Packagins damaged, item missing. Who is responsible?
 

Guys, quick sanity check.
I bought an item, took over 2 weeks to arrive. Packaging came in damaged with an apology letter from USPS. Item was not in the packaging.

Who is responsible for contacting USPS? Buyer or seller? My understanding is that seller needs to open a claim, since he's got the receipt for shipping and if he bought the insurance

Always the seller's responsibility. They purchased the shipping and only they can submit a claim with USPS. Hopefully they were smart enough to have the package insured, but no matter still on the shipper.

As Steve stated seller needs to contact USPS. It happens, but keep in mind it may take a little bit for USPS to resolve this. If you work with your seller and provide him a copy of the note it should work out in the end. Keep in mind, this happens more frequently when the USPS have temps filling in.

Thanks guys, that's what I thought too. I always purchase insurance when I'm the seller, regardless of the item's value.

Seller started out by saying it's not his problem after he shipped it, and I (buyer) should contact USPS. I argued that I couldn't do it, as he was the one that purchased the service, it would have to be him. He claimed that it's the buyer's responsibility to ask for insurance, so he didn't purchase any with the shipping. He replied to the PayPal dispute the same as he wrote me here. He then refunded me shortly after to close the Paypal dispute, but still insists that I should have contacted USPS.

Case closed, I guess. Just thought I would share for future reference

If it was sent Priority Mail, there's a $50 insurance included with the shipping cost. Depending on the value of the item, it's better than nothing for a item of lesser value.

I've run into sellers like yours who wash their hands the second the package crosses the USPS counter, but that's just not reality. Glad you were refunded and this seller is likely one to be avoided going forward.

From my past experiences the seller needs to work with USPS concerning the damaged item, especially if insurance was purchased.

Seller should assume all shipping costs unless it was specifically added to the agreed negotiated purchase price. That should include whatever insurance the seller opts to include to cover those risks. I usually roll the dice and just take the standard 50 bucks of insurance but i also try to package the item knowing that USPS is going to try there best effort to mangle that box. I think you can even ask them to put a few "Fragile" stamps on it as well - but i think that guarantees a USPS work will try to kick a field goal with your item!

It's amazing how completely ignorant some sellers still are these days.

If the seller does not work this out with you you'll need to go ahead and do the PayPal claim on the purchase. It may offend the seller but when you ship you as the seller are responsible to get the product to the buyer in good condition and in a timely manner.

Without seeing the packaging, it's impossible to say whether the fault lies with USPS for mishandling the item or with the seller for using inadequate packaging, but the seller is responsible for contacting USPS either way.