Confused about refund and claim

purple-smartie

I sold some vouchers a few weeks back on ebay and posted them recorded delivery. The buyers let me know they havent arrived and Ive checked on the royal mail site and it says no info is available so they must be lost somewhere.

Im going to the post office tomorrow to pick up a claim form. Reading some other posts tonight I believe you cant claim for cash if its sent recorded, is this the same for vouchers too?

Also what stage do I offer the refund ( never had a missing parcel before) Do I wait until the claims gone through or do i do it now? Im under the impression that a form gets sent out to the buyer too. What happens if I give the refund now and the buyer ignores the form royal mail send to him? Do I lose out on the claim?

Thanks.

soolin

Unfortunately vouchers are not covered for loss when recorded delivery is used, but I can't find the link for you at the moment.

However, it is always worth a claim to the RM as sometimes they don't know their own rules and may well pay out.

AS for the refund, you should refund the buyer as soon as it is obvious item is lost. I would normally refund in week 2. Then after 15 working days make your own claim to the RM which can easily take another 3 weeks to resolve.

Soo

Contains_Mild_Peril

I normally refund for missing items when they are officially lost in the post, i.e. 15 working days after posting. I wouldn't expect a buyer to wait patiently until I got the money back from Royal Mail first, but I'd consider refunding in week 2 to be beyond the call of duty. Very occasionally, mail will actually arrive around a couple of weeks late (though there have been cases of mail delivered years after posting!)

purple-smartie

Thanks for your replies. Im going to refund now because it is just over 15 working days now plus Ive got quite a bit built up in my paypal account from the things that have sold last week so I wont miss the money seeing as its not coming out of my bank account.

I will try with the claim anyway and see what happens. Luckily it was just a couple of free vouchers for filling in surveys online so it hasnt really cost me anything if they claim fails.

Can i ask though , in future should I post vouchers our just normal first class mail and get a receipt or should they be sent special delivery?

Thanks.