What would you do ?

mom23

Buyer bought and paid for item sun 20th aug, i posted item 1st class 21st aug ( this was the 1st day of new postal system!) and as always emailed buyer to say parcel was in post.
last saturday evening had email saying parcel not arrived have you sent?
I emailed back through ebay stating parcel had been sent,and i would do what i could to try and track parcel but being bank hol could not do anything till tues, but if parcel still not arrived would be happy to refund, (we are talking a very few pounds!!).
Having spoken to PO tuesday with no joy(obviously they not interested untill 15 days are up!) i emailed buyer explaining situation and asking them to confirm parcel still not arrived and i would refund.sent 2nd email yesterday but
still not heard from buyer (they are fairly new to ebay!!) and have this horrible feeling a neg is on the way, tbh i would rather just refund and be done with it!!
So should i just refund????
Thanks in advance.

Sugar_Coated_Owl

I would probably request the buyers contact details from eBay and call them.

Amazombie

If it was a parcel that wouldnt fit through a standard letterbox get them to check with their local postal delivery office. More and more frequently postmen arent leaving cards to say that they attemped to deliver a parcel. They just take it back to the depot and the buyer is none the wiser.

tsharp

I have just gone through something similar. Sold an item, £2.50 total incl p&p, posted it a couple of weeks ago, buyer says he never received it. He asked for a refund today, so to avoid negative feedback, I paid him the £2.50 back, and asked for positive feedback in response, which he agreed to.

The item was not sent recorded delivery, so no way to check it etc. I could have just refused, saying it was not my fault, but then i would have been negged, so i effectively bought some positive feedback! Annoying!

mom23

Hi thanks for replies.
I am pretty sure parcel would have gone through letter box, but have suggested they contact sorting office.
Am annoyed that buyer does not have decency to respond to emails, even when i have offered refund!!
Thanks again

Sugar_Coated_Owl

tsharp wrote:

He asked for a refund today, so to avoid negative feedback, I paid him the £2.50 back, and asked for positive feedback in response, which he agreed to.

Surely asking the buyer to leave you positive feedback is just wrong. Feedback is optional and is a buyers personal opinion of the transaction as a whole.

tsharp wrote:

The item was not sent recorded delivery, so no way to check it etc. I could have just refused, saying it was not my fault

As long as you still had you certificate of posting from the Post Office you should be fine as this covers items worth up to £32. You could refund the buyer and then claim from the Royal Mail yourself.

If you had refused a refund you would have been the one in the wrong. The buyer has paid for the item and for it to be delivered. If for whatever reason it goes missing you have to refund.

If the buyer paid via PayPal you would automatically lose a dispute anyway as PayPal require you to provide them with an online trackable method of posting e.g. recorded/special delivery reference number.

It's easier to refund the buyer and claim from the Royal Mail that way no-one loses.

tsharp

What's wrong with asking for pos feedback? At least this way, i get something out of the situation! Anyway, for all i know, the buyer received the item AND the refund. No one ever asks a buyer for proof of delivery, do they?

I have NO proof of posting, so your suggestion of claiming the cost back from RM is not applicatable.

Contains_Mild_Peril

I think the moral of the story is, always obtain proof of posting. If you sell a lot on eBay, it's virtually inevitable that things will go missing in the post occasionally. It's happened to me about 3 times as a seller and twice as a customer. My customers have been fine with waiting 15 working days for a refund (until RM consider the item officially lost), but I understand not all customers are so patient.

tsharp

So how do you get proof of posting? I suppose Recorded Delivery is one form, but can you get actual proof of posting?

juno

tsharp wrote:

So how do you get proof of posting? I suppose Recorded Delivery is one form, but can you get actual proof of posting?

Yes, you need to ask for a "certificate of posting" at the post office

cafenervosa_2

You need to tell the buyer to allow 14 working days for the parcel to arrive.
If they still don't get it you need to refund your buyer and put a claim in with Royal mail. If you never got a certificate of posting then your in trouble, take that as a lesson for next time. The bottom line is, the buyer needs their goods or a full refund.