Warning to self - ?always use recorded delivery

Anouchka

Recently I sold a diet/cookery book on Ebay for the princely sum of £2.80 including postage. As it was small and inexpensive I popped it in my local postbox (ie no proof of postage). Shortly afterwards the buyer left me positive feedback.
Today I am informed, via EBay, the she has not received the book!! I immediately issued her with a refund..... OK lesson learned, always use recorded delivery from now on. In addition she had no feedback so there's another lesson learned.
However as it appears from comments here and elsewhere that EBay always takes the buyer's side, I am wondering if, had I used the recorded delivery option and of course had it been delivered, would EBay have found in my favour?

jeffuk

Recorded Delivery does not always update as delivered so not really cost effective/viable. Special Delivery is more reliable but costs too much.
Myhermes is about that price and will show online when delivered.

esuhl

Anouchka wrote: »

Shortly afterwards the buyer left me positive feedback.
Today I am informed, via EBay, the she has not received the book!!

Surely she can't claim not to have received the book after she's left feedback?! I don't know how eBay work, but wouldn't they have backed you up if you refused to refund?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Have you checked their address is right:

http://www.royalmail.com/find-a-postcode

RFW

esuhl wrote: »

Surely she can't claim not to have received the book after she's left feedback?! I don't know how eBay work, but wouldn't they have backed you up if you refused to refund?

It would depend on the feedback, I've occasionally had feedback left before an item was sent. Also some can leave in error, it isn't necessarily the case that the buyer is lying, albeit highly likely.

soolin

Anouchka wrote: »

Recently I sold a diet/cookery book on Ebay for the princely sum of £2.80 including postage. As it was small and inexpensive I popped it in my local postbox (ie no proof of postage). Shortly afterwards the buyer left me positive feedback.
Today I am informed, via EBay, the she has not received the book!! I immediately issued her with a refund..... OK lesson learned, always use recorded delivery from now on. In addition she had no feedback so there's another lesson learned.
However as it appears from comments here and elsewhere that EBay always takes the buyer's side, I am wondering if, had I used the recorded delivery option and of course had it been delivered, would EBay have found in my favour?

Have a read of the sticky postage thread. Signed for, which replaced recorded is a very poor service in many areas and if it doesn't show as delivered you would have still lost a PayPal claim.

Also, can you afford to pay out £1.10 per item plus an additional 11p eBay fees out of your profit?

ballisticbrian

There is a kind of contradiction or disparity here:

Recently I sold a diet/cookery book on Ebay for the princely sum of £2.80 including postage.

Warning to self - ?always use recorded delivery

Sometimes it just wont pay.

soolin

ballisticbrian wrote: »

There is a kind of contradiction or disparity here:



Sometimes it just wont pay.

I saw that, it is the old myth though that buyer always pays for the postage- when in fact ultimately it is the seller.

I have a perfect example at the moment , I sell an item at £7.99 including 2 nd class postage, my competitor is selling it at £7.99 including 1 St class signed for. I offer the extra money in my pocket rather than in RMs.

Brooker_Dave

Surely the best solution, and the only way to make a living is to sell something for £7.99 plus postage?

After ebay and paypal have had their cut and you've had to wrap and pack something and paid the post office and had ebay/paypal have a share of that cost too, what's actually left?

I can't help thinking most ebay/amazon sellers would be better off burger flipping at Mcdonalds?

Racheya

Sometimes spending an extra 10 minutes waiting to get Proof of Postage just isn't worth it. For the sake of a couple of quid I just take the risk. Anything more than a fiver I'll usually get PoP, but otherwise I cba. No way would I get signed for for everything either, I barely make £1 on some of my items as it is.

soolin

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Surely the best solution, and the only way to make a living is to sell something for £7.99 plus postage?

After ebay and paypal have had their cut and you've had to wrap and pack something and paid the post office and had ebay/paypal have a share of that cost too, what's actually left?

I can't help thinking most ebay/amazon sellers would be better off burger flipping at Mcdonalds?

Dave I don't have time to try and teach you basic business maths again- sorry.

I make a very nice amount on a £7.99 sale thank you.