I just received a message that a book I sent was received damaged by post office. I believe it was well packaged ,as I have been shipping books for years and never had a problem.The reciever has not PM'd me and I am not sure if I am required to refund the credit or only if they belive it's my fault.Can anyone clarify this for me?

Thanks

Dana

It is my understanding that if it is damaged by USPS you are not obligated to return the credit...

You don't have to refund the credit. If they marked it RWAP- USPS Damaged, then it must be pretty clear that it was damaged en route.  Don't worry about it- it happens.  I received a book with one corner soaked in ink from going through a PO machine and marked it RWAP- it does not reflect badly on the sender at all.  PBS knows it was not your fault.

As long as you packaged it up to PBS standards, you do not need to refund the credit. The responsibility for USPS damage is split. If the package gets there, the receiver bears the loss, if it never makes it there, the sender loses the credit.

You're not responsible if you believe you packed it well. You don't have to return their credit if it's marked USPS damaged. If they were going to ask for a credit back, that probably would have been in the mail PBS sent you.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/help/search.php?terms=rwap+usps#USPS_damaged

A book is considered Damaged by USPS if it was damaged in transit (while in the mail).

• This is usually just bad luck
  • Even the most well-wrapped packages can get mangled by a postal sorting machine
  • We have tried to divide the risk fairly between the sender and the requestor:
    • If the sender gets the book back damaged, the sender assumes the risk: she should contact us to cancel the request.  The requestor gets the credit back when we do that, and the sender does not get credit unless she used PBS-DC or PBS Printed Postage
    • If the requestor gets the book damaged by USPS, the requestor assumes the risk.  The requestor does need to mark the book received and does not get her credit back; the sender does get credit in this case.

I mark books as damaged by USPS when I do not expect the credit back.  If it wasn't well wrapped, then I would not mark it that way.  I had one arrive with a cracked spine and tire tread marks on the wrapper.  The package did not come open even when the mail truck drove over it and shattered the spine.  Well wrapped but really damaged. 

I think PBS keeps statistics of USPS damaged books.  So I mark them as such.