Three packages sent through Royal Mail-Maybe lost

soolin

BoltonMinx wrote:

So what happens if you offer free postage ? Your invoice will show £0 P&P, so shouldn't the PO refund you the full amount of the invoice ?

That should work, but having to raise the start price of an item to cover the 'free' postage might mean people are more reluctant to bid.

Soo

soolin

YvonneCrossland wrote:

I must say I HAVE got the postage back more than once when I have put a claim in, HTH someone.

Yvonne

I always used to get the postage back but then a few months ago they suddenly stopped and when I queried it I got a huge letter explaining that they had been in error previously for refunding the postage part of the costs. I have argued with them about this, and i know at least one other regular on here has done so without any success.

My argument is that if I sell something for say £10 plus £3 post and packing the buyer pays me £13 and then gets back £13 on the refund. The post office will only give me back the £10 so I am out of pocket by £3 PLUS the actual costs I incurred in my packing materials and posting.

This is one reason I tend not to use airsure for overseas packages as when they don't arrive my out of pocket expenses are horrendous as I've paid an extra £3.65 odd for a service I didn't get!

Having said all that, I did recently get my post and packing back on a recorded item, it was only £1.10 with an item cost of £26.oo though but I have no idea why they suddenly paid that out.

Soo

Jonni2bad

Could you not make your own invoice for the item, showing only the total value (i.e. inclusive of postage) ?

I have claimed twice before and sucessfully received full payment based on this method, and currently have a claim on its way at the moment.

The claim form asks for a "market value" of the goods missing - well to me the value is what the buyer paid in full, not only for the product but the packing and postage too, so I'm not, in my opinion, doing anything wrong or immoral.

My buyers have never been contacted by RM to verify the claim, but just in case, I let them know that the value of the claim is as stated above.

$17mma

Hintza wrote:

Wrong on two counts here:-

1. The royal mail DO NOT refund cost of potage only the value of the item upto £30. If item is valued over £30 then you will also carry the can because you used the wrong service. Why as others have said do they not pay the Postage charge I do not know and I think that is a disgrace.

2. Insurance is a waste of time if item paid by PayPal as the seller has to PROVE delivery. I never take insurance and would fully expect to be covered by PayPal.

The thing that really annoys me are the sellers that insist in small print that you take out insurance. That is just a scam if they offer PayPal as a method of payment.

Yes you are right the refund you the cost of the item, sorry didnt expalin well, :doh: so surely if an item goes missing then they can still claim the cost of the item back and refund the customer?! no loss on the cost of the item.

soolin

Jonni2bad wrote:

Could you not make your own invoice for the item, showing only the total value (i.e. inclusive of postage) ?
.

I did send a copy of my own invoice, the one I send at the end of the auction, to the RM in support of my claim once and my entire claim was refused on the basis that I had misclaimed as the item costs claimed did not match the item shown on ebay. I might have been unlucky as my items are fairly unique, but I shan't chance it again as I can't afford to lose my claims entirely.

$17mma wrote:

Yes you are right the refund you the cost of the item, sorry didnt expalin well, :doh: so surely if an item goes missing then they can still claim the cost of the item back and refund the customer?! no loss on the cost of the item.

The seller still loses as they will have repaid the buyer the full amount paid, ie £10 item cost plus £3 post and packing, yet will only get £10 back from the RM.

Soo

Contains_Mild_Peril

BoltonMinx wrote:

So what happens if you offer free postage ? Your invoice will show £0 P&P, so shouldn't the PO refund you the full amount of the invoice ?

As Soo said, that should work, but bear in mind that final value fees will then be charged on the total price, including the "free" postage element, whereas if you charge for p&p separately, FVF's are only charged on the net price, excluding p&p.

isayoldchap

soolin wrote:

I always used to get the postage back but then a few months ago they suddenly stopped and when I queried it I got a huge letter explaining that they had been in error previously for refunding the postage part of the costs. I have argued with them about this, and i know at least one other regular on here has done so without any success.

My argument is that if I sell something for say £10 plus £3 post and packing the buyer pays me £13 and then gets back £13 on the refund. The post office will only give me back the £10 so I am out of pocket by £3 PLUS the actual costs I incurred in my packing materials and posting.

This is one reason I tend not to use airsure for overseas packages as when they don't arrive my out of pocket expenses are horrendous as I've paid an extra £3.65 odd for a service I didn't get!

Having said all that, I did recently get my post and packing back on a recorded item, it was only £1.10 with an item cost of £26.oo though but I have no idea why they suddenly paid that out.

Soo

Soolin
Are you saying that if you use a certain service and the item never get's delivered then only for certain services you may get a refund on the postage also.In your case recorded delivery.
Let's not get away from the fact it's their mess up and no service should mean a complete refund for postage.

soolin

isayoldchap wrote:

Soolin
Are you saying that if you use a certain service and the item never get's delivered then only for certain services you may get a refund on the postage also.In your case recorded delivery.
Let's not get away from the fact it's their mess up and no service should mean a complete refund for postage.

No, there seems no pattern to why every now and then they refund the whole lot, maybe they got a new post office employee or something who didn't understand the rules?

I've just been through a really bad run of lost parcels and with all my claims except one I only got the item cost back, not the post and packing element of the ebay invoice. Interestingly, using Recorded delivery seemed to increase my losses which I found worrying especially as it put me even further out of pocket having to pay all thise extra 66p's.

Hopefully the run of losses appears to have stopped, so maybe things will be Ok now for a while.

Soo

BoltonMinx

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote:

As Soo said, that should work, but bear in mind that final value fees will then be charged on the total price, including the "free" postage element, whereas if you charge for p&p separately, FVF's are only charged on the net price, excluding p&p.

I'm not too worried about that, my items tend to sell for under a fiver and its just to clear the house. If they don't sell, they go straight to a charity shop

buggu

I currently lose about 5% of the items i sell in post which doesnt seem too bad. I have learnt to make sure:
1: All parcels are insured for the correct value
2: I rarely use recorded delivery except for certain items -
since 66p an item can easily add and your not quaranteed it wont still get
lost. If i,m selling mobile phones or other popular scamming items i make
sure i use recorded.
3. Make sure i dont overcharge on all postal costs, will just line royal mails
pockets for the lost items.

Although i dont always implement this. I guess it all depends on how
many i have lost in the past few weeks and how much i feel i would gain
from lessfinal fees and trying to balance both.

4. Try to make sure buyers are aware that when they havent recieved
items its because of postal delays/loss and not because i havent bothered
to post it .At present i am leaving it 2 weeks before i refund the buyer but
i guess i might make it sooner.

Basically as i look at it, its a matter of me accepting these small losses( well not actually losses to me but more of a non profit sale where i have just broke even with the loss items) since every business goes thorough a loss of some soughts. Its how u deal with it and move on that matters.