Why Do Some Sellers Take So Long to Ship Stamps?

Luis Mon

On one order, it has been 15 days and I am still waiting for the stamps. Another order is going on 2 weeks. One seller has a 99.7% rating yet he has tons of neutral ratings. They all had the same complaint. One received his stamps after 2 months. One after 10 weeks. And one after 7 months! And no, they are not on vacation. I thinks some sellers need to have better communication with their customers.

John Eckhardt

I agree it's difficult to go though the feed backs. It would be very helpful, if HipStamp allowed you to only select only neutral and/or negative feedback without needing to see weed through all the positive feedback to find them. In my opinion those are really the ones worth looking at.

Luree Hughes

I was just out of town on business and came home to some wonderful orders! All I did was send them an email message with a copy of the invoice and said I was sorry for the delay as I was out of town with business related matters. Remember, it's all in the communications. I didn't bother putting the store on vacation mode as it was only two days. We shall see if they are accepting of me not being in front of the computer 24/7! lol, it was super nice not to be connected for those days, too!

bob burger

I own a shop on Oregon and am the only one who fills orders. I would like to have a larger staff but its just not possible at the moment. However, I have over 13,000 and list at 40% cat and fill at least 10-15 orders a day which on average comes out to be about 450 stamps but when u get double that on average it leaves you in the dust pretty fast even working 7 days a week. I also want the orders to be done properly and if I"m rushing through just to get it in the mail my customers will not only have a late order, but one that isn't correct as well. I could use work on my communication but I am not what you would call tech savvy. I try to get to emails and return messages as I can but theres only so much one person can do. So I know for myself that lack of help plays a major role in shipment times

Doug Noernberg

I know some international shipments take over 30-40 days easy, and worse if held by customs, but at least a note about when it went out the door is a minimum level of communication a buyer should expect from a reputable seller. Did they at least check the "shipped" icon? If not, then that's pretty flagrant lazy-ism and appropriate feedback is warranted. The only excuse would be health issues took them out of service for a bit. That happens, but if it's a recurring issue and people give appropriate feedback over time, that's the best way to police the this selling community.

John Coles

Simple solution to your problems. CHECK FEEDBACK BEFORE YOU PLACE ORDER FROM SELLER AND IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM JUST DON'T ORDER FROM THEM AGAIN.

Ron Lenke

The US Postal Insider explained the 55c rate broke down to 20c transportation and delivery, 35c storage charge. Go figure.

Ron Lenke

option 1- string them up and flog them into submission and repentance

option 2- create funding for their remedial "re-education" with emphasis on reading comprehension

option 3- protest humanity in general by secluding oneself on an island with no outside contact while capturing and
categorizing native insects and sucking on mangos.

option 4 - endure snarky comments on Hipstamps forums while awaiting actually helpful suggestions

andrew Hellenschmidt

Ron, I like option 2 but was it Twain who said "“Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

Luis Mon

Another thing I would like to add. The one seller who took so long on other orders never returned messages from the buyer.

Ted Tyszka

And if it's the dealer I'm thinking of, I don't mind. (It's probably my large orders contributing to the slowdown of others' orders. LOL) These are not time-sensitive documents, and in the meanwhile, it gives me time to digest all the stamps from my previous order.

Ron Lenke

" These are not time-sensitive documents, and in the meanwhile, it gives me time to digest all the stamps from my previous order." Ted, my forum friend .....you're eating stamps now??

Jacques Famery

Based on feedbacks received from buyers: Mail to anywhere in Canada takes less than a week. To the US, depending on the state it can take anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks. Europe is between 5 days to 15. Rest of the world usually 2 weeks and this includes India, China.

Ted Tyszka

No, Andrew, I think that was Samuel Clemens.

Luree Hughes

roflmbo………...youguys are too much.

Here's an option 5 - sending them back to school to learn reading comprehension! I heard the Three R's are not being taught anymore.

Ted Tyszka

Luree, Texas, at least, is bringing back one of the R's. Schools are going to teach cursive writing.
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/education-news/2019/04/29/330958/texas-bringing-back-cursive-to-elementary-schools/

Ron Lenke

" Oh @X#&; it all" --example of cursive writing as I remember it.

Clifford Blazer, Jr.

Same problem here. 32 days and counting. It is from overseas but they don't even show that it has been shipped. Possibility of 52 negatives coming their way If I don't hear something.

Luis Mon

I hear you. Some people blame the "snail mail". In my thousands of dealings with the USPS, I have come to the conclusion that "snail mail" has the same credence as "my dog ate my homework".

andrew Hellenschmidt

I think I know which seller Luis is referring to in particular but think the issue is they are selling a lot of stamps and might not have enough help thus the slow shipping times. It is always better to at least let the buyer know if you are going to be late by more than a margin. Then again what's the old saying some folks would be late to their own funeral. Sellers with zippy shipping are highly preferred because stamp collectors although we should be patient are usually the opposite.

Phil Atarium

I have always been able to ship next business day, but I'm about to do a project for 5 weeks where I think I'll need to take 2 days to get it together. I was a little worried about that, and wondered if I should post an announcement in my store, or possibly put the store on vacation, but it sounds like 2 days still sounds reasonable?

John Eckhardt

Phil, I also ship the next business day, sometimes even the same day if order placed early. I will be out for two days, but I plan on putting my store on vacation. Afraid those knowing my service might be concerned otherwise.

Luree Hughes

Thanks, Phil. We just came back from the store for more water and coffee and batteries. Roads were so jammed! And this isn't crunch time! Not to fear, Jim Cantore is in town.

Richard Olsen

I received a piece of mail today that was postmarked on Sept. 3 in Fargo, ND. It took 3 days to go about 50 miles. I guess this probably be in accord with Ron's post above.

Jacques Famery

Just got this "cute" message today 9/20 > > "As of today's mail, I have not received my order. If I understand HIP's color coding of the "shipped" icon, you have not yet shipped it. This has dragged on long enough!!!"
Strange the Vacation banners up, while away I sent an Email stating I would not be able to fill the until my return again stating the date of return. And to top it all when I did send the order I sent an Email confirming shipment AND AGAIN why it was not sent earlier. Any suggestion has to what I could do more?

Luis Mon

If the seller is sick or has other issues, I don't mind at all waiting one month or 6 months. Just let the buyer know. As to John's comments...a positive feedback of 99.7% is an outstanding number. I don't have time to go through the seller's hundreds of feedback before a purchase. But ultimately, it's really no huge deal. I will live if my stamps arrive late.

Luis Mon

I totally agree John. I was clicking on the black (neutral) icon but no such luck. Excellent idea.

Ted Tyszka

"a positive feedback of 99.7% is an outstanding number."

Then it's not the dealer I'm talking about; he has 100%, with just a few neutrals (probably due to long shipping times )

Luis Mon

Even 3 days is reasonable, as long as you are not on vacation. I ordered some stamps from the APS on Tuesday night and they were in my mailbox on Friday morning (in California).

Michael Generali

Reviewing feedback is fine, and it is helpful. However, remember that the feedback score is over a period of (usually) years. For an unknown seller, I look at what's been going on over the past 6 months. If the last six months suddenly show a slew of negatives and neutrals, I know that something has changed with the seller, and obviously not for the better. That seller I would avoid.

Phil Atarium

John & Luree: Thanks very much for your input on this!

And Luree: Sending you good thoughts on weathering this upcoming storm.