Hi, all. I just sold a freewheel on the ebay. I paid to ship at one of those machines at the post office using my debit card (as credit). Well, pitney bowes took my money out of the bank, which is good. Then they put it back, not good. Is the buyer going to owe postage on their end? That would aggravate the crap out of me. I promised free shipping, so I'd hate for him to get charged.

Anyone use those machines before?

The package is priority with tracking, and it's well on its way.

Maybe you hit the lucky random USPS lottery?

I think once the label is on the box with all the scanning info, it's good to go. The challenge is why did Pitney Bowes refund you. Call them up. You must have a transaction ID.

If you placed the box and the scale and the machine printed you a label you good to go....sort of. The only way to get the wrong amount/label with the machine is if you entered the wrong package type. I think your safe.

In the future, use the label printing function on ebay, for a couple of reasons. First, it will save you some $$. But more important, it is transparent to both the buyer and ebay. So if later, you get questions about did it ship, did you use the right address for the buyer, etc., by using eBay's system, you are covered.

I have had a couple of transactions, where the buyer's address on eBay was no good. Ebay covered me, as I used the address THEY PROVIDED.

Doing things outside eBay's system opens you up for claims: "I never got it", etc. Delivery confirmation only confirms it delivered at the address on your label.

Agreed but it's still up to the sender to choose the proper package type. You'll need a scale to determine if the package is 'First Class' or not and 'peel n stick' labels are nice to have as well. If your only selling 1 or 2 items a month it may not be worth printing labels at home, even with the discount you still need to buy a scale, labels and printer ink.

This is why it's important to insure items you sell-and-ship on eBay. Yeah, it costs additional money, but USPS First-Class mail offers the option to purchase up to $5,000 insurance, and USPS Flat-Rate Priority Mail includes $50 of insurance coverage.

Scams are so rare that I never include insurance or signature service. As a seller that includes shipping with my 'buy now' price it works heavily against me to include 'add-on' services. If I'm selling an overly expensive item I'll add insurance but for 9.5/10 items I do not.

Here's another tip...

many times 'Priority' is the least expensive option. After you 'calculate price' go back and change the requested service, more often than not, for lighter items, Priority is less expensive than 'Parcel Select'.

Same thing with the FedEx option, go back and forth between FedEx and USPS options to compare.

I was writing about carrier errors/mistakes, not scams. For example, I recently bought some cone wrenches on eBay, which the seller sent via USPS First-Class mail. The tracking number estimated delivery on Wednesday, 02 July 2014 (today). However, when I returned home yesterday and checked the tracking information on-line, I read that "Delivery Was Attempted" that morning, and "Notice Left". Unfortunately, no notice was left... at least, not in my locked mailbox. Thus begins the "Item Not Received" dance. Without the USPS delivery notice, I cannot reschedule delivery, and it's possible/probable that the attempted delivery was to a different (wrong) address -- I'll never know, and the item might end up being returned to sender... OTOH, the package might be "delivered" a second time, but to the wrong address/recipient, and I'll never receive it. "Pilot error", but on the ground.

Will I be covered by eBay/PayPal "Buyer Protection" in this case? If I am, will the Seller be covered? The cone wrenches cost me $19.95; how much is the OPs freewheel worth?

I notice weird things on a lot of my debit transactions tracking them online through my bank, and MANY times transactions appear as cleared, then get relegated to pending, sometimes reserving only a $1, then coming back as cleared transactions again - sometimes days later. I don't claim to understand it, but as long as it never comes in as pending or cleared for a greater amount than I owe, I'm not going to worry about it. And haven't had to.

Why do I think this robo mail episode will end up not going well. Hopefully there is a tracking number to assist and some phone number(s) to call.

Your looking way too deep into it.....'delivery attempted' could mean a variety of things, 'notice left' could simply mean tracking was updated, that could be your 'notice'. UPSP tracking is not like FedEx or USPS tracking...it's much more rudimentary.

I think you're probably right. Usually there's either the full amount or a dollar pending, as you said. In this case, it was full amount pending, full credit back to me pending, then both transactions went poof. No worries. We'll see.

Yeah, I've got a receipt. I think I won lottery. I said free shipping, so the machine obliged... btw, you taught me how to overhaul freewheels, you and capecodder, from reading through old threads. I'd like to thank you. It's appreciated.

It'll be ok. If it goes all crazy, I'll give him his money back. But I think it's good.

Thanks to all who responded with thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. Once I figure out what happened, I'll update this thread. Computer glitch or operator error...or standard procedure for either the bank or usps/pitney bowes. we'll see.

I do agree with you, wrk101 about using the ebay print function. I'll look into it next time.

EDIT/UPDATE: They(pitney bowes) charged it again, so they now have their money. yay. all is well.