Item Damaged by Royal Mail

Jo_F

My partner has been selling off some of his model trains on Ebay, and we have been sending them Special Delivery. A batch went out yesterday and today I got a phone call from a buyer to tell me that his train had been damaged, according to his description, the box is severely damaged, it looks like it has been dropped or had something drop on it. He is sending me photos of the damage tonight and sending us the train back.

Now due to the damage, the train is now a write off, it cannot be repaired, so obviously we are going to have to claim from the Royal Mail.

I have had a look on the website, and it mentions proof of purchase, is that for the actual item or the postage? We don't have the original purchase receipt any more, but obviously I have the postage receipt, and to replace it like for like is going to be int he region of £100, plus the site doesn't actually say much.

So can someone please tell me how I go about claiming from the Royal Mail, and how they pay the compensation please? (I don't want getting on for £100 worth of stamps!, the whole point of selling them was that he needed the money) and what I need to claim?

Many thanks

tajna

I have only had to claim once and that was about 2 years ago so don't know if anything changed.
I went to the PO with the proof of posting, filled out a form there and got a cheque tru the post a few weeks later. I have refunded the buyer straight away as well.

soolin

For damage it can take a while. You'll need to provide them with all the packaging and they will check to ensure it was adequate..although how they judge that I don't really know!

Then you'll need proof of the item value, they used to take the ebay sale page as proof, but they are getting tighter now and often demand original receipts, maybe though if you start off by sending just the ebay or paypal details to show the value and then if they want more find someone else selling the item and send details of that as value ?

Jo_F

thanks guys, shall await the return