What would you do?

samanthaknd

Skye32 wrote: »

Hi,

I sold an item of clothing which I sent to the lady on 5 March, I got proof of postage. She has emailed me saying she hasn't received it.

I went to the post office and they have given me an A4 size form to fill out.

Would you go to the trouble of filling out the form and waiting or should I refund her. I would have to refund her about £5.00.:o

I haven't been in this position before but, i suppose if it was me i WOULD fill in the form and wait, as if you do refund her YOU are losing out on
1. your item &
2. your postage cost

soolin

The claim with the RM is between the seller and the Post office, the buyer does not have to wait for that claim to go through before receiving their own refund from the seller.

Stuff gets lost, millions every week according to the Royal mails own figures. If you expect your buyers to wait the 3 weeks to make the claim (15 working days) and then possibly another 3 weeks while you wait to get a refund you are asking for trouble. Refund on or around week 2, do it graciously and buyer will be impressed and leave you a positive. You can then leave a positive in return and possibly mention 'sorry item lost in post' in the feedbackso that in the unlikely event they are a serial claimer future sellers are aware.

shelovestobuystuff

I generally ask if people would mind giving it just a little longer as items can turn up.I usually would wait 2 weeks before I assume its really lost especially if it was posted 2nd class.I have never had an item actually lost yet although I have started the refund process a few times when I thought the item must be lost only to have it turn up at the last minute.I sent a parcel to Northern Ireland recently which took 3 weeks to arrive, one to Wales took 4 weeks from my UK mainland address and a little scottie dog soft toy sent to New York took an amazing 7 weeks to arrive and that was recorded mail.The buyer in that case was happy to wait even though I offered a full refund after less than 2 weeks.She joked that he had arrived by luxurious QE2 and sent me an e-mail detailing his imagined antics on the long journey over.
I have found that 2nd class mail can be unpredictable at best and now only offer a minimum of 1st class delivery on the items I sell.It only costs a fraction more, not enough to put people off buying at all and the quicker service does your feedback a lot more good too.

grunnie

I have about 1 in 50 items go missing. I refund the buyer straight away and tell her to let me know if the item eventually turns up and also that she may get a letter from the PO to fill in to say the item hasn't been received. A few have suddenly got the item in the next post.I also tell her that I do not get a refund if she doesn't fill in this form. The Post Office make things more difficult to claim now. They also have never paid out for any of my parcels which have got lost abroad.

cazmanian_minx

grunnie wrote: »

A few have suddenly got the item in the next post.

I get that too, when I mention that my return address is on the back of every item and if it doesn't get to them it'll almost certainly come back to me (which it doesn't, but they don't know that!)

Caz