It's possible my latest stove buy aint' gonna show up!

Colin Geer sent me a Burmos 21 stove for a year ago through the ”notorious stove killer” Royal Mail and used the label ”Brass Ornament” which worked without any known problems.
I can not imagine that there are any real persons that read the labels on the maybe hundreds of thousand packages send every day.
I think it is a label reading camera that reads the text and that there are certain words that it react on.
Writing something that are not really a lie but not exactly true either should probably not being a problem.
Brass Ornament, Brass Spare Parts, Camping Equipment or whatever can be invented should not be any problem.
If the stove has been partly stripped down by removing the tank lid, burner cap/flame spreader, burner itself or whatever can be removed it is not a stove anymore, merely a ”Brass Ornament”, in my opinion.

Michael

 

About 2 months ago I received a 00 size stove from GB and the seller didn't even empty the fuel. It absolutely reeked of Kero and the inside of the box was wet from what had leaked. I couldn't believe it made it to my mailbox let alone leaving GB. Hard to figure the rationale.

 

OLD POST ALERT:

Greetings, All,

Yes, I know this is an old thread, but today, one of our members sent me PM, asking about the end result of my having lost the Primus #5 stove and Henley oven and stand, last October. Unfortunately, he, too, may have run afoul of the “confiscate and destroy” situation. In my case, EBay gave me a full refund, including shipping, and from what the seller told me, he, too, received a refund. Not quite sure how that happened, but that’s what I remember about that situation. Here’s hoping that our member, if he HAS lost the stove he purchased from the UK, also is reimbursed the costs of the item, and shipping, and that the seller is treated lifewise!! This is just an FYI post, Mates, as our member, @Four Smokes Wallup, told me he didn’t read any firm resolution back when I had this problem. Take care, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

 

Does God Play Dice

Apparently the Royal Mail do.

 

@Doc Mark it's not the same Primus No.5, Henley oven and stand currently listed on ebay UK is it? Found it's way back to market perhaps.

 

Hi, @Matthew92 ,

Maybe, but in truth, it doesn't look quite the same, though it's hard to tell from the poor photos. A good Mate of mine here at CCS passed along that offering today, too. But, as I have one stove on hold, with a fellow CCS member, I'll not be buying any more stoves until my debt is paid for the stove that's being held for me. Interesting that the same combo of Primus #5 and Henley oven popped up, though, isn't it!? Unfortunately, when I was sent my refund for the one that was confiscated, eBay deleted all the photos from that sale, and thus, I can't be sure it's not the same set.

Here's the only photo (VERY poorly cropped!) of the "one that got away":



The new one is either a different seller, or, it's the same guy, with another account. Who knows.....???!!

In any case, it's the oven I'm really wanting, as I have two nice Primus #5 stoves. Another Henley oven, maybe much nicer, will come along, one of these days, and it will have my name on it!! Thank you for the link to the one now offered. Take care, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

 

Thanks @Doc Mark , in my case it was an old, well patina-d Primus 96 that fell afoul of the Ebay GSP.

Most annoying. The seller has been contacted about the situation.

Let that be a lesson to me and an example to others not to trust the minions of Pitney Bowes. I do have copies of pictures of the stove just in case it wanders back on the market. I will post those on a new thread dependant on the progress of my situation.

 

Worst case ..... is a postal employee selling it months after, hoping that we have forgotten.

 

Missing Items using Ebay GSP.

I know there'll be some booing and hissing, but I am a commercial seller on ebay (not stoves or lamps I hasten to add!). I sell small antique and collectable items, about 15% of which sell overseas via the ebay GSP.

I post everything via the Royal Mail to the ebay Global shipping centre, it's posted signed for so I have a record of the package having arrived at the GSP.
Once at the GSP the package is the responsibility of ebay. If lost at this point (after having signed for delivery to GSP) ebay take full responsibility and will reimburse both buyer and also seller.

As mentioned previously in this thread, getting a seller to ensure an item is clean and well packed (all my items are sealed in a plastic bag to protect from moisture) and the parcel is clearly marked with the ebay ref number in more than one place.
It may also be prudent to ask the seller to enclose details of seller and customer inside the package.

In years of selling on ebay my only real problems have been with the 'click and collect' service they offer here in the UK.
If a parcel is lost while in the care of the Royal Mail, it's the buyer who must make any claim to the Royal Mail, as at this point the item no longer belongs to the seller.

As a commercial seller it's getting more and more difficult to use ebay, who are now trying to get rid of auctions and become more like amazon. The fees too for selling are outrageous!

Lastly, if you're buying from ebay, do check sellers feedback and if something looks too good to be true.... well, you know the rest! Look for 100% positive feedback and a power seller.

Oddly, the most reliable overseas purchases I've made are all from China....

Stevie

 

It has been said that they are not always 'lost', but confiscated as 'dangerous' at the discretion of the RM employee examining the package.

 

My company ships and receives 20-50 packages/day and several international shipments per week.

Our general experience:

1.) Anything suspicious on the outside of the box is going to cause the box to get opened. This can be as little as weird labeling, or as severe as green glowing bubbling toxic ooze dripping out, or anything in between.

2.)A certain "random" percentage of absolutely perfect boxes get opened and inspected. This usually involves removing and discarding half the packing material and sometimes some of the contents and then poorly retaping the box. No explanation given.

3.) Certain sellers have a much higher rate of having their boxes inspected, hence the "random" in quotes for #2.

4.) Certain carriers have a much higher rate of having their boxes inspected, hence the "random" in quotes for #2.

UPS is the worst, Fedex next, and DHL is MUCH better than either. Not likely to be of any help for stovies as I think most of us ship stove items via our various country's postal services, as cost is more important than time for those shipments. In my business, the opposite is true and we use the faster more expensive carriers.

5.) Of the boxes that are inspected, a small percentage(under 5%) require additional outside testing which can take somewhere between two days and three months. You'll be notified. I think one of the requirements for the people who do the notifications is that they'll kill your dog when you're hired and remind you of it every morning to ensure you're in the proper mood at work.

6.) Of those boxes which require further testing, probably half of them simply disappear into the ether, never to be heard from or about ever again. You can try contacting CBP to find out more about your package but slamming a finger in a door will be faster and just as effective.

In case I was unclear, I don't have a very high opinion of the process.

 

In my case a full refund was issued to the seller and myself.

 

Refund for a rare stove is not the issue. The stove most likely being destroyed is the issue.

 

I don’t cry for inanimate objects or tools in this case.

 

So, no special stoves in your collection?

 

@BigStevie, thanks for the insider info, for occasional sellers I think most are finding Ebay not the market place it once was as you rightly pointed out.

The loss of rare or unique items as Ken has rightly pointed out is the biggest worry.

 

Not yet. Not like I have a dozen NIB Optimus 9s on hand.

I’m still in the “kid in the candy shop mode”, sampling everything available as I get acquainted with the vast variety of camp stoves available and if accessible, use them a sufficient number of times to get a good feel for them. Jury is still out on what I like although simple operation with a variety of cooking modes is starting to focus ny attention.

Back to the thread topic.

 

It is a shame rare vintage stoves are being destroyed because a mail service thinks them dangerous.
Inanimate objects.

That IS the thread topic.

 

This would be a good use for a very tiny GPS tracking device carefully placed on the item in question...does such a device exist? Reuseable and returned to sender?