Screw half.com

[EricKei]

Unlikely now, but might you still have the receipt from the Post Office from when you mailed it? That should suffice for proof of mailing, as they won't give you that until the transaction is 100% complete.

Another downside to MediaMail is that, if the PO *DOES* lose/destroy/loot your package, there's not a damn thing you can do about it. A friend of mine lost two boxes of stuff he was mailing that way (from himself in one area (island area) to himself in another (mainland area), as no other shipping method offered prices that were even close to affordable for him. We spent months talking with the local PO, the origin PO, the dead letter office, and the big center in Atlanta, all to no avail. Apparently, they somehow managed to destroy at least one (reasonably heavy-duty) thick plastic shipping container and lose all evidence of either source or destination address >_>

[Dreamstalker]

I´m not sure how I managed to do this, but I´ve been able to get delivery confirmation on Media Mail items before...

[Mystic]

If nothing else, consider it a lesson on selling anything online. Whenever I sell anything, I always put signature confirmation to receive on it and the buyer pays for it. I don't give them an option on the shipping for this exact reason because it saves my butt in the long run. I also add mandatory insurance to everything.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I have to offer media mail shipping, which I don't on eBay, but half.com allows me to list books for an unlimited amount of time until they sell.

And under the circumstances I can understand what Wagegoth is talking about. Half.com does require you to offer media mail as a option at a minimum for book shipping. And this leaves you with your arse hanging out and having no way to track a package.

Simply put, when I got screwed selling something in a circumstance similar to what WG went through, I swore that I'd never use Half.com again until such time as they re-instate a method in which the seller can be protected from table-scrap pilfering grabasses such as the ones that nailed WG and myself.

Since then I ship NOTHING unless it has at the very least return receipt confirmation. I've lost sales to people begging and pleading that the shipping costs were too high and asking that I use media mail. I tell them that these are the only shipping options and if they do not like it, then they can back out of the transaction and I'll go with the next highest bidder instead.

[Teefies2]

Media Mail CAN be shipped with tracking. Since you're selling on Half.com, open a PayPal account (it's free to open and you can fund it directly from your bank account) and do all of your shipping labels there. Delivery confirmation & tracking is included (it costs $0.19 as opposed to $0.70 if you get DC at the Post Office per package). I sell a lot through Half.com, as well as Ebay, and have never lost a case when I had tracking info to prove to the web site that the item was delivered to the buyer. Don't hold it against the web site that your buyer was a jerk.

[Peppergirl]

So why are you upset with half.com? I can understand being mad at the sucky buyer for ripping you off or even being mad at yourself for shipping via an untrackable means but I don't see any reason to be mad at a web site.

First of all, the OP pretty clearly explained why she is upset with half.com AND the customer.

Secondly, the judgmental tone in your post was uncalled for, and would have been removed if the OP hadn't already come back to explain her position.

[Aethian]

On USPS.com you can choose media mail as a option, pay for it through the site and you have the option of free delivery conformation. You can even upgrade it to insured mail but I'm not sure if that means it needs to go first class if through the site. But I have delivered media mail with insured labels on them.

[EricKei]

I feel your pain, OP. Few things suck more than getting screwed by a buyer, then getting zero help from the intermediary (half.com) that's supposed to be protecting you >_<

Aethian is right - MM can indeed be insured, and others of any value *should be* - My friend and I learned this the hard way, as we failed to do so ourselves... d'OH Among the stuff that was lost (when mailed via other means) were an aikido Gi and a flute.

Just keep in mind that Insured has certain conditions, one of which is proof of value of the contents. A photocopy of the receipt from half/ebay/whatever will do. They also told us (after the fact) that we "should have" also included the sending address, return address, AND a list of all contents *within the box*, in addition to same on an external label. I wish the tellers at our PO had mentioned this (they're usually really good; maybe they just don't encounter destroyed packages covered in FRAGILE stickers very often, lol)

[morgana]

Thanks for this discussion, guys. I'm about to start selling online, and this information will be very helpful.

[Sapphire Silk]

I´m not sure how I managed to do this, but I´ve been able to get delivery confirmation on Media Mail items before...

I didn't think media mail could be either tracked or insured. However, I just checked the USPS website, and MM can be both insured and sent with delivery confirmation.

While this doesn't help Wagegoth with her original problem (a sucky buyer) it DOES mean she can protect herself in the future. And I agree with her rationale for being angry at half.com: one of the thing that turned me off eBay was the changes to the feedback system that favor the buyer at the expense of the seller.

Buying insurance, btw, is a good idea especially if the item you buy is fragile. I learned that the hard way a few years ago: bought an antique glass syringe and didn't bother with insurance since it only cost me $5. The seller shipped it in the metal tube it came with and didn't bother to wrap it in newspaper or anything to protect the glass. So it arrived shattered. The seller's reaction was, "Should have bought insurance."

Strictly speaking, he was right: I should have.

Morally, he was wrong in that he didn't use common sense in shipping glass and refused to compensate me for the loss.

Fortunately, we both got to air our sides on the matter in feedback.

[EricKei]

He didn't pack *glass* properly? o_O My argument would have been, "Your honor, the Seller is a f*ing moron".

==================

One thing to keep in mind: Delivery Confirmation is NOT tracking. The one and only place where a Scan of the sticker is required is when it gets delivered. They usually scan it upon first departure, as well, but any other scans = bonuses. Note, also that DC just means "we left it where you told us", no guarantee of responsible taker, or of notifying the recipient at all (I've quite often had packages delivered which were just sitting there on my front stoop, in plain sight...which were delivered while I was there. No knock, no ring, no nothing -- and the local PO says the delivery peeps are supposed to at least do one of those two.

[Sapphire Silk]

Taking the SOB to court over $5 would have cost me more in time than it would have been worth, even for the principle.

But, I was pretty angry about it at the time.

[BlaqueKatt]

Aethian is right - MM can indeed be insured - My friend and I learned this the hard way, as we failed to do so ourselves... d'OH Among the stuff that was lost were an aikido Gi and a flute.

your claim would have been rejected-media mail is ONLY for books, sound recordings, recorded video tapes, printed music, and recorded computer-readable media- a Gi and a flute are not, and you quite possibly would've owed them money and could have been criminally charged depending on how the postmaster was feeling. Reason-you were defrauding the post office, which is the Feds-they aren't real keen on that. It's quite possible it wasn't lost, but confiscated.

[RetailSlave]

I have sold both thru half.com and Amazon Marketplace, and much prefer Amazon. Wider variety of what you can sell, no fees until you sell the item, and generous shipping allowance. You have to renew your listings every 90 days but they send ou an email when it is within a few days of expiring so you can renew the listing. Seems like more people check the listings there...the last two items I sold were purchased within a half hour of being listed! Virtually anything with a UPC or ISBN number can be listed.
I use them to both buy and sell textbooks...they cost me less to buy that from the college bookstore (who claims to be non-profit...yeah right!) and you can sell them for more than the bookstore is willing to buy them back for.

[Andara Bledin]

Aethian is right - MM can indeed be insured - My friend and I learned this the hard way, as we failed to do so ourselves... d'OH Among the stuff that was lost were an aikido Gi and a flute.

I'm curious as to why a gi and a flute were being shipped via media mail.

The seller's reaction was, "Should have bought insurance."

Strictly speaking, he was right: I should have.

Morally, he was wrong in that he didn't use common sense in shipping glass and refused to compensate me for the loss.

Legally speaking, he was still wrong.

In matters of mail order (which the FTC states is anything ordered online), it is the responsibility of the seller to ensure that the item arrives, intact, at the buyer's provided address.

In cases such as this, it's a good idea to inspect such items as soon as they arrive, and either make a statement upon receipt of damage received in transit, or refuse the delivery altogether based on the damage thereof. Which you do is based on the item and the sale format, as well as the relationship with the seller.

^-.-^