where I have been for most of my life now. When I was getting stamps sent here I was losing about 10-15% of incoming low value non-registered shipments. (I never claimed on them because I was losing them on roughly the same day they would have arrived here from multiple dealers so it was obviously not their fault. I had the same problem using my house address and PO boxes in two different post offices so the problem was close to the arrival facilities.) Outgoing mail has always been pretty good as I have supplied books from here to overseas addresses for many years, but mainly by registered post.

My daughter can wait until there are sufficient shipments in Wales to consolidate into a registered shipment to me.

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Brechinite

25 Jan 2019
06:25:37am
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

I remember the first package that was lost when I started selling on ebay. It was a registered package to a place twenty miles from my house!!!

It is annoying when something goes missing, but it is part of the conditions that we accept when using the postal services.

There is another "angle" to this which as a seller that we may consider.

Sellers know that buyers try to limit the costs of postage by purchasing more to make it more economical for the buyer.

However can I turn this round the other way? If a package is "lost" the larger the amount sold the greater the loss to the seller (and of course the inconvenience to the buyer who doesn't get the stamps).

It appears that in my experience it is only the larger packages that go "missing". ie packages over 100 grammes or contained in larger and/or padded envelopes.

To add tracked and signed for to a larger package would be an increase in postage costs of $6.50 therefore defeating the buyers aims.

Could it be that a little and often is fairer to both parties in the event of "lost" items?


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Soundcrest
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25 Jan 2019
07:01:56am

Auctions - Approvals
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

It is conditions we have to accept, though it is troublesome when you read of a postal worker dumping their mail in a river because they could not finish in time and the PO does not pay OT. Yes, that happened not too far from me. Luckily he was caught, but how much real non junk mail was never received by the person who expected to receive it? I have not spoken of my feelings of our mail delivery here as there may be post office workers that read the boards (which is also why I don't post the tricks of the trade either). However, I would have no problem paying a wee bit more for a letter if when something goes missing, they actually seem to care and they try to make it right. Now all you get is "the scanner shows it was delivered. You must be lying". They could start with mail delivery for only 5 days a week, and dismiss the subs who at least here, are the biggest problem. We actually had one fired because he accidentally hit a person at their mailbox. He was then sent to driving school and flunked out. My regular carrier is fantastic, but sadly she cannot deliver the mail all over the country for me.

Greg

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snowy12
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25 Jan 2019
07:40:31am

Auctions
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

I had an exchange set up with an Indian stamp collector ,It started out OK ,but then my mail started to go missing.
In the end I told him that we would have to cancel our arrangement as I was losing too much material and money.
Not sure if it's postal employees that are stealing mail ,but it seems to be quite prevalent in India.
Maybe send it with a label instead of stamps ?
Brian

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Brechinite

25 Jan 2019
07:47:44am
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

" However, I would have no problem paying a wee bit more for a letter if when something goes missing, they actually seem to care and they try to make it right. Now all you get is "the scanner shows it was delivered. You must be lying"."




YYUUPPP!!! Its all down to attitude and of course poor management and training!!
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Soundcrest
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25 Jan 2019
08:07:07am

Auctions - Approvals
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Brian I have had the same problem with India over the years. I have not figured out if it is the mail delivery or something else. These days on other sites I sell on, it depends on the feedback of the buyer whether or not I even send the item. Less than 10, no way. If the buyer emails me and says they did not receive the item, then I apologize for the mail delivery and refund them. I do not straight away refund them as it looks bad. I've had that "lost" problem with stamps other places, recently Sri Lanka, in that region as well. Never on mailings to Europe. I use a personal label on any international mailings. As I have said before, PAYPAL and Ebay do not care. They refund the buyer almost 100% of the time, no matter what kind of proof you supply. Back in the day, I could usually negotiate with a buyer and we would split the amount. That is no longer done. On ebay I blacklist any seller who claims no receipt. Can't do that elsewhere.

Here while I have not had a problem in 3 or maybe its 4 years, we have to block countries and I have not yet seen an answer to the question whether you can put things back into a book. It does not sound like you can block a buyer, only that you do not have to send the stamps if they are purchased by someone who lives in a blocked country, say India.

Greg

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Dadu
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25 Jan 2019
11:20:34am
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Moderator Note: This post has been removed for the following reason (from the Auction/Approval Books Rules (F1):


"Never post complaints about a specific buyer or seller on the Discussion Boards."

Buyers and sellers are expected to conduct their business and work out problems/differences via private messaging or email. The auctioneer is available to mediate if necessary.


(Modified by Moderator on 2019-01-25 15:29:53)

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cardstamp
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25 Jan 2019
11:35:24am

Approvals
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Moderator Note: This post has been removed for the following reason (from the Auction/Approval Books Rules (F1):


"Never post complaints about a specific buyer or seller on the Discussion Boards."

Buyers and sellers are expected to conduct their business and work out problems/differences via private messaging or email. The auctioneer is available to mediate if necessary.


(Modified by Moderator on 2019-01-25 15:30:04)

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Brechinite

25 Jan 2019
11:42:26am
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

"I had requested shipping details"




Unfortunately letters/packages that are not sent by "signed for" or "tracked", commonly called registered, CANNOT be traced.

In these cases the seller can only say it was posted on such and such a date. IT IS UNTRACEABLE. So it is totally pointless sending "details" to the buyer.

It is far better to refund the buyer

OR

Should ALL sellers only offer "Tracked" packages with the monstrous increase in postage charges to the buyer?

The buyers would no longer buy.

Even the "tracked" items go "missing", through no fault of the seller or buyer!

Like Greg, once something goes "missing", bought on Ebay, the buyer is blocked. Its a shame one has to do this but sellers must protect themselves. I have heard people discuss this and they have passed on details of ebay sellers who are perceived as "soft touches" because they have supplied a buyer after a package has gone "missing".

Would you throw away possibly tens of dollars worth of stamps each month?

NO!!!

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Soundcrest
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25 Jan 2019
11:48:02am

Auctions - Approvals
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

AND by using a customs form for a letter its like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Look! There may be something in here of value. Lets take it. For that you are supposed to pay up front. Right. Will using a customs form cause the country to say "our apologies for the item not arriving. Here, let me reimburse you for it"? I'll let you know when the customs agents in Poland send me the $70 for the book that somehow did not arrive......

Ian, You will only get me once on any site. After that its my own fault if I sell to you again and the site has no buyer blocking ability.

I have also seen tracking info disappear in the system. No delivery, and the number is gone. Gee, I wonder how that could have happened? My fault of course.

Greg

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Brechinite

25 Jan 2019
11:59:32am
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

There are a number of humans that are crooks.

Bad management practices, untrained poorly paid employees treated as serfs are the main causes of poor services.

A couple of years ago one mail centre in Scotland were sacking 4 people a day for pilfering. These were personnel brought in from employment agencies to cover the Christmas rush. ie untrained un-vetted without loyalty to the company.

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Soundcrest
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25 Jan 2019
12:40:53pm

Auctions - Approvals
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

When I was in High School in the 1960's I worked the Christmas rush at the PO in the afternoons. It was a political job - you needed connections. It was eye opening to say the least - and not in a good way

Greg

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Jansimon
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collector, seller, MT member

25 Jan 2019
04:58:18pm

Approvals
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

just my two cents: sending letters to India is always risky, it does not make any difference whether you include a customs form or not. Most of the time, a customs form is indeed like an open invitation: "steal me". At least that's what I heard from an Indian collector with whom I traded stamps a few times. He urged me to make sure the envelope was as flat as possible, as plain looking as possible (no philatelic franking) and best disguised as a business letter with the stamps hidden between at least one folded sheet of paper. Bulging letters will disappear, it is a sad fact of life when dealing with India.

I have sent letters all over the world and had only had a problem with a few countries. India, Malaysia, Argentina, Greece, Italy. Most other countries are fine, or at least I have never had any issues.

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virgilp

11 Feb 2019
10:33:18pm
re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Carefully with formerly communist countries from Eastern part of Europe. It is a "habit" there that some letters disappear during the postal process. If the letter appear just a little thicker than a normal letter, it may "find" another destination! It happened to me few times. Many times people send small amount of money to their relatives or friends, as a help. Using a bank or other ways it costs more that what it is enclosed in the letter. This is the main reason that some letters are not delivered. Some postal employees are corrupted and a thick letter tells them that there is something valuable inside. Registered letters are delivered.
Virgil

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cardstamp

22 Jan 2019
11:49:37am

Approvals

Well I had another first time buyer let me know today that a shipment I sent on December 7 never showed up. It was a small $30 order to India. I just sent a PayPal refund to the buyer. It looks like this buyer was fairly new to StampORama and I was the one and only person whom they purchased from. So was the small envelope lost or perhaps confiscated because I sent it with a first class stamp (no customs form) or was I scammed ? Guess I will never know for sure.
Anyway - I decided to stop shipping to almost all international countries for now (I will hold off on a few like Canada for a period of time).
Which leads me to my question - in order to block almost every country - it looks like I have to go into he each letter tab and click on every single country to restrict shipping. It would have been easier the other way to only select the countries you ship to - or if there was a SELECT all on the top of each letter page - and then I could un-select the ones I will keep sending to for now.. It is very cumbersome to click 99% of the countries as restricted ? Thanks, Steve

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michael78651

22 Jan 2019
12:18:46pm

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

It's easier to just follow the law and use the customs form.

If you had used the customs form you could see if the mailpiece was held up at US customs and when it left the country. Sometimes you can track it to delivery.

Now, all you can do is speculate.

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michael78651

22 Jan 2019
12:21:28pm

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

To answer your question, on the page where you can restrict where you ship to, the top box has a selection to only ship to buyers in the US. No need to click on every country in the section below that.

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copy55555

22 Jan 2019
12:45:55pm

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

I think the request was to choose only those countries you wish to deal with. If you only wish to ship to the US and Canada or.... you'll have to mark all the other 200+ countries in order to NOT ship to them.

My question: If I decide to sell on SOR and only deal with US customers (and Canada}, are all others barred from buying from my approval books and/or bidding on my lots?


Tad

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Soundcrest

22 Jan 2019
02:06:27pm

Auctions - Approvals

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

From my experience a customs form matters not. I recently sent a book to Poland with the customs form properly filled out. The buyer claimed non receipt. PAYPAL said that supplying a photo of the customs form, which I did, was not proof that the item was sent, which makes me wonder what use their so called seller protection is. They refunded the buyer no argument accepted.

I have not had an outside the US buyer here on SOR claim non receipt. The first time that happens I will "click all the buttons" for anything other than Canada,UK, Australia and Europe. I have had problems with India and other places in that area on other sites.

Most of my buyers here are repeat buyers. When I get someone new, I check first to see if they have purchased previously. I know on other sites, a zero feedback rating from outside the US, will make me think twice before sending something expensive.

Greg

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michael78651

22 Jan 2019
04:46:16pm

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Tad, you are correct whereby if one wants to ship to only a few countries, then one has to individually check all the countries that will not be shipped to.

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cardstamp

22 Jan 2019
05:41:10pm

Approvals

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

I guess I have to click the 200 other countries - I will continue with a few for now but eventually I will switch to US only here. Not worth the time & effort to start dealing with larger envelopes and custom forms for 10 cent stamps !

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copy55555

23 Jan 2019
01:41:15pm

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

So... concerning my previous question: Does the system prevent buyers from the checked countries from bidding and/or purchasing from the approval books?

Tad

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michael78651

23 Jan 2019
02:19:46pm

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Yes, that is my understanding.

If perchance someone, from a country that a seller has marked as being "restricted from selling to", buys/bids on an item, the seller will not be required to sell the item to that buyer.

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Soundcrest

23 Jan 2019
02:41:27pm

Auctions - Approvals

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

But then will the stamp show up in the book as sold? If so is there a way to reverse the transaction?

Greg

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Brechinite

24 Jan 2019
06:46:51pm

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Never mind being scammed or confiscated.

With regret, I have just had to refund two deliveries to a good customer of long standing due to the failure of the postal services. I have also refused to accept payment for a third package that was paid for and ready to send.

I will get absolutely zero compensation from Royal Mail as the address was a Post Office Box Number, and as I buy bulk lots I cannot produce an accurate invoice for the cost of the stamps to me.

The customer has now lost being able to buy reasonably priced stamps from me, which he was obviously happy with.

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DannyS

25 Jan 2019
04:29:31am

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Just a quick comment from the other end of the supply chain. I am lucky because I can get stamps sent to by daughter in Wales which is part of the UK. I actually live in Thailand where I have been for most of my life now. When I was getting stamps sent here I was losing about 10-15% of incoming low value non-registered shipments. (I never claimed on them because I was losing them on roughly the same day they would have arrived here from multiple dealers so it was obviously not their fault. I had the same problem using my house address and PO boxes in two different post offices so the problem was close to the arrival facilities.) Outgoing mail has always been pretty good as I have supplied books from here to overseas addresses for many years, but mainly by registered post.

My daughter can wait until there are sufficient shipments in Wales to consolidate into a registered shipment to me.

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Brechinite

25 Jan 2019
06:25:37am

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

I remember the first package that was lost when I started selling on ebay. It was a registered package to a place twenty miles from my house!!!

It is annoying when something goes missing, but it is part of the conditions that we accept when using the postal services.

There is another "angle" to this which as a seller that we may consider.

Sellers know that buyers try to limit the costs of postage by purchasing more to make it more economical for the buyer.

However can I turn this round the other way? If a package is "lost" the larger the amount sold the greater the loss to the seller (and of course the inconvenience to the buyer who doesn't get the stamps).

It appears that in my experience it is only the larger packages that go "missing". ie packages over 100 grammes or contained in larger and/or padded envelopes.

To add tracked and signed for to a larger package would be an increase in postage costs of $6.50 therefore defeating the buyers aims.

Could it be that a little and often is fairer to both parties in the event of "lost" items?


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Soundcrest

25 Jan 2019
07:01:56am

Auctions - Approvals

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

It is conditions we have to accept, though it is troublesome when you read of a postal worker dumping their mail in a river because they could not finish in time and the PO does not pay OT. Yes, that happened not too far from me. Luckily he was caught, but how much real non junk mail was never received by the person who expected to receive it? I have not spoken of my feelings of our mail delivery here as there may be post office workers that read the boards (which is also why I don't post the tricks of the trade either). However, I would have no problem paying a wee bit more for a letter if when something goes missing, they actually seem to care and they try to make it right. Now all you get is "the scanner shows it was delivered. You must be lying". They could start with mail delivery for only 5 days a week, and dismiss the subs who at least here, are the biggest problem. We actually had one fired because he accidentally hit a person at their mailbox. He was then sent to driving school and flunked out. My regular carrier is fantastic, but sadly she cannot deliver the mail all over the country for me.

Greg

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snowy12

25 Jan 2019
07:40:31am

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re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

I had an exchange set up with an Indian stamp collector ,It started out OK ,but then my mail started to go missing.
In the end I told him that we would have to cancel our arrangement as I was losing too much material and money.
Not sure if it's postal employees that are stealing mail ,but it seems to be quite prevalent in India.
Maybe send it with a label instead of stamps ?
Brian

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Brechinite

25 Jan 2019
07:47:44am

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

" However, I would have no problem paying a wee bit more for a letter if when something goes missing, they actually seem to care and they try to make it right. Now all you get is "the scanner shows it was delivered. You must be lying"."




YYUUPPP!!! Its all down to attitude and of course poor management and training!!
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Soundcrest

25 Jan 2019
08:07:07am

Auctions - Approvals

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Brian I have had the same problem with India over the years. I have not figured out if it is the mail delivery or something else. These days on other sites I sell on, it depends on the feedback of the buyer whether or not I even send the item. Less than 10, no way. If the buyer emails me and says they did not receive the item, then I apologize for the mail delivery and refund them. I do not straight away refund them as it looks bad. I've had that "lost" problem with stamps other places, recently Sri Lanka, in that region as well. Never on mailings to Europe. I use a personal label on any international mailings. As I have said before, PAYPAL and Ebay do not care. They refund the buyer almost 100% of the time, no matter what kind of proof you supply. Back in the day, I could usually negotiate with a buyer and we would split the amount. That is no longer done. On ebay I blacklist any seller who claims no receipt. Can't do that elsewhere.

Here while I have not had a problem in 3 or maybe its 4 years, we have to block countries and I have not yet seen an answer to the question whether you can put things back into a book. It does not sound like you can block a buyer, only that you do not have to send the stamps if they are purchased by someone who lives in a blocked country, say India.

Greg

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Dadu

25 Jan 2019
11:20:34am

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Moderator Note: This post has been removed for the following reason (from the Auction/Approval Books Rules (F1):


"Never post complaints about a specific buyer or seller on the Discussion Boards."

Buyers and sellers are expected to conduct their business and work out problems/differences via private messaging or email. The auctioneer is available to mediate if necessary.


(Modified by Moderator on 2019-01-25 15:29:53)

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cardstamp

25 Jan 2019
11:35:24am

Approvals

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Moderator Note: This post has been removed for the following reason (from the Auction/Approval Books Rules (F1):


"Never post complaints about a specific buyer or seller on the Discussion Boards."

Buyers and sellers are expected to conduct their business and work out problems/differences via private messaging or email. The auctioneer is available to mediate if necessary.


(Modified by Moderator on 2019-01-25 15:30:04)

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Brechinite

25 Jan 2019
11:42:26am

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

"I had requested shipping details"




Unfortunately letters/packages that are not sent by "signed for" or "tracked", commonly called registered, CANNOT be traced.

In these cases the seller can only say it was posted on such and such a date. IT IS UNTRACEABLE. So it is totally pointless sending "details" to the buyer.

It is far better to refund the buyer

OR

Should ALL sellers only offer "Tracked" packages with the monstrous increase in postage charges to the buyer?

The buyers would no longer buy.

Even the "tracked" items go "missing", through no fault of the seller or buyer!

Like Greg, once something goes "missing", bought on Ebay, the buyer is blocked. Its a shame one has to do this but sellers must protect themselves. I have heard people discuss this and they have passed on details of ebay sellers who are perceived as "soft touches" because they have supplied a buyer after a package has gone "missing".

Would you throw away possibly tens of dollars worth of stamps each month?

NO!!!

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Soundcrest

25 Jan 2019
11:48:02am

Auctions - Approvals

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

AND by using a customs form for a letter its like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Look! There may be something in here of value. Lets take it. For that you are supposed to pay up front. Right. Will using a customs form cause the country to say "our apologies for the item not arriving. Here, let me reimburse you for it"? I'll let you know when the customs agents in Poland send me the $70 for the book that somehow did not arrive......

Ian, You will only get me once on any site. After that its my own fault if I sell to you again and the site has no buyer blocking ability.

I have also seen tracking info disappear in the system. No delivery, and the number is gone. Gee, I wonder how that could have happened? My fault of course.

Greg

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Brechinite

25 Jan 2019
11:59:32am

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

There are a number of humans that are crooks.

Bad management practices, untrained poorly paid employees treated as serfs are the main causes of poor services.

A couple of years ago one mail centre in Scotland were sacking 4 people a day for pilfering. These were personnel brought in from employment agencies to cover the Christmas rush. ie untrained un-vetted without loyalty to the company.

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Soundcrest

25 Jan 2019
12:40:53pm

Auctions - Approvals

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

When I was in High School in the 1960's I worked the Christmas rush at the PO in the afternoons. It was a political job - you needed connections. It was eye opening to say the least - and not in a good way

Greg

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Jansimon

collector, seller, MT member
25 Jan 2019
04:58:18pm

Approvals

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

just my two cents: sending letters to India is always risky, it does not make any difference whether you include a customs form or not. Most of the time, a customs form is indeed like an open invitation: "steal me". At least that's what I heard from an Indian collector with whom I traded stamps a few times. He urged me to make sure the envelope was as flat as possible, as plain looking as possible (no philatelic franking) and best disguised as a business letter with the stamps hidden between at least one folded sheet of paper. Bulging letters will disappear, it is a sad fact of life when dealing with India.

I have sent letters all over the world and had only had a problem with a few countries. India, Malaysia, Argentina, Greece, Italy. Most other countries are fine, or at least I have never had any issues.

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virgilp

11 Feb 2019
10:33:18pm

re: Scammed or Confiscated ?

Carefully with formerly communist countries from Eastern part of Europe. It is a "habit" there that some letters disappear during the postal process. If the letter appear just a little thicker than a normal letter, it may "find" another destination! It happened to me few times. Many times people send small amount of money to their relatives or friends, as a help. Using a bank or other ways it costs more that what it is enclosed in the letter. This is the main reason that some letters are not delivered. Some postal employees are corrupted and a thick letter tells them that there is something valuable inside. Registered letters are delivered.
Virgil

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