!!!!!!......

Kim_13

There are scammers whatever postage method you use. I also deem those that refuse delivery of signed for items as scammers. The tracking can show a refusal and the seller still has to refund the full price paid including postage. At least with a POP, "loss" can be claimed off of the carrier, even if some hoop jumping is required.

I sent a signed for letter (not linked to eBay but for an official purpose that didn't warrant £6-£7 on Special Delivery.) Even for that I'll stick to POP in future as the tracking said it was being redirected(!) and didn't update after that.

gazfocus

As soolin says, signed for cannot be relied upon, and isn't worth the extra cost IMO. We sell low value items on eBay that we charge between £4-6 for with free postage. If we opted for signed for post, the cheapest option is about £3.67 (for 2nd class with our franking machine) as appose to £2.57 for normal 2nd class.

We've sold around 200 items so far using normal 2nd class, and to date we've not had anyone trying to scam us (touch wood). I think the possibility of being scammed is very minimal.

RFW

gazfocus wrote: »

As soolin says, signed for cannot be relied upon, and isn't worth the extra cost IMO. We sell low value items on eBay that we charge between £4-6 for with free postage. If we opted for signed for post, the cheapest option is about £3.67 (for 2nd class with our franking machine) as appose to £2.57 for normal 2nd class.

We've sold around 200 items so far using normal 2nd class, and to date we've not had anyone trying to scam us (touch wood). I think the possibility of being scammed is very minimal.

I'd also agree. Using signed for is crazy, if your item has value you should be using Special Delivery or a signed for courier service, if it doesn't have value you're wasting money.

I send a few thousand items per month by first or second class, we rarely get any losses, it's certainly less than one in a thousand.

ballisticbrian

I send a few thousand items per month by first or second class, we rarely get any losses, it's certainly less than one in a thousand.

I read somewhere that the official figure across the board for Royal Mail is 1%, but it will vary quite a lot and there are things you can do to mitigate it.

ballisticbrian

"Can you send it first class or with tracking or signed for I was hopeing for this to come. A long time ago as its for some one and I keep saying its comeing. And they dont believe me witch date was it sent. Kinda regards"

Actually being told in the third person that your item hasn't been received by someone else could be a sign they drop shipped your item, and the recipient is p'ed off that it wasn't the seller who sent it.


But there, I mentioned that drop ship word again and all manner of drop shipper will rush into the thread to defend their modus operandi.

soolin

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Actually being told in the third person that your item hasn't been received by someone else could be a sign they drop shipped your item, and the recipient is p'ed off that it wasn't the seller who sent it.


But there, I mentioned that drop ship word again and all manner of drop shipper will rush into the thread to defend their modus operandi.

Drop shipping does have it fans, I am not one of them as the model -if used on sites like ebay or Amazon where stock control and speed is of the utmost importance , just looks like the easiest way to lose your account.

I am aware though in the past that on occasions my items have been drop shipped by a third party- usually when they ask me to send without any form of invoicing and without my return address or business name showing. I am happy to send without an invoice (I don't send one anyway) but insist on still sending my flyer which thanks a buyer for their purchase and redirects them to my own private sales for future purchases, plus I always have my return address on the outer packaging.

ballisticbrian

I am aware though in the past that on occasions my items have been drop shipped by a third party- usually when they ask me to send without any form of invoicing and without my return address or business name showing. I am happy to send without an invoice (I don't send one anyway) but insist on still sending my flyer which thanks a buyer for their purchase and redirects them to my own private sales for future purchases, plus I always have my return address on the outer packaging.

What I dislike is the fact that the original seller (lottie82) is expected to guarantee the item and replace the item even though they have no contractual obligation with the buyer, only the intermediary. Add to this that when the end buyer finds they could have got the item cheaper, they often then realise that the drop shipper doesn't even know if and how and when the item has been sent and this is actually an incentive for them to claim it hasn't arrived.

Kim_13

I'm not sure I believe that this buyer would be intelligent enough to be drop shipping commercially considering the appalling message and the fact that they can't follow simple instructions to open a case in eBay. Not everyone is great at English, but surely if you are messaging a seller, you can take a few moments to craft a message in Word first (which would at least remove enraging spelling mistakes like "comeing" even if it didn't pick up the full stop in the middle of a sentence.)

Most of the time I think they're either impatient and think that if they say someone else is involved, they can guilt the seller into sending another by a premium service that they haven't paid for; or they've ordered for an aquaintence who doesn't shop online.

I buy from eBay and elsewhere on behalf of others as a favour, however if people offer/agree to do this they should be savvy enough to manage their expectations (e.g. The free delivery was second class which might be 5-7 days from dispatch, plus updating them when a dispatch notification is received.) eBay arrival estimates do not always manage expectations well so some thought is needed. If the other person doesn't believe that the item is coming, then perhaps the buyer needs to look at who they agree to do favours for (or if they're say charging the other person for first class delivery, selecting the free option then pocketing the difference; they need to stop.) If the buyer expects to profit for their time in such a case then they should be transparent with the other person.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Kim_13 wrote: »

I'm not sure I believe that this buyer would be intelligent enough to be drop shipping commercially considering the appalling message and the fact that they can't follow simple instructions to open a case in eBay. Not everyone is great at English, but surely if you are messaging a seller, you can take a few moments to craft a message in Word first (which would at least remove enraging spelling mistakes like "comeing" even if it didn't pick up the full stop in the middle of a sentence.)

Sadly there's a lot of people who are either lazy or simply don't care.

theonlywayisup

Kim_13 wrote: »

Not everyone is great at English, but surely ............. you can take a few moments to craft a message in Word first

I quite agree.

Kim_13 wrote: »

or they've ordered for an aquaintence who doesn't shop online.