How long does paypal allow for delivery (dispute)?

Tea3

Hi, A buyer on ebay has today opened a dispute with me for non-delivery. Our auctions clearly state it normally takes 2-3 days for 2nd class delivery however royal mail say it can take upto 15 working days (Mon-Sat) before they will regard an order as missing. We also had a HUGE sign at the top of every auction and every shop page saying that due to the postal strikes there will be delays to all deliveries during this week and also afterwards as royal mail catch up with their back-log so buyers should add the strike time at least to any delivery time. Without the strike the 15 working days would have been up on Sat 20th but with it the delivery time of 15 working days is 27th October. They have not even waited the 15 days since paying let alone allowed any time for the week long strike. I emailed the customer on 5th Oct when the order was dispatched giving full recorded delivery reference etc and a message saying about the strikes delaying all deliveries just now etc. I have proof of postage AND recorded delivery reference number which shows the parcel is still in the system and have supplied these to paypal via the dispute, however how long does paypal allow for delivery? We say 15 working days clearly on every auction as that is royal mails timeline, and we did clearly say about the delays so would paypal take that into consideration or are they likely to say ''well its been 10 days thats long enough'' and refund the payment? I feel we should be allowed the 15 days + the extra for the postal strike but how fair are paypal?
The customer messaged yesterday to say they would leave feedback for the item once received but I had not responded yet as they did not say anything about chasing their order etc so I did not think there was any problem - apart from that no contact at all before the dispute appeared today.
I should point out that, although rare, parcels do get lost by royal mail (shock horror) and I always resend or refund customer so i'm not trying to shirk out of anything here - just want a fair time for delivery.
Sorry again about the waffle - am a tad annoyed at this customer

ADDED - Forgot to say - if you remove the strike time then the parcel has been in the system for less than a week!

RFW

If you've given the recorded delivery details then Paypal will wait for delivery. Especially under the circumstances. Just keep checking its arrival and update when it gets there. You'll get another couple of weeks from Paypal.

Tea3

Thanks so much
Weird - 2 years of selling via website and ebay with no disputes and now two disputes in less than a week arghh (won last one no problem as buyer was chancing it as had received and signed for item then claimed unauthorised payment two weeks later but paypal could see that so fingers crossed for this one too).

soolin

RFW wrote: »

If you've given the recorded delivery details then Paypal will wait for delivery. Especially under the circumstances. Just keep checking its arrival and update when it gets there. You'll get another couple of weeks from Paypal.

Sending it recorded makes no difference to a dispute as it isn't posting that paypal are interested in it is delivery and of course anyone can supply a RD number. There is a misconception that a seller is safe by sending everything Recorded, this is not the case as only delivery matters and if you read some of the other threads on here at the moment you will see that in many instances recorded is never signed for on delivery . Also, it does appear that for some odd reason that we can't fathom recorded has been slower than standard post during the strike.

OP Approx 10 days after the dispute was opened paypal will make a decision, it can sometimes take longer and I don't know why. However at that point if the item still shows as undelivered then the buyer will be refunded in full. Obviously though if by that time the item shows as delivered you can insist that the dispute be closed in your favour.

However, the RD slip you have will enable you to start a claim from the Royal mail so all is not lost...except the 70p cost of the rD in the first place which Royal mail will not return.

soolin

Also just to add...there is no point in quoting the 15 working day rule to your buyers on your auctions it may well have triggered the dispute as it can look a little adversial. A buyer can start a paypal chargeback as early as 7 days after payment, there is absolutely no requirement for them to wait the 15 days or whatever limits the sellers wishes to set. The 15 working days is between the Royal Mail and the sender, it has nothing at all to do with the buyer.

user051105

paypal ignored my recorded delivery information and issued a refund even during strikes

Time2Go_25

soolin wrote: »

However, the RD slip you have will enable you to start a claim from the Royal mail so all is not lost...except the 70p cost of the rD in the first place which Royal mail will not return.

How come RM don't have to refund the 70p seeing as they have broken their part of the contract.

soolin

pdel61 wrote: »

How come RM don't have to refund the 70p seeing as they have broken their part of the contract.

Yes quite, another pet peeve of mine.:mad:

soolin

user051105 wrote: »

paypal ignored my recorded delivery information and issued a refund even during strikes

Which is as per their terms and conditions, they made no allowances at all for strikes and neither did Amazon. If something is not delivered then it makes no difference how it was sent , the buyer *will* win the dispute.

Tea3

Hi - just to update - the customer emailed me saying they would close the dispute as they were not sure how the process worked so thought they had to open a dispute after a week! I advised them that I would make sure they received the goods or a refund as I'm a good seller, but in general they should never close a dispute once opened unless they had received goods or refund etc as they could not re-open it afterwards but by that time they had already closed it. A result for me but means they could end up shafted if they close a dispute early with a bad seller - have explained all this so hopefully they understand the process better now. So instead of being angry at customer I am now trying to ensure they dont get ripped off elsewhere oh the difference a few days makes lol

Thanks for the help and advice on here

soolin

Tea3, your post restores my faith in sellers. I think you acted very well and with your buyers best interests at heart.