Signature confirmation or not?

[eddie412]

I sold a Lego set for $55. I want to do signature confirmation through USPS. Any recommendations on whether I should or shouldn't would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you

Eddie

 

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[Leopard]

For me personally, I always add a signature confirmation anything over $100+ 

[marcandre]

+1 on over $100. Scammers are not messing around with $50 sets. They want the pricey stuff. Unless you have some other reason to be suspicious (zero feedback?) just send it priority. 

[Guest TabbyBoy]

I now send EVERYTHING via Royal Mail "Signed-For" or Collect+ "Signature Required" as it's got so bad that I simply trust nobody anymore apart from trusted repeat buyers. I no longer spend extra on postal insurance as you're much more likely to be scammed or SNAD'd by a buyer making insurance pointless. If the buyer doesn't want to pay a little extra postage to buy from me, I'd rather them go elsewhere anyway.

[KShine]

For me, it's a gut thing - I will usually feel the trouble coming (also, if a USPS package is insured over a certain amount, it will automatically get a sig - although this sig won't count for ebay protection).

Plus, the unfortunate reality is that a scammer can always just claim that they signed for/received an empty box (or rolled up newspaper).

But the added signature can deter some scammers who could get nervous about signing, or might not have valid ID for post office pickup.

Edited February 13, 2018 by KShine

[eddie412]

For me, it's a gut thing - I will usually feel the trouble coming (also, if a USPS package is insured over a certain amount, it will automatically get a sig - although this sig won't count for ebay protection).
Plus, the unfortunate reality is that a scammer can always just claim that they signed for/received an empty box (or rolled up newspaper).
But the added signature can deter some scammers who could get nervous about signing, or might not have valid ID for post office pickup.

Thank you for the tips. I would have thought that the signature confirmation would be an extra layer of protection on eBay. I now have a better understanding.

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[eddie412]

I now send EVERYTHING via Royal Mail "Signed-For" or Collect+ "Signature Required" as it's got so bad that I simply trust nobody anymore apart from trusted repeat buyers. I no longer spend extra on postal insurance as you're much more likely to be scammed or SNAD'd by a buyer making insurance pointless. If the buyer doesn't want to pay a little extra postage to buy from me, I'd rather them go elsewhere anyway.

Thanks for the advice! I'm not sure what " SNAD'd" means.

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[KShine]

2 minutes ago, eddie412 said:

Thank you for the tips. I would have thought that the signature confirmation would be an extra layer of protection on eBay. I now have a better understanding.

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Certainly a sig is better than no sig (same with insurance), but the added cost will not pay off (you'll end up paying much more in sig, insurance costs than you will ever get back)

Keep in mind that you should always get tracking, and the signature when ebay states that it is required for protection (as the pro scammers will seek out the sellers who are easy targets first).

6 minutes ago, eddie412 said:

Thanks for the advice! I'm not sure what " SNAD'd" means.

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Significantly Not As Described (SNAD). In this type of claim, the buyer is stating the item they received is significantly different than they expected, based on the seller's description.

[eddie412]

  Significantly Not As Described (SNAD). In this type of claim, the buyer is stating the item they received is significantly different than they expected, based on the seller's description.

Much appreciated!

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[Guest TabbyBoy]

I forgot to mention earlier... For more valuable items, I asked for a scan of their Council Tax bill first to confirm name and address. No genuine buyer has ever refused to send me this. Only 1 has refused and the other info didn't add up anyway. Of course, nothing can prevent a SNAD which is why I will NEVER risk sending a 75192 for example. Losing £649.99 would hurt! Big stuff is strictly cash on meeting only.

[Jackson]

As a buyer, signature confirmation is very inconvenient and annoys the shiz out of me. I don’t think it protects the seller more than delivery confirmation does, unless the cost is $750 (or whatever PayPal’s number is) or over. 

[eddie412]

As a buyer, signature confirmation is very inconvenient and annoys the shiz out of me. I don’t think it protects the seller more than delivery confirmation does, unless the cost is $750 (or whatever PayPal’s number is) or over. 

You're right that would be super annoying coming home from work expecting a package and it's just a note saying come to the post office but the post office is already closed. Yes I can definitely see how setting that could be. Thank you

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[eddie412]

I forgot to mention earlier... For more valuable items, I asked for a scan of their Council Tax bill first to confirm name and address. No genuine buyer has ever refused to send me this. Only 1 has refused and the other info didn't add up anyway. Of course, nothing can prevent a SNAD which is why I will NEVER risk sending a 75192 for example. Losing £649.99 would hurt! Big stuff is strictly cash on meeting only.

That is an absolutely brilliant idea especially for sets that are on the more expensive side. Also that could work for other items that are super expensive. That is an awesome tip.

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[Guest TabbyBoy]

11 minutes ago, Jackson said:

As a buyer, signature confirmation is very inconvenient and annoys the shiz out of me. I don’t think it protects the seller more than delivery confirmation does, unless the cost is $750 (or whatever PayPal’s number is) or over. 

Not always as I've actually refused to sign for some items where the outside box was damaged or got wet (typically from TRU or Boots). If a buyer signs for an item, they typically accept any damage obviously caused my mishandling. I've had buyers complain about a heavily dented outside box (meaning possible minor damage inside) and I reply, "... then why did you sign for it knowing that there could be damage instead of rejecting it?".  90% of the time I hear nothing more. Some like to try it on, but most can't be bothered if you kick back a bit. At the end of the day, "I know where you live!" ;-)

[eddie412]

Not always as I've actually refused to sign for some items where the outside box was damaged or got wet (typically from TRU or Boots). If a buyer signs for an item, they typically accept any damage obviously caused my mishandling. I've had buyers complain about a heavily dented outside box (meaning possible minor damage inside) and I reply, "... then why did you sign for it knowing that there could be damage instead of rejecting it?".  90% of the time I hear nothing more. Some like to try it on, but most can't be bothered if you kick back a bit. At the end of the day, "I know where you live!" ;-)

Oh yeah that's true they can refuse to sign for it. Do you think Amazon or Ebay is worse for trickery? And what do you think about the eBay global Shipping program?

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[Guest TabbyBoy]

25 minutes ago, eddie412 said:

Oh yeah that's true they can refuse to sign for it. Do you think Amazon or Ebay is worse for trickery? And what do you think about the eBay global Shipping program?

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I don't use Amazon. I've heard that crooks exist on Amazon and eBay. I use eBay's GSP, but only to send small packages weighing under 1KG. It's handy for Architecture and small IDEAS sets which often fetch better prices overseas. So far, few problems apart from the occasional non-payers in Brazil, Russia and South Korea which I've now blocked. As soon as the item gets to the GSP centre, I'm covered. Buyer do pay more via GSP, but at least it's fully tracked and not much more than International Tracked from the UK. I did have an of instance where the GSP took a set out of my shipping box and used a bin-liner, I think to save weight. I know because the buyer mentioned it and was luckily buying the set to build anyway. The bulk of my sales are UK domestic anyway and ALL large sets are UK only.

Edited February 13, 2018 by TabbyBoy

[Captain_chaos]

8 minutes ago, TabbyBoy said:

I don't use Amazon. I've heard that crooks exist on Amazon and eBay. I use eBay's GSP, but only to send small packages weighing under 1KG. It's handy for Architecture and small IDEAS sets which often fetch better prices overseas. So far, few problems apart from the occasional non-payers in Brazil, Russia and South Korea which I've now blocked. As soon as the item gets to the GSP centre, I'm covered. Buyer do pay more via GSP, but at least it's fully tracked and not much more than International Tracked from the UK. I did have an of instance where the GSP took a set out of my shipping box and used a bin-liner, I think to save weight. I know because the buyer mentioned it and was luckily buying the set to build anyway. The bulk of my sales are UK domestic anyway and ALL large sets are UK only.

I've sold a few large sets via GSP recently, both new and used, including 10174 for £325. I've not had any problems so far. I was initially sceptical but I'm a convert now.

[eddie412]

I've sold a few large sets via GSP recently, both new and used, including 10174 for £325. I've not had any problems so far. I was initially sceptical but I'm a convert now.

I was a skeptic at first as well. Then a friend of mine explained it to me that once it gets to the Global shipping hub you don't have to worry about anything. And that is a truly beautiful thing.

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[gregpj]

21 minutes ago, eddie412 said:

I was a skeptic at first as well. Then a friend of mine explained it to me that once it gets to the Global shipping hub you don't have to worry about anything. And that is a truly beautiful thing.

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I buy stuff all the time from sellers in the US who use GSP. It eliminates the need for me to pull out my credit card when the postal carrier comes to the door which is nice and I can immediately see the entire purchase price compared to a Canadian seller. I have never had a truly bad experience with GSP but a word of caution - they can and do open the boxes and re-tape them. If you're shipping something very valuable, take care of how you package them. I had a case where a nice collector set (the mini tatooine set) was shipped with some loose parts - the little mini builds - and when GSP repacked it, they put the box on top of the loose parts and it made tons of small dents and scratches.

As for signature confirmation  ... you can view it this way. What would you like to have happen as a buyer? If you don't mind a $400 LEGO set being left at your front door or on your porch all day while you're at work, by all means send without a signature. Signature does more than just force a buyer to go pick it up at the post office if they're not home. Don't let the grouchies who don't like to sign for things dissuade you from making your own decision about it's value.

[Zelgazra]

Unfortunately for Canadians, in a mis-delivery, it doesn’t help you. A signature is a signature in CP’s books, whether it’s the actual recipients or joe down the street. My one and only other claim experience much closer to when I started illuminated this. Kind of stupid. The parcel was marked as delivered with signature, but the actual buyer never received the item. CP had their asses covered in their books....thankfully eBay covered both of us in this case, but yea, it’s not so useful for insuring anything. The porch situation is about all it’s good for from a seller perspective. :/