Advice on using recorded over 1st/2nd class

chja

Anything I sell for under £35 i send second class and obtain a proof of posting, which acts as insurance up to that value. I have only ever had to claim once and the Post Office were excellent.

Above £35, ask the Post Office person for the best level of insurance - either recorded or registered. If I think it will sell above that level then I build it into the postage price I quote; if I'm pleasantly surprised, then I just pay the extra myself as I've made more than I expected on the sale.

I would always send items such as mobile phones, etc by recorded delivery, or if I get a funny feeling about the buyer (odd feedback, stange contact, etc).

didi_nodebt

Even if I sell an item for 99p I would still send recorded delivery, coupled with the fact that we now have to accept paypal, I will not take any chances as paypal will only accept recorded / special delivery. Payal will not accept Certificate of postage or Proof of postage.

I have had 2 people say that they did not receive thier items and I gave paypal all the details tracking number etc...and both had been signed for at the address which the postal service confirmed. As such no case to answer, I emailed both buyers a couple of days later to say that I will start an insurance claim with royal mail and will let them know the result, one buyer got back to me and said "oh her sister signed for it but she did not tell her". The other buyer did not get back to me but both left positive feedbacks.

So also I bought 2 items from different sellers, after a month and a bit of waiting where they both said they sent it, I opened an item not received with paypal, one seller said they sent it recorded delivery but produced a made up recorded delivery number, do they think paypal does not investigate??? 2nd seller told paypal that he had proof of postage paypal said that does not prove anything. I got my money back in both instances..

With so many dodgy buyers and sellers on ebay now, as long as I am forced to accept paypal I will not take any chances its way too risky. There are many buyers on Ebay and if 70% will not bid because its recorded then I am ok with that, I am not a seller, I sell stuff in house that I want to get rid off so am not to fussed....there are enough buyers out there and for everyone that finds recorded delivery a hassle there a 2 who are reassured buy it.

Sorry lastly any seller that states I obtain proof of postage (ie not sent recorded / tracked /Special) and cannot be held responsible for missing and lost post but they then accept paypal is seriously deluded.

custardy

another thing to remember is RD items are held for 7 days vs 21 for all other items
so your buyer has a smaller window to collect from the delivery office

jenniewb

custardy wrote: »

another thing to remember is RD items are held for 7 days vs 21 for all other items
so your buyer has a smaller window to collect from the delivery office

Unless they give the PO a call and ask them to hold the parcel for longer, deliver it to the PO for a 50p charge or get it redelivered and then held again for a further 7 days.

Risk is too high, if you get 15 out of 100 sellers claiming back the item cost, plus delivery from paypal because your item has no real proof of postage (it was not recorded) then this can mean your selling of 85 items is almost meaningless by the time you take into account fees for both ebay and paypal.

Fact is, from most websites, delivery is not that far off the price of recorded delivery (eg amazon, topshop, freemans, etc etc) so the buyer needs to respect that they are paying for a service and not for the seller to have a night on the tiles!

ArmitageShanks

From a business perspective recorded is worth diddley squat. Both 1st and 2nd* have £36* insurance. If buyers want to be dishonest that's up to them, we've only had to make 2 claims from 500+ items over the last 6 months and I know one of them was a buyer playing the system.

72p cannot be justified, especially in area as sensitive as postage charges, and in marketplace as fee intense as ebay. Recorded does have its use, but not as a method for everyday dispatch. Although as has already been mentioned I would be advise everyone to use recorded.;)

soolin

jenniewb wrote: »

Risk is too high, if you get 15 out of 100 sellers claiming back the item cost, plus delivery from paypal because your item has no real proof of postage (it was not recorded) then this can mean your selling of 85 items is almost meaningless by the time you take into account fees for both ebay and paypal.
s!

If you are losing 15% f your parcels en route then you really seriously need to reconsider using ebay and Royal Mail. There is obviously something about your listings that attract scammers or if these are genuine losses your packaging must be dreadful. Even with some of th emost serious complaints covered online and on TV programmes I can't recall anyone with this level of loss, I would be seriously worried if I were you.

Also, for the person sending 99p items recorded on the 15% figures you would be losing a fortune! 100 parcels at an extra 72p = £72 therefore you would need to lose 72 parcels for every 100 you send for this to make sense

However as I said earlier I would urge all my competitors to use recorded, it increases my sales no end as I am cheaper, so thank you. I will be interested to see how many people who don't fully understand how business works go down once the new p and p policy comes into force in january..

soolin

ArmitageShanks wrote: »

From a business perspective recorded is worth diddley squat. Both 1st and 2nd* have £36* insurance. If buyers want to be dishonest that's up to them, we've only had to make 2 claims from 500+ items over the last 6 months and I know one of them was a buyer playing the system.

72p cannot be justified, especially in area as sensitive as postage charges, and in marketplace as fee intense as ebay. Recorded does have its use, but not as a method for everyday dispatch. Although as has already been mentioned I would be advise everyone to use recorded.;)

Shh, that's my cunning plan especially on media items from January! (I reckon I can destroy some of my competitors)

My claim figures are about the same as yours possibly a fraction better but roughly one loss per 300 or 400 items. Doing a very quick 'audit' of packages and letters in the past 3 months I suppose my recorded items signed for are currently hovering at around the 60 % mark, so 40% never got a signature (so I have another batch to claim postage costs for). I also had one package returned for no real reason, it was sent recorded to a sole trader apparently never carded for and now returned to me as uncollected, so another lot of postage to pay out, grrr.

jenniewb

ArmitageShanks wrote: »

From a business perspective recorded is worth diddley squat. Both 1st and 2nd* have £36* insurance. If buyers want to be dishonest that's up to them, we've only had to make 2 claims from 500+ items over the last 6 months and I know one of them was a buyer playing the system.

So, now I am a little confused: if you have not sent something recorded, how do you go about claiming the £36 without any such tracking code to take to the PO to prove that the parcel never arrived? would they not need a tracking number to claim the £36 with?

soolin

jenniewb wrote: »

So, now I am a little confused: if you have not sent something recorded, how do you go about claiming the £36 without any such tracking code to take to the PO to prove that the parcel never arrived? would they not need a tracking number to claim the £36 with?

Recorded is only standard mail and standard mail has insurance up to £36. All you need to make a claim from RM is a certificate of posting that you can get free is you ask when you post your items at a post office.

Incidentally standard mail (and again that includes recorded) has some exemptions including cash, tickets, jewellery and vouchers, so even if you use recorded those items are not insured against loss.

chja

jenniewb wrote: »

So, now I am a little confused: if you have not sent something recorded, how do you go about claiming the £36 without any such tracking code to take to the PO to prove that the parcel never arrived? would they not need a tracking number to claim the £36 with?

Nope - you just sign a declaration that it was not received - relys on honesty.