What do you do when something sells for over £39 and you stated standard delivery?

kiwi_fruit

If something sells for over £39 and you (expecting it to go for less) quoted standard delivery, do you cough up special delivery from the profit? Take a gamble sending it as it is? State something in the listing about "if something sells over xxx, buyer to pay extra for special delivery"(do sellers actually have right to do that?always wondered)

Contains_Mild_Peril

For me, it depends. If something sells for a lot more than I expected (rarely happens!) I don't usually mind upgrading to Special Delivery at my expense. If the sale price isn't too much more than the £39 covered by standard delivery I'd probably risk sending it standard, but pack it as though expecting the package to be thoroughly abused, thrown around etc in transit.

Crestfallen

I only send items without recorded/registered delivery if I'm happy to write it off if something goes wrong. If there's no record of a signature then you're up the creek if they claim it hasn't been delivered, is it worth the risk for the sake of a quid or two from the money you didn't expect to get in the first place?

cyberbob

Crestfallen wrote: »

I only send items without recorded/registered delivery if I'm happy to write it off if something goes wrong. If there's no record of a signature then you're up the creek if they claim it hasn't been delivered, is it worth the risk for the sake of a quid or two from the money you didn't expect to get in the first place?

Under £39 there is little point sending recorded as you can claim from RM if lost with proof of posting. Also recorded Delivery has quite a high failure rate in actually getting a signature. Before I stopped using recorded I did an audit of my own sales out of 100 items i'd sent recorded nearly 30 didn't have online proof of delivery so i wouldn't have been covered in paypal anyway This also makes your postage costs far more competitive. Since i've not been sending items recorded for under £39 there has been no increases in losses or claims from buyers

As for the OP question it all depends on how much over £39 it is. If its £40 it would still go standard and also the type of item it is if its AV of computer stuff I will send SD even if its only a few pounds over £39. Its really a judgement call this situation does not happen to me very often as my items are normally one or the other. If it does you just have to absorb the cost

Crestfallen

I'm going to have to look at recorded delivery again, the system is very different to what I was lead to believe when I first started using it, either I've screwed up somewhere or just failed to keep up with the times.

soolin

Crestfallen wrote: »

I'm going to have to look at recorded delivery again, the system is very different to what I was lead to believe when I first started using it, either I've screwed up somewhere or just failed to keep up with the times.

Recorded isn't worth the 75p as it rarely tracks at all when I use it so i'd lose a paypal chargeback anyway. Also it is expensive for a non service, 75p a go, so £75 a month on an average of 100 parcels..I would need to lose an awful lot of items to make that worthwhile. I use straight COPs and just claim from the RM in the unlikely event of an item going astray. That makes my postage cheaper compared to my competitors who use recorded so I can outsell them as well.

jenpoptrash

it's only ever happened to me twice, both times i've emailed the buyer to say i'll send special delivery at no additional cost due to the value and find out when and where they want delivery.
I figure that okay there is no Paypal protection if I send to another address but it will trackable and insured via Royal Mail.

Money_maker

But RM offer no tracking on 1st, 2nd, standard parcels or recorded. So a parcel I had to send at 3.5kg (approx) cost me just over £8 via standard parcels with extra insurance (needed up to £100). When I asked about a trackable service, they quoted £21 by special delivery only - ouch.

Used standard parcels for the first delivery and pay per parcel for the second (trackable, £100 std compo and signature).

Probably a bit OT but is a similar problem for heavier items.

soolin

jenpoptrash wrote: »

it's only ever happened to me twice, both times i've emailed the buyer to say i'll send special delivery at no additional cost due to the value and find out when and where they want delivery.
I figure that okay there is no Paypal protection if I send to another address but it will trackable and insured via Royal Mail.

Sending special to a non paypal address will cause problems if you come across a scammer. Unless you send to the address in paypal the buyer can win an item not received claim automatically even if item shows as tracked and delivered. Then, as RM can see your item was delivered you can't do a claim to them for loss.

Sending tracked to the wrong address is actually worse than not sening tracked at all.

System

I usually do recorded signed for at my expense if anything goes for more than I expected, especially if the buyer has low feedback. I think you have a higher risk of a buyer pretending they haven't received an item, than an item actually getting lost in the post.

Also if the item is light anyway, it only costs a bit more.

soolin

candyflossing wrote: »

I usually do recorded signed for at my expense if anything goes for more than I expected, especially if the buyer has low feedback. I think you have a higher risk of a buyer pretending they haven't received an item, than an item actually getting lost in the post.

Also if the item is light anyway, it only costs a bit more.

Recorded though is standard mail and has nothing to do with weight. It still only covers loss of £39.