eBay buyer denies delivery despite tracking confirmation. Worth pursuing small claim? 23 January at 2:27PM in Ebay, auctions, car boot sales, post & parcels 13 replies 498 views

ssg765

I sold an item to a buyer on eBay in November. Value £150.
Parcel was initially delayed, buyer opened an Item not Received case and I refunded her before case was escalated.
Next day parcel was delivered.
Buyer denies this, despite her name provided by courier as a recipient. She said she was home all day and no parcels were delivered.
I opened an investigation with carrier, who after 2 weeks sent me a confirmation again that the parcel was delivered at a right address to the recipient.

Is this something worth pursuing in small claims court? Value is quite high for me and I have 2 confirmations from courier.

GrubbyGirl_2

I would if it was me and to be frank I'd do it for a lesser amount as I hate dishonest people.  Advise her that you will be doing that and are confident that you will win as you have confirmation from the carrier that they delivered to her.  Also point out that she will get a CCJ against her which will impact her credit score and will likely mean she will not get credit on the future.  Does she really not want to return it and risk that?

ssg765

She absolutely denies she ever received it. She's responsive though, I just wonder if carrier confirmation is enough of an evidence in the court's eyes?

Miser1964

Try a 'letter before action' which may prompt the buyer to "remember" the delivery

summer_daze009

ssg765 said:

She absolutely denies she ever received it. She's responsive though, I just wonder if carrier confirmation is enough of an evidence in the court's eyes?

Despite the courier confirming that they delivered it, unless the recipient signed for it or they have a photo of the parcel inside an open door, what proof is there? They may have left it outside and therefore could have been stolen

ssg765

summer_daze009 said:

ssg765 said:

She absolutely denies she ever received it. She's responsive though, I just wonder if carrier confirmation is enough of an evidence in the court's eyes?

Despite the courier confirming that they delivered it, unless the recipient signed for it or they have a photo of the parcel inside an open door, what proof is there? They may have left it outside and therefore could have been stolen

Well that's why I asked the courier to investigate and they confirmed it was delivered and received and signed for by my customer. There's a signature, but just some unintelligible scribble, I cannot make out a single letter from it.

summer_daze009

That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not her signature, but if she did sign for it then I’m surprised she’s denying receiving it. I’m also surprised that if she’s really that dishonest she would be responsive. People like that normally just ignore you. 

Spoonie_Turtle

ssg765 said:

summer_daze009 said:

ssg765 said:

She absolutely denies she ever received it. She's responsive though, I just wonder if carrier confirmation is enough of an evidence in the court's eyes?

Despite the courier confirming that they delivered it, unless the recipient signed for it or they have a photo of the parcel inside an open door, what proof is there? They may have left it outside and therefore could have been stolen

Well that's why I asked the courier to investigate and they confirmed it was delivered and received and signed for by my customer. There's a signature, but just some unintelligible scribble, I cannot make out a single letter from it.

I wonder if it's possible to get the GPS data for the delivery, see whether it's at their address or not.

theoretica

Quite recently I had the postman deliver a signed for package - handed me the gadget to scrawl something on with my finger, then the packet - which was clearly and correctly addressed to the next street over.  If I had accepted it, what are the chances an investigation would find it had been delivered correctly? 

diystarter7

Hi Op

Sorry about that

Please consider that facts can be stranger than fiction

What does the profile of the buyer tell you - are they long standing ie 10 yrs plus and their feedback is it excellent like mine as a buyer as at times you can get hints.

Contact ebay and seek their guidance
Contact delivery people and seek their guidance
Then on the above act as you feel is right

On two ocassions one by the post man and other a delivery service handed us stuff as ours and it was only me noticing it was not ours that it went to the right address. Even if i had nt noted at the time I would have noted it later but not everyone returns stuuf - so there is a chance the buyer did not get it

Thnaks

ssg765

Spoonie_Turtle said:

I wonder if it's possible to get the GPS data for the delivery, see whether it's at their address or not.

It was posted with UPS, I do not think they record coordinates