buyer not received item, what are my options?

celebrate

sorry for the dumb question i am a bit of a newbie to ebay as you may remember from my bunkbed saga a few months ago lol:rotfl:

i am not a business seller:o

i sold an item on ebay for £9.99 and posted it first class on tues 18th dec, buyer says she hasn't received it yet:(

i did get a certificate of posting but unfortunately didn't send it recorded delivery, i'm sure the Po said they would guarantee delivery before xmas if posted before wed last week?;)

what do i do now? do i offer her a refund? or do i tell her to wait? what if the item arrives in the meantime? how do i know she's not telling porkies lol?!

i don't have a receipt of purchase for the item but do have the ebay transaction, do the post office need the original purchase receipt? And what exactly do they compensate you for, would they compensate the cost of item + delivery?

thanks in advance
:A:A

soolin

celebrate wrote: »

sorry for the dumb question i am a bit of a newbie to ebay as you may remember from my bunkbed saga a few months ago lol:rotfl:

i am not a business seller:o

i sold an item on ebay for £9.99 and posted it first class on tues 18th dec, buyer says she hasn't received it yet:(

i did get a certificate of posting but unfortunately didn't send it recorded delivery, i'm sure the Po said they would guarantee delivery before xmas if posted before wed last week?;)

what do i do now? do i offer her a refund? or do i tell her to wait? what if the item arrives in the meantime? how do i know she's not telling porkies lol?!

i don't have a receipt of purchase for the item but do have the ebay transaction, do the post office need the original purchase receipt? And what exactly do they compensate you for, would they compensate the cost of item + delivery?

thanks in advance
:A:A

Firstly if you start thinking that buyers are out to scam you then you might as well give up selling online.
no standard mail has a guaranteed delivery time , it *should* have arrived by now but there is no guarantee.

At any other time of year I would suggest asking buyer to wait a little longer, that might still be possible but ultimately you will have to refund. Do what you can though to keep the buyer on your side, you don't want them opening a case on ebay

celebrate

soolin wrote: »

Firstly if you start thinking that buyers are out to scam you then you might as well give up selling online.
no standard mail has a guaranteed delivery time , it *should* have arrived by now but there is no guarantee.

At any other time of year I would suggest asking buyer to wait a little longer, that might still be possible but ultimately you will have to refund. Do what you can though to keep the buyer on your side, you don't want them opening a case on ebay

lol i did say i was a beginner:o:o
think i have learned my lesson and will probably go for recorded delivery in future
thanks

forgotmyname

Im still waiting for items to arrive that i bought on the 9th December.

If you cannot prove delivery you will have to refund them though.

Crowqueen

Without proof of delivery you will either have to refund now or be forced to refund. If you use your certificate of posting to claim from RM then you won't be out of pocket - and I agree with Soo - if you are going to leap to conclusions without any proof then it is better to sell offline; with the post there is always a slight risk of non-delivery/non-receipt and although it should usually provide a good ROI it is the seller's responsibility.

I bought something on the 15th and it arrived on the 18th - strangely enough it seems that things posted after the last posting day often get there quicker than items posted in the rush the couple of weeks beforehand. I would never guarantee anything but even if you want to ask the buyer to wait (and I've had stuff ordered relatively early in December not arrive until after the new year, which is why I stopped shopping online in the run-up to Christmas a few years ago) you will end up refunding at some point if it doesn't turn up.

Up to you, but never directly accuse a buyer of scamming or use that excuse to sit on their money until they have to fight you for it. It helps no-one - there is a faction who suggest asking a buyer to open a dispute because it then keeps tabs on who is opening how many disputes - but I work on the principle of antagonising the fewest people possible and not insisting on disputes unless as a last resort. They paid for it, they really deserve to get what they paid for without any aspersions cast on their characters.

think i have learned my lesson and will probably go for recorded delivery in future
thanks

Will do nothing to stop genuine loss (all goes in the same sack) and says to buyers loud and clear 'I'm happy to charge you an extra pound 'cos I think you're a scammer'.

Unless you're losing more money than it costs to pay out for it it's not worth it. Many buyers hate it - it makes them have to stay in to sign for even the most trivial items, or rearrange delivery and then stay in, or go and collect it - and it inflates your costs beyond what is reasonable for many items.

As Soo said, if you think people are out to scam you, don't take their money in the first place.

soolin

celebrate wrote: »

lol i did say i was a beginner:o:o
think i have learned my lesson and will probably go for recorded delivery in future
thanks

Read what Crowqueen says, recorded is only useful if you suspect a scam otherwise it is absolutely no different at all to any other standard mail. It is no quicker and in many areas it won't ever get past the ' item is processing'

Anecdotally recorded will also damage your stars badly, as it just scream ' I don't trust my buyers'.

Have a browse of the sticky postage thread it explains what use various postage methods are, and how they differ.

celebrate

Wow wise words and duly accepted
Many thanks all xx

celebrate

One more quick question before I go pretty please?
I had a parcel delivered by myhermes to someone else and myhermes say she refused to accept the item. I just telephoned the buyer and she denies this? Again do I believe the buyer here? They cannot deliver now until after Xmas , she says she still wants the item but do I offer her dome sort of compensation ? Parcel was posted 16th dec

forgotmyname

After reading the My Hermes quack company post. I would probably side with the buyer and tell them to deliver it.

Sort it out after the buyer gets the item.