Help: A buyer who says he hasn't recieved the item

prozak

Hi guys, I'm looking for some advice on what to do about something I sold on ebay lately and I would appreciate any help.
Right, so I sold some aftershave's I won in a competition on ebay and this guy has won it. The auction finished on the 21st of september and he paid 5 days later. We first had a suspicion we'd have problems when we saw his feedback was private and he had 4 negative within the last 12 months and had 96%.
The problem now is that I sent the package out Immediatly after payment, he chose not to have insurance on the packaging etc and he's claiming that the package has still not arrived. I have suspicions that the package has been recieved by him and he's trying it on, the package hasn't been returned to me so I don't know what to do? He's threatened to use claimback through paypal.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am clueless as to the next steps I should be taking to avoid losing money + shipping costs here.

typing00

Hi

How did you send it? Recorded delivery or simple Royal Mail First Class post?

Either way, if the buyer starts a Paypal chargeback for non-delivery (regardless of whether he is lying or the items indeed got lost in post), then Paypal would more than likely refund the money in his favour, because you as a seller cannot prove delivery (needs to be trackable online).

The way I see it, your only option is to claim via Royal Mail for item lost in post (hopefully you obtained a Certificate of Posting at the very least), and then refund the buyer.

Kind regards

shellsuit

I'm afraid he can do a chargeback with Paypal and they will probably favour him as you have no proof that the item/s you sent have reached him.

If sending goods paid with Paypal you must always send them with trackable means, recorded or special delivery so if a dispute arises, you have proof that the goods have been sent, as a normal proof of posting receipt will not do.

masonic

There is absolutely no reason why a buyer should choose optional insurance if they pay using paypal. The insurance would be there to protect you, not the buyer. I presume you did not send by recorded delivery, but did you get a certificate of posting? If so, you should have no trouble claiming up to £30 compensation from royal mail (no postage refund, though), but if you can't prove delivery, you WILL lose a paypal chargeback.

bleugh

sorry to hear this :-(

clearly he knows the paypal system

you've lost your money and your aftershafe, plain and simple if you haven't sent recorded

take it on the chin and think yourself lucky you didnt loose £200 like i did a few years ago :-)

paypal really DO need to make these caveats a lot clearer

https://www.paypalwarning.com
https://www.aboutpaypal.org
https://www.paypalsucks.com

prozak

I'd like to thank you all for your responses even though I don't like some of them lol. You live and learn and this is one of those cases, from the attitude from the seller plus his hidden and poor feedback I really do feel he's trying to do me over.
In the buyers last e-mail to me after I told them I was hesitant to refund them they e-mailed back claiming they were gonna go halves on the cost but now they wanted a full refund, I really do feel played.

I shall go refund him now and start my way through the claim back system, thanks guys.

masonic

Was the item less than £30 - i.e. will you be covered for the full amount by RM?

bobdauilda

If it helps any, I have had several Ebayers do this to me recently (2 from Germany and one from UK) I have had proof of postage receipts only and am still awaiting decisions from Royal Mail- They take forever and I suspect that they will come to nothing.

Its really annoying,especially as I then have to send the replacements out and lose further money. There should be a better system than currently exists, as Paypal clearly favours the buyer and NOT the seller in any dispute. It has got so bad now that I am contemplating stopping selling on Ebay completely. Either that or raise postage to much higher levels and lose to my competitors who sell the same product.
Good luck with your dispute.

Bargainbabe_2

OP did you not get a free Certificate of Posting?

dandydeels

A warning from me about paypal-

I just found out the hard way that even when you send items abroad - with trackable international signed for (Royal Mail) its not even safe. As the Royal Mail international trackable system doesn't show item delivered- it just states passed into the hands of an overseas operator. This isn't proof enough for paypal and they found in the favour of the Japanese claimant- 900 pounds.!!

This ruined my cashfllow- literally wiped me out -as i had just clawed my way back up and had paid off a lot of debts the previous week. I am only just recovering from the mayhem this caused- 3 months later- - as payapl shut down my account- i couldn't receive hundreds of pounds owed by other people etc. Their full t&c's regarding this are below. I am now not accepting paypal- yes i will lose out a bit- but a lot of people have online banking these days and can transfer straight into your bank account. yes , its a pain, but one i am now prepared to live with. Paypal were unhelpful, shoddy and in the case of a customer services agent from the states- arrogant.

I guess you have to get bitten to know that bites hurt.... please don't get bitten.

paypals email

> For resolution, we need one of the following:
>
> 1. A valid tracking number that can be tracked online through the
> shipping
> company's website, showing merchandise posted to the buyer's confirmed
> address. For transactions equal to Ł150 GBP (or the equivalent in the
> currency of the transaction) or more in value, you will also need to
> provide an online proof-of-receipt in the form of a signature from the
> recipient. If the dispute reason of any dispute listed above is Not as
> Described, it cannot be resolved with proof of delivery, as the buyer is
> not disputing receipt of the merchandise. For resolution of these
> disputes,
> the buyer must contact PayPal directly to cancel the dispute, or a full
> refund must be issued.
>
> 2. Direct confirmation from the buyer that the merchandise or a refund
> has
> been received.
>
> If you are unable to provide the information listed above, the buyer must
> be refunded. To resolve your dispute(s) with a refund, you will need to
> fund your PayPal account with the full transaction currency amount.

lapat

you have a private message