On August 1st, the USPS will begin verifying that shippers have paid the correct amount for postage purchased online for packages they send through the Postal Service and will bill them or their vendor if postage is due. The Automated Package Verification System will roll out on August 1st and promises to compensate shippers for over-payments as well.





The USPS notified Click N Ship customers, and PC postage providers have begun emailing customers over the past week or so to let them know about the program.





Some sellers are concerned about how the USPS and companies like eBay would handle the billing, and seemed especially concerned about disputes.





Eric Nash, Senior Director of Online Marketing at Stamps.com, said there were positives. For example, buyers will no longer receive packages with "postage due" notices for underpaid packages, and packages will not get returned to the seller if the USPS detects underpaid postage, thereby eliminating negative buyer experiences, he said.





Nash said the program could cause some confusion or frustration on the part of sellers as many customers do not know they are under-paying postage. "Their scales could be off or they may assume you can use a Priority Mail Flat Rate Box with regular Priority Mail postage," for example, he said.





Stamps.com communicated with customers and published this blog post informing them of the new program.





Some sellers say the program could be positive in that it would prevent unscrupulous sellers from cheating the Postal Service. One seller said they always overestimated their postage, so hoped they'd receive credits through the program.





A major area of concern among sellers is whether they will be able to dispute a claim they underpaid for a package's postage, which the Post Office collects through vendors.





Nash said the USPS has developed a process where a customer can send an email to VerifyPostageHelp@usps.gov - they will need to include the parcel tracking number and reason for the dispute in the email.





He said the USPS has provided the following service levels for responses:





- Response time to disputes expected to be 2 to 5 business days.





- Time limit for adjudication to be 15 business days max.





- There is not expected to be partial reversals. It dispute will either be approved or denied.





- Stamps.com customers will get an email when the dispute is opened and then a second email when the dispute has been approved or denied.





- Stamps.com is building a one-step mechanism within the Reports/Print History feature for customers to send the appropriate dispute info to the USPS.





Do you have questions or concerns about the new USPS Automated Package Verification System? Leave a comment below - we'll be publishing more on this as it rolls out in the coming weeks.