Buyer claiming item not recieved

sara1980

I sold some items on ebay last week.
The same buyer purchased 2 of the items.
The items were paid for at about 6.30 on Fri 15th Sept, I posted the items at about 12.30 the following tues - 19th Sept, the buyer is claiming to havenot recieved the items (it wasn't sent recorded) but i do have the reciept.
(there was another parcel sent at the same time to a different buyer & that one has arrived ok)

The buyer is emailing at least once a day asking wot I intend to do, I advised them over the weekend that I havn't been around much as my son has been in hospital and I wouldn't be around monday to look into it, told them i would do it as soon as i could on tues(today), had an email from them at 9am today asking what i was going to before they take the next step.

The royal mail website advises to wait 15 days before filing a missing parcel query, but i don't know if i should leave it that long(don't want to end up with a neg feedback)

I have never had to deal with anything like this on ebay before, so I don;t really know wot to do.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

cabra1

As the seller you are obliged to get your parcel to the bidder
if its lost,then you have to refund the buyer in full,including the
postal cost.

You have a receipt to prove you posted the parcel
so you can claim a refund from RM for the postal cost
and if you can prove what you paid for the goods
sent you can claim the cost of them as well.

Its a pain but this happens,have you asked RM if
the parcel could be sat in the buyers sorting office ?
Could be they have tried to deliver and not left a
card to say its been sent back to the sorting office.

or for that matter is it sat in your local sorting office ?
where they have tried failed and returned to sender and
no ones bothered to return it or leave you a card to say
its there.

Try this first,if its lost then refund your bidder,because
if you dont and they decide to get onto paypal and
claim a chargeback to their account they will take back
the funds from your account with an up to £12 chargeback
fee on top.

I cover myself by sending everything recorded post 68p
on top of the postal charge on everything I sell.It makes
it so much easier to track down your parcel if it gets
delayed or lost and its insured for up to £32.

cabra1

In order for sellers to prove postage they
have to prove delivery and paypal will only
accept recorded delivery or special delivery
as proof of postage.In reality the special delivery
is the one they will accept as proof posative.
You can track SD & RD on the RM site and
even look at the signature of the recipient.


just a tip but if your ever posting anything thats
2kg its £7.20 on RC post and £7.40 on special
delivery.Its always worth comparing prices
for items you post because sometimes there
is very little in it and SD is very secure

prioryscout

I had a customer like yours this morning she opened a Paypal dispute item not received about an item she purchased on 19th sept and was posted 20th sept I was surprised they could open adispute so early i always reatin proof of posting .But the message in the dispute lead me to believe she already has the item,it looked like she misinterpreted or bought under the impression it was a mobile phone the picture was clear not of a phone and the description and title was crystal clear so she could not claim not as described.she wrote on the dispute ''if its not a mobile don't bother sending''.very suspicious!! How can she say that on an item not received dispute for an item she purchased for £3.00.If I had the item I would have sent her another one via special delivery just to get on her nerves.Instead I just ended up refunding her with a message that I know she has got the item but looked like she needed the money poor thing.
Beware there are too many freebie shoppers on ebay who do free shopping on paypal and target sellers with low value items which they know won't be worth sending via special delivery.(Trackable)

I would like to start a thread on the user ids who have done this in the past crawlbacks ,item not received scams,unauthorised transaction,it will save us all lot of hassle if we can just block those bidders.Experts here can advise us more on this .Paypal is not helping us and with Royal mail price increases we do not want to be scammed like this.

sara1980

i don't have a problem refunding the buyer, if you don't have an item u don't expect to have to pay for it do u !!

I don't know if to issue the refund now or wait a few more days.
How do i get in touch with royal mail ?? the number i rang was only an automated line?

I will be sending everything recorded from now on aswell !!

scotguy70

Hi,

theres nothing to do except to refund and say sorry to buyer! even if you suspect they got item.

its not worth the neg feedback and hassle they could cause.

as above dont ever send anything thats not trackable its to protect you not buyer- if you dont your sending your item and cash to some stranger you only know online! dont trust anyone on ebay - cover yourself at all times with trackable post

but ask the buyer would they be willing to send letter / email confirming they didnt get item in the post as your going to claim insurance from PO scammers tend to not want to put anything in writing that can prove there dodgy

forgot to say PO dont class post lost till 14days after post date, but paypal dont see it that way. if aint trackable paypal refund from day 1 on!

sara1980

how can you tell if they are scamming you tho ?? Sorry don't want to sound thick !!

they seem to be ok.....their feedback 100% although they only have a score of 20, we all have to start somewhere don't we ??

My feedback is only 51 so even that's not brilliant even tho it's 100%.

cabra1

The scammers who do this know that anything
sent regular mail,without recorded post or on
special,they can claim non delivery because
you cant prove they recieved it.

If its SD or RP you can prove you posted and
that they recieved it.Plus RM can track down
your parcel in the system,not lost a single
thing since doing it this way.

I learned the hard way and was scammed a few times
myself,now everything is RP or SD no exceptions
that way it stops for good.Before I started doing it this
way I had about this about once or twice a month
once it was all sent RP it stopped almost entirely.
Now it is only genuine people who are making an enquiry
who get in touch and its very seldom anything
goes astray.I have a theory that newer seller or
sellers with low feedback are often victim to this
kind of scamming.

I did think when I started adding RP to the postal cost
bidders wouldent go for it,but they dont seem to mind
and some see it as a reassurance.I know I am
more likely to buy when I see recorded post on the listing.
After all if your charging the correct postal charge
for the weight plus 68p RP,what can they complain
about ? Your just keeping it real

prioryscout

sara1980 wrote:

how can you tell if they are scamming you tho ?? Sorry don't want to sound thick !!

they seem to be ok.....their feedback 100% although they only have a score of 20, we all have to start somewhere don't we ??

My feedback is only 51 so even that's not brilliant even tho it's 100%.

That is the problem though everyone is too scared to leave negative and buyers are getting away with 100s of feedbacks at positive rating without anyone noticing everyone just gives in and pays them back even if you send recorded it not good enough for Paypal.

achtunglady

I have come across this as well as a seller on ebay, but what i do is put a little slip in with the goods, saying if you have a problem with the item, don't email me, as i am often not at the computer, call/text me on my mobile number and i will call you back to sort out the problem straight away. So if they do call you,(believe it or not some do) you know for sure they got the item, otherwise how do they explain how they got your mobile number??

shelly

cabra1 wrote:

Try this first,if its lost then refund your bidder,because
if you dont and they decide to get onto paypal and
claim a chargeback to their account they will take back
the funds from your account with an up to £12 chargeback
fee on top.

Iv'e never heard anyone mention on here about paypal charging up to £12 as a fee for doing a chargeback. When did they start doing this? Are you confused with an e-bay claim? They charge £15 for getting money back for you.

cabra1 wrote:

I cover myself by sending everything recorded post 68p
on top of the postal charge on everything I sell.It makes
it so much easier to track down your parcel if it gets
delayed or lost and its insured for up to £32.

A COP (certificate of posting) covers you for up to £32 and its free.