Buyer address incorrect, parcel lost!

Gary123456790

Hi All,

I sell a few things on ebay, some regular items and a lot of stuff cleared out from the house.

Anyway, I recently posted an item which sold for £20 but the buyer's confirmed address on paypal is incomplete. I had around 10 items to post that day so just copied and pasted the addresses into Word and printed them out.

The address is missing the flat number and block name, i.e. it is just

John Doe
Wimpole Street
London
SE1 1AB

It is missing a flat number and name of the block of flats.

I told the buyer to go to the sorting office as he had provided the incorrect address - sorting office said it will get sent back to sender.

I dont put 'sender' addresses on my parcels - cant be bothered and just take the risk. This is a much more valuable item than I normally send so probably should but doesnt matter now because I didnt!

Anyway neither of us have the parcel but I posted it to the confirmed paypal address. I also dont get certificate of posting because I dont want to spend time queueing at the post office and waiting for them to type and print 10 addresses receipts out - I just put stamps to the value and write the correct service on and put it in their bag.

Am I liable here? Ebay might say so because I dont have a certificate of posting, but I did post to the confirmed address?

Thanks,

Gary.

sistafromanothermista

Gary123456790 wrote: »

Hi All,

I sell a few things on ebay, some regular items and a lot of stuff cleared out from the house.

Anyway, I recently posted an item which sold for £20 but the buyer's confirmed address on paypal is incomplete. I had around 10 items to post that day so just copied and pasted the addresses into Word and printed them out.

The address is missing the flat number and block name, i.e. it is just

John Doe
Wimpole Street
London
SE1 1AB

It is missing a flat number and name of the block of flats.

I told the buyer to go to the sorting office as he had provided the incorrect address - sorting office said it will get sent back to sender.

I dont put 'sender' addresses on my parcels - cant be bothered and just take the risk. This is a much more valuable item than I normally send so probably should but doesnt matter now because I didnt!

Anyway neither of us have the parcel but I posted it to the confirmed paypal address. I also dont get certificate of posting because I dont want to spend time queueing at the post office and waiting for them to type and print 10 addresses receipts out - I just put stamps to the value and write the correct service on and put it in their bag.

Am I liable here? Ebay might say so because I dont have a certificate of posting, but I did post to the confirmed address?

Thanks,

Gary.

I would imagine with no proof of you ever sending the item, you are liable as the seller.

eaglesrjh

sorry to say your totally liable here if the buyer does not get the item.

you have no proof of delivery, you dont even have proof it was posted.

if the buyer claims non receipt from either paypal or ebay they will win and you will have to refund and be without the item.

You will also have no recourse through royal mail as you cant prove you posted it.

Sorry but apart from hoping it turns up for the buyer then there is nothing you can do.

I'm afraid your correct course of action would have been to mail the buyer for the correct address and not send until you had one.

Always put return addresses on your packages and for items less than £46 always get proof of postage so at least you can claim from royal mail if it goes missing. Ebay or Paypal will only accept proof of delivery i.e a tracked signed delivery service, even proof of postage is not good enough for them.

I hope the buyer gets it and all is ok, otherwise your going to have to refund.

eaglesrjh

sorry to say as well that that postcode does not match that street.

RFW

As above, if they claim non receipt you have no proof of postage and no proof of delivery so as far as Paypal know you may be making it up.

It's not too difficult to put a return address on a parcel, a house number and postcode will do.

I'd ask the buyer to contact others in their building and see if someone has taken it in, you might get lucky. I just had one buyer who was claiming lost parcel but later found their housemate had taken it in, locked it in her room and gone away for the weekend.

Gary123456790

eaglesrjh wrote: »

sorry to say as well that that postcode does not match that street.

It isn't the real buyer's details... just an example to illustrate the problem.

eaglesrjh

Gary123456790 wrote: »

It isn't the real buyer's details... just an example to illustrate the problem.

ah ok, everything else still stands though i'm afraid.

Gary123456790

Hi,

Thanks for all the replies.

I always knew it was risky not getting a proof of posting but used to only sell items worth less than a fiver so was just doing the same. I should at least put a return address on then this situation will be OK.

Of course buyers could still claim non-receipt and I wouldn't have any proof but this is hopefully less likely and it is just the risk I take doing it the way I do.

The post office I use is a town centre one - there is always around a 20-30 minute queue for the counter and then would have to wait further while they print the certificates of posting. Would probably take longer in the post office than it takes me to do all the orders!!

The item cost to me only £12 so as long as I get the fees back im only down that plus £1.75 for stamps (I buy them in bulk at a discount and stick them on the parcel to make up the £2.20) so not the end of the world, just one for experience.

I bet someone on ebay does cheap 'sender' stickers! That would at least mean they get back to me if the address is wrong.

Thanks all.

Gary.

Gary123456790

eaglesrjh wrote: »

your correct course of action would have been to mail the buyer for the correct address and not send until you had one.

Ebay state that sellers should only post to the confirmed paypal address, and will side with the buyer if you dont post to that address.

It is not the sellers job to check the address is correct / real - thats the buyers job.

As a seller all you can do is use tracked postage (sometimes not cost effective), and get proof of postage or just take the hit when it does occasionally go wrong.

Gary.

eaglesrjh

As you say your only protected through ebay/paypal if your going to use a tracked service.

if your not then it makes no difference what address you post it to, whether it is the confirmed one or not as you still cannot prove delivery.

For me and the way i do things i'd have got the correct address from the buyer and then proof of postage from the post office. Hopefully the package gets to its intended destination fine, if not I at least have recourse through royal mail.

custardy

Gary123456790 wrote: »

Hi All,

I sell a few things on ebay, some regular items and a lot of stuff cleared out from the house.

Anyway, I recently posted an item which sold for £20 but the buyer's confirmed address on paypal is incomplete. I had around 10 items to post that day so just copied and pasted the addresses into Word and printed them out.

The address is missing the flat number and block name, i.e. it is just

John Doe
Wimpole Street
London
SE1 1AB

It is missing a flat number and name of the block of flats.

I told the buyer to go to the sorting office as he had provided the incorrect address - sorting office said it will get sent back to sender.

I dont put 'sender' addresses on my parcels - cant be bothered and just take the risk. This is a much more valuable item than I normally send so probably should but doesnt matter now because I didnt!

Anyway neither of us have the parcel but I posted it to the confirmed paypal address. I also dont get certificate of posting because I dont want to spend time queueing at the post office and waiting for them to type and print 10 addresses receipts out - I just put stamps to the value and write the correct service on and put it in their bag.

Am I liable here? Ebay might say so because I dont have a certificate of posting, but I did post to the confirmed address?

Thanks,

Gary.

cant be bothered putting a return address,don't want to spend time queuing
I'm not sure eBay is for you
I have your item here,safe and sound. It must be true because I say so. no?

To be a little more constructive. did you put an invoice inside?