Postage Horror Stories

General
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In light of what happened to me yesterday I am calling on anyone who has a post horror story. Items going missing? Damaged? Suspicious buyers? Let’s hear it.

My story. Well as some might know I’m trying to make a psa 9 base set. I found a nice little machamp off eBay and was excited to see it finally arrived. The face of the package had been a bit damaged but I thought nothing of it.This is how I received the card. This is no fault of the sellers. What the hell is auspost doing?!? Now I’m thinking about all of the items I have in the post atm. Not again! Oh the humanity!!

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I’ve got a fairly funny story, I’d bought $800 in booster boxes from the US and they were getting shipped to me via the global shipping program. I watched the parcel via tracking on it’s way here and when it arrived the box was tiny, I’m like what the hell have I been scammed by this seller? Open the box and it’s got sealed vintage cher doll clothes from the 1970s in it, I’m thinking what’s going on? I guess they made a mistake and sent me the wrong thing?

I contacted the seller and was like umm I think you made a mistake you sent me doll clothes … He was like nope I sent you the boxes, we compared the tracking numbers and they were both the same so it looked like there was a problem at the global shipping center. So the seller called eBay and it turns out they did screw up at the shipping center and put my label on someone else’s package. Because they couldn’t find the booster boxes meaning both myself and the seller were screwed eBay told him to refund me and they refunded him as compensation. I was happy for the refund but a little salty as the boxes had gone up since I’d bought them (it was a pre-sale) and I wasn’t willing to buy in at the now current price.

Anyway a week after everything was resolved a package arrived on my doorstep … it was the booster boxes :grin:

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Machamp? 1st Ed?
What am I missing?

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Recently I received a gold star Pikachu I bought off of eBay in only a single sleeve and a bubble mailer. Like, that was it. It was just slipped into the bubble mailer with nothing hard or firm like a toploader or cardboard to protect it. Thankfully it did not get damaged… but man I was ready to be very upset when opening that package. Little buddy still graded a PSA 9.

:blush:

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I’m legit amazed it didn’t arrive bent, that was lucky!

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You’re not going insane there are two cards in the same sleeve haha

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Okay…lol

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My postage story is kind of sad…

Bought a card from a guy on eBay for ~$200. Very little info in the listing but the card looked like it was in great shape. Asked him for additional pictures that he was able to provide, so it looked like he had the card on hand. No selling history, but some positive buying feedback.

Just to be safe, I sent him a message with some ideas about how to ship the card (e.g, use a penny sleeve and top loader, sandwich the card between two pieces of cardboard, etc. etc.) and I included a link to PSA’s youtube video where they suggest the same things.

His message back to me: “am I sending it directly to you or that pea (sic) company??” (pea = PSA)

Over the next few messages, I’m explaining to him things like when he gets the money in his paypal, why it says the money is pending, how long it’ll take for it to be available yadda yadda yadda.

Then he asks, “do I have to take it to iOS or just put it in the mail?” (eventually I caught on that he meant UPS, not iOS)

So I write back a lengthy message about how he’ll need to pay for postage before he puts in the mail, how it’d be nice if he’d get a tracking number if possible, and that he’ll need to put my address and his address on the package so the post office knows where to send it. Then I told him that if he takes the package to the post office they’ll be able to walk him through the rest.

He sends me a message that he went to the post office and put the tracking number on eBay. Yay! The card’s on its way! Well…

Fast forward two days and the tracking number shows that it’s been delivered. Uh, just checked the mail, nothing’s there, and no way it got all the way across the country that fast. The tracking page says it’s been delivered to the same city that the guy lives in. Now I’m thinking - this guy really thinks he’s going to be able to scam me by sending the item to a friend/family member?

So I put on my serious business face and type up a message to the guy asking him what’s the deal. This guy’s so earnest and willing to communicate that it’s hard to think that he would do something so dastardly. He sends me a picture of his receipt from the post office that shows all the information. I point out to him that the destination on the receipt is the same city he lives in. He says he put the shipping addresses on the package like I told him to.

Did this guy… seriously… mail the package to himself?

I ask him to go check his mail. He’s like, oh yeah, it was in there! I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my life. But goddamn. He sent me a picture of the package and it turns out he put the addresses in the wrong spot.

Anyway, I put together another guide with some pictures about where the shipping addresses should be located, he puts them on right this time (I asked him to send me a pic so I could verify), and heads out the next morning and sends them to me correctly this time.

Honestly, a bit sad - he is an absolutely great human being, just a bit slow and lacking some essential exposure to life. I hope I did right by that man.

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Now imagine if that was any other base 1st holo.

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How was it packaged, bubble wrap cardboard, via letter etc? @spinch

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Hahahaha that is absolute gold. At least you were nice enough to explain all of these things to him. Someone had to. The world’s full of interesting people. I guess he had just never done it before. Hopefully next time he was able to get the address right lol. I can just imagine him getting your message that he sent it to himself and then went to go check his mailbox haha. Now he didn’t send you a 1st edition charizard for the $200 did he?

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It was in one of those postage parcels. So there’s bubble wrap on the inside. We both were like damn we’ve never seen this type of damage before. Guess it pays to use cardboard or a mailing box.

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No insurance either so it would have been a very expensive exercise. That’s Australia post for ya!

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Sending a PSA card in a bubble mailer like that is incredibly irresponsible. I used to do it a few years ago (I use exactly the same bubble mailer) until I realise I was just asking for trouble and damage if I kept doing it.

They are great for raw cards in top loaders, but otherwise PSA cards need to stay out of them.

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Yeah I agree with @milhouse shipping that way is the sellers fault not Auspost, I send PSA between two pieces of cardboard. If there is no cardboard the PSA case takes the brunt of force.

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Recently had my psa 10 japanese base venusaur arrive. Get the package from the post office to find the top section of the package covered in blue pen ink. Like there was so much that running my finger across it left my finger blue. There was so much I could get an empty pen tube and fill it to the top. I opened up the package to find blue ink on the paper my venusaur was wrapped in.

At this stage I’m thinking oh dear God did this go to the pen factory? I slowly unwrap the paper to find the case was completely ink free and inside a sleeve.

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I refuse to send PSA cards in anything but a 500g International Registered Post Bag. I do my own packaging with bubble wrap and put it inside. I package as if it’s going to be dropped, squashed, kicked, and every other worst case scenario on transit.

Same for Domestic but obviously the Domestic option.

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I honed my skills from learning how to ship comic books, it is almost an art in that community lol. A PSA case just in bubblewrap is asking for trouble especially for the price OP bought, I would have expected more. Heck even a $20 card I would expect more, cardboard is free after all.

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Not a very valuable card, but fairly recent and I think this qualifies as a horror story. It was mailed to me in a top loader in a first class envelope. Had a fairly decent chance at a PSA 10. Alas it was not meant to be

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I had 2 recently, one Seller sold me a 1st ED Charizard (German) and sent it in a REGULAR LETTER inside a PENNY SLEEVE. Yes, really. The card was bent like the Typhlosion in jkanly’s picture. I obviously sent it back and got a full refund. Still a shame about the card.

My 2nd horror story has been from me shipping something to a buyer in Austria. I stupidly didn’t send it as insured, but not like it matters anyway, since the person at the counter sent it as national instead of international. This happened on the 9th of this month and the tracking number says nothing regarding the parcel’s location at all. (Only says that I gave it to the post office on the 9th) - So I called Customer Support and they were just as stumped as I was. Long story short, the package has been marked as missing and I’ll receive further information within 3 weeks. The card inside is also a 1st ED German Charizard. I realllly hope the card is either coming back to me, or will arrive in Austria.