I recently made a sale with someone who requested no tracking and their item hasn’t shown up yet, both of us are getting anxious but it was requested because of customs…
That being said, if you were to ever ship something of moderate value (ex: $75 or greater) and was asked not to include tracking, would you listen to them?
I’m not bashing my buyer, I’m just concerned about my package and am hoping it arrives soon… I’m trying to figure out how to proceed for future orders…
I’ll usually leave it up to the buyer. If they don’t want to pay for trackable shipping then they must family/friends the oaypal funds and assume full responsibility.
Did I understand you right?
I send all my parcel with tracking, no matter how big or small as to me it gives me that little extra piece of mind that it will reach the destination.
If someone were to ask without tracking, i would decline as should any issues come up such as buyer making false claim of the item not delivered. This is the main reason for me why send all items with tracking.
I make sure that the buyer knows it will be sent tracked before they buy from me.
Its a different story if i know the person but for insurance purposes it still prefer tracking, i feel its easier when making claims with postal service
I give my international customers two options up front:
Registered Mail: They pay for tracking.
Regular Post: In the event the package is lost or damaged, I assume no responsibility.
They almost always opt for number two and it almost always works out. You can’t request the seller abandon safety measures to save you a couple bucks and then expect them to eat the lost goods out of pocket when it backfires.
Depends on the value. If its a set or something valuable i track otherwise I don’t worry. I generally have faith that most mail gets to where it’s supposed to (in aus anyway) although i know others have had ongoing bad experiences.
I know some people are super paranoid about it though almost to the point where the global shipping program is the only option they will take. About a year ago i bid on around 4-5 1st edition WOTC sets and got outbid each time by about $10-30. I would have beaten the sale price every time if i didn’t have to take into account the $35 GSP for EACH set. Cost me some great sets and cost the seller around $150 in 5 mins.
In most cases(all cases if International) I will use Tracking, no ifs, ands or buts about it. I have dealt with people making false claims against me twice and that was twice too many times, and I know some of you will have dealt with many…many more than that.
For smaller domestic sales I will offer free or standard postage. Simply because charging 5 dollars postage on a 3 dollar card is ludicrous.
That being said, I kind of agree with you all, in terms of tracking for the future. If I do regular post, they assume full responsibility, which is like my rules on my sales posts on various sites, so there isn’t much difference there.
Tracking, is no guarantee the buyer will not complain about not receiving. I had to settle a dispute in which someone said they did not receive and USPS showed it delivered.
I always always always use tracking. I don’t care how little it’s worth, it’s going first-class tracked or Priority. Got burned too many times on buyers claiming they didn’t receive items or being too impatient. Tracking basically allows me to tell annoying buyers to kindly shut up because your package has been shipped and here’s where it is.
Yes, this sounds like a “red flag” - the buyer asking for no tracking. Unless the buyer is international and tracking alone would cost $20-80 or so. Too many scammers online, and for most items with the USPS, inside USA tracking, it is less then $10. If a seller can prove the item was shipped, and the buyer had asked for no tracking, then it should not be a loss for the seller. Sad thing is ebay will probably give the favor to buyer.
Yup. A few weeks back my mailman scanned and accidentally handed me one of my neighbor’s packages along with mine. I went to give my neighbors their package, but not everyone will do that so if the mailman goofs and leaves the package with the wrong people… not much you can do to prevent the buyer from opening a dispute. Which sucks for the seller, because if you print the labels at home through eBay/PayPal, it’s clear that USPS screwed up when the package doesn’t show up at the buyer’s place (unless the buyer has the wrong address on their PayPal account, which then makes it the buyer’s fault).
This is why I usually record myself from the moment I package the items to the point where I hand off the package to one of the employees at the post office. If the package goes missing, I have proof that I held up my end of the bargain, and USPS failed us. I do this regardless of whether I ship tracked or not, but usually if the cards aren’t worth more than $20, I’ll mail them in a plain white envelope without tracking.
I’ll usually ask for no tracking if it saves me a decent amount
But yeah, you’re right as that usually is a scam. I believe eBay’s way of thinking is that it’s on the seller to make sure the item makes it into the buyer’s hands, so even if it’s lost in transit, they hold the seller accountable. Plus, they ding you for not uploading tracking info so it’s best to always get tracking when selling on eBay for the more valuable stuff you sell.
If it’s taken longer than normal for a package to arrive, I still say don’t bug the seller. He can’t do anything to speed it up and you just stress them out over nothing. Plus you stress yourself out for something beyond your control.
Just forget about it…then enjoy it after it arrives:
Just for the record, I never bugged the seller. I was patient and very happy with the seller. Would have taken the fall if the items hadnt arrived. But luckily they did and they were packaged very well and I love them.
as did your package btw, thanks for that, I’ll try and upload pictures soon
