united-states business consumer-protection mail
What is the legal basis, if any, for the idea that sellers are responsible for lost packages?
<p>I recently had a package misdelivered/lost by USPS, and the small e-commerce retailer I purchased from refused to refund or replace, pointing to their “refund policy” which does include a line saying they aren’t responsible for lost mail. Their “shipping policy” made no mention of this.</p>
<p>It was a cheap item, so no big deal, but it prompted me to do some “research” online and every article I could find on the topic said that lost packages are the seller’s responsibility to replace or refund. This idea was repeated over and over, for US and international situations. None of them, however, cited a source.</p>
<p>What basis is there in US law for this idea? Is it accurate? Can it be contracted away by fine print in a “refunds policy,” or is that prohibited?</p>

<p><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/2/2-509" rel="nofollow noreferrer">UCC section 2-509</a> is the law pretty much everywhere in the United States, and it addresses your situation:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Where the contract requires or authorizes the seller to ship the goods by carrier ... if it does not require him to deliver them at a particular destination, the risk of loss passes to the buyer when the goods are duly delivered to the carrier.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although the statutory language is a bit convoluted, it all boils down to whether you have a shipment contract or a destination contract, i.e., whether the contract calls for the seller to ship something to you or deliver something to you.</p>
<p>Because you asked for a shipment contract, the risk of loss shifts to the buyer upon delivery to the shipping carrier (USPS). If the package is destroyed in transit, that becomes a problem for you and USPS to sort out. If you didn't purchase insurance for the shipment, you're probably screwed.</p>
<p>Note that because this is the statutory default, the seller didn't &quot;contract away&quot; anything; instead, it alerted you to what was already true, giving <em>you</em> an opportunity to contract around the rule, purchase insurance, or otherwise mitigate the risk you were taking on.</p>

<h2>The Contract</h2>
<p>Who is responsible for loss or damage to goods in transit (as between the parties) is a matter for the parties to determine and agree. The carrier may have liabilities to either or both of the parties under their contract or if they were negligent but that is beside the point.</p>
<p>In B2C transactions, some jurisdictions explicitly place this liability on the seller but the USA is not one of those. In the USA, the seller is only required to refund you if they don't <a href="https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-do-if-youre-billed-things-you-never-got-or-you-get-unordered-products" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ship</a> - not if the shipment is lost or damaged.</p>
