item not received - am i being too soft?

sunflower_2

afternoon...

i bought an item on ebay and paid immediately by paypal

a few days later i got an email requesting that i leave positive feedback, i replied saying i hadnt received it

the seller says she has defo posted it, and i do believe her as she good feedback and the item itself was only for £5

she has said the post office wont do anything for 2 weeks, and she will get back to me to see what they say once she has put a claim in...

thing is, am just sitting here, without my item that i paid for

is this the norm?
or should she be offering a replacement/refund?

she sells quite a lot of the same item on a regular basis

stavros_2

how long since you paid for it?

sunflower_2

its about 2 weeks now...

soolin

The post office won't consider an item lost until 15 working days have elapsed. However, the actual claim and pay out will probably take at least another two weeks after that, my last claim against the Post office took three weeks before they paid me out. In total therefore allowing for the 4 day Post Office Easter shutdown you have several weeks to wait which will take you well past the paypal chargeback period.

It is unreasonable for the seller to expect you to wait, it is not your fault that the item has not been received. They should either reimburse you or send a replacement immediately. If you wait for the seller to get their refund you will run out of time to make a claim via paypal.

As you paid by paypal start a chargeback to protect yourself, hopefully that will be enough for the seller to refund you immediately.

Finally, I would not give this seller any leeway. emailing you asking for feedback is a real no no as far as I am concerned and enough to have made me want an immediate refund.

Soo

coupon_king_2

I agree asking for pos feedback is very naughty ....

however if a seller has proof that the item was passed over a post office counter how can it possibly be their responsibility when the item does not reach its destination ....surely the reason we pay postage is for ROYAL MAIL or whichever carrier service you use to take this responsibility FROM you !

heatherw_01

I would not leave feedback for an item that you have not recieved yet.

2 weeks seems a long time not to have recieved the item.

sunflower_2

thanks for the replies

i can see both sides of the story, and as i said - i do believe that she posted it

however, surely any compensation from the post office will be made the seller?
the onus surely therefore lies with the seller?

and their is no guarantee that she will give me any compensation that she does receive? by which time i will have ran out of time to do paypal claim back

i feel uncomfortable asking for a replacement/refund
if i were the seller i would have just offered one without hesitation, good customer service n all that...

any ideas on how i could word the email to her?
if possible i want to try and remain friendly

soolin

coupon_king wrote:

I agree asking for pos feedback is very naughty ....

however if a seller has proof that the item was passed over a post office counter how can it possibly be their responsibility when the item does not reach its destination ....surely the reason we pay postage is for ROYAL MAIL or whichever carrier service you use to take this responsibility FROM you !

It is still the sellers responsibility to ensure that the buyer gets a result. The seller cannot be responsible for the POst Office but they can take responsibility by making a refund or sending a duplicate item. As has already been said, any refund will be made by the Post office to the seller anyway, so if they protected themselves by using recorded delivery or by getting a COP they won't lose out.

As far as paypal are concerned if the seller cannot prove delivery then they will refund the buyer anyway by withdrawing funds from the sellers account.

SOo

soolin

Sunflower you have a PM

Soo

Hermia

I always refund people when parcels go missing and then claim the money back from the post office. The only time I didn't do this was when it was quite a lot of money and the lovely buyer said she was happy to wait for the post office to pay up .

Cat72

I hate to say this but how does the seller know that the buyer has not recieved it and is just being fly ? ( no reflection whatsoever on original OP) If they go throught the post office route , especially with recorded delivery they can make sure that it has not been recieved. Can you imagine the number of claims you could fraudentily get for broken items or items not recieved ? It is not the sellers fault if something goes missing in post but then it is not the buyers. So if they both wait 14 days it is sharing the problem plus gives the chance to find out what really did happen to the package. As long as the seller has agreed to refund within a specific time if the post office pays out I think its fair. Its when they say " tough " that there is a problem.
Also the 14 days is the time the Post office recommends for the item to be regarded as missing. I can understand this as on a few occassions I have known items to turn up in example 10 days after posting ( after having done a grand tour of the UK! ).Or to be sitting in the buyers local sorting office cos the postie has not left the card.