I mean this workflow is already supported by PayPal currently isn’t it?
You sell it, send the tracking number (via PayPal) and you are protected. You insure it FULLY for the amount because you do not ever trust USPS – btw $200 of insurance costs about $2.25 (even cheaper if you use shipstation or have discount shipping as a seller thru another service)
Buyer receives package – you are good.
USPS loses package – you are good (because you are insured).
I really don’t understand the problem… are we talking about the grey areas?
Package was received but buyer says it wasn’t? USPS protects the seller and he doesn’t need give refund or USPS re-imburses
Damage to packages? You fully insured the package so USPS has to re-imburse
Nothing really outside of postal theft. I have literally dropped packages off at the post office. (three times) and they were never seen again. A couple of weeks ago it happened where tracking went dead after drop off. I let 8 days pass before I went in to file a claim. I ended up threatening them with violence! Thought I’d be arrested, but I wasn’t, and the next day tracking updates appeared. Coincidence? Probably. But, whatever!
I effing HATE USPS when it comes to my neighborhood and the mail carrier who OFTEN delivers our mail to the wrong place. I have 2-3 missing packages per year a while back, now I only use my work address that doesn’t seem to have issues.
Whenever I dispute with USPS on lost insured packages, they do their internal investigations for a few days and then tells me “the postal carrier said he delivered it” and there’s really nothing else to that! I’m pretty sure that guy was stealing stuff
I mean sure USPS is horrible broken bureaucracy but you can also get a Fedex account with discounted shipping and insurance protection. That company is more likely to return your money and demand signature.
Sure when USPS steals… the system breaks. But even in your case, if you use Paypal you can file a dispute with the seller (and even before doing so tell the seller) or work with seller because as the insurer he can return your funds and get his funds back from USPS. It’s not a perfect system because you know government and all. But if insured I think USPS can be safe.
All I am saying in response to this thread about Friends and Family Paypal is to NOT use that to send money but go thru the regular transaction process and work with safeguards and tell the seller to fully insure the package, etc. If done so the whole… “I lost my ass doing ecommerce and getting ripped off” argument falls by the wayside. You make your own safeguards and let them protect the parties. Seller ratings like on Ebay can help because inevitably the seller does many more transactions than a buyer and he needs to safeguard himself.
Reddit uses a system that relies on a buyer/seller confirmation thread. One person says they bought/sold something to a tagged user. The second person must post, “Confirmed” and then a bot awards them both a point.
I have no idea how difficult it would be to implement something like this. Just an idea that has been proven to be effective on a much larger site. (This site has 6.7k registered users with 2.1k active this month. Compare that to r/hardwareswap with 65.7k subscribers)
On a custom order the buyer can refuse delivery and leave you hanging with 40 custom engraved heatsinks and paypal will decide in their favor. All that milling time lost. Something to think about if you do custom or contracted work. The only protection you have is to decline future sales to that person or entity.
I do my best to take it in stride and chalk it up to a learning experience. The key is to not let things like that get you down as business owner or as a customer.
Here is my two cents on Paypal “friends and family” payments. If you use it and are neither you have already entered into a dishonest transaction by screwing the third party, i.e. PayPal. If you in turn get screwed it is merely a continuation of an event you already set in motion by breaking PayPal’s terms.
Lol… What about heatsinks that you say your gonna start on x day 3 different times, and then 19 days pass and you still haven’t started… Then get mad at the customer and say your banned from ordering because you(chaka) failed your commitment timeline three times.
That’s a good reason to have PayPal protection. In case ya know a seller bullshits you. But hey at least you refund things when you know you haven’t started anything in the timelines you provide.
It wasn’t @sorrentino. He did not order 40 heatsinks. But yeah, I tend to ban anyone who throws a fit and gets nasty. Basically their business is better suited for a pure profiteer than a small builder manufacture.
Pure profiteer doesn’t exist in the DIY world. All the stuff we have is archaic for the most part. People have just apparently grown accustomed to shit service it seems. If people expect it why would the seller change their ways?!? Don’t blame them at all. If I had money in the game and this is the status quo why change?
I’m generally the most patient person in the world and out of 3 people I’ve dealt with 2 out of 3 have had horrible customer service, and some have been absolutely awful. Like “I knowingly sold you a faulty product and even admitted to you that I knew it is a faulty product but I won’t just give you your refund back until I get nagged for 30 days” awful… lol
Until this gets bigger and we are working with companies instead of dealing with a guy in a garage (so to speak) the issue will persist. Unless of course you are dealing with the few people that have exceptional customer service.
It’ll be interesting when they get this facial recognition thing down. Probably be able to hold your phone up to someone and see how many stars they have floating over their head. Bunch of angry emojis dancing around
Almost all accidental deaths occur within or very close to home. That’s because that’s where your freinds and family are. They are the ones that hurt you the most. So why the hell would you give them money?
Just strictly deal with total strangers and do so as a business and you’ll be fine.
