Ebay refund grumble

Thrugelmir

Always send items tracked/signed for.  The world is full of scammers who will claim if the item isn't.  Never been any different. 

TOP_CAT

With low value items suggesting sending them  tracked /signed for isnt really practical .

Buyers wont pay more postage costs on a £5-10-£15 item and selling becomes a waste of time if the seller pays tracked signed for costs if the postage is high ..

I guess its the risk you take when selling low value items .

soolin

Thrugelmir said:

Always send items tracked/signed for.  The world is full of scammers who will claim if the item isn't.  Never been any different. 

It really isn't worth it for items under £20 which already have proof of delivery. Signed for (which is of course no longer signed for as delivery post person now has instructions to sign and deliver along with other post would not give additional protection and Special delivery is very expensive and is the only tracked service - best used for items over £50 only as buyers will not pay for enhanced services and will be buying from a competitor.

I sell a lot of small parcel size items, postage at a PO counter would be £3.20 2nd class up to 2kg. signed for would be an additional £1 and a 1kg parcel special would be £8.95 (2 KG £11.15) 

I sent 2 books last week, total weight 1.1kg, these books are cheap, tend to go for around £5 each,  I charged £12 for both as a bulk purchase with 2nd class postage included. I couldn't have charged nay more and still sold them and if I had added an enhanced postage within that £12 it wouldn't have been worth selling them after ebay fees. 

Thrugelmir

soolin said:

Thrugelmir said:

Always send items tracked/signed for.  The world is full of scammers who will claim if the item isn't.  Never been any different. 

It really isn't worth it for items under £20 which already have proof of delivery.

As a seller you take your chance. The world is full of deceitful people unfortunately. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

soolin said:

Thrugelmir said:

Always send items tracked/signed for.  The world is full of scammers who will claim if the item isn't.  Never been any different. 

Special delivery is very expensive and is the only tracked service 

Royal Mail Tracked is properly tracked, £100 cover and only £4.70 odd for a small parcel up to 2kg. 

I tend to charge £3.99 postage and send with this service if the item is over £40 or £50.

Paying for Signed For is a waste of money unless the item is between £30 and £50 and you’ll bother to make a claim.

I know cover is only £20 without it but paying £1.15 because something sells for £22 is a waste in my view. 

I buy a fair bit on Bricklink and a fair few sellers add Signed For as soon as the order hits £20 which is really annoying. 

TOP_CAT

"The world is full of deceitful people unfortunately."
 
Thats the whole point of these ebay threads as far as I can tell .

Lots of good info on damage control from experienced sellers .

noitsnotme

Thrugelmir said:

Always send items tracked/signed for.  The world is full of scammers who will claim if the item isn't.  Never been any different. 

I’ve sent thousands of items non tracked and less than 0.5% of them have ‘gone missing’.  I would have wasted thousands of pounds over the years if I had sent them all tracked/signed for.

cymruchris

Set your dispatch time to 2 or 3 working days. I set my account to that - it clearly shows it on the listings, and then I always post on the first working day. Nobody really pays any attention to how long you'll take to dispatch it for most orders - so by the time it's expected to be sent, usually it's arrived, along with positive feedback as to how quick you were. Under promise - over deliver. 

djp64

TOP_CAT said:

Could the seller when using ones own stamps not buy/add one stamp purchased from the PO of a smaller amount (too make up the exact total needed) .....too then get the required proof of posting certificate ?.

I would be interested to know if this works ?

I do this all the time for parcels. For small parcels I put on stamps to the value of £2.58 (I bought a load of first class large letter stamps about 5 years ago when they were still around 70p) and then my Post Office print a label for the difference (to make up the full second class cost).  I get a receipt with the reference number that can be used to evidence delivery.

kalsha

djp64 said:

I do this all the time for parcels. For small parcels I put on stamps to the value of £2.58 (I bought a load of first class large letter stamps about 5 years ago when they were still around 70p) and then my Post Office print a label for the difference (to make up the full second class cost).  I get a receipt with the reference number that can be used to evidence delivery.

Can I double check on this please?  So if you use part of your own stamps and part of post office label, do you get ordinary POP or one with the tracking number.   At the moment I am using up all my stamps to make up £3.20 and all I get is a POP with no tracking number.