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HistoryWes · 10-05-2010, 01:38 PM

I'll tell you the moral of this story right up front. Whenever you ship anything of value by US Mail, use delivery confirmation.

I sold my Sony PRS-505 along with all the accessories I had collected (3 cases, charger, SD card, etc) on eBay. After I received payment, I shipped it and did not use delivery confirmation. Yes, I know-- stupid. I wish I could go back and change that.

The purchaser claims not to have received it. I have no way of knowing, but I suspect the package was taken from their doorstep as they live in an apartment. It's possible a priority package fell into a mail black hole, but I doubt it. I told them to check their post office. I checked mine. I tried to get any information I could from the buyer (like whether the "confirmed address" was correct), but they refused to respond to my emails. I filed a report with the Postmaster. Before I had even received a reply from USPS, they filed a claim with eBay and eBay refunded their money. I was therefore forced to pay eBay (and I still had to pay the eBay fees in full), who put a hold on funds from my bank via paypal.

I had (and have, I'm going to frame it, I think) a receipt showing that I shipped the package; just not a delivery confirmation. I don't really mind losing the money. What really burns me is that somebody is out their using my beloved PRS. I could have just given it away. I personally am not inclined to use eBay again, because of their handling of the whole thing, but that is not the moral of the story. As I said, the moral is... use delivery confirmation.

10-05-2010, 01:38 PM	#1
HistoryWes Teacher/Novelist Posts: 632 Karma: 2274466 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Nevada Device: Nook STR, iPad	The sad story of my Sony Reader. I'll tell you the moral of this story right up front. Whenever you ship anything of value by US Mail, use delivery confirmation. I sold my Sony PRS-505 along with all the accessories I had collected (3 cases, charger, SD card, etc) on eBay. After I received payment, I shipped it and did not use delivery confirmation. Yes, I know-- stupid. I wish I could go back and change that. The purchaser claims not to have received it. I have no way of knowing, but I suspect the package was taken from their doorstep as they live in an apartment. It's possible a priority package fell into a mail black hole, but I doubt it. I told them to check their post office. I checked mine. I tried to get any information I could from the buyer (like whether the "confirmed address" was correct), but they refused to respond to my emails. I filed a report with the Postmaster. Before I had even received a reply from USPS, they filed a claim with eBay and eBay refunded their money. I was therefore forced to pay eBay (and I still had to pay the eBay fees in full), who put a hold on funds from my bank via paypal. I had (and have, I'm going to frame it, I think) a receipt showing that I shipped the package; just not a delivery confirmation. I don't really mind losing the money. What really burns me is that somebody is out their using my beloved PRS. I could have just given it away. I personally am not inclined to use eBay again, because of their handling of the whole thing, but that is not the moral of the story. As I said, the moral is... use delivery confirmation.