Dear USPS....

Dear United States Postal Service,

I get that in the grand scheme of things, you're still just a governmental agency. I get that you have to raise the price of stamps, and I get that you have to be closed on Sundays and hours outside of business hours (which always surprises me, organizations that are purely service-based should work the OPPOSITE hours of people who work in the product industry. But whatever).

I know you've got some stiff competition with UPS and FedEx and that other one that starts with a "D".

I figure you guys took a hit when people stopped writing by hand and started emailing people. Seriously, if you think about it, that's probably ALOT of dough lost. But in return, you guys are making BANK off online sales. You guys get a decent chunk of my cash as a result of online sales I make.

I was so excited when you guys allowed people to print postage at home. And for times where I couldn't do that, your Automated Postal Machine Doodads that work 24/7 were also life saviors.

Then...this week...I discovered the stupid sticker you have on your mail slots for packages: anything over 13 ounces now has to be physically handed to a USPS counter person due to "security" concerns (really? Sounds like a fantastic challenge for some dude to create a 12oz bomb). Plus, just because you put a little sign on there saying "13oz only" doesn't mean someone with a 5lbs package of anthrax will stop and say "damn! So much for popping this baby in the mail chute".

I can't begin to explain what a pain in the ass this has been for me. If I have to actually be at a post office during your retarded hours, then I might as well not bother printing postage at home or through your so-called automated device.

One step forward, eight steps back...way to go USPS.

Letter to the Editor

I'm not sure I agree with that, the term customers isn't mutually exclusive to either Sellers or Buyers, they are both customers of eBay.

I disagree. A customer is someone who's dishing out the dough...you, as a buyer, don't spend a dime to ebay. Now I do think Ebay has a responsibility to ensure that their sellers are legit, and that the items are legit, but the "true" customer is not the bidder but the seller.

When you purchase something on ebay, ebay is not responsible for the item itself, for shipping it, for making sure you're happy. That's the seller. The bidder can be considered Paypal's customer, sure, but basically Ebay's interest in keeping bidders happy is because they need to keep things legal and kosher in order to make their marketplace not look like some underground crack den.

I used to adore ebay, but because of all the bad seeds out there the whole thing is just jacked. I used to use Yahoo Auctions back in the day, but that caved when Ebay became uber powerful. I will probalby always use Ebay until there's another alternative...but I don't have the same "fun" as I used to.

Ebay enjoys taking money from the sellers and then stepping back and only involving itself when necessary (that excludes Paypal, which I actually have had very good experiences when it comes to getting effed over with my money...but i attribute it to their legal team and that paypal wasn't owned by Ebay initially). One prime example is how it's being sued by Tiffanys...

Ebay takes a stance that its not responsible for fake items on ebay...well Tiffanys disagreed and discovered that 75% of the items on ebay listed as Tiffanys jewelry is fake. Ebay claims it's just a forum...but it's NOT just a forum. They make money off the fake stuff too...the more fake stuff, the more ebay makes.

I think I lost alot of respect for them when they purchased Skype...NOT because they needed it, but because Google wanted it and if Google wants it, then Ebay HAS to have it (so an insider told me at the time). I just really question the people running the show.

/soapbox rant.

Ebay Discussion

Just perusing the ebay seller board (I figure, I've sold enough stuff and i sell more than I buy, i deserve to provide my input...i've been on ebay since 1999), someone posted this:

Well, Ebay has forgotten who its customers are. We, the sellers, are Ebay's customers. But they protect buyers (who are our customers, not theirs) over sellers (their customers) almost every time. Their business model depends on extracting fees from sellers -- even from a buyer's scam -- and they really seem to have no interest in protecting this community or the sellers who make it up.

Which is absolutely true.

Idiot ebayer, part II

So the moron from yesterday sent this to me today:
I think it's time to consider refunding my money. The dvd's have not been delivered. I don't believe they even exist. Today makes 12 days from the time I paid for them. There is no reason why they shouldn't have arrived yet. I'll expect a call from you by 4:30pm eastern time to work out the details of the refund. If I don't hear from you, be rest assured, I will file reports of items not received with EBAY, Paypal and file a formal report with local law enforcement. This is not something I want to do but I refuse to be ripped off. I can be reached at 917.709.0457.


I asked for help on the ebay seller board, the only problem is that he has a non-confirmed address, which effs me over even IF the tracking eventually shows he got it.

What kills me is that...it's not 12 days from the time he paid, it's based on BUSINESS days...and it hasn't been 9 days yet. To top it off, 4:30 eastern time = 1:30 my time, and I got this at like noon. WTF, how unreasonable can you get?! Fortunately on the ebay board everyone was like "yeah, this guy is insane. it's not worth dealing with him".

My concern isn't if in the end paypal were to refund him or something (see my note** below), i just don't want bad feedback. I can lose the $20 or whatever, my feedback is what's important.

** so check it...apparently the reason you want to ship ONLY to confirmed addresses is that there's alot of address fraud...so by confirming the address (I believe with a credit card), if the delivery confirmation shows it's shipped then ebay will find fault on the bidder if they bitch. But if they bitch and you shipped it to a non-confirmed address, well paypal figures it's your own fault for shipping it to an unverifiable address. I didn't know that. So i figured out how to set my paypal settings to ONLY accept payments from a confirmed address.

Anyway...on the advice of someone from the forum I replied to him short and simple that parcel post is give or take 9 business days and when a reasonable amount of time has passed i'll file a claim with the post office. That's it. (You can't file a claim until after 14 business days).

Once the transaction is totally complete (i.e he gets his item and either gives me bad feedback or...its' been awhile) i'll post his ID so the world can block him from bidding on his bids.

Ebay f*cker!

From an email I sent to someone:

Okay I"m SO p1ssed. I got this email from a bidder:

This item was paid for on 12/30/07. It's now 01/09/08 and I still haven't received it. What is going on? I called the post office and gave them the tracking number you supplied. They said they have no record of the item or the item number. With all due respect, I'm not in the habit of paying good money for nothing. I need you to contact me asap at 917.709.0457 with an explanation and the whereabouts of my dvd's. If not, I'll be forced to file a report to EBAY & Paypal claiming non-receipt and possible fraud. I'll be expecting your call by 5pm Eastern Standard Time (2pm Pacific time).


So not only did I send him an email saying if he actually looked at the tracking numbero nline, it shows it was processed, but also that it was shipped parcel post which takes up to 9 business days (which hasn't' been 9 yet).

Then i call him and the guy is a COMPLETE idiot, giving me until 5pm tomorrow to have the item to him. I'm like "well you can't escalate it to ebay, it shows the shipping label was printed and the item was indeed shipped but okay go for it", and he starts tellling me how the post office is MY responsibility. I"m like "uh you didn't get insurance, so no i'm not".

he also proceeds to tell me that he doesn't use the online tracking tool, he goes straight to the "horse's mouth". Uh the government employees at the podunk post office? WTF!

So then *I* called the 1-800 number and the lady was able to tell me that it was shipped on the 31st, left california on the 4th, and that she didn't have more info but the 9th day is technically Friday so worry about it on Friday.

I call the guy back and he FLIPS OUT on me...why? Because i didn't ship it priority mail because he spent all of $5.10 on shipping. I'm like "well that's what was listed on the auction, if you wanted it shipped another way you should have said that BEFORE it was shipped!"...so then he yells that he's going to escalate this to ebay and hangs up on me!

What kills me is that i'm going to get bad feedback from this moron even though it's 100% his stupidity (I even checked his ebay ratings, someone else gave him a bad score for the exact same thing)...

So now I'm praying he'll get the item today or tomorrow. OH to top it off, i said i would call him when i spoke to the post office (even though i'm not going to ask the local post office, wtf there's not much they can do when it's in transit) and he said "well this is my work number and it gets turned off at 5". then i said "well...it will be after 8pm your time before I will talk to them" and he insisted that I call him before 5pm...HIS TIME. I'm trying to be all nice and polite but i'm like "WTF i can't leave work before 5pm and there's a time difference, you f*cker" (i didn't say that but damn i wanted to).

WHY WHY WHY are the majority of people total morons?!

Going to post this on my blog. Even with his frickin' phone number.