My understanding is that if the buyer submits a dispute to PayPal claiming non receipt of a purchased item and the seller can’t produce a tracking number that shows delivery of the item….then PayPal will refund your money from the sellers account. So that would seem to give the seller the motivation to consider insurance …not the buyer.
It's always the seller's responsibility to buy insurance, since it is always her responsibility to either deliver the goods as described or give all the buyer's money back. If she wants to protect herself against any loss with insurance, she should buy some. It can come out of the cost the buyer pays, but buyers can't buy shipping insurance.
Transportation hubs... Sometimes it's cheaper to send EVERYTHING to a hub, and then ship out from there.
On a side note, I don't buy vinyl "shipped to me" during hot weather. I focus on late fall and winter. Last thing I want is a $40 record sitting at an angle in a mail truck in the hot sun in Arizona while the driver has lunch.
One thing I have noticed buying and selling using media is it appears there are no longer scans as the disc makes its way to the buyer until the very end of the journey. I usually make sure a disc is scanned in when I mail, but there no longer seems to any departing the place where mailed scan or passing through regional sorting centers scans until the one just before it is delivered. I recently ordered a few cds and the seller must have just dropped them in a mailbox. The tracking just showed label created and post office awaiting item. But then 10 days later they were scanned in at the nearby regional center. For the longest time I had to wonder if they were actually mailed. My media annoyance story: I mailed a disc at the post office in Orlando to go to Ohio. It showed scanned in on May 18, then nothing until June 2, when it was scanned in at a regional center in Puerto Rico!!!! It moved around Puerto for a while and then showed up in Columbus, Ohio. Finally made it to where it was supposed to go on June 14. Our mail system leaves much to be desired, but I assume a good one would be so expensive we couldn’t afford to mail anything.
True, media has lack of scans the last couple months til the end. Strange. I get 25 pounds sent every month from Denver to New Hampshire in one week media...for years. NJ transfer center is a joke.
All packaged shipped via media mail includes tracking. If the seller shipped it media mail, the tracking number will be on the receipt. My understanding is insurance only covers damage, not loss. I might be wrong, but I do believe that is how it works. I package all books I send so they can withstand a drop from at least 10 feet, likely much more. I only add insurance on the most expensive books I've sold. Since starting selling books on line in 2012, I've never had a problem with loss or damage. Excellent packaging is key.
When I do buy insurance I get it from u-pic.com, and am insured for damage and/or loss of any package. I can also include the cost of outgoing shipping in the insured amount. I switched to these for regular books up to retail $100 or so. I still have some boxes from before I started using them for items where they don't suit, but those are few and far between. They're bulletproof, as long as you staple the two edges that fold over the books(s) together.
Yes, now I remember. That is, only while in the hands of USPS: https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-is-Insurance Insurance provides coverage of up to $5,000 for merchandise that is lost, damaged, or with missing contents in the custody of the United States Postal Service®. (Registered Mail® with insurance has a liability limit of $50,000.) Customers can purchase insurance at a local Post Office™ or online. Online labels also include USPS Tracking® service, so customers can check their delivery status online.
I usually have great luck with media mail. But things went haywire with a package ordered from a record label in LA. According to tracking info, it was received by the PO down there on 6/2. It was going to Oakland, CA. So realistically should've showed up within a few days or so. By 6/15 it still hadn't arrived, so I contacted the label, and they registered a missing mail notice to the local PO. On 6/18, it was located. In Dallas, TX! Just now, I checked tracking and it arrived today in Kent, WA! So a package that was supposed to go from SoCal to NoCal was routed from TX to WA. Can't wait to see where it ends up next.
USPS lost my dang Knitters record. Ordered it from Deep Discount when it was in the blowout bin, it made it as far as Washington, DC, then just... disappeared. Put in a missing mail request three weeks ago and nothing. Not a peep.
Media's been pretty slow lately and without reliable scans and updates. Seems most are taking well over a week and closer to two weeks on average. Even a shipment where the destination was less than half an hour away took nearly two weeks after multiple re-routes. And a lot of shipments I've sent will go without any updates after the initial scan at the post office. A few were even delivered without any updates or receipt that the item had been delivered since there were no new scans. I had one like that where the buyer was quick to receive it but several weeks later the tracking still says it's "in transit."
A lot of people really seem on edge of late. Coping with all occurrences over these last couple of years really seems to be taking a toll on some is the only thing I can think of.
I sent out 14 packages Media Mail on Monday, going all over the country. Most were delivered Wednesday, a couple on Thursday. The one that got stuck and is out for delivery today (Saturday) is the one where I decided to throw the guy a bone and paid an extra 50 cents out of my pocket to send First Class. You figure it out, I can't.
On a similar note, I've had more problems sending CD's to the US these last 3 years using tracking than sending standard uninsured delivery as far as the time is concerned. Tracking = between 17 and 40 days delivery. Non-tracked = 10 days. Through more hands = takes more time is all I can figure.
A lot of media is chucked in priority/first class bins. The slows are the usual transfer points: NJ/Northern Cal/Miami/Chicago. Chimp factor.
Got one that I mailed out at the end of June that has taken a long celebration for the 4th of July, it hasn't updated since then. July 4, 2022 In Transit, Arriving Late Your package will arrive later than expected, but is still on its way. It is currently in transit to the next facility. June 30, 2022, 10:40 pm Departed USPS Regional Origin Facility CHATTANOOGA TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER June 30, 2022, 10:12 pm Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility CHATTANOOGA TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER June 30, 2022, 6:59 pm Departed Post Office HIXSON, TN 37343 June 30, 2022, 1:00 pm USPS in possession of item HIXSON, TN 37343
And I have one I ordered from importcds that went from being out to delivery to me on the 25th to Lancaster, PA and then no updates since July 5th. Notice the # of times it comes to my local post office in Hixson, TN before getting rerouted everywhere else. July 5, 2022 In Transit to Next Facility July 1, 2022, 12:07 pm Departed USPS Regional Facility LANCASTER PA DISTRIBUTION CENTER June 30, 2022, 7:26 pm Arrived at USPS Regional Facility LANCASTER PA DISTRIBUTION CENTER June 28, 2022, 4:02 am Arrived at USPS Facility HIXSON, TN 37343 June 28, 2022, 3:43 am Departed USPS Facility CHATTANOOGA, TN 37416 June 28, 2022, 3:39 am Arrived at USPS Facility CHATTANOOGA, TN 37416 June 28, 2022, 3:32 am Departed USPS Regional Facility CHATTANOOGA TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER June 27, 2022, 7:26 pm Arrived at USPS Regional Destination Facility CHATTANOOGA TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER June 27, 2022, 4:12 am Arrived at Post Office HIXSON, TN 37343 June 27, 2022, 4:02 am Arrived at USPS Facility HIXSON, TN 37343 June 27, 2022, 3:49 am Departed USPS Facility CHATTANOOGA, TN 37416 June 27, 2022, 3:46 am Arrived at USPS Facility CHATTANOOGA, TN 37416 June 27, 2022, 3:32 am Departed USPS Regional Facility CHATTANOOGA TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER June 26, 2022, 7:50 am Arrived at USPS Regional Facility CHATTANOOGA TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER June 26, 2022, 4:18 am Departed USPS Regional Facility NASHVILLE TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER ANNEX June 25, 2022, 9:47 pm Arrived at USPS Regional Destination Facility NASHVILLE TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER ANNEX June 25, 2022, 6:10 am Out for Delivery HIXSON, TN 37343 June 25, 2022, 2:56 am Arrived at USPS Facility HIXSON, TN 37343 June 25, 2022, 2:44 am Departed USPS Facility CHATTANOOGA, TN 37416 June 25, 2022, 2:38 am Arrived at USPS Facility CHATTANOOGA, TN 37416 June 25, 2022, 2:21 am Departed USPS Regional Facility CHATTANOOGA TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER June 23, 2022, 1:02 pm Arrived at USPS Regional Facility CHATTANOOGA TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER June 23, 2022, 9:21 am Departed USPS Regional Facility NASHVILLE TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER ANNEX June 23, 2022, 9:17 am Arrived at USPS Regional Facility NASHVILLE TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER ANNEX June 23, 2022, 9:00 am Departed USPS Regional Facility NASHVILLE TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER June 23, 2022, 7:45 am Arrived at USPS Regional Facility NASHVILLE TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER June 23, 2022, 6:07 am In Transit to Next Facility June 23, 2022, 4:58 am Departed USPS Regional Facility LOUISVILLE KY DISTRIBUTION CENTER June 22, 2022, 8:21 pm Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility LOUISVILLE KY DISTRIBUTION CENTER June 22, 2022, 7:06 pm Accepted at USPS Regional Origin Facility LOUISVILLE KY DISTRIBUTION CENTER
After 12 years of receiving records through the mail ( bought them the old fashioned way from 1964 - 2010 ), in 3 different Tennessee cities, I have to praise where I live now. If a record arrives at my local PO after they've already hit their routes, another carrier brings said shipment in a second vehicle, no matter how late. Received my shipment last night at 7:45 pm !!! Today a shipment arrived at my PO at nearly noon. It's out for delivery right now. In the other 2 cities, they'd wait until the next day to deliver.