# Shipping sword canes



## gstrum (Mar 7, 2018)

Hello, not sure if this is the place to ask this question but thought I'd give it a try - sorry in advance if this is out of line. So, I sold an antique sword cane on eBay - the staff was split in several places but the sword including the handle was in pretty good shape. 5 days after it was delivered I get a message from the buyer asking if I forgot to include the sword. I know that I sent the complete stick so my initial thought is that I am being scammed but I wondered if anyone here heard of similar issues? There's no indication that the post office interceded but if they had wouldn't they leave a note saying as much? The buyer said that the package did not appear tampered with so what else could it be? Thanks for any help or suggestions, and, again, sorry if this is not the right place for such discussions.


----------



## Travis (Oct 17, 2017)

My understanding after a quick google search is that it would be legal to send a sword cane through the USPS as long as the sword cane is legal in the states it is being sent from and to.


----------



## gstrum (Mar 7, 2018)

Thanks, USPS is a bit vague on the subject but I didn't get the sense that it would be restricted as the blade was by nature covered. I'll ask my friend at the po tomorrow if he knows anything but I'd be surprised if they would've confiscated only the sword part of the stick and then sent the rest to the buyer without some notice.


----------



## Rodney (Jun 12, 2015)

If no one has done so yet you might want to notify Ebay and get them in the loop too. They will at least be able to tell you how they normally handle such claims. If you were not in the USA I would suspect a postal employee of theft. While it's not impossible here, our postal service here is generally pretty good. Damage through poor packaging and rough handling is far more likely than theft.


----------



## dww2 (Feb 4, 2017)

My first guess would have been the same as yours-- that the recipient was scamming you. I've heard from a friend who sells on eBay a lot that it's happened to him a couple of times. A part of the order which has value in and of itself was supposedly missing and the guy wanted a refund so you end up being minus (in this case) a blade plus the price the guy paid for the complete item.

Unfortunately, it'll be your word against his, unless you have some sort of unedited video of the packing process, driving to the post office, and handing the package over to the clerk. And from what I hear, eBay tends to side with the buyer in this sort of case.

As for tampering at the PO, the only thing close in my experience was that a high school buddy of mine and I used to write back and forth, and he was a bit of a joker and used to add weird titles to my name on the address. I got a letter from him one day which he clearly hadn't addressed (it looked like a woman's handwriting). I asked him about it the next time he came home on break and he was clueless. The only conclusion I could draw was that someone at the PO thought there was more to this that just a weird sense of humor. That letter had nothing on it to indicate that it had been opened and examined.


----------



## gstrum (Mar 7, 2018)

Here's a bit of an update with some additional info that speaks more and more of a scam being pulled. I asked my post office if they may have confiscated the blade for some reason, and if they had, would they then deliver it without any notice of having done so. The answer to both questions was no. It was then suggested that I file an invention claim for lost item. I relayed the information to the buyer asking him to first let me know if the package was handed directly to him and that no one else had access to it in the five days between delivery and when he sent me the first message. I also pointed out something else I noticed since he sent me a photo of the shaft: there were three rubber bands wrapped around the split shaft when i sent it, in his picture there are only two. It's been almost two days without a replay from him.

I think he took off the middle rubber band, saw the extent of the splitting (I acurately described it) and decided to pull the scam. That said, I still feel that I'm going to get the shaft (pun intended) on this as eBay is not a seller friendly venue.


----------

