Rokslide Investigators - what happened? What to do next?

[cornfedkiller]

Sold a tent and 2 poles to another WKR with good feedback... Had an amazon box at my house that was just the right size so I put the tent and the two poles in it and taped it shut.

UPS picked it up Monday.. It went to Des Moines, then Lenexa, KS, then St. Louis, where the box was handed to the buyer (recorded by his ring camera). The buyer opened the box and the only thing in there was 1 pole and some crumpled up packing paper (which I didn't put in the box). I also noticed from his pictures that there was way more tape on the box than my original tape job..

I have no reason to believe the buyer is lying or doing anything shady. He paid me with F&F.

Below are the pictures the buyer sent me.









Anyone ever have anything like this happen??

 

[Reburn]

Sucks.
Its on you to make it right though.
Looks like a refund is in order.
Yes I have had boxes show up not in the condition they were sent in. I have had packages show up in different boxes then shipped. Luckily I have never had any contents disappear.

 

[Dos XX]

Could it have a lot more tape on it because it came open in transit? Was it insured?

If it came open and stuff came out, they could have stuffed something in there and taped it to save what was left in there.

 

[CorbLand]

Refund the money to the buyer.
Waste your time filing a claim with UPS.
Get frustrated and vow to never use them again.

That’s what I had to do over a package that was supposed to be delivered 4 hours from me.

 

[Skerhunter]

Hopefully it was insured - contact the service you (ups store etc.) used to ship. Every package is insured for $100 automatically, so you can at least get that money back.

Refund the buyer.

Some ups employees have sticky fingers and sometimes they trash packages. Sounds like yours was damaged.

 

[dieselchessy]

Amazon boxes are super thin weak cardboard. They are trying to reduce waste/costs. Not a box for shipping things that matter in my opinion.
Thats also not a box style that could be taped well without going overboard.

I think I agree with the others given whats been presented.

 

[fngTony]

Haven’t had it happen but I take pictures geotagged at post office door to show my packing. Guess I’m going to start writing the contents on the inside of the box now too.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Been there done that. Refunded buyer and hashed it out with ups. Got my money back but based off the hours I invested I made about 1.50 per hour. It’s obvious their play is to make it so difficult you give up on the insurance claim.

 

[rodney482]

Refund

100% opened in transit and the carrier attempted to fix it.

 

[cornfedkiller]

Thanks guys. I had already planned on refunding the buyer, I just didn't know what or how this happened (never had this happen before), and I also wasn't sure what the insurance process was like.

 

[cuerro viejo]

Thanks guys. I had already planned on refunding the buyer, I just didn't know what or how this happened (never had this happen before), and I also wasn't sure what the insurance process was like.

I over tape as in box is indestructible with that clear boxing tape. About the only thing you can do.

 

[ChrisA]

Not sure what sort of protection you get with G&S on this one but F&F is strictly forbidden on the other forum I visit.

 

[Skerhunter]

Thanks guys. I had already planned on refunding the buyer, I just didn't know what or how this happened (never had this happen before), and I also wasn't sure what the insurance process was like.

Insurance works well for damaged or stolen goods, but you need good pictures to document it (pre and post shipment). Without documentation they push back pretty hard. I encourage everyone on here to use it. First $100 is free after that it does get a bit pricey.

I ship high value goods daily at work as individual parcels through ups/fedex. We have about $2k-20k of product in each box. Stuff gets beat up and delayed on a regular basis, but generally zero issues with lost/stolen/damaged goods. BUT I have had a few personal items be stolen over the years- usually when returning to a manufacture or stuff sold online. Typically an empty package is all that arrives, but insurance has paid out every time.

 

[KyleR1985]

Probably an unpopular take:

It’s freaking amazing we can ship outdoor and hunting gear all over the country for the current costs. Relative to what it would take to do something like this 20, 50, or 100 years ago, it’s a marvel. It’s stupid cheap.

And along with cheap, and volume, comes mistakes.

If you only make one transaction and are scammed, or ship one package and it’s lost, it feels like you got screwed and everyone sucks.

Important perspective is the reliability of the used gear selling/shipping system, relative to what it could be. Unfortunately, the expectation should be that 1/10 transactions will be miserable, and you’ll lose 1/10 shipments to the goblins. It’s the cost of doing business. The only way to avoid it is to not take part. And that is no fun.

Think of what you’d need to do to get a 3lb package to a stranger 500 miles away. Think of your options to let a third party manage it. I’ll take the third party, with all its warts.


Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make claims on principle, and to help the system get better for the next one. But we should assume this happens , and is part of the deal.



As for what to do - refund buyer, file claim on principle(or move on).


I take lots of pictures of contents before during and after I’ve packaged. And picture at the location as handed off. Just in case.


And if the amount is more than I’m willing to set on fire, I insure it.

 

[rayporter]

going through this with USPS now.

they are no better than UPS

 

[cornfedkiller]

going through this with USPS now.

they are no better than UPS

Yeah UPS and USPS were basically the exact same price, but I've had a bunch of delays with USPS recently and I didn't want to do that to the buyer so I chose UPS.

I talked to my UPS driver this morning and he was off that day but was going to check with the driver and see if he remembers anything, but I'm guessing nothing will come of it.

 

[Weldor]

Agree with most of the above. But if it opened in transit where did the contents go would still be in the truck or container for aircraft. So why put paper and tape it back up? It's a enigma I guess.

 

[Jskaanland]

Not sure what sort of protection you get with G&S on this one but F&F is strictly forbidden on the other forum I visit.

We have in the classified rules not to use F&F, unless you're friends and family. The protection for G&S is on the buyers side. So in this case if @cornfedkiller wasn't a stand up guy, he'd tell the buyer sucks to be you and the buyer wouldn't have any recourse(or it wouldn't be easy). Since it seems @cornfedkiller is a friend to this guy, he's giving him a refund and will deal with the shipper on his own.

Just a side note, I opened this thread thinking it was going to be about the username from the Key and Peele skit. I'm more than pleasantly surprised about the content and outcome so far!

 

[BRTreedogs]

Well Amazon boxes are thinner and weaker.

It also looks like you cut down the box to make it shorter?

And didn’t make fold over inner tabs.

Also looks like you maybe should of used more tape.

I bet a guy line or something poked out and got caught on a belt and it shredded the tent.

 

[BRTreedogs]

Not sure what sort of protection you get with G&S on this one but F&F is strictly forbidden on the other forum I visit.

And also we sell a lot of things on here that PayPal will lock both accounts for if found out on top of no protection anyways.

Not applicable to this case.

But PayPal will freeze both accounts if they find out it was a firearm part in any way. And I’m not talking just a serialized receiver.

I’m talking anything that is, could, was or may be attached. Scopes etc