eBay Sellers - delivery options

vicx

Hi all,

I have been buying and selling on eBay for around 7 years or more so I do know that eBay and Paypal won't accept proof of posting unless the item was sent by recorded delivery or special delivery so it can be tracked online.

I give the option of royal mail standard delivery or recorded delivery in all of my listings. Obviously higher value items are only sent recorded delivery or special delivery depending on their value.

My question is about low value items. Do you all send recorded delivery even if the value is under 99p? It's very easy for a buyer to say they have not received their item and claim through eBay or Paypal to get a free item but some buyers won't select the recorded delivery option for low value items and could potentially be leaving the seller out of pocket if they say they did not receive their item.

kc101

you can still get proof of posting for standard class mail

vicx

kc101 wrote: »

you can still get proof of posting for standard class mail

Yes, I know but eBay and Paypal do not accept this as proof of posting as the item can not be tracked online to show it has been delivered.

Happy_bunny

vicx wrote: »

My question is about low value items. Do you all send recorded delivery even if the value is under 99p? It's very easy for a buyer to say they have not received their item and claim through eBay or Paypal to get a free item but some buyers won't select the recorded delivery option for low value items and could potentially be leaving the seller out of pocket if they say they did not receive their item.

A question i also recently posed Vicx. Re recorded for low price items its a case of damned if you do - poor postal stars & possible negative feedback if a buyers feels aggrieved at coughing up recorded unnecessarily and damned if don't use recorded due to opportunistic buyers claiming non receipt.

Whats more galling is the fact that eBay don't seem to care and automatically assume the buyers in the wrong. At least the post office make some enquiries before a claim is paid.

Ideally I'd love a buyer requirement added to eBay - One where you're able to block anyone with more than XXX claimed losses in a certain time period :mad:

In the 16 odd years I've paid my credit card balance monthly by cheque not one has been 'lost', Thats a total of nearly 200 letters. Compare that to 46 sales (on eBay) & 3 loss claims in
less than 2 months :eek:

vicx

Happy_bunny wrote: »

Ideally I'd love a buyer requirement added to eBay - One where you're able to block anyone with more than XXX claimed losses in a certain time period :mad:

Thats a very good idea. I think eBay and Paypal should accept a receipt as proof of posting and not just a tracking number especially if the buyer choses to only use standard delivery when recorded delivery was also on the delivery option.

I think I will send all items recorded delivery from now on. In the 7 years I have been using eBay I can only remember one item that I bought which did not arrive but there seems to be a lot of parcels going missing recently.

I have had two buyers this week which say their item did not arrive. I knew one of those buyers was going to be arkward even before she made payment as she was sending messages about the delivery cost after she purchased the item at more than 80% off the RRP and that was with delivery costs included. I have proof of posting which I have emailed to them and they believe I sent the item but they say the item has not been delivered so if they make a claim then Paypal will decide in the buyers favour and I will lose out.

The thing that irritates me is the messages the buyers send 'where is my item, has it been posted, can you send the tracking number'. If the item was not posted then I would not have marked it as dispatched and there is no tracking number because they decided not to pay the extra 77p for recorded delivery, probably so they could claim a free item.

If only Royal Mail kept a record for standard delivery parcels posted through letter boxes or delivered to customers then they would probably think twice about putting in a false claim.

J_J_Carter

Expecting the buyer to choose to pay higher P&P for Signed For is a non-starter. Why would they, when the risk is on the seller?

Best bet is to list with standard postage, get your CoP stamped at the PO counter and claim back from PO for lost items. If the buyer appears 'iffy', you can always take the hit on profit and 'surprise' them by sending Signed For or even Special.

Happy_bunny

Just to emphasis - The sender (of any post) is able to make a claim for ANY item lost in the post, Using proof of posting, Make sure you put is a claim for each and every 'loss'. Whilst it may only be a small amount it's still your small amount!

You can get loss claims (Form P58) from post offices, Fill in the relevant sections and post off with the proof of posting - another plus is that its freepost!

Happy_bunny

J_J_Carter wrote: »

Expecting the buyer to choose to pay higher P&P for Signed For is a non-starter. Why would they, when the risk is on the seller?

Best bet is to list with standard postage, get your CoP stamped at the PO counter and claim back from PO for lost items. If the buyer appears 'iffy', you can always take the hit on profit and 'surprise' them by sending Signed For or even Special.

A Good point well made - Don't discourage buyers by insisting small items are sent recorded. As JJ points out use standard with proof of posting and make the claim as needed so you're not left at a loss.

vicx

Do Royal Mail pay out compensation for standard delivery items? I think I read some where that it is only 6 x 1st class stamps, is this correct?

Happy_bunny

vicx wrote: »

Do Royal Mail pay out compensation for standard delivery items? I think I read some where that it is only 6 x 1st class stamps, is this correct?

No, The PO will refund the full cost of the item plus the postage used - the 6 x stamps is for a claim with no value shown.

This is a Cut/Paste from the PO website:

For stamped and metered items a postage refund plus compensation on the basis of actual loss, where evidence of posting and evidence of value can be provided. This compensation is subject to the maximum payable being the lower of the market value of the item and statutory maximum of 100 x 1st Class stamps at the first weight step.

Postage refund (a minimum payment of 6 x 1st Class letter stamps at the first weight step) shall be payable where only basic evidence is provided or the item is of no intrinsic value.

Claims must be submitted within 12 months of posting.

I've always used the P.O.P as posting evidence and a printout of the ebay page for the value and never had a claim declined.

Hope this helps?

Oliver14

[QUOTE=Happy_bunny;46231205
In the 16 odd years I've paid my credit card balance monthly by cheque not one has been 'lost', Thats a total of nearly 200 letters. Compare that to 46 sales (on eBay) & 3 loss claims in
less than 2 months :eek:[/QUOTE]
As i've said to you before you need to have a good look at your listings. There is a reason why this is happening. Is there any sort of pattern. DO you have any T&Cs that could put people off? Are you attacting dodgy buyers or
you may just be hitting a blip. The majority of ebay buyers are honest. If anyone thinks otherwise they really shouldnt be selling. I average about 1 or 2 losses per 100 transactions. The majority sent standard second class.

Also your comparison to your CC bill is a bit spurious. One is a letter the others are parcels. Parcels in my experience are more likely to go missing,

A lot of sellers as soon as they get a item not received by a customer for some reason assume that the buyer is a scammer. Things get lost in the mail its a fact.

Also just to add your claim info is correct for private sellers but if you are a business officially you only get refunded what you paid for the item (not what you sold it for) plus your postage. Though saying that the last claim I put in I got the selling price,