Paypal Dispute - Advice

cazwasere

Hi, I've successfully sold over 300 items on ebay with no issues whatsoever...Now I've had a buyer dispute receipt of goods claim listed on paypal and paypal have ruled in favour of the buyer, even though there has not yet been time to get a claim in with the post office....Is there anypoint appealing?
Payment for item received on 14th May, I posted the item on 15th May. Dispute was logged on 23rd May, and it has been accepted by paypal in favour of the buyer on 1st June....I can't believe how quickly this has gone through considering you can't even raise a claim with Royal Mail until 14 or 15 working days after the item was actually posted...How can this go through so quickly? Advice needed - is there any point appealing against the decision? What happens if I raise a claim against the post office and they advise they have delivered the item - would I have any further ability to appeal to Paypal - I've never dealt with a royal mail claim before - how long do they take as I have 10 calendar days to raise an appeal with Paypal. I do have a certificate of posting, and other items posted at exactly the same time have arrived safely. Is there anyway of finding out if this buyer regularly logs disputes and I'm being scammed? It's only a small value refund that has been given, so is it worth claiming from Royal Mail? Any help appreciated

madison-nyc

How did you post? recorded or just 1st class?

cyril82

it is a common problem on ebay, buyer raises a dispute paypal refund, no consideration for if enough time has passed for the seller to raise a complaint with the courier or if the seller even has to refund legally.

Distance selling regulations state that the buyer has seven days from receipt to report a problem, it is unclear on how long he has to report the item not received, but i guess within reason, anytime. But then when a problem is reported the distance selling regulations state you have upt o 30 days to refund, entitling you to wait until royal mails 16 day time frame is up. if paypal refund the buyer then royal mail deliver the item they will not allow you to claim and you will lose the money and the item you sold.

I would email paypal to state that distance selling regulations state you have up to 30 days from when a problem is reported to refund, and since royal mail state an item is not lost until 16 days after posting you intend to wait until this time elapses before authorising a refund and that if ebay refund before this date without your authorisation and the item is subsequently delivered this may result in you seeking compensation from them via the small claims court for your losses, plus costs and interest as paypal do not have the legal authority to award money from your account to other people without your authority.

For a small amount pursuing this to the small claims court may not be worth while but if you send the appeal to them pointing out your stance it may cause them to think twice before refunding too soon, if you are concerned that the item may still be delivered and you do not want to loose out it may be worth a try to send the email.

vangirl_2

Royal Mail require you to wait 15 working days from despatch to file a claim. You can download the form from their website, there are certain documents you need to send them for an ebay claim, it also list these on website. I assume because its a low value item you didnt send it recorded therfore royal mail wouldnt be able to prove its been delivered. You are covered up to the value of £39.00

Although your buyer has been slightly hasty you cant ask them to wait the full 15 days before refunding them.

I wouldnt assume they are trying it on. I think after 300 sales you have to expect one or two items to go mssing. Also the post has been slightly more unreliable at the moment, I dont know if its due to short staff levels during the bank holidays but I have had a couple of claims and some delays the past couple of months.

tonyb299

Firstly, where paypal and claims are concerned, if you didnt send by recorded delivery or online trackable eg DHL, Parcelforce etc... your sunk!. Paypal will find in favour of your buyer by default.. and the certificate of posting is absolutely worthless because the distance selling regs, ebay and paypal all put the owness on you to deliver the goods by whatever means.

Secondly, the buyer is not expected to wait pending the outcome of a royal mail claim.. you are required to refund asap

If you posted on the 15th may as you state, and paypal refunded on the 1st june, that is the 15 days and it is offically lost.

Basically with ebay as it is, unless you're prepared to risk literally giving stuff away you simply HAVE to post recorded delivery because the "i havent recieved my delivery" scam is so easy to pull off.

All you can do realistically is lodge your RM claim, put it down to experience and move on comfortable in the knowledge sellers are being scammed like this on a daily basis.

vangirl_2

If the OP has sucessfully sold over 300 items without a problem then theres not much point in paying an extra 0.75p for recorded delivery.

Either he would have to pay it himself and would now be an extra £225 out of pocket or he would have to pass this on to his customers and risk loosing sales for being overpriced.

Recorded delivery still isnt a guarantee either, mostly the item never gets signed for anyway.

Smart_But_Casual

vangirl wrote: »

If the OP has sucessfully sold over 300 items without a problem then theres not much point in paying an extra 0.75p for recorded delivery.

Either he would have to pay it himself and would now be an extra £225 out of pocket or he would have to pass this on to his customers and risk loosing sales for being overpriced.

Recorded delivery still isnt a guarantee either, mostly the item never gets signed for anyway.

Since entering the RD numbers into paypal when bagging up I've reduced my claims for non delivery to zero.

Paypal generates an email to buyers with the tracking details. This cetainly acts as a deterrent to scammers.

madison-nyc

Since entering the RD numbers into paypal when bagging up I've reduced my claims for non delivery to zero.

Paypal generates an email to buyers with the tracking details. This cetainly acts as a deterrent to scammers.

I would definatley agree with that. I now send everything by recorded as clearly stated in my listings. Since swapping to recorded I haven't had one single claim for non delivery! definately worth the extra 72p!

vangirl_2

I know what your saying but many people cant have an extra 0.75p added to the cost of postage or afford to pay for it themselves.

I often wonder how many items do go/are said to have gone missing. For me i actually think its quite alot but when i look back its actually less than one per 200 items sold, not taking into account things that have been returned cause the buyers not collected it, which is not too bad but i dont sell very high risk items.

I wonder if one of the board guides could put up a poll so we could individually log how many items per 100 goes missing, i would be interested to see what the outcome would be.

frivolous_fay

The time frame you can claim from the RM is completely irrelevant to PP.
Can you prove the item has the item arrived? No. Case closed.

Buyer gets his refund, you then claim yours from the RM, no-one loses.

cyril82

frivolous_fay wrote: »

The time frame you can claim from the RM is completely irrelevant to PP.
Can you prove the item has the item arrived? No. Case closed.

Buyer gets his refund, you then claim yours from the RM, no-one loses.

unless of course paypal force through the refund before the royal mail timeframe is up, then you try to claim and royal mail says, sorry, we delivered your item, you can't claim.