USPS Buy Shipping Abuse by Seller
We have been selling on Amazon for about 15 years now and fulfill thousands of Amazon orders per week from our warehouses. We primarily distribute brands that are not our own, so we are used to dealing with competition on listings. Throughout these 15 years we have seen competitors do a lot of crazy things and have seen many of them come and go. I thought I had seen it all until one seller began driving the price down on thousands of listings that we are on.
Our industry is hard to break into, so a new competitor is very rare. We figured that they would eventually raise their prices to reasonable levels once they figured out they weren’t making enough profit, but they never did. After about 6 months we began investing and placing test orders with them to determine how they were offering such low prices, and it was what we thought. They are buying USPS labels from Amazon’s Buy Shipping and are entering incorrect dimensions and weights to get cheaper shipping costs. I have placed over 10 orders with them and on every single one the dimensions and weight have been wrong according to documents provided to me by the USPS. On one order, the box that they shipped was 52x9x9 and weighed over 14 lbs. It was shipped USPS and the dimensions that they entered were 11x9x6 with a weight of 6 lbs.
This seller is using Buy Shipping to defraud the USPS and is gaining an unfair advantage on thousands of ASINs. Amazon knows the dimensions of their items so wouldn’t it raise a red flag if they were consistently purchasing labels with dimensions that are drastically less than the actual item dimensions of the item? Amazon would normally deduct that additional shipping amount, but none of these packages have been dimensioned or weighed by USPS because they claim that not all of their facilities have that equipment. I have used the “Report Abuse” link on the Account Health page to notify Amazon. I am also working with the USPS Revenue Assurance Department and Postal Inspection Service. Has anyone dealt with this before? Is there anything else I should be doing? I’m hoping that a moderator will be able to weigh in on this.
USPS Buy Shipping Abuse by Seller
We have been selling on Amazon for about 15 years now and fulfill thousands of Amazon orders per week from our warehouses. We primarily distribute brands that are not our own, so we are used to dealing with competition on listings. Throughout these 15 years we have seen competitors do a lot of crazy things and have seen many of them come and go. I thought I had seen it all until one seller began driving the price down on thousands of listings that we are on.
Our industry is hard to break into, so a new competitor is very rare. We figured that they would eventually raise their prices to reasonable levels once they figured out they weren’t making enough profit, but they never did. After about 6 months we began investing and placing test orders with them to determine how they were offering such low prices, and it was what we thought. They are buying USPS labels from Amazon’s Buy Shipping and are entering incorrect dimensions and weights to get cheaper shipping costs. I have placed over 10 orders with them and on every single one the dimensions and weight have been wrong according to documents provided to me by the USPS. On one order, the box that they shipped was 52x9x9 and weighed over 14 lbs. It was shipped USPS and the dimensions that they entered were 11x9x6 with a weight of 6 lbs.
This seller is using Buy Shipping to defraud the USPS and is gaining an unfair advantage on thousands of ASINs. Amazon knows the dimensions of their items so wouldn’t it raise a red flag if they were consistently purchasing labels with dimensions that are drastically less than the actual item dimensions of the item? Amazon would normally deduct that additional shipping amount, but none of these packages have been dimensioned or weighed by USPS because they claim that not all of their facilities have that equipment. I have used the “Report Abuse” link on the Account Health page to notify Amazon. I am also working with the USPS Revenue Assurance Department and Postal Inspection Service. Has anyone dealt with this before? Is there anything else I should be doing? I’m hoping that a moderator will be able to weigh in on this.
0 replies
Seller_Hi7wbO2Kbo6bl
There you go!
Amazon doesn't care about wrong doing unless it comes to media attention and makes them look bad.
Seller_Sram36TnVt73c
i dont understand this...i get audited by USPS for packages .02 lbs overweight...
I dont see any solution to this other than waiting for them to get caught by USPS.
Amazon isn't going to put any effort into this whatsoever.
PS: how do you know they aren't getting adjustments after the fact like the rest of us do?
KJ_Amazon
@Seller_9i5BjMJCzw9rm
Carrier shipping correction charges
USPS runs each package in its network through the Automated Package Verification System (APV). This system helps USPS verify that the package weight, dimensions, and other information on the shipping label are accurate.
If USPS determines that the seller underpaid or overpaid for postage purchased through Amazon Buy Shipping, or used a different package or service from what was entered when buying the Buy Shipping label, USPS will automatically charge or credit the Amazon account for the difference.
In the case of incorrect label information, carriers may charge/credit the seller in the form of carrier adjustments. These adjustments will most often appear as a Shipping Services Adjustment transaction type in the payments section of Seller Central, though not necessarily in the same settlement period as the original purchase.
KJ_Amazon
Seller_LTNvvFJ2jqJOv
Contact your local state police and their local state police and see if there is a "there there"
Amazon won't do a thing.
Seller_wnc1pjYEF5ZqF
I wouldn't worry about it too much, USPS will charge the heavy adjustment fees and once they realize that they'll have to raise their prices or they'll quit all together.
Seller_HRcJa1gdGHeov
USPS does audit package dimensions and weights, but they are very inconsistent. We always over estimate weights but we still get flagged every once in a while with an overage (this is always wrong since ALL our packages are lower weights than we pay for). It would appears they spot audit packages and when they do audit it is not accurate at all; for example we got charged for 12 ounces on a video game we shipped in a bubble mailer at 8 ounces, the auction weight was 6 ounces.
I would take the packages with the incorrect weights to your local post master and see what they say. I know some post masters are pretty good and will follow up.
Seller_roNdLQpqbVoOH
Yes, please tell us what the USPS says in response.
On the other hand, this thread's "shelf life" will be up before you get a meaningful reply from Amazon.
@KJ_Amazon
Thank you for sharing this with the partner team.
This "sharing" will accomplish exactly nothing.
Seller_JwUhses8WIuuj
They must either be a new seller or not monitoring their transaction history because USPS has been extremely strict about adjustments and hasn't missed a single order in the last two years .If we are still receiving adjustments despite entering the dimensions and weights of all our orders correctly then those sellers must definitely be receiving adjustments as well.
Seller_9i5BjMJCzw9rm
Just a quick update for everyone. Trying to contact the USPIS directly has been useless. I called in multiple times and they simply tell you to fill out the online form and they will reach out to you if they need any information. Which actually means that nobody will contact you and nothing will get done.
Today I filed a complaint with the USPS Inspector Generals office which required much more information. I just received an email that they are passing this case along to the USPIS for review. Maybe my case will get through to the right person since it came through the Inspector Generals office?
This is a situation where I'm just not getting through to the right person. Once I do, it will be obvious to them what is going on. I also have a friend that is a retired Post Master that is working on this for me. They will likely get more done then I ever could. I'll post updates as they come.
Seller_9i5BjMJCzw9rm
Another quick update. Our local Post Office recently hired a new Postmaster because the old one had retired. I tried bringing this issue to the previous one, but he wasn't much help. This new one has been entirely different. She has been in contact with our local Post Inspector and has made progress that I would never be able to make on my own. She told me that our local Inspector is reaching out to a friend in the "Commercial Fraud" division to investigate this. So it looks like I might actually be getting somewhere on this after 6 months worth of work.
This whole process is strange because the inspectors don't ever want to speak with me. They only want to work with USPS employees. I realize that I'm filing a complaint against another customer of theirs, but I'm the one with all the evidence. I understand why they do it this way, but I just find it strange. How can you investigate a crime when you haven't interviewed the witness?
I probably won't hear much because they don't share much information, but I will continue to share things as I hear them.
