Am I Missing Something?

John Eckhardt

I just received the following message attached to an order of 7 stamps.

I had to pay 1.80$ for the stamps to be shipped and all of your listings say that "Additional stamps purchased in the same order are shipped FREE. So is it a lie or does HipStamp force me to pay for shipping. (This picture is an example) taken today.

They attached an image of one of my listings showing additional stamps are shipped FREE.

Apparently the buyer thinks shipping is free, if they buy more than 1 stamp and that I lied because HipStamp forced them to pay $1.80.

Previously I had a buyer ask me to refund their shipping charges and combine their order with another one purchased the same day from another seller on HipStamp.

Do other sellers receive similar messages or am I the only lucky one?

Greg Doll

They can always ask but your shipping policy is clear enough. Pay $1.80 then ADDITIONAL stamps on the same order are shipped free. How else can one state that without being really confusing. Some folks just try and get around things by being/acting confused.

The other one about combining orders with other dealers is just plain dumb. "Hey Mr. stamp dealer, can you combine shipping with my orders on EBay and Amazon? Thanks!!" DUH!

And you are the lucky one regardless....

Richard Pauls

I recently received a negative feedback with the following comment:

"a $1.50 shipping charge for the sale of a single stamp sold for $0.05, shipped on a standard single enveloped using a "forever" stamps was not expected."

I am not sure what this buyer was expecting, but the $1.50 shipping charge was certainly shown in the invoice before he hit the purchase button. I guess most buyers are not aware of the PayPal transaction fee for each order and the PayPal and HipStamp percentage charges on the shipping fee, as well as the cost of the packaging materials in addition to the postage charge.

Then there was the time I got a question about the "Item Description" under the "Details" tab for each store item. My first line under each Item Description is to list the catalog that I use to identify and price each item. I have a descriptor (Catalog Used) followed by the specific catalog used and its year of issuance. The item for this listing was Mint-Never-Hinged and the potential buyer was confused because I had "Catalog Used" as the descriptor. He wanted to know whether the item I was selling was Used or Mint-Never-Hinged. I guess I should have used " Reference Catalog" as the descriptor as a better description.

But these problem buyers are very few and far between. Most of my customers are frequent buyers and the interactions are never a problem. This is especially the case since I no longer sell outside of the United States. When I still sold internationally, the very frequent request to drop my shipping charge to $1.00 or $1.50 became problem. Trying to explain the high cost of shipping outside the United States (having to include a customs form and the minimum $10 postage charge) just didn't compute when other sellers where ignoring the regulations and just sending their stamps in a normal envelope for the standard one-ounce international postage charge (right now $1.40).

Harry Buehne

Bringing up postage is a good item. I have taken foreign items to the PO for pricing and they have always charged me the old rate and never tried to charge the fees that were to have taken place. There is no question what I am sending since my return address is on the envelope clearing showing Harry's Stamps. Until they say something I intend to use the standard 1sr or 2nd class postage.

John Eckhardt

Just because your return address is on the envelope says Harry's Stamps, it doesn't tell them you are actually mailing stamps. They probably assume you are only mailing correspondence. Next time tell them you are mailing stamps and see what they charge. It's not a case that the new fees "were to have taken place", they did and you should also be providing proper customs forms in addition to paying the correct shipping fees.

Greg Doll

Yeah...I'm not sure saying that in an open public forum is a really good idea. The Postal Inspectors are not interested in whether one thinks that "the rules were to have taken place". As John stated, they ARE in place which caused me, unfortunately, to discontinue international shipping. Your local PO can get in trouble too if they are not charging the proper postage and documentation. Just ain't worth it to me...maybe it is to you.

Rene Bravo

Dumb stuff happens all the time . Let it roll off your back , blow off some steam here. Some stamp collectors do not qualify as Rhodes Scholars it seems.