Rant about ebay

ChrisJJ

Hi All,

Just wanted to vent!

I'm so frustrated with ebay. I've not been on ebay for that long, so perhaps this is something that happens all the time, but I'm SO annoyed :mad:

I posted an item to a buyer, second class, and obtained a printed proof of posting. The receipt showed the buyers house number and post code.

The buyer opened an INR case and as soon as I was notified about this I uploaded the proof of posting.

Today a decision has been made in the buyer's favour. I can understand this as if the buyer genuinely hasn't received it, they do not want to be out of pocket. But surely ebay must accept that I posted SOMETHING to the buyer, otherwise I wouldn't have a receipt would I? And if it was something like an empty envelope, then the buyer would have mentioned this (and it wouldn't have cost me £2.80!)

I was told that as I couldn't prove it had been delivered, there was nothing they could do. Surely though, I upheld my side of the transaction by posting the order? I feel I'm being held accountable for Royal Mail's failure.

I do understand that it's advisable to send everything tracked, but that wouldn't be cost effective in many cases due to the cost of the items.

I realise there's no way around this, but as I say I just wanted to vent as it seems so unfair.

Anyway - rant over - thank you for reading

dlusman

ChrisJJ wrote: »

Hi All,

Just wanted to vent!

I'm so frustrated with ebay. I've not been on ebay for that long, so perhaps this is something that happens all the time, but I'm SO annoyed :mad:

I posted an item to a buyer, second class, and obtained a printed proof of posting. The receipt showed the buyers house number and post code.

The buyer opened an INR case and as soon as I was notified about this I uploaded the proof of posting.

Today a decision has been made in the buyer's favour. I can understand this as if the buyer genuinely hasn't received it, they do not want to be out of pocket. But surely ebay must accept that I posted SOMETHING to the buyer, otherwise I wouldn't have a receipt would I? And if it was something like an empty envelope, then the buyer would have mentioned this (and it wouldn't have cost me £2.80!)

I was told that as I couldn't prove it had been delivered, there was nothing they could do. Surely though, I upheld my side of the transaction by posting the order? I feel I'm being held accountable for Royal Mail's failure.

I do understand that it's advisable to send everything tracked, but that wouldn't be cost effective in many cases due to the cost of the items.

I realise there's no way around this, but as I say I just wanted to vent as it seems so unfair.

Anyway - rant over - thank you for reading

Your complaint is with the post office , not ebay. Proof of posting IS NOT proof of delivery. Think of it from the buyers side. If you bought something that didnt turn up , would you be happy - regardless of whether seller could prove they posted it or not ?

wiltsguy_2

i sell a lot of stuff on ebay and this is very common. If anything sells for over £20 i ALWAYS send Royal mail signed for, it costs about £1 extra and you can upload tracking info. Proof of delivery never stands up in an INR case, but does if you send signed for and upload a photo of the receipt.

I noticed a huge incline of INR a few years back, a lot of scammers on there that just try it on and want things for free.

Anything heavy(over 2kg) i send parcelforce 48, costs around £12.48 and also has free tracking/proof of delivery.

wdah

Here, this should help:

http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-and-support/claims-process-for-inland-items

mrcol1000

I have virtually cut them out by using My Hermes. Drop them off and it is actually cheaper. Have then collected and it is only 18p extra. Full tracking. As long as you don't send a china vase in a plastic bag, they are quick to respond and deal with any issues.

Sadly I have to still use RM for large letters and occasionally get the odd INR claim for them.

I really can not believe that such a big organisation such as Royal Mail can not provide tracking as standard when all their competitors do. Even if it was just for parcels.

I sympathise with the OP but you are responsible for the item till they receive it. You need to claim with Royal Mail. Ask in the Post Office for a claim form or do it on-line. Provide the proof of postage and a print out from Ebay of the item. Make sure you wait the right number of WORKING days as even if you are 1 day early, they will reject it.

ChrisJJ

dlusman wrote: »

Your complaint is with the post office , not ebay. Proof of posting IS NOT proof of delivery. Think of it from the buyers side. If you bought something that didnt turn up , would you be happy - regardless of whether seller could prove they posted it or not ?

I understand that proof of posting is not proof of delivery. My point was that I upheld my part of the transaction. I should have mentioned that once, last year, I had a similar case. Ebay decided to refund the buyer (quite right if the item had not been received) but they also decided that I would not be out of pocket as they were much more udnerstanding, said I was a good seller, and therefore refunded my paypal acount.

I would of course expect a refund if I was the buyer, but I also wouldn't necessarily expect the seller to lose out if they had proof of postage. I'm sure ebay can afford to cover these cases.

Yes, my complaint is with the post office regarding non delivery. But it's also with Ebay who seem to attach no significance at all the proof of posting.

Anyway, not a great deal I can do now, but thank you all for taking the time to reply

soolin

ChrisJJ wrote: »

I understand that proof of posting is not proof of delivery. My point was that I upheld my part of the transaction. I should have mentioned that once, last year, I had a similar case. Ebay decided to refund the buyer (quite right if the item had not been received) but they also decided that I would not be out of pocket as they were much more udnerstanding, said I was a good seller, and therefore refunded my paypal acount.

I would of course expect a refund if I was the buyer, but I also wouldn't necessarily expect the seller to lose out if they had proof of postage. I'm sure ebay can afford to cover these cases.

Yes, my complaint is with the post office regarding non delivery. But it's also with Ebay who seem to attach no significance at all the proof of posting.

Anyway, not a great deal I can do now, but thank you all for taking the time to reply

I would be very against eBay routinely stepping in and refunding in these circumstances, I just can't imagine how much our fees would have to go up to cover all the INrs claims :eek: sellers must take some responsibility for sales, just as anyone selling online must, I rarely use tracking but accept that is my decision.

Can I please urge all newbies to have a read of the postage sticky thread.

19lottie82

ChrisJJ wrote: »

I understand that proof of posting is not proof of delivery. My point was that I upheld my part of the transaction.

I'm afraid that doesn't really matter, it's your responsibility to make sure the item is delivered to the buyer. You choose to employ Royal Mail to undertake this task. If they fail to deliver, then you must thrash this out with them.

If you were to purchase something from a well known website and it went missing in transit, then you would expect whoever you bought it from to refund, or replace. EBay is no different.

Lesson here, is if the item is worth over £20 always send recorded. (If it's under £20 you can claim to be compensated for the full amount using you POP)

ballisticbrian

There may be some error in assumptions about the service eBay actually provide. i.e. are buyers actually *buying items from eBay* or eBay simply facilitating buyers to find sellers.

Kayalana99

ChrisJJ wrote: »

I'm sure ebay can afford to cover these cases.

I'm sure they can, but regardless royal mail will pay you compensation if you go down that route.

So basically your point is that eBay should refund you as well as the buyer, even though you can then also complain to Royal mail and have them refund you to?

No point playing a moral card because lets face it ~ people would claim both if it was doable.

Just because eBay can afford to, doesn't mean they should.

Alex_NJ

I am a little annoyed with eBay too.

I sold my phone on there last week. Yesterday the buyer still had not paid, so I flagged an unpaid item issue and then an hour later relisted the item.

Then, the buyer paid late last night. Just as my new auction was ending.

So I got straight on to live chat and told them the situation, he told me that the new listing could not be cancelled as it is within 12 hours before the end of the auction.

He further said, I should not have relisted the item until the unpaid item issue had been resolved (so why make it an option then???)

He said that my only option was to cancel bids until the end of the auction, and to attempt to mutually resolve the issue with whoever buys it.

Needless to say this was useless and the item sold to someone, who paid me instantly. So I had to refund their money and pay Paypal their fees!

I am so furious, this is an absurd process!