USPS Damaged Mail Claim:(

I spent a good portion of the weekend negotiating a miniatures trade involving my new on sprue Tyranid army, new on sprue Tau Riptide, new Iron Kingdoms Unleashed Game for a used/built/primed Hordes/Warmachine lot that includes the Gatorman Sacral Vault, Croak Raiders, Retribution figures, Khador figures and Trollblood figures.  I was pretty excited about the trade because I'm really getting into Warmachine/Hordes, and with the job situation, can't afford to buy the miniatures.  We both shipped U.S. Priority Mail on Monday.

My trading partner got his package in good shape yesterday, and I excitedly went to the mail room of my complex to get my box after work.  I picked up the box and could hear lots of parts shifting around.  Not a good sign.

I opened the box and to my dismay, many of the miniatures were broken.  Some were broken beyond repair...

Not only that, the key pieces to the deal that I received, the Gatormen miniatures were completely destroyed.  Felt like a good kick to the gut.  Luckily my trading partner insured the box of miniatures.

 

We went back and forth with e-mails, and he feels really bad about the situation and is willing to help me in any way possible.  I spent well into the wee hours this morning completing a damaged mail claim on the USPS website.  I'm absolutely exhausted this morning.

Filing a claim was a pretty straight-forward process.  I entered the insurance number/tracking number, my trading partner's contact information, the date of the shipment, evidence showing the value of the damaged goods and evidence of my damaged goods. 

Determining the value of my damaged miniatures was particularly tricky and time consuming because it was a trade and not a purchase.  As a result, I couldn't produce a receipt or eBay auction price details.  In the end, I had to go to two major war game web store sites, Miniatures Market and the War Store, to take screenshots of the miniatures I received and then come up with a lower value since I traded for used miniatures.  I then submitted the screenshots in my claim.

We'll see how the process goes... I need some sleep.   

Update: It continues Here.