Discussion Forums - Questions about SwapaDVD

Topic: Recieved DVD with postage due

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Douglas W.



Subject: Recieved DVD with postage due
Date Posted: 3/5/2018 7:16 PM ET
Member Since: 12/16/2012
Posts: 3
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Sending member re-used stamps and post office marked package as postage due and I had to pay $2.54 to get the package from the delivering postal worker. How do I get paid back from the sending member. And can the system penalize this member for doing this, as it should.

Alameda (Danny N.)


Date Posted: 3/6/2018 3:53 PM ET
Member Since: 11/30/2007
Posts: 327
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yeah, yu should have marked this as RWAP (Received With A Problem) and explained what happened - this gives SwapaDVD heads-up that they have a possible problem member (etc). You should ask for your DVD credit back as well. 

If you have not done so already - use the 'Contact Us' link below (under "Company" and explain what happened - SwapaDVD should remove the credit given to the sender and return it to you with an explanatary note to the sender as to why this action was taken....

 

All that being said the REAL PROBLEM was the Post Office not enforcing existing poostal regulations and citing the sendor for breaking postal regulations and either fining them with a monetary fine and/or arresting or citing them for breaking the law so that they would never do this again. 

Instead they (the PO) just passed the buck to you and the sender apparently got away with this - so sad - it's one of the reasons folks continue to do this kinda thing - so many get away with it without getting into trouble.

 

 



Last Edited on: 3/6/18 3:56 PM EST - Total times edited: 1
Sue Y.


Date Posted: 3/8/2018 9:20 AM ET
Member Since: 11/30/2009
Posts: 155
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This all looks like a simple case of ignorance. Most people don't know that the practice of reusing uncancelled stamps is illegal. The law reads:

According to 18 U.S.C. § 1720, paragraph 3,

Whoever knowingly uses in payment of postage, any postage stamp, postal card, or stamped envelope, issued in pursuance of law, which has already been used for a like purpose—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both[.]

Interestingly, it doesn't really address whether or not the stamp has been cancelled.

It isn't like someone can make a significant amount of money at this, so the PO isn't going to make a big deal out of it as long as they get the original amount in the simplest way possible - which is to collect from the recipient. It would cost them more to return packages, send out notices, and try to collect penalties from abusers than they would make if they could stop the practice.

In this case, you could have refused the package and it would have been returned to the Sender. I suggest you simply contact the Sender, explain the situation, and ask them to reimburse  you.

Tony, Sue's husband

aylamonster (Shellie F.)


Date Posted: 3/8/2018 9:49 AM ET
Member Since: 6/21/2008
Posts: 23,194
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Media mail does not get returned to sender. If it had been send first class, it would have been returned to sender. 

If this happened to me, I would contact the sender first. If they didn't make it right, I would mark it received with a problem and explain the situation there. If I didn't hear from the team after a few days, I would contact them. 

Douglas W.



Subject: Great feedback for postage due
Date Posted: 3/8/2018 11:56 PM ET
Member Since: 12/16/2012
Posts: 3
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Thanks everyone for your feedback, this is some great and interesting information. More details, I did PM the sending member about the postage due, no reply and it has been 3 days. When you click recieved with a problem you get choices for a damaged DVD and nothing else. I tried that one, but there is a comments section on the recieved section, to inform the system of any problems, did that also, 3 days and no reply from them either. If still have not recieved a workable solution by monday I plan on making a visit to local post office and filing formal complaint with postmaster. I agree this is a crime and something needs to be done. If they don't think it to be worthwhile they need to recover their costs from the criminal. It has always been said that an education is not cheep. And also for the record, I was out of town when the package was delivered, so it was delivered to a neighbor so they could pay for it for me, again easiest solution for the post office, they got paid.



Last Edited on: 3/8/18 11:59 PM EST - Total times edited: 1
foxhack (David S.)


Date Posted: 3/9/2018 1:45 AM ET
Member Since: 10/10/2016
Posts: 70
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You got lucky your postage didn't get upgraded to Priority. That's what's happened to me on a few parcels (not HERE) and getting my money back is like having a tooth pulled.

PayPal / eBay now has a system where the sender gets automatically charged for any postage due if their system finds something weird about the package, which I think is great... except when it messes up. Like how it screwed up on an 8 ounce first class parcel I sent and it autocharged me $8.50 for postage due. I should probably follow up on that customer support case...

Sue Y.


Date Posted: 3/9/2018 8:50 AM ET
Member Since: 11/30/2009
Posts: 155
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Several years ago I sent a box of comics to a comics dealer via Media Mail. I received a letter saying the box would be delivered, but if the recipient didn't pay the difference between what the postage should have been and what I paid, the box would be returned to me. The dealer was nice and paid the difference without asking me to reimburse him. The PO letter also warned me not to do it again.

 

Tony, Sue's husband.

Advertisement (Bret H.)


Date Posted: 3/10/2018 4:04 PM ET
Member Since: 11/11/2007
Posts: 344
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Are you sure it was really a case of using used postage?  I had a package returned to me last year
claiming that, but it wasn't true.  I had used postage purchased from an USPS Automated Postal Center (APC)
some 8 years ago; some clerk in some processing center apparently mistook the printed sale date for
a postmark date.  I did have to waste half an hour taking it into the local post office and having a short discussion
with a clerk to have it re-sent.

Douglas W.



Subject: This was no error
Date Posted: 3/11/2018 1:33 PM ET
Member Since: 12/16/2012
Posts: 3
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It is very obious that these stamps had been removed and reattached (taped), and even a mixture of different stamps. I would not be as upset if the postage due would have been for a miscalculation and just not enough (although the system seems fairly accurate about informing you what it should be), but this was a deliberate attempt to commit fraud, so in fact there was no legal postage applied to the package.

John B.



Subject: Received DVD with postage due
Date Posted: 3/19/2018 12:42 PM ET
Member Since: 11/2/2015
Posts: 2
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I recently received a DVD with $1.91 postage due. The sender did not use the Swapdvd printed lable and postage. They did a handwriten lable with $1.84 postage, not marked "Media Mail". I emailed Swapdvd and they advised me to use the reply, to the sender, on the acknowledgement of receiving the DVD, asking for them to reimburse my account, which I did. Of course, no reply or reimbursement. I feel that Swapdvd should automatically take it out of the sender's "Money" account and credit it to me, as I have no way of enforceing the sender to pay. Has anyone else experienced the same problem?

musiclover (Valerie L.)


Date Posted: 3/19/2018 5:16 PM ET
Member Since: 4/12/2011
Posts: 10,611
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John,  I have never received a SwapaDVD package from someone else with postage due.  

If this happens I guess I would have 2 options.

1. Pay the postage due and take a chance whether the sender will reimburse me or they will not. 

2. Refuse the package so it goes back to the sender and they may or may not pay the postage due and re-send.  

I have received a package that was way under postage.  It was delayed but I think someone at the Post Office decided to finally just send to It's destination.  

 



Last Edited on: 3/19/18 5:21 PM EST - Total times edited: 4
King K.



Subject: Edited by the SwapaDVD Team
Date Posted: 5/14/2018 10:25 PM ET
Member Since: 5/14/2018
Posts: 120
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Edited by the SwapaDVD Team

Last Edited on: 6/8/18 7:18 PM EST - Total times edited: 0