ebay- question

nedden

I've sold an item a few weeks ago for around £11.00 inc p&p. The buyer has paid for item (cheque) and once cleared I posted it (France) the buyer has e-mailed me several times claiming that it has not arrived, I know that I wrote the address clearly, packaged the item carefully and wrote a return address on the back of the parcel. I did not offer postage insurance on the item.

The buyer has sent me several e-mails saying

" I still have not received ........ I am happy to wait a few more days to see what happens"

well, whats going to happen?? I didn't offer insurance and once the cheque cleared I left positive feedback saying.... prompt payment, good ebayer!

danmanchester

Sounds as though you're going to have to stand the loss I'm afraid..unless you obtained a certificate of posting from the post office? - that would at least give you the option to recover some of your costs and replace/refund the buyer.

nalibz

nedden wrote:

I've sold an item a few weeks ago for around £11.00 inc p&p. The buyer has paid for item (cheque) and once cleared I posted it (France) the buyer has e-mailed me several times claiming that it has not arrived, I know that I wrote the address clearly, packaged the item carefully and wrote a return address on the back of the parcel. I did not offer postage insurance on the item.

The buyer has sent me several e-mails saying

" I still have not received ........ I am happy to wait a few more days to see what happens"

well, whats going to happen?? I didn't offer insurance and once the cheque cleared I left positive feedback saying.... prompt payment, good ebayer!

Dan is right. You must always obtain a certificate of posting when sending an item, especialy to france. Also, check the buyers feedback to make sure he hasnt pretended he hasnt received items in the past as he could be lying. Also, mail to france can sometime take a long time so dont jump to conclusions and refund too quickly.

hope this helps,

nalibz

nedden

it's the postage insurance that I don't get? ... surely the buyer purchased the item knowing that it wasn't insured, so they took the risk, not me!

If they were that bothered they shouldn't have purchased from me, I have 100% positive feedback, so the fact that I send items wrapped well/clearly labelled is noted.

I'm not a business, so I don't offer refunds, whatever happened to "buyer beware"???

debtbuster2K5

Understand what you are saying nedden, however it does not cost you any extra on the postage to get a certificate of posting, which then insures you for up to £28 I believe. Well worth it in my book. Incidently I always pay the extra insurance if an item is worth more than £28 just in case what you have unfortunately experienced happens.

malolo

Sometimes things go missing in the post... however I think it's up to the person who posted it to chase up the missing item as they are the ones with the details etc.

It's a tricky situation... the buyer technically doesn't know that you've sent it and therefore could think you're trying to pull a fast one but on the other hand you don't know that they've not received it and are trying to pull a fast one.

I think it would only be right for you to refund on this occasion if you don't have proof of postage as the buyer hasn't done anything wrong (I know you haven't but you have no proof that you haven't either)... it could be said that the option of insurance could be there to protect you as much as them, and it's not as if it would cost you for the insurance in the first place.

Fairwinds

I recently asked the post office for prices to ship an item to Holland and Belgium the price was around £3-£3.50 and I was told that was the same for all Europe and that also included insurance up to the value of £30 (included)
Are you sure you arn't insured as standard?

robowen

E-mail them back saying you have had deliveries take ages to get to France as the french are usually on strike every week or so.

Tell them to allow 91 days before reporting missing items to you.

nedden

thanks robowen!!!! will use that one!

soolin

nedden wrote:

thanks robowen!!!! will use that one!

I understand your post was tongue in cheek but do be careful how you approach your buyer. They can damage you with a carefully worded negative so make sure you minimise any risk.

I agree with most of the other posters that you need to refund the buyer. However, I would certainly stall them, politely, for as long as possible in case the parcel is just slow.

Soo

ROBDOLPHIN66

As far as I know there are two ways of insuring a parcel that is worth less than £30 (I think that Royal Mail increased the limit from £28 when they put their prices up the other week).
You can obtain a COP, which I do a lot of the time, and this does not cost anything, however I do not know how reliable they are when it comes to claiming compensation.
The other option is to pay for "International Signed For", but at £3.30 on top of the postage cost, I think that it is very expensive.
I think that if you offer insurance on your listing and the buyer does not take you up on it, then the risk is passed on to them to a greater extent.