What can I do? Item lost in post strikes, buyer impatient

Revenge_of_the_Red_Devil

I sold a phone on eBay for £20 odd quid, sent it off almost 2 weeks ago, buyer still waiting. I assume it's lost in the post due to the postal strike, and she's opened an eBay case and now a paypal one (suspending the money).

I explained that the postal strikes have messed up, I'm not in the wrong, I have 100% feedback etc. but she doesn't want to wait.

Same thign happened a while back where two items I sent off at the same time both got lost in the post (wasn't even a strike), but because they were low value, I just refunded the money. I don't really want to do the same here, but eBay aren't really helpful, so any idea what I should do?

What would you do if you were in my situation (buyer won't wait any longer)?

martindow

You really don't have a choice as they would win a paypal claim as you can't prove delivery. Two weeks is quite a long time for them to wait even with strikes. I would keep the contact going and send a message saying if it has not arrived in a few days (by Wednesday maybe) you will refund and see if they will agree to this. It is much better to refund voluntarily before they open a claim otherwise you risk a neg.

If the buyer has already run out of patience you need to refund straight away. In due course you can claim from royal mail (I assume that you have a CoP).

fatherazhara

theyre gonna win a PP claim so personally, id make them claim and do it the long way, dont make it easy for them to do it again as the chances are they already have the item, things very RARELY actually go missing despite what people think.

TurkishDelight

I'd refund them- you will have to anyway, and this way you can possibly avoid a neg and the mark against you on ebays files and your dashboard (get enough and you might get suspended or lowered visibilty of items etc.) Also it might have actually not turned up. :rolleyes:

fatherazhara

so, just refund anyone regardless right??? that couldnt possibly be why sellers always have a crap deal cause buyers just get refunded instantly???

TurkishDelight

fatherazhara wrote: »

so, just refund anyone regardless right??? that couldnt possibly be why sellers always have a crap deal cause buyers just get refunded instantly???

You can't prove that they haven't got it, and they will get their money back anyway- the only person you are screwing by taking it to a full paypal investigation is yourself.

fatherazhara

theres more chance of then not responding, thus not completeing the claim as theyre just as likely to still leave you a negative in either case, if you practice just giving instant refunds and not fighting them then you almost deserve to get screwed over, especially when, chances are that they have actually received the item.

if its something like that always send it tracked unless you can afford to take the loss then this dont happen, but i nearly always make people escalate to a claim for their cash back and still dont get that many negs

TurkishDelight

fatherazhara wrote: »

theres more chance of then not responding, thus not completeing the claim as theyre just as likely to still leave you a negative in either case, if you practice just giving instant refunds and not fighting them then you almost deserve to get screwed over, especially when, chances are that they have actually received the item.

if its something like that always send it tracked unless you can afford to take the loss then this dont happen, but i nearly always make people escalate to a claim for their cash back and still dont get that many negs

Absolute rubbish- I go through many claims in a year (high volume buyer) and any seller that is not a pain gets a positive.

As I have pointed out, do this too often and negs or not it will affect your ebay account, and I for one think that this is a good thing- stops bad sellers like yourself.

There are millions of items a year that get lost, so assuming buyers are lying with no basis at all is a bit ridiculous.

As a seller we do get occasional (and I do mean occasional) buyers who have things that get lost, and yes I have my doubts, but they are going to win anyway, so we get them to open a paypal dispute (so that ebay has a record) and refund them from there.

soolin

I have always found it odd that some ebay users are more inclined to believe that buyers are dodgy than to accept that items can go astray. Parcels get lost, it happens and it isn't any great conspiracy designed to thwart sellers.

OP you ask what others would do in your situation and personally I would do as suggested and email again and ask whether parcel has now been received, ask them if they wouldn't mind just phoning their local delivery office and to let you know tomorrow or Wednesday if it still has not arrived, at that point I would refund them. A paypal chargeback harms you not the buyer so I would look to refund before paypal force you to.

Revenge_of_the_Red_Devil

Thanks for all the advice. I'm just going to do what someone above suggested and ask them to wait another few days and then refund them - only because I want to quit eBay anyway, and I don't want a longgg drawn out procedure after which they get a refund anyway (all for only 20 quid)

fatherazhara

TurkishDelight wrote: »

...... so we get them to open a paypal dispute (so that ebay has a record) and refund them from there.

So in actual fact you agree with what i just said...!?