Shipping Rate Changes For Aps' Stamp Store

From an APS blast email received today:

Nice to know. Love that the APS has a lot of material. Just wish they'd make more of an effort to check the material they consign. By far and away the most returns I have are from the APS.

The APS Circuit Books seem to have a small but significant issue with undescribed small faults and hinge marks on NH claimed material.

I'm not tracking on this, but, I'm 15 years removed from circuit books.

Doesn't the buyer, by definition, have the item in hand? If the seller should have noted them, shouldn't the buyer be able to see them?

Not , serious question.

I have always had relatively poor luck with APS lots even before they migrated to HipStamp. Most common problems have been hinging on stamps claimed to be MNH, and gum problems like disturbance or toning.

Some sellers note as used vs unused and sometimes quality/hinged/etc., but you can look at the stamp. Some people put them in with hinges, these would be obvious, and the ones that aren't can be examined.

I get a circuit every few months.

I appreciate the lower postage charges for lower priced items. It's not yet to the point of $1.00 or free shipping like a lot of other sellers, but considering the quality and care of the APS shipping, $3.00 is probably barely break-even. I also appreciate the variety of modern US postage they (usually) use, although my last shipment just had an ordinary prepaid meter. I wonder if that is part of the cost savings, or did they run out of face value postage? They must have warehouses of postage donated from estates that equates to essentially free shipping for them, I can't see why they would ever need to use a meter.

They are also very good at taking returns for misdescribed items. Presumably repeat offenders are fined and eventually banned from selling on the APS Store. It is a big inconvenience for the buyer though.