Advice: USPS lost commission

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

Hi again!

I need a little help.

Long story short, was commissioned for a fursuit, made it, mailed it on August 25th and it hasn't been seen since August 30th. There is no update to the tracking or anything.
I filed a claim with USPS for the full amount (roughly ($2,200) with proof of the transactions and they offered to pay me $70. I don't even know where they pulled that number from, it doesn't even make sense with the insurance; I filed for an appeal.
Client says that they called their local post office and that an investigation has been opened.

I don't know what more I can do and I'm honestly scared. I haven't spent the money but USPS just lost an expensive, one-of-a-kind costume I can't exactly replicate and, ideally, would like to have them refund me in full for the item they lost.

If it comes to it, how do I go about out-of-pocket calculating a refund for my client? They already have the tail in their possession so I would subtract that from the total cost, but what about things like the cost of materials and such? Is it "cheap" to keep those funds?

Anything would be really helpful right now. I cannot afford to remake the costume again. The $70 USPS tried to offer me doesn't even cover the cost of the fabric.

Comments

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

Update, the client says that USPS contacted them saying that the package was lost in a fire en route to Cincinnati. I did a bunch of Googling and nothing news-wise is coming up for this, let alone the tracking has not changed and there's been no movement on my claim.

[kestral-kitsune.livejournal.com]

...i don't think i actually believe that. specially since your tracking shows nuthing

https://www.postaltimes.com/postal-vehicle-fires/ this lists the vehicle fires

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

... Well that is legitimately troubling. I don't like lies.

Also, as an update to my post, my first appeal was denied (no reason was given) so I filed a second time. Still no sign of the package.

Client said they want me to sue USPS with them and I declined, they're more than welcome to, but sent me a message today suggesting that they may be looking to me for compensation now which bothers me a bit. For a while I thought they were in the same head space as me, which is that I did the work and mailed it out. I can't control what a postal service does with the mail and that's out of my hands. But I don't know what to say or do aside from keeping tabs with USPS every day (which is very tiring).

[jamesalesto.livejournal.com]

As far as outside entities are concerned (Paypal, Etsy, Credit Card companies) the seller is responsible for safe delivery and it's up to them to repay the client should the item get lost. They will likely side in the client's favor should they issue a chargeback.

How the legal system handles that, I'm not sure. But if you're in a different state they very well will have to travel to yours in order to sue you.

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

Assuming it comes down to having to repay them, how would I go about doing it? I completed the work and bought the materials. They also have a piece of the costume in their possession as I gave it to them at a con since they happened to come to my table.

[jamesalesto.livejournal.com]

From the time we researched this for another beware, our understanding is that you would have to compensate the client out of pocket and recoup your losses from USPS. Because in the eyes of the third party sites the onus was on the seller to purchase adequate insurance to cover their losses. Or to have business insurance.

(Though I left a message in the mod chat asking our mod with fursuit experience.)

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

Insurance was purchased though, and I gave them proof of the receipts and transactions. My parents told me I got a check in the mail from USPS yesterday for the $70 but they denied my first claim today so I filed another.

Would I have to refund in full? In my TOS it states that there is no refund on the 30% downpayment, and that was spent on the materials.

It's been nearly a month since the package was lost but there's some holes in the story (the fire that never happened, client telling me the label burned off when I wrote on the package with permanent marker) so I'm going to try to do a little more digging before issuing a refund and calling it a loss.

I appreciate the opinions, I've never dealt with something like this before so I'm kinda lost and hearing another voice is great!

[jamesalesto.livejournal.com]

I don't think we've had this happen before, but I believe Paypal would likely side entirely in their favor. Are you out of the chargeback window?

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

The first payment was April 1st but the rest were in the following months so I don't think so.

I hate hate hate hate hate handouts, but would refunding the client and setting up a Go Fund Me (again, if it comes to that) be cheesy?

[jamesalesto.livejournal.com]

It's pretty much understood that you would owe them a full refund if it truly is lost. Mind you if this some kind of ruse there's almost no way they would be able to wear it in the fandom.

How you choose to recoup the costs is up to you.

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

That's why I'm going to try my best to get as much information as I can before refunding them, because if it is a ruse I'll be damned.

Also, would it be the refund minus the tail since they have that?

[jamesalesto.livejournal.com]

If they intend to keep the tail, yes, I would imagine it would be minus that from the refund. If they don't want to keep it it may be good business to accept a return and refund. That would be a personal choice on your part.

[sillygosling.livejournal.com]

Did usps confirm the fire to you or have you only heard this from the client?

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

According to the client, there was a fire en route from my state to their state and they called them saying that the label could have been burned off...

... When the package is being mailed from my neighbor state, there is no label on the package (I write onto the cardboard in permanent marker) and there is no proof of a fire happening. A truck did catch on fire yesterday in their state but the news article did not state what kind of a truck it was and USPS knows nothing about the fire.