Royal Mail Claim - proof of value

Bodkin64

Hi,
I’ve seen a few threads on the forum about this but the answers seemed a bit contradictory so I’ll try again.... I’m a private eBay seller, an recently sold an iPod that I’d owned for many years since new, for which I no longer have proof of purchase. I posted it Royal Mail 1st Class Signed For so believe I’m eligible for compensation up to £50. The item sold for just short of £50 and obviously have all the auction/PayPal evidence of this. I posted the item just about a week ago and the tracking information has never updated from its initial state saying that it was received at the post office.
So it looks most likely that it’s been lost. I have not contacted the buyer yet to confirm they haven’t received it, but assume I’ll need to do that first and will have to refund them before I can claim. But when I claim, what evidence of value will suffice? The RM website suggests it has to be evidence of purchase price, but who has that fo things they’ve owned for years??
Thanks in anticipation

custardy

Malcyb wrote: »

Hi,
I’ve seen a few threads on the forum about this but the answers seemed a bit contradictory so I’ll try again.... I’m a private eBay seller, an recently sold an iPod that I’d owned for many years since new, for which I no longer have proof of purchase. I posted it Royal Mail 1st Class Signed For so believe I’m eligible for compensation up to £50. The item sold for just short of £50 and obviously have all the auction/PayPal evidence of this. I posted the item just about a week ago and the tracking information has never updated from its initial state saying that it was received at the post office.
So it looks most likely that it’s been lost. I have not contacted the buyer yet to confirm they haven’t received it, but assume I’ll need to do that first and will have to refund them before I can claim. But when I claim, what evidence of value will suffice? The RM website suggests it has to be evidence of purchase price, but who has that fo things they’ve owned for years??
Thanks in anticipation

I wouldnt be contacting the buyer.
Its 18 days before being considered lost and far more likely the tracking has failed to update but has been delivered.

ballisticbrian

the tracking information has never updated from its initial state saying that it was received at the post office.
So it looks most likely that it’s been lost

No it means nothing of the sort, so if you contact the seller, they may think there is a problem when there wasn't one.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

ballisticbrian wrote: »

No it means nothing of the sort, so if you contact the seller, they may think there is a problem when there wasn't one.

Agree with this, unless the buyer contacts you to say there is a problem don't poke the bear.

If it does turn out to be lost print outs of the eBay and Paypal details should be sufficient for a claim with Royal Mail

TripleH

Yes, Royal Mail do ask of proof of cost, but not what you paid for it, but what your buyer paid for it.

It might be you bought something for £2.30 about 15 years ago, but then sell it for £35.00 now, you would look to claim the £35.00 if it went lost or vice versa.

What you are doing is trying to prove what the buyer bought the item from you for as that is what you are claiming on not what it originally cost you.

martindow

TripleH wrote: »

Yes, Royal Mail do ask of proof of cost, but not what you paid for it, but what your buyer paid for it.

It might be you bought something for £2.30 about 15 years ago, but then sell it for £35.00 now, you would look to claim the £35.00 if it went lost or vice versa.

What you are doing is trying to prove what the buyer bought the item from you for as that is what you are claiming on not what it originally cost you.

Unless you are trading. If you are selling quantities of the same item RM will ask for evidence of what you paid which is going to be less than the retail value (unless it is a disastrous business!).

POPPYOSCAR

Malcyb wrote: »

Hi,
I’ve seen a few threads on the forum about this but the answers seemed a bit contradictory so I’ll try again.... I’m a private eBay seller, an recently sold an iPod that I’d owned for many years since new, for which I no longer have proof of purchase. I posted it Royal Mail 1st Class Signed For so believe I’m eligible for compensation up to £50. The item sold for just short of £50 and obviously have all the auction/PayPal evidence of this. I posted the item just about a week ago and the tracking information has never updated from its initial state saying that it was received at the post office.
So it looks most likely that it’s been lost. I have not contacted the buyer yet to confirm they haven’t received it, but assume I’ll need to do that first and will have to refund them before I can claim. But when I claim, what evidence of value will suffice? The RM website suggests it has to be evidence of purchase price, but who has that fo things they’ve owned for years??
Thanks in anticipation

They buyer will soon let you know if they do not receive it.

Why are you even worrying about it until they do.

Bodkin64

More fool me, I took the decision to contact the buyer to see if they’d received it before seeing all the replies counselling against it. Fortunately I have a very honest buyer who said it had arrived - though why the tracking information doesn’t say this I have no idea. But thanks for the replies, useful for future reference.

martindow

Malcyb wrote: »

More fool me, I took the decision to contact the buyer to see if they’d received it before seeing all the replies counselling against it. Fortunately I have a very honest buyer who said it had arrived - though why the tracking information doesn’t say this I have no idea. But thanks for the replies, useful for future reference.

I agree that it's best not to make contact, but most people are honest - it is easy to get a jaundiced view from posts on here as we hear about problems rather than the vast majority where parcels are delivered successfully.


If you have paid for signed for and it has not updated to show delivery you can ask RM to refund extra paid for this service. I believe that in practice you are sent six few second class stamps so it's worth doing.

shapala

martindow wrote: »

I agree that it's best not to make contact, but most people are honest - it is easy to get a jaundiced view from posts on here as we hear about problems rather than the vast majority where parcels are delivered successfully.


If you have paid for signed for and it has not updated to show delivery you can ask RM to refund extra paid for this service. I believe that in practice you are sent six few second class stamps so it's worth doing.

I've done that when it's recorded and not been signed for. I've had stamps, I've had a cheque for the cost of postage (normally £4.35 or £6.45) and I've even had them send cost of item plus cost of postage. Bit of a lottery but worth doing as you did pay the extra for proof of delivery with signature.

girlchops

For future reference you have 80 days to claim from RM and it's very easy to do online so always wait to hear from your buyer that they didn't receive an item before jumping in. FYI to make a claim you only need a copy of the eBay and Paypal sold pages and receipt/certificate of postage - photos, pdfs are accepted.
I'm a private seller, I've only been selling for just under 2 years and in that time had a few items genuinely go missing which i was able to successfully claim for. I've also had 1 other 'missing' item that the buyer was shouting from the roof tops was missing but had actually been delivered/collected. I followed the advice on the boards here to get the buyer to open a claim but they just didn't want to. It was a small parcel which is automatically tracked when an APL label is used so in the end RM were able to tell me it had been delivered from Delivery Office before the eBay claim was due to close and because i kept the claim updated with the tracking ref from the receipt the claim was found in my favour and buyer went away quietly after admitting they'd made a mistake!!.
HTH someone :beer: