When You Can Expect Your Purchase

Priority items usually arrive within the two days promised by the Post Office, although I've had rare occasions when an item has taken up to a week.

Items sent book rate are another story. The post office delivers these by circus bear on a tricycle, and I've seen books and records take close to a month to get where they're going. Buyers on the East Coast tell me they get book-rate items quickly, so perhaps this is a West Coast phenomenon.

First-class items usually get to their destinations fairly quickly. There's little point to paying priority costs to ship a postcard or piece of ephemera, unless you absolutely must have the item in two days or are concerned about handling.

An important note: The post office does NOT provide any kind of paper trail for regular mail. This means no proof of mailing, no proof of delivery, and no tracking number. After a package leaves my hands, it is in the system, and I have no way to know where it is or when it will arrive. Also, my post office does not provide itemized receipts, so I am unable to provide an individual receipt to document the mailing of an individual package (I do have dated receipts for insured packages). The post office offers a variety of services, including certificates of mailing and registered mail, for people who want documentation for their shipments.

If your package doesn't arrive in a reasonable amount of time, don't panic: It's somewhere in the system. Despite the horror stories we hear about crazed postal workers hoarding mail in chicken coops, lost items are rare. I've sold some 25,000 items through eBay, and only half a dozen or so disappeared forever into the Void. Give the item at least two weeks from the time of shipment before contacting me.

If your item doesn't arrive after 30 days from mailing, I will start a trace at the buyer's request. Be aware, however, that a trace takes time and probably is a pointless exercise; if a package is gone, it's gone, and the odds of a USPS employee finding it under the couch at the dead-letter center are just about zilch.

The USPS requires that 30 days go by before an insurance claim can be filed.