I have never had any problems with USPS, except for the last time.
I shipped a post to a guy in the UK, USPS first class international. It is tracked until it leaves the US. The guy was a bit confrontational from the beginning then a week after I shipped he started sending me emails saying he hadn't received the item and telling me to advise him and wanted to see a copy of the receipt. I asked him to just wait and scanned the receipt and emailed it to him.
He waited a while then filed a claim with paypal and after their "investigation" they took the money for the item plus the $18 for shipping out of my account.
The guys own auctions stated he wouldn't be responsible for lost items if the buyer didn't specify insured and tracked shipping.
>From this point on it's expensive completely tracked shipping outside of the US as a requirement.
Jeff Piwonka
Austin, Texas, USA.
> From: KRISTER KATSOGIANNOS <katten@msn.com>
\r?\n> Subject: [CR] cautionary tail about ebay and paypal
\r?\n> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 10:16 AM
\r?\n> This might be of interest to the list members that sometimes
\r?\n> sell our belov
\r?\n> ed vintage bike parts to other enthusiasts all over the
\r?\n> world. As a seller
\r?\n> using ebay and paypal you have to take the full
\r?\n> responsibility for the tran
\r?\n> saction (this includes not giving the buyer the option to
\r?\n> select the type o
\r?\n> f shipping desired), for your own protection you can not
\r?\n> offer a shipping
\r?\n> option without tracking as stated by paypal ,otherwise you
\r?\n> will be at a
\r?\n> loss if the buyer claims they never received the package
\r?\n> real or not . Havi
\r?\n> ng a scanned copy of the postal recite of the the day the
\r?\n> item was shipped
\r?\n> including the country and the weight and the shipping cost
\r?\n> does not count f
\r?\n> or anything As a seller on ebay I have sold things al over
\r?\n> the world and ne
\r?\n> ver really had any problems , shipping to Japan most buyers
\r?\n> do specifical
\r?\n> ly not want any other option then basic airmail. The item
\r?\n> shipped was sent
\r?\n> to Italy , I guess I should have observed the occasional
\r?\n> caution that I
\r?\n> have seen from other sellers not to send to Italy. You
\r?\n> think that the if yo
\r?\n> u offer the buyer the option of basic shipping or insured
\r?\n> shipping and they
\r?\n> select the uninsured shipping they are knowingly taking a
\r?\n> gamble and shoul
\r?\n> d be responsible for their own actions, but apparently not
\r?\n> so. It would b
\r?\n> e interesting to hear of other people experiences Krister
\r?\n> KatsogiannosSan A
\r?\n> ntonio TX