Help please - buyer wants a refund

luckymoneysaver

I am new to ebay, and sold an item for £75. I then posted standard 1st class, and the buyer is asking for a refund as he has not received the item. It was sent on 2nd Nov and i have asked for them to wait until Friday.

What can i do. i have no proof of postage, because i did not know it was free. it was not recorded delivery etc, because they did not pay for it.

help please

cyberbob

Hopefully it will arrive but if it doesn't you will have to refund. Proof of posting will only cover losses up to £39 for roral mail. Items over £39 really need to be sent via special delivery.

Postal insurance is there to protect the seller not the buyer. You should build that into your prices. You should price the postal method best for you. Under £39 royal mail with proof of posting will cover for losses in the post up to £39. So its up to you if you want to do recorded a lot of people don't as it keeps them more competitive. Over £39 you need as I said Special delivery or equivalent. If the item does not arrive the buyer can get a refund via paypal as they can show item not received. (no online tracking)

As you are a new seller I hope it wasn't a mobile phone or computer? As these are the sort of items people look for to scam with new sellers.

I hope the item arrives and you don't learn an expensive mistake

luckymoneysaver

I have no proof of posting.

And yes...it was a mobile phone!

colony

All you can do is hope it arrives.

If it doesn't, you wll be forced to refund the money.

cyberbob

luckymoneysaver wrote: »

I have no proof of posting.

And yes...it was a mobile phone!

Oh dear this could be an expensive mistake. Have you checked the buyers history on Goofbay.

mrcol1000

To be honest wether they paid for it or not for 75p its worth sending it recorded because its much harder to claim something hasn't arrived if you have to sign for it.
Sadly it sounds like someone has got this phone. Realised you have no proof it was delivered and decided to claim it not arrived. There isn't much you can do that issue a refund. You may be able to claim your £39 maxium claim back but Royal Mail may refuse it saying you should sent it Special Delivery.
I would use this bad experience for next time you use Ebay.

soolin

Unfortunately as the others have said it might be that you have been specifically targetted as a new seller due to the fact that you had the wrong postage method. A scammer, (and of course the buyer may well just be an innoccnt buyer whose stuff is caught in the strike backlog) may have seen you were happy to send a mobile with no tracking and bought specifically to do an item not received claim.

You won't know either way and even if you did there would be nothing you can do.

I would definitely ask buyer to wait a little longer, a couple of weeks in total is not unreasonable, you might even ask them to check with their sorting office as item may be waiting there and no card left. However if this goes to a paypal chargeback you will lose and without a COP you can't even make a basic claim via RM.

For future reference items up to £39 are covered against loss using a free certificate of posting, items over £39 must go special delivery, or the courier equivalent.