Shipping sets using Media Mail / Ebay feedback?

pac_rat_76 · Jan 23, 2013

It's been a long time since I purchased a set off from Ebay but I recently won a 1982 Topps set. It arrived yesterday shipped via USPS Media Mail. Is this normal practice for sellers to ship with? I was under the impression Media Mail was strictly for books, magazines, etc. Also, he payed $4.57 to have it shipped to me. I paid $12.00 shipping. What is the appropriate feedback here?

cmnkb8 · Jan 23, 2013

Cards are not eligible to be sent Media mail. Good thing USPS didn't inspect the package, otherwise it would have arrived postage due. With that said, if I got what I paid for in the condition it was advertised, I would leave positive feedback. However, a low star rating for s/h charges would be justified in this case.

Crewfan82 · Jan 23, 2013

Ding him. If the post office had opened the package to verify it was indeed media, and found it to be cards, I believe you would have been charged for priority or parcel freight. Did he advertise media mail?

pac_rat_76 · Jan 23, 2013

Crewfan82 said:
Ding him. If the post office had opened the package to verify it was indeed media, and found it to be cards, I believe you would have been charged for priority or parcel freight. Did he advertise media mail?

No mention of media mail in the original listing. It was listed as "Economy Shipping".

cub4life78 · Jan 23, 2013

Yep, looks like he overcharged knowing he was planning on using media mail so he could pocket the rest. Ding his butt, like others mentioned you would have had postage due if they had inspected it.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD MAXX

Erich · Jan 23, 2013

Ding Ding Ding

pac_rat_76 · Jan 24, 2013

Contacted the seller and asked if Media Mail was their normal shipping procedure for sets. They said the lady @ the P.O. recommended it to them..? Anyways, they refunded $6.00 of the shipping cost to me.

RipitRipken · Jan 24, 2013

pac_rat_76 said:
Contacted the seller and asked if Media Mail was their normal shipping procedure for sets. They said the lady @ the P.O. recommended it to them..? Anyways, they refunded $6.00 of the shipping cost to me.

IF it is an actual shop or someone who sells high volume...there's no way they went to the post office and asked for advice. But, I have shipped a few sets before and just threw in some old newspaper and a few Becketts. It technically is media mail and I was shipping to my cousin so no harm no foul?

ThoseBackPages · Jan 24, 2013

unacceptable

cmnkb8 · Jan 24, 2013

RipitRipken said:
IF it is an actual shop or someone who sells high volume...there's no way they went to the post office and asked for advice. But, I have shipped a few sets before and just threw in some old newspaper and a few Becketts. It technically is media mail and I was shipping to my cousin so no harm no foul?

Incorrect. I was told by my local postmaster that if a package contains ANY ineligible matter, it CANNOT be sent Media Mail. The rules are also on USPS' website.

Hendersonfan · Jan 24, 2013

RipitRipken said:
IF it is an actual shop or someone who sells high volume...there's no way they went to the post office and asked for advice. But, I have shipped a few sets before and just threw in some old newspaper and a few Becketts. It technically is media mail and I was shipping to my cousin so no harm no foul?

Beckett's have advertisements. Media mail is for printed material ad free. Books qualify, magazines and comic books do not. DVDs and VHS, cassettes and CDs qualify as well. If people keep abusing Media Mail the Post Office will do away with it.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Freedom Card Board mobile app

Dilferules · Jan 24, 2013

DMM 173 Media Mail Rates and Eligibility for Retail Flats and Parcels
[h=2]Content Standards for Media Mail[/h][h=3]

4.1

Qualified Items[/h]Only these items may be mailed at the Media Mail prices:
a.Books, including books issued to supplement other books, of at least eightprinted pages, consisting wholly of reading matter or scholarly bibliography, or reading matter with incidental blank spaces for notations and containing no advertising matter other than incidental announcements of books. Advertising includes paid advertising and the publishers' own advertising in display, classified, or editorial style.
b.16-millimeter or narrower width films, which must be positive prints in final form for viewing, and catalogs of such films of 24 pages or more (at least 22 of which are printed). Films and film catalogs sent to or from commercial theaters do not qualify for the Media Mail price.
c.Printed music, whether in bound or sheet form.
d.Printed objective test materials and their accessories used by or on behalf of educational institutions to test ability, aptitude, achievement, interests, and other mental and personal qualities with or without answers, test scores, or identifying information recorded thereon in writing or by mark.
e.Sound recordings, including incidental announcements of recordings andguides or scripts prepared solely for use with such recordings. Video recordings and player piano rolls are classified as sound recordings.
f.Playscripts and manuscripts for books, periodicals, and music.
g.Printed educational reference charts designed to instruct or train individuals for improving or developing their capabilities. Each chart must be a single printed sheet of information designed for educational reference. The information on the chart, which may be printed on one or both sides of the sheet, must be conveyed primarily by graphs, diagrams, tables, or other nonnarrative matter. An educational reference chart is normally but not necessarily devoted to one subject. A chart on which the information is conveyed primarily by textual matter in a narrative form does not qualify as a printed educational reference chart for mailing at the Media Mail prices even if it includes graphs, diagrams, or tables. Examples of qualifying charts include maps produced primarily for educational reference, tables of mathematical or scientific equations, noun declensions or verb conjugations used in the study of languages, periodic table of elements, botanical or zoological tables, and other tables used in the study of science.
h.Loose-leaf pages and their binders consisting of medical information fordistribution to doctors, hospitals, medical schools, and medical students.
i.Computer-readable media containing prerecorded information and guides or scripts prepared solely for use with such media.
[h=3]

4.2

Enclosures in Books Mailed as Media Mail[/h]Enclosures in books mailed at Media Mail prices are subject to these additional standards:
a.Either one envelope or one addressed postcard may be bound into the pages of a book. If also serving as an order form, the envelope or card may be in addition to the order form permitted by 4.2b..
b.One order form may be bound into the pages of a book. If also serving as an envelope or postcard, the order form may be in addition to the envelope or card permitted by 4.2a..
c.Announcements of books may appear as book pages. These announcements must be incidental and exclusively devoted to books, without extraneous advertising of book-related or other materials or services. Announcements may describe the conditions of ordering books and may contain ordering instructions for use with a separate order form. Up to three of these announcements may contain as part of their format a single order form, which may be a postcard. The order forms permitted with these announcements are in addition to order forms that may be enclosed under 4.2a. or 4.2b..

[h=2]Enclosures and Attachments for both Media Mail and Library Mail[/h][h=3]

6.1

Loose Enclosures[/h]In addition to the enclosures and additions listed in 4.2 for Media Mail and 5.4for Library Mail, any printed matter that is mailable as Standard Mail may be included loose with any qualifying material mailed at the Media Mail or Library Mail prices.
[h=3]

6.2

Written Additions[/h]Markings that have the character of personal correspondence require, with certain exceptions, additional postage at the First-Class Mail prices. The following written additions and enclosures do not require additional First-Class Mail postage:
a.The sender's and the addressee's names, occupations, and addresses,preceded by “From” or “To,” and directions for handling.
b.Marks, numbers, names, or letters describing the contents.
c.Words or phrases such as “Do Not Open Until Christmas” and “Happy Birthday, Mother.”
d.Instructions and directions for the use of the item mailed.
e.A manuscript dedication or inscription not having the nature of personalcorrespondence.
f.Marks to call attention to words or passages in the text.
g.Corrections of typographical errors in printed matter.
h.Manuscripts accompanying related proof sheets and corrections of proofsheets including corrections of typographical and other errors, changes in the text, insertions of new text, marginal instructions to the printer, and corrective rewrites of parts.
i.Hand-stamped imprints, unless the added material is in itself personal orconverts the original matter to a personal communication.
j.Matter mailable separately as Standard Mail printed on the wrapper, envelope, tag, or label.
[h=3]

6.3

Invoice[/h]An invoice, whether it also serves as a bill, may be placed either inside a Media Mail or Library Mail piece or in an envelope marked “Invoice Enclosed” and attached to the outside of the piece if the invoice relates solely to the matter with which it is mailed. The invoice may show this information:
a.Names and addresses of the sender and addressee.
b.Names and quantities of the articles enclosed, descriptions of each (e.g., price, tax, style, stock number, size, and quality, and, if defective, nature of defects).
c.Order or file number, date of order, date and manner of shipment, shippingweight, postage paid, and initials or name of packer or checker.
[h=3]

6.4

Incidental First-Class Mail Attachments and Enclosures[/h]Incidental First-Class Mail matter may be enclosed in or attached to any Media Mail or Library Mail piece without payment of First-Class Mail postage. An incidental First-Class Mail attachment or enclosure must be matter that, if mailed separately, would require First-Class Mail postage, is closely associated with but secondary to the host piece, and is prepared so as not to interfere with postal processing. An incidental First-Class Mail attachment or enclosure may be a bill for the product or publication, a statement of account for past products or publications, or a personal message or greeting included with a product, publication, or parcel. Postage at the Media Mail or Library Mail price for the host piece is based on the combined weight of the host piece and the incidental First-Class Mail attachment or enclosure.

RipitRipken · Jan 24, 2013

Well crap I stand corrected. I didn't know ALL contents have to be "media mail". I was told by a postal workers years ago to slip in items that were.

That's good to know. I've sent probably a dozen items that were "breaking the rules". Duly noted.

RiceLynnEvans75 · Jan 24, 2013

pac_rat_76 said:
Contacted the seller and asked if Media Mail was their normal shipping procedure for sets. They said the lady @ the P.O. recommended it to them..? Anyways, they refunded $6.00 of the shipping cost to me.

That's feasible. When I do go to the post office they usually run off a few available services with the price and how long it will take to get there. I can't recall what they were off the top of my head, whether it was sports card related or not, but I know I've been told a cheaper method of shipment and right around the same time to get there and I've gone with it. I know it did happen one time with something on ebay, though I didn't wait for the buyer to contact me and I just went home, shot him a message letting him know what was up and refunded them the difference.

Whether or not the post office employee knew what was actually in package in your case, was fully aware of the rules, or if the seller actually told her what was in there is something different though.

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