Royal Mail being difficult about compensation

techguy81

I am a sole trader and sold a second hand part on Ebay to a guy in Italy. I posted using an untracked Royal Mail service, the parcel went missing and the buyer claimed his money back through the PayPal dispute process, leaving me out of pocket on the postage and part.

The item sold for around £25.00 so was well within the limits of Royal Mail's standard compensation.

Royal Mail have responded to my compensation claim with a letter saying that as I am trading as a business, the documentation (PayPal invoice and Ebay sale page) accompanying my claim is not acceptable. They are asking to see manufacturer/supplier invoices. As this is a second hand part that has either been bought by ourselves off a private customer, or perhaps even gifted to us, there is no such documentation available.

What can I do about this situation and where do I stand legally?

techspec

Royal Mails terms state that business sellers must claim the ORIGINAL cost - and that a receipt is needed.

Personally - i think the value of the item should be the value it sold for.

Your tax returns should make interesting reading though - if you don't know where the items you sell even came from, let alone what they cost.

techguy81

techspec wrote: »

Your tax returns should make interesting reading though - if you don't know where the items you sell even came from, let alone what they cost.

Hi, off the top of my head I can't remember if we paid for this item or if it was given to us, but we do obviously record all purchases so I could dig out the info if necessary.

The question remains however, if an item has been given to us, or bought off a private individual for which no receipt exists, where do I stand? I'm still out of pocket either way.