Oh No!! One of my ebay items arrived damaged! and it was a gift!

[dlnw]

I don't want to give you something to worry about, but I had shipped an item won in one of my eBay auction via UPS. I had it 'encased' in styrofoam. I filed a claim and they denied it. They said I needed 2 - 3" of cushioning material on all sides and I had less than 2 inches. It was a $115 item. I even paid the extra insurance (because the item was worth over $100). Needless to say, I was ticked off!

[Homemommie]

I don't want to give you something to worry about, but I had shipped an item won in one of my eBay auction via UPS. I had it 'encased' in styrofoam. I filed a claim and they denied it. They said I needed 2 - 3" of cushioning material on all sides and I had less than 2 inches. It was a $115 item. I even paid the extra insurance (because the item was worth over $100). Needless to say, I was ticked off!

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">[img]rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]eek.gif[/img] [img]confused.gif[/img] NOT what I wanted to hear! UGH. I dont think I had that much *cushioning* around mine either as I didnt want shifting room. Goodness I hope this works out!!

So what do you do if UPS denies the claim?? Oh I sooo hate this!

[Aunt Cornelia]

Yeah, I'm not too keen on using UPS for shipping right now. For the first time, I put it on my auctions as an option (heavy board games). Well, both times, they charged me more than what the ebay ups shipping calculator charged my customer! About $1.50 more on each package. Doesn't sound like a lot, but after figuring in my ebay and paypal fees, I only made about $4 on this one lot of 7 games! [img]eek.gif[/img]

So the UPS gal told me that it was because of a fuel surcharge that changes every month, but she guessed that they forgot to update the ups ebay calculator. ???

Also, on the insurance thing...I did have to use USPS insurance once...years ago, on a wedding present we received! (wow, that was pretty long ago...lol!). It was a frame and although I had to give it to the P.O. (so sad...it was a set of matching his and her frames with pink roses... [img]graemlins/cry.gif[/img] ), the P.O. did pay the full amount of the insurance for it. To be honest, I wanted to keep it and glue it together, but my mom insisted that since my friend (who had moved across the country) had paid for the insurance, we ought to use it.

So, I'm sticking to Priority Mail from now on. I've had the best luck with it so far.

[dlnw]

They gave me back my damaged item and I had to refund the buyer's money. They didn't even refund my shipping costs!

[dlnw]

I've had to file an insurance claim with USPS, too, and they didn't give me any hassle about the amount of cushioning material I used. I prefer Priority Mail, too. It is usually cheaper, though no insurance is included like with UPS. But it gets there faster because USPS delivers on Saturday with no extra fee.

[Homemommie]

I've had to file claims via usps before too and they were GREAT! I really dont like this "INS is included BUT we still might not pay up" UGH

Oh and YES all 3 packages that I mailed via ups charged me $2 extra than what the shipping calculator told me it would be so I had to eat that added expense.

I think after this I will stick with priority after this.

[OSusannah]

Last Christmas, when I first started selling on eBay, I lost too much money on UPS shipping because of the calculator and not knowing the importance of measuring. My UPS store, the friendly one that I use now, explained to me the size/weight relationship that UPS uses to calculate shipping and told me that theirs may be a dollar or two off from the calculator, depends on the store. Now I measure my boxes and try to keep them within the less espensive size range.

Watch which UPS store you use. The one I used to use [img]graemlins/grrr.gif[/img] lost my business when they wouldn't or couldn't explain why they were charging $5 more to ship a box than the calculator had come up with. I went to a different UPS store, they explained it was 1" too big and the lady cut down and re-taped the box for me. Guess where I go now.

[mandasmom]

I didn't want to post yesterday and worry you-I hoped maybe UPS had gotten better-but I also had a problem with an insurance claim with them on a large item.

I sold a Felicity clothes press off ebay several years ago and sent it UPS because I thought it would be safer for such a large item than the USPS. I purchased the box from them, and the packing. I used the heavy shipping tape with string in it and wrapped it seven ways from Sunday-used almost the whole roll of tape. I had already wrapped the press in bubble wrap. I also took out insurance and had them mark the box fragile. It arrived in pieces. When I filed the claim, they said that although I had the required amount of packing around the item, I had used the small bubble wrap and that I should have used the big bubble wrap. Trust me, in the shape that the press was in, the size of bubble wrap would not have made a difference! They refused to pay the claim, and I had to refund the money to the buyer and eat 275.00. I surfed the web, looking for help, and found lots of sites where other people described the same thing-their claims were denied because UPS said that something in the way they packed the item was incorrect. The only claims they pay are the ones where they pack it for you for a fee. I would be willing to bet that those packages are marked special somehow to make sure that they receive special handling. I was talking to a co-worker about my problem and she said that she used to work in an office across the street from a UPS trucking station and she and her co-workers were appalled, watching "brown" throw the boxes off the back of the truck onto the concrete. No wonder stuff breaks-that is not what I would call "usual care". Needless to say, for big, expensive items I send fedex now, and so far haven't had any problems. I think their rates are even cheaper than UPS. It's more of a drive for me to go to their mailing center, but it's worth it. I also had to file one small claim with USPS once, and had no problems at all. Never UPS again-I wish someone like 60 Minutes would do an expose on them. It's a pretty good racket for them to take in all those insurance fees and then never pay claims.

Homemommie, I hope it goes better for you. I just wanted to warn the board that Brown isn't has friendly as his commercials make him out to be. Good luck.

[carolinapooh]

Mandasmom - email/write 60 minutes and Good Morning America and all that stuff and I'll bet they'll do it.

I've been fortunate in that I've never had a problem with UPS, but once I had Sears give me a hard time with a promised delivery of a treadmill. They called me up and tried to tell me that what I was told wasn't so.

I spent two hours on the phone with the head office in Chicago, and then when the store manager here STILL insisted it was impossible, I whipped out the name and number of the Troubleshooter reporter on my local ABC affiliate, and said that I was sure she'd love to hear about Sears' suprising sudden lack of customer service firsthand.

I not only had my appliance delivered at the promised date and time, I was mailed a nice letter and a twenty dollar gift card.

These are interesting stories; I'm always the first to use UPS instead of the post office. I will now look more carefully at FedEx!

[sineadh]

I had the exact same problem a couple of years ago mailing a Felicity Clothing Press - UPS shattered it - it was in pieces.

They were trying to deny it but I kept pressing and pressing and they finally paid up. Don't take no for an answer if they try and get out of it. If you are confident in your packing - stick to your guns. It worked for me.

Good Luck - that is the part of Ebay selling that I hate.