Do you always get proof of postage?

vet8

I have not sold anything on Ebay for a while, but I want to start again as we are having a clear out. I sold books and usually just weighed the package, stuck stamps on it and put it in the post box.

All the local POs have closed down and the main one in the nearest town has moved into W.H. Smiths, so there is a huge queue there every day. I cannot be fagged to drive all the way into town, pay to park and stand in a queue for half an hour. I only sent things recorded if they sold for over £10 or so. Mostly the books sold for less than that so I did not bother to get POP or anything.

Reading on here it seems that PayPal and Ebay require POP these days, although it does not say that on Ebay. There have been several posting on here with people saying that PayPal have held onto their money and one of the things they require before they free it is POP for the items sold.

Does everyone get POP, because if that is the case I think the time and effort required to do that would make selling my things pretty pointless.

mrcol1000

I think your getting proof of postage and proof of delivery mixed up. You should get proof of postage for all items so that if they go missing you can claim from Royal Mail. If you sell something and the buyer claims it has not arrived if you can not provide proof of delivery such as tracking number from recorded mail then paypal will refund the buyer. As far as I am aware your not required to get proof of postage or delivery(although its recommended by paypal to send everything by recorded mail)
I wouldn't bother sending things by recorded unless they were over £10 not to claim but just to check up if the buyer claims they are lost to see where they got to. Also I send most stuff to London recorded due to the large number of sticky handed post people there.

piratefairy

Well, you don't HAVE to get PoP for anything you send. However, I believe paypal (which you must accept as a payment option) suggests you are only covered by a trackable method of postage, so would not cover you anyway if you didn't send recorded. Guess that doesn't matter for that then, sorry I'm digressing.

There just seems to be (as a seller) a lot more people ready and willing to claim they have not received items if they look like they have not been sent via the PO. I personally use stamps, and weigh at home, and then get my PoP stamped at the PO when I do my shopping, as I have found it;s not worth the risk. Then again, if you are willing to chance it if there are not very valuable items then don't get a PoP. Just know that if the buyer claims they have not recieved, you will be out of pocket and item.

cyberbob

A question why do you send things over £10 recorded? Proof of posting will cover you up to a claim of £39 saving you 75p postage. RD delivery is incredibly unreliable with 1/3rd of items not getting a signature so it really is not worth the extra expense. Since I stopped sending items below £39 recorded I have had no more claims for lost items

I get proof of posting on everything under £39. You can get the old style forms from the PO that you can fill in the addresse then the Po all it has to do is stamp it for proof.

Have you not got a small sub PO you can use somewhere

Paypal do not require Proof of postage they require proof of delivery. With POP you will lose any Paypal claim. All it does is enable you to claim the money back from RM if your item is lost damaged. If something goes missing and you have POP you will have to refund the buyer then claim yourself off the RM.

You could not get POP but if an item gets lost damaged you would have to refund and be unable to claim from RM. SO you need to weigh up if its a risk worth taking

vet8

Thanks for your comments. It is as I thought, most people get POP.

Unfortunately, there is no local PO anywhere here and I only go into town during the PO opening hours very rarely as I work elsewehere. I must say that in the over 2,000 books I did sell I only once had a buyer saying it had not arrived, but from reading on here I get the impression there are more scammers around these days.

sequence

I never get cop its a waste of my time, considering how few items go missing it doesn't make sense for me to get cop. My average value of sale is only about £5 though.

mrcol1000

cyberbob wrote: »

A question why do you send things over £10 recorded? Proof of posting will cover you up to a claim of £39 saving you 75p postage. RD delivery is incredibly unreliable with 1/3rd of items not getting a signature so it really is not worth the extra expense. Since I stopped sending items below £39 recorded I have had no more claims for lost items

I think if someone signs to say they have recieved something then its very diffcult for them to claim it hasn't arrived. But if it just pops through their post box then its tempting to say its not arrived and get the item for free.

By the way my postman where I use to live use to sign for recorded items himself on the doorstep and then post it through the letter box. When I asked him about this he said he did it at my front door and it was no different to me signing for it. I wasn't sure how to respond to that!

pursestring

Your postman is right - anybody present when it's being delivered can sign it.

That's also why RD is not accepted by PayPal as proof of delivery, as far as I know.

G_Model101

I'm going to hijack this thread....how long do you need to keep the proof of postage's for? I have amassed a fair few now relating to sales on ebay, amazon and play.com. After what time period is it too late for the buyer to make a claim?

flipper_2010

Thats true, Ive got a load of PoP sitting in my draw!

I've never had a book go missing so would probably chance that with not getting PoP but then, your not going to have a 'chav' buying a book are you.
I've had CD's and computer games gone walkabout so I'd always get PoP for them.

piratefairy

45 days via paypal on an ebay item..