Items lost in post - Paypal..

alfiesmum

babyfreckles wrote: »

Thats whats making me wonder! And the same thing happened to another member from the same person for an item which was worth over £150.. Item was apparently 'Lost' in the post and because it wasnt sent with insurance, the seller was out of pocket by over £100 as they only paid her compensation of £36... I aint refunding the money to her yet, I am going to wait until its sorted. If this isnt enough to put you off selling priavetly, I dont know what is!

I don't think you've been told corectly here. If you send an item worth £150 without the correct level of insurance, then you will not be refunded anything at all. They wouldn't pay out compensation of £36.

On your original point, I would refund the buyer, the RM claim process can be a long and drawn out affair. Also Royal Mail will refund you what YOU paid for the item originally (presumming you can prove it's cost), they don't refund what the buyer paid you. It's because of the amount of eBay related claims that they changed the rules. ALSO I'm not sure if Paypal would actually force you to refund, as it wasn't an ebay sale was it? It was through a craft forum you mentioned? So on that score your money is safe. It's really just whether you decide to do the right thing, they can't force you.

I'm a business seller and the only reason I send everything recorded is so I know if the buyer received it. Not many things get lost in the post, more times it's a dishonest buyer trying to get the goods and their money back. Since sending everything recorded I've not had a single thing go astray....

alfiesmum

soolin wrote: »

OK, I'll rephrase it as my previous post was misleading. Does your recorded actually show delivery? I ask because the last time I sent a batch before the strikes my success rate for showing as delivered was only 33%.

Obviously I don't bother with recorded for ebay, my recorded items are all work related which is how i know they are delivered, but the track and trace suggests otherwise.

The majority of mine showed as delivered. Occassionally one doesn't but the buyer probably still had to sign for it, so stops them thinking they can claim non delivery. The system on the royal mail website just doesn't get updated. Even though it doesn't work 100% of the time, it puts buyers off trying to scam you. In my experience anyway, so it's worth it (plus it's the buyer paying the 75p).

soolin

Buyer doesn't pay the 75p we sellers do as we get less for our goods. 100 parcels a month would cost me £75 a month in recorded, I trust my buyers are great deal more than that!

So if we were competitors I could undercut your prices by 75p and keep the extra for myself.

For books it is even worse as we have to add the postage into the start price and pay FVFs on it.

alfiesmum

soolin wrote: »

Buyer doesn't pay the 75p we sellers do as we get less for our goods. 100 parcels a month would cost me £75 a month in recorded, I trust my buyers are great deal more than that!

So if we were competitors I could undercut your prices by 75p and keep the extra for myself.

For books it is even worse as we have to add the postage into the start price and pay FVFs on it.

I don't understand how you think the seller pays for postage? Each of my buyers has 75p added to their postage costs, and that pays for recorded delivery. £100 a month for recorded, would be £100 a month more that you received in postage costs. Also as a business, I do expect to have expenses, and what ever I'm left with at the end of the month I'm usually happy with. It gives me peace of mind. We all do things differently I suppose, what works for one of us, might not work for someone else, eh.

I didn't know that about books, last time I listed a book it was restricted to £2.75, or you can always choose freight option for heavier - I'll have to watch that next time listing books then!

babyfreckles

alfiesmum wrote: »

I don't think you've been told corectly here. If you send an item worth £150 without the correct level of insurance, then you will not be refunded anything at all. They wouldn't pay out compensation of £36.

On your original point, I would refund the buyer, the RM claim process can be a long and drawn out affair. Also Royal Mail will refund you what YOU paid for the item originally (presumming you can prove it's cost), they don't refund what the buyer paid you. It's because of the amount of eBay related claims that they changed the rules. ALSO I'm not sure if Paypal would actually force you to refund, as it wasn't an ebay sale was it? It was through a craft forum you mentioned? So on that score your money is safe. It's really just whether you decide to do the right thing, they can't force you.

I'm a business seller and the only reason I send everything recorded is so I know if the buyer received it. Not many things get lost in the post, more times it's a dishonest buyer trying to get the goods and their money back. Since sending everything recorded I've not had a single thing go astray....

Well, firstly I may have been told wrong, but what I was told is that all she got back was £36, so who knows! As they were stuff that I would no longer use I no longer have receipts for so RM wont pay out for the actual cost of each item (There was quiet a few items in the huge box!) just the cost of what I sold them for (I phoned up RM customer services and this is what I was told - As long as I had sent in copies of the messages between us showing how much I was charging the buyer). It costs extra for recorded delivery in which the buyer wasnt willing to send. I guess we all learn from our mistakes!

EmmEve

If I was sending something through the post that was worth more than the bog standard £36 compensation I would be making sure it went recorded. The buyer wouldn't get an option. Isn't that just plain common sense?

babyfreckles

Well yes, IF you are sending something that is worth over £36. Being as mine was UNDER £36, I offered the option! What is it with people on here nit picking!!

soolin

EmmEve wrote: »

If I was sending something through the post that was worth more than the bog standard £36 compensation I would be making sure it went recorded. The buyer wouldn't get an option. Isn't that just plain common sense?

Not really, recorded is just standard post so the normal level of compnesation, namely £39 applies. Items over £39 are only covered special delivery or by parcel post with additional insurance (although parcels are not tracked).

I never use any form of signed for post under £39 but I accept that when a buyer does not get their goods I need to refund. It is a risk I accept and one I understand however I can still of course do a claim for loss via RM.

Shomac

Can i add a reply to the person who said that not many things get lost in the post & the buyer is dishonest- Ive had countless items get lost in the post. In fact last week, my neighbours and i, recieved mail dated january 2009. So i think its wrong to assume that buyers are a dishonest bunch. Best wishes.

soolin

Shomac wrote: »

Can i add a reply to the person who said that not many things get lost in the post & the buyer is dishonest- Ive had countless items get lost in the post. In fact last week, my neighbours and i, recieved mail dated january 2009. So i think its wrong to assume that buyers are a dishonest bunch. Best wishes.

I actually agree with you, I trust my buyers rather more than I trust RM sometimes but if I actually thought that every buyer was out to get me I personally wouldn't ever sell online again. My percentage loss goes up and down, at the moment I haven't had a loss for around 8 months and I send an average of 100 parcels a month.

My mother still reminds me that for two years running the gifts I sent for her birthday never arrived should I assume she is lying or do i just chalk that down to RM ?