Lost Shipment: What would you do?

News: Welcome to the Canadian Paper Money Forum.

The buyer and seller of the following scenario are looking for the thoughts and opinions of the CPMF community to see how they would resolve the following situation:

1. A sale is made
2. XpressPost is opted for and paid for
3. Package does not arrive on time
4. Package not to arrive at all and is consider a complete loss (insurance does not cover banknotes)
5. Cost of shipment is refunded (for failing to deliver the package on time)
 
Seller has the buyer’s payment.  Buyer does not have the banknotes.  Neither is responsible for the loss of the shipment. 

How should this situation be resolved in manner that is fair to both the buyer and the seller?  What would you do?  Better yet, if you have gone through a similar situation, what did you do?

All thoughts and opinions are welcome and appreciated.

Geez.......I just had a flash back to high school math many moons ago.

"If a banknote leaves Halifax on an Xpresspost truck travelling at 100 Kmh and a money order leaves
Calgary by Air Mail on a plane travelling at 500 Kmh, where will their paths cross and is the banknote
pressed or original ?"

I bought a note from a dealer in California and it was sent as a registered letter and eventhough it was a note the seller registered it as a gift certificate at the value of the actual paid item. The note did not arrive and tracking had it sitting in Houston. 3 months later still no note. The seller actually put in the claim for the value of the gift certificate and returned my full amount including what I paid for postage. This way neither was out. Unfortunately I did not get the note.
Just as a side comment, about 5 months later in my mailbox I was sent a free note from the dealer (worth about $50) saying he was sorry and he would hope that this one instance would not prevent me from bidding on his other items if I was interested.
I guess it all depends on how each person handles the situation and in this case because of the sellers kindness I would definitely not be deterred in buying something again.

Whether this was a rare instance or not I always believed that the customer if treated fairly will ALWAYS come back

Only an opinion
FRIEDSQUID

If a banknote leaves Halifax on an Xpresspost truck travelling at 100 Kmh and a money order leaves
Calgary by Air Mail on a plane travelling at 500 Kmh, where will their paths cross and is the banknote
pressed or original ?"

I think it would mean that their paths cross in Thunder Bay but I have not seen the note.

How should this situation be resolved in manner that is fair to both the buyer and the seller?  What would you do?

 I think it would be most fair to refund half the cost of the purchase so both would lose equal amounts.

 I heard a member here once say that the best way around the no currency thing is to say that shipment contains a collector sports card worth as much as the value of the note.

Because of Canada Post regulations, one cannot insure a bank note. One can only do their best to get it there. You cannot lie about the contents either, so don't go there.

Express post with signature, priority post help to get them there, but niether is failsafe. Niether is insured. A problem often run into with CAND problems.

Rick

Does anyone else have some ideas?

50-50?
25-75?

0-100?

If you were in those shoes, what would you think was fair?

This is a tuff one.

Does anyone else have some ideas?

50-50?
25-75?

0-100?

If you were in those shoes, what would you think was fair?

This is a tuff one.

Explain this is a little more depth if you would.

Rick

If this is JUST between two collectors. I say 50-50

If it's a retail dealer selling to a collector. I say the dealer should eat it.


Hopefully for those involved it's not a high priced item.

 So what ever happened with this?  What did you decide was fair?

Here's what happened to me about 2 years ago:

A buyer out of a small town in B.C. purchased 1 Gem Unc 1937 $2.00 C/T from me,desired it sent ExpressPost.Address was a PO Box so I assumed I'd save the money on the signature option as surely he'd receive the note,after all the P.O. would receive said  package,when purchaser came to claim it,he'd be required to sign receipt of same,and all is well with the world...........well.....not so fast....the buyer claimed he never received the ExpressPost.I put a trace on it, had indeed been delivered to the P.O.,but there was NO proof he had received it.Having never dealt with the buyer in any other transaction,I felt sure I was being scammed.But I sucked it up,sent another note to the buyer in the interests of keeping a good name.(Also taught me good lesson about trying to save a lousy loonie at the time! ) .

Two months later! I receive an e-mail from this fellow telling me the other note had arrived,it had landed in bugtusstle B.C,was re-directed,and he wanted to return one but which one....I told him to keep what he thought was the better of the 2.
Well dam n if 1 week I received back 1 of the notes!

I'm sure he thought I had scammed him,and I thought the same.....

My take in the end.If you're the seller,and you did all the "right" things,refund the total.A good name beats a $100 or 2 any day.
But that's just my opinion.

I've had a shipment of coins I purchased lost with registered mail (according to the Seller - he dropped it off in a mailbox). I'm not sure that I quite believe him (it was $1000 of canadian mint product) of which - the value of the coins had been going up higher than what I bought them for.
In the end, I recieved my money back through Paypal. And according to him - he recieved the monies from insurance. He did provide a tracking number - so... who knows.
But as the above poster said. Sometimes, patience and a good compromise are good rules of thumb.
I've also paid extra just to have express trackable postage, when a buyer has declined to pay for it just because I didn't want the headache of a lost package... da da da da...
A couple of times, I had the Buyer's send me back the money with a very nice thank-you letter.
Best of luck with the claim / resolving the loss package...

This actually did get resolved between the buyer and seller.  There was a refund by CPost somehow, and since both were new to this, they just compromised on a 50-50 on the unrecoverable value and let it ride on that. 

H

twoinvallarta says "A good name beats a $100 or 2 any day."
I agree with that. But I don't think I would behave the same in all situations.

If it would happen to me and someone I know well, with whom I would have made a few trades at least, I guess I'd prefer to share the loss (the same way you share the "benefits"), about 50/50.

But if you're dealing with someone for the 1st time, maybe "the dealer should eat it", as buxvet wrote.
For what I've read so far (by the way, thanks for sharing your experiences! ), there are 3 instances implied in a trade: the dealer (who HAS the bill), the buyer (who WANTS the bill) and the mail (who DELIVERS the bill from one another). The first 2 can deal together, while the last one stays out of control. Once the bill is shipped, neither the buyer or the seller have a grip on what will happen.
One of the most precious thing in trading is TRUST between people, and everyone should do everything possible to preserve it. This way, buyer or seller, you cannot loose.
 

What happens though, when it is not a dealer, but rather your friend who is a fellow collector?

I'd say 50-50 would be fairest.