Sent Item Lost

JasperJelly

Hi everyone, I have an eBay problem I'd like advise on please.

I recently sold a much cherished and quite valuable item (over £300) on eBay. I didn't want to sell it but with Xmas approaching and kids wanting presents and all that jazz I decided to raise funds by selling this thing off.

I offered both standard 1st class postage and for an extra £4 Special Delivery Next Day which means the item is tracked, signed for and insured.

I even added a disclaimer to the ad along the lines of that I can't be held responsible for lost/damaged items in the post and that I recommend where possible that the purchaser utilises the postal service that best protects their purchase.

Problem is, people always want you go for the cheapest postal service then go bonkers when something goes missing and want you to sort it out for them.

I have always in the past blindly given people no questions asked refunds on lost items and been out of pocket to quite a degree. No !!!!!! ever does that for me though.

Anyway, the person who bought the item spent well over £300 but only paid for 1st class postage. I packaged it up and sent it off and guess what? It's not arrived!!!!

I did get one of those little certificate of postage print outs that they give you with his address hand written on it but nothing else more concrete sadly.
So, if I refund him then I'm down a lot of money and no longer have the item I very much cared for. And I'm sick of always taking the loss on these deals.

I don't want to stitch the guy up but who's to say he's not actually received the item and is keeping quiet (though I don't think he is). My feedback is 100% on over 1500 transactions and I'm very proud of that but I'm not in a position financially to just refund him anyway at the moment having used most of the funds to buy my kid's presents.

I'd like your thoughts and advice on this please. Where do I stand legally? I don't want to stitch anyone up but at the same time I cannot afford to refund such a large amount. Is the disclaimer on my ad saying that I bear no responsibility for items lost by the postal services not worth the paper it's written on?

In future, anything over £36 goes Special Delivery only, first class won't be an option.

Regards,

JJ

soolin

You know the answer to this already, you are scuppered. Insurance is for the benefit of the seller not the buyer so why would a buyer voluntarily pay for insurance that only protects the seller?

One other thing to note is that there seems to be a rise in the number of people with silly terms in the auctions about 'not being responsible for lost items' and them having subsequent problems. I posted on another thread that a good conspiracy theory would be that these naive sellers (and I'm sorry it is naive to think you can walk away once you post an item..with your history you should no better) ar ebeing targetted as buyers know they can get something for nothing.

You will have to refund either that or paypal will just take the money from you anyway.

In future take the daft meaningless terms out of your auction and make sure you send items over £36 special delivery.

bluebell13

Oh crikey! I'm really sorry but you are in trouble here as the item should have been sent Special Delivery due to the value. You cannot state that you are not responsible for lost items because by E-bay and Paypal rules you are, and if you dont refund the buyer can open a dispute which he will definitely win.

I wish I could be more positive. Sorry.

catmiaow

I am sure it is a hard lesson learn't for you. :rolleyes:

dollydoodah

Sorry OP, but you state you have over 1500 transactions under your belt and yet you sent a £300 item by normal first class post? :eek:

The buyer must have thought it was his lucky day.

pinkshoes

JasperJelly wrote: »

I even added a disclaimer to the ad along the lines of that I can't be held responsible for lost/damaged items in the post

JasperJelly wrote: »

My feedback is 100% on over 1500 transactions and I'm very proud of that

By all means add a disclaimer, but it doesn't actually mean anything! It's common sense that the person SENDING something in the post is the one responsible for it until it safely arrives, and given you have over 1500 transactions, I'm really surprised you don't know this.

Of course the buyer will opt for the cheapest delivery! If they are pulling a fast one, and it DID arrive, then there's nothing you can do, as you need to prove that it arrived.

You need to refund your buyer.

Your only hope is that if it DID arrive, and they try and re-sell it (keep an eye on their sales), you can flag it up to ebay and hope that they take your side, which isn't always likely...

Cooler

At the risk of sounding bitter, you may get away with it anyway.
Some while ago now, I bought an expensive mobile handset on eBay from a 100% positive feedback seller. It never arrived. Funny thing is the 100% feedback suddenly started dropping through the floor just after, with folk complaining that their mobile hadn't arrived.
We had the address and phone numbers, so I took the details to my local cop-shop, who later told me they'd passed it all over to their colleagues in Durham (where the seller was).
After that point my phone calls to Durham cop-shop went unanswered. Never heard any more. For all I know they could have just patted him on the back and presented him with a bunch of flowers. Who can tell.
All I know is that I never got my money back, and eBay clearly didn't care. At the time trying to find out what to do was a nightmare, page after page of useless info and links to more useless pages ad infinitum. I assume they must have had the relevant info in there somewhere, but they made a good job of ensuring it was too difficult to find in time.

DINKYDI_2

JasperJelly wrote: »

Hi everyone, I have an eBay problem I'd like advise on please.

I recently sold a much cherished and quite valuable item (over £300) on eBay. I didn't want to sell it but with Xmas approaching and kids wanting presents and all that jazz I decided to raise funds by selling this thing off.

I offered both standard 1st class postage and for an extra £4 Special Delivery Next Day which means the item is tracked, signed for and insured.

I even added a disclaimer to the ad along the lines of that I can't be held responsible for lost/damaged items in the post and that I recommend where possible that the purchaser utilises the postal service that best protects their purchase.

Problem is, people always want you go for the cheapest postal service then go bonkers when something goes missing and want you to sort it out for them.

I have always in the past blindly given people no questions asked refunds on lost items and been out of pocket to quite a degree. No !!!!!! ever does that for me though.

Anyway, the person who bought the item spent well over £300 but only paid for 1st class postage. I packaged it up and sent it off and guess what? It's not arrived!!!!

I did get one of those little certificate of postage print outs that they give you with his address hand written on it but nothing else more concrete sadly.
So, if I refund him then I'm down a lot of money and no longer have the item I very much cared for. And I'm sick of always taking the loss on these deals.

I don't want to stitch the guy up but who's to say he's not actually received the item and is keeping quiet (though I don't think he is). My feedback is 100% on over 1500 transactions and I'm very proud of that but I'm not in a position financially to just refund him anyway at the moment having used most of the funds to buy my kid's presents.

I'd like your thoughts and advice on this please. Where do I stand legally? I don't want to stitch anyone up but at the same time I cannot afford to refund such a large amount. Is the disclaimer on my ad saying that I bear no responsibility for items lost by the postal services not worth the paper it's written on?

In future, anything over £36 goes Special Delivery only, first class won't be an option.

Regards,

JJ

WHAT YOU CAN DO IS TO CLOSE YOUR EBAY ACCOUNT DOWN BEFORE THEY HAVE A CHANCE TO TAKE THE MONEY BACK ,IF YOU HAVE OUTSTANDING TRANSACTIONS GOING OUT LIKE EBAY FEES YOU HAVE TO WAIT UNTILL THIS HAS GONE THROUGH , THEN SET UP A NEW ONE, FOR 300 POUND THIS IS WHAT I WOULD DO

DINKYDI_2

WHAT YOU CAN DO IS TO CLOSE YOUR EBAY ACCOUNT DOWN BEFORE THEY HAVE A CHANCE TO TAKE THE MONEY BACK ,IF YOU HAVE OUTSTANDING TRANSACTIONS GOING OUT LIKE EBAY FEES YOU HAVE TO WAIT UNTILL THIS HAS GONE THROUGH , THEN SET UP A NEW ONE, FOR 300 POUND THIS IS WHAT I WOULD DO

[EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com?subject=Reporting post http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=16428841"][/EMAIL]

zenseeker

DINKYDI wrote: »

WHAT YOU CAN DO IS TO CLOSE YOUR EBAY ACCOUNT DOWN BEFORE THEY HAVE A CHANCE TO TAKE THE MONEY BACK ,IF YOU HAVE OUTSTANDING TRANSACTIONS GOING OUT LIKE EBAY FEES YOU HAVE TO WAIT UNTILL THIS HAS GONE THROUGH , THEN SET UP A NEW ONE, FOR 300 POUND THIS IS WHAT I WOULD DO

Why should the buyer lose out just because the op screwed up?

Frankly this is all the op's fault, not getting enough insurance and not getting a slip!! You CAN be held responsible and you WILL be held responsible for the item not arriving and the people suggesting that you should just close your account and leave the buyer out of pocket should be ashamed of yourselves!!

Besides, it isn't that easy...eBay have the sellers address details and will catch up with him/her eventually, most likely by getting Intrum Justica on the case which could see the seller in county court.

Consider this a very harsh lesson.

catmiaow

It says in terms and conditions on Paypal that if you close your account, this will not stop disputes etc and I am sure this is the same for ebay. If you close your account down it is like you have something to hide.