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USPS charged buyer extra $8.12 claiming insuffcient postage yet accepted package with ship label. is this a USPS claim? who pays dif?

(1 of 5)
USPS charged buyer extra $8.12 claiming insuffcient postage yet accepted package with ship label. is this a USPS claim? who pays dif?
Dec 28, 2012 09:13 AM

USPS accepted my package with ebay label but charged buyer $8.12 insufficient postage. before shipping, we [postmaster and i] checked with larger post office as i had accidently put item in a flat rate box. USPS had postmaster mark out all the flat rate info and accepted the box as is. is this a USPS claim? do i owe the buyer the extra postage? even with the flat rate cost, the box still should not have needed that much more postage. buyer accused me of sending it postage due and was rude and opened claim before i even had proof of his claim. i finally received proof of the error, but not my error but the USPS. what to do?

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(1 of 5)
USPS charged buyer extra $8.12 claiming insuffcient postage yet accepted package with ship label. is this a USPS claim? who pays dif?
Dec 28, 2012 09:13 AM

USPS accepted my package with ebay label but charged buyer $8.12 insufficient postage. before shipping, we [postmaster and i] checked with larger post office as i had accidently put item in a flat rate box. USPS had postmaster mark out all the flat rate info and accepted the box as is. is this a USPS claim? do i owe the buyer the extra postage? even with the flat rate cost, the box still should not have needed that much more postage. buyer accused me of sending it postage due and was rude and opened claim before i even had proof of his claim. i finally received proof of the error, but not my error but the USPS. what to do?

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(2 of 5)
Re: USPS charged buyer extra $8.12 claiming insuffcient postage yet accepted package with ship label. is this a USPS claim? who pays dif?
Dec 28, 2012 09:17 AM

Hi tntbeltz2012

 

You need to reimburse the buyer.

 

Just because one department accepted it, doesn't mean the postage wasn't insufficient when you sent it out.


What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

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(3 of 5)
Re: USPS charged buyer extra $8.12 claiming insuffcient postage yet accepted package with ship label. is this a USPS claim? who pays dif?
Dec 28, 2012 09:22 AM

You owe the buyer the difference, as this was your mistake. If it was a large flat rate box, they cost about $15.75 , so you could very well have a difference of $8, depending on how much postage you paid at first.

 

Just because your PO accepted it, didn't make it right, and you should have taken the package back and put it in the correct box, with correct postage, before sending out to your buyer.

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(4 of 5)
Re: USPS charged buyer extra $8.12 claiming insuffcient postage yet accepted package with ship label. is this a USPS claim? who pays dif?
Dec 28, 2012 09:24 AM

Proof of his claim: Shipped in Flat Rate box without Flat Rate postage. That's all the proof you need. Crossing out doesn't change this to a regular Priority box. 

Your postmaster was wrong. There is no USPS claim, of course.

Reimburse your buyer ASAP. Apologize for YOUR mistake and hopefully this help reduce the fallout.

(5 of 5)
Re: USPS charged buyer extra $8.12 claiming insuffcient postage yet accepted package with ship label. is this a USPS claim? who pays dif?
Dec 28, 2012 10:08 AM

You can't put regular postage on a flat rate box, even if you cross out "flat rate" on the box. I'm appalled that your postmaster didn't know this and that he got bad advice, though it probably came from the same source that trained him badly in the first place.

 

So you do owe the buyer the difference between the postage paid and the postage for a flat rate box.  

 

If the PO is asking for more than that, well IMHO you might as well just refund the whole $8.12 rather than spending more time and energy on this.  They might be charging Postage Due based on the retail cost of the flat rate box.

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