Discussion Forums - Questions about SwapaCD

This may not be as much of a question as a vent. I've been here for over a year & loving all the great music I've been getting but lately about half the CDs I'm getting are arriving postage due, primarily because they are over 1/4" thick, which makes them ineligible to travel as a 1st class letter & they become a package at a higher postage rate. When I ask the sender for a credit to cover the $3+ I've had to pay, the majority get mad & uncooperative. I have been accused of trying to scam them, they state they've sent 100s of CDs without being postage due.  And I'm the only one who "claims" they are postage due. They say if they really were over 1/4" thick they would have been returned to them. I can attest that is not true and if they do make it to my home post office, I have to pay. I contacted SwapaCD about this & asked if I could just have them returned to sender and they said no, I had to accept & pay. And ask the sender for a credit, and open myself up to accusations. So far this month I'm out $10.00 & I'm frustrated!

Here's my question: how do others deal with this? I'm getting leery of requesting CDs lately because it turns into a hassle & I worry that my account will be flagged for reporting so many (3 in the last 30 days) postage due CDs. Just for the record, when contacting the sender, I AM nice and simply explain that it was over 1/4" thick, hence the postage due.

Hi Sally, I feel your frustration, both as a sender and receiver. This happens semi-frequently to me as well (although not nearly as much as when I started trading again in early 2018). It just happened again today to a guy I sent a disc to. The kicker for me is that mine are less than 1/4" thick and it still happens. These clerks are hung up on the old policy with regard to rigidity of the item. I felt bad for the guy, and he was super nice about it, so I volunteered to send him a credit and he was happy. I don't know what the solution is here, though I get enough excellent discs on SACD to offset the hassles. You shouldn't be treated like you are scamming people, because this is indeed a common problem.

P.S. And you are correct about the fact that the post office will first try to collect money from the receiver before returning to sender. It won't be returned automatically... the receiver must refuse delivery.

Hope things turn around for you soon.

Wade

This is a difficult situation with no easy resolution. However, SACD has a policy for this:

• You should mark the CD received normally, and use the mini-survey portion of the "CD received" page to make a note about the postage amount due.

• The sender will get credit for sending the CD automatically, but she or he should compensate you for the missing postage.

• You can arrange any solution that you like (the sender can buddy you a credit, send money through PayPal, contact us to transfer money to your account, or send a free CD) - whatever you both agree upon."

This has happened to me several times. Sometimes people are cooperative, other times they've refused to reimburse me. I''ve taken photos of the envelope with "postage due" stamped on it, or the receipt from the post office, and even then the sender still wasn't satisfied. 

Unfortunately the USPS is grossly inconsistent in how they select a mailpiece as postage due. Many clerks don't know their own regulations and treat anything rigid as a parcel and not a letter or flat.

IMO, you should NOT be ultimately responsible for postage due. If the post office won't reverse the postage due, and you pay the amount due to take possession of your mailpiece, follow the guidelines above. If the sender will not cooperate, contact SACD for resolution. If it were me, I'd do my best not to order from that member again. It may not be their fault, but you should not be on the hook for extra postage. If this is happening with CDs from other members, perhaps chat with your postmaster about their regulations (specifically DMM 101) might help.

I agree that the sender should make amends if their postage is insufficient, but what if the amount is correct according to postal service rules and yet someone within the PO disagrees and insists the amount is wrong? Does the sender really owe anything in that scenario?

That's a tough one. SACD doesn't make a distinction depending on fault. They just say that if there is postage due, the sender should make amends. If it's clear the post office is wrong in their assessment, and they won't budge on the postage due, then I guess the receiver needs to decide if they want to pay the postage due. This doesn't happen to me too often, but it is frustrating.

This happens rarely to me.  About half the time it's the post office getting it wrong.  But the other half of the time it's the sender trying to cheap out on postage.  If the sender put truly correct postage on it, I will pay the postage due after arguing with the manager at the post office.  Sometimes the manager will agree that the postage is correct, sometimes not. 

If the sender has the really wrong postage on it, I am inclined to refuse delivery.  Regardless of what the rules say about the receiver paying postage due, don't they also say that the sender has a responsibility to put the correct postage on the package?

I believe what Sally stated to be true.  

I have questions.

How you do receive a postage due mail?

Do they deliver to your mailbox with a note saying postage due?

Is there a note postage due and you have to pick up the mail at the Post Office?

Did the sender use stamps or electronic postage or Postage from the counter? 

Have you heard about this regarding insufficient postage? 

Have you heard about Automated Postage Verification (APV)?

click ⇒   From Pitney Bowes website

What is Automated Postage Verification (APV)?

In August 2017, USPS is implementing Automated Postage Verification (APV) to ensure accurate postage payments. As part of the program, USPS automatically evaluates dimension, weight, package type, and zone during processing and calculates the correct postage amount. You can learn more about AVP and how to ensure accurate postage at https://www.usps.com/business/verify-postage.htm.

USPS plans to go-live with this program on August 14, 2017.

Who is impacted by this process?CollapseFAQ question

USPS has implemented this process across Click-N-Ship® and PC Postage® platforms

I think it says when using electronic postage they will deliver the mail and they will bill the sender for insufficient postage. 

I don't know how this program is working but it would not work if the sender mailed with stamps.

I will make bold statement and say that SwapaCD does not say you MUST pay "postage due" nor do they say you MUST accept "postage due" mail.

Because really they cannot say you must do any of those things. 

As alway we should try to work out things best we can. Everyone will have a different situation.  Me, I don't want to go to the Post Office and pay postage due to pick up a CD but it would be possible for me to do but I would be annoyed and I would curse the sender from the comfort of my home. My whole family will know of the sender's incompetence.  

I mail from my mailbox and receive mail at my house. I do not go to the Post Office, with the annoying exception of the new 10oz or 1/2" thick rule with stamps must be presented to a Clerk at the Post Office.  I bought a BUNCH of Forever Stamps before the price increase, so after I mail about 5 more packages I will go back to electronic postage and mailing from my mailbox. 

We must take into consideration the Postal Clerks who may incorrectly say postage is wrong.

Also, postage rates increased in January and there are different  rates for different zones.

I would not pay RETAIL first class postage on a package because it's much higher rate than the commerical rate (electronic postage) or for media mail. 

A 4oz First Class package cost about the same as 1 lb of media mail. Again the zone matters with First Class but not with media mail. 

It costs $2.75 to send up to 1 lb. media mail at the retail rate and with electronic postage.  There's a chart for the media at the commercial rate that is confusing.  Next time I mail a DVD I might use electronic postage for media mail to see the rate.      

There's a discount on certain types of first class when you buy electronic postage.  

So If you send a CD in a case it's at the package rate and not at the more lower priced letter rate. 

I don't get many postage due CDs. It does happen, but it's seldom, and usualy for about a buck. Yesterday, however, I got an "expensive" one. The CD arrived with postage due in the amount of $3.54. The member used printable postage and used SACDs recommendation of a 2 ounce letter with non-machinable surcharge. So they paid $0.85 in postage. That would have been fine if they followed the instructions and shipped just the CD in the paper envelope. But they didn't. The pacakge is over 4 ounces, NOT 2, because they included the jewel case. And they sent it in a bubble envelope. So, the way it was mailed, it did NOT qulalify for letter rate, and the post office marked it postage due. And they were totally correct in doing so. THIS time...

The sender has been a member for at least 10 years (they have CDs on their tower they posted in 2009) so they should know better.

I PMd the member over 24 hours ago and I've yet to receive a response. I'll give it one more day and then I will contact SACD for their input/resolution.

Mark,

I'm curious to see how this turns out.  The sender was clearly wrong, and I hope the site holds him accountable.

With no response from the sender after 3 days, I sent a message to SACD asking what I should do. They advised that I did the correct thing by contacting the sender, and that they (the sender) are responsible for all postage costs. Since the sender failed to respond to my message, they refunded my credit to cover the additional postage.

I'm glad it's resolved, though I feel like I just "bought" another credit (and I've already got plenty). However, if this happens again, I'm inclined to refuse it and have it sent back. 

That's disappointing.  I think they should have taken the amount of the postage due from the other trader's account and transferred it to you.

This site does not do a good enough job of supporting the good traders and cracking down on the problem traders.

yes, that would have been a better solution...

I have had a few issues, with discs i sent. The most recent one, edit, for the 2 cds i sent, never bothered to mark them recieved, so, i won't send them any more cds.  I know mine are acceptable to the post office, i often see them using the card to make sure they fit through the slot.  

I've been amember for 11 years and only once received a CD with postage due, just a few weeks ago actually. I wrote the sender and they gifted me a credit to cover it, but it was still a hassle because I had to go to the post office to pick up the postage due package and pay for it there.

I agree the club cannot require you to accept a postage due package because USPS regulations say you don't have to. My advice is to  refuse any postage due packages you receive. Since you will never be in possession of it (the post office won't give it to you if you refuse to pay the postage due and will return it to the sender instead), it will never have been delivered. Therefore you can truthfully leave it marked as "not delivered" on your account and the club will automatically refund your credit when the time for delivery runs out.  That will put the album back on your wish list with the same rank you had before to wait for the next time the title is listed.