Ebayer refunded buyer my rights?

GadgetGuru

Money_Grabber13579 said:

Because IF the buyer is dishonest, they would likely have claimed the item wasn’t as described rather than it didn’t arrive if a tracked service had been used. So using a tracked service wouldn’t necessarily have helped but getting proof of posting would have at least allowed a claim to be made from Royal Mail.

Not necessarily. By doing it this way the buyer has their refund AND the item - in effect they keep the item for free. 
By doing it the item not as described way they would have to return the item first. 

If you have a dodgy buyer they can do either to be fair - so just luck of the draw when it comes to eBay buyers. 
But yes, if the OP had POP or Tracking info any loss could have been claimed for. 

Honestly tough, for £10 its not worth the bother. 

jon81uk

If its under £20 you don't need a tracked service, just proof of postage and then can claim from Royal Mail.

Or send as a small parcel and you get proof of delivery which works with eBay and you can get proof of postage digitally in the RM app.

If over £20 then make sure you use a tracked service that gives the right amount of compensation for loss.

But in this case, no proof of postage means you can't claim fro Royal Mail.

Devon_Scrooge

As others have said, if you don't send it tracked & signed for you don't have a leg to stand on.

Another thing to beware of is to ensure any tracking number you are given is valid.

We bought an expensive TV from eBay last year which arrived via DPD within 48hrs but the screen was smashed.  The seller was efficient and arranged for it to be collected the following day. A different DPD driver arrived and collected the TV.  He was in a DPD signwritten van, and issued a collection note/tracking number.

Long story cut short, the seller said they didn't have another TV to replace it, eBay were dragging their heels over a refund, and so I raised a claim with Paypal. 

Paypal refused a refund because they said I could not provide them with a valid tracking number, and no record that the TV had been returned. 

I spent 3 months trying to sort this out.  It turned out that DPD had lost the returned TV for 2 weeks, and even they didn't have a correct tracking number for the return.  Even the seller confirmed to Paypal that they had eventually received the damaged TV, but Paypal wouldn't budge on it.

In the end, a helpful lady in the seller's office issued a refund direct to me, so all was well.  SInce then, I refuse to use Paypal as their buyer protection is hopeless, and I try to avoid buying expensive items online, especially if DPD are the quoted courier.

Exodi

While it's human nature to be cynical in such circumstances, you must at least consider - what if you're wrong?

What if it didn't arrive? What if the buyer did go to HMV and buy a replacement? What if it was for a birthday in a couple days time so they couldn't wait you to post another, and they didn't get the receipt because it was a gift?

You don't know for certain that it was a merciless scammer on the lookout for his next victim, cackling menacingly at the free CD he's just exploited from his latest prey

eBay can't run you want it to - think of it from the viewpoint of a buyer... you can't have a customer buy something, the item not arrive, then it be decided "we're not gonna give you a refund because we reckon you're a liar."

This is the risk of sending items without any proof of postage or delivery. You literally charge the cost of postage to the buyer, so there was no reason to send this with just a stamp.

bluemoonrising said:

Ebay said why didn’t I track it and I said have you ever been to s post office at a busy time to get a tracking number in my local post office can take 30 minutes.

While I find it pretty incredulous your post office queues are half an hour long, I'd suggest if this was the case, to maybe not go at such a busy time? Alternatively use a different post office that doesn't have people queuing down the motorway.

jon81uk

Devon_Scrooge said:

As others have said, if you don't send it tracked & signed for you don't have a leg to stand on.

You don't need a tracked service, proof of postage is enough to make a claim with Royal Mail for up to £20.

soolin

jon81uk said:

Devon_Scrooge said:

As others have said, if you don't send it tracked & signed for you don't have a leg to stand on.

You don't need a tracked service, proof of postage is enough to make a claim with Royal Mail for up to £20.

I agree entirely. However if other sellers want to pay extra for tracked and signed for when it is not necessary, and have to increase their prices to do so, then that pushes more buyers in my direction as my postage will be cheaper.

My policy is basically up to about £20 -£25) and this all depends on whether it is on my private or business account) large letters are sent standard 2nd class with POP. For large letters over that I work out the cost of LL signed for against using small parcel RM48 and use the cheapest (it depends on weight).

Standard parcels go 2nd class again up to £20-£25 or RM48 above that. 

Also, my LL 2nd class standard where I have bought eBay postage have started showing delivery information in about 7 out of 10 cases. So that also protects me against INRs .

Debbie9009

Exodi said:

While I find it pretty incredulous your post office queues are half an hour long, I'd suggest if this was the case, to maybe not go at such a busy time? Alternatively use a different post office that doesn't have people queuing down the motorway.

I’ve stopped using my local post office for exactly this reason, on one particularly memorable occasion I had to wait 45mins, while three people fixed an issue with one till while the queue built up,   I now use Royal Mail collection much easier.

FFHillbilly

bluemoonrising said:

Ebay said why didn’t I track it and I said have you ever been to s post office at a busy time to get a tracking number in my local post office can take 30 minutes. I am so angry especially given 

not sure if you know how this works, I've never in my life had to queue up separately just to get a tracking number? normally what happens is once you get served(queue length is out of the equation here), you either pay for tracked and you get number on your POP receipt, or you don't.
however, I've not paid for postage over the counter for years, eBay's integrated delivery tools are very good in my opinion and it's just a matter of another click to select a tracked option.
The majority of my sales are sent Royal Mail 2nd class parcel (£2.99 online, I charge the buyers £3.49) and at the minute it's got free tracking, items show as delivered , and the tracking is automatically sent to the buyer you don't need to do a thing

soolin

FFHillbilly said:

bluemoonrising said:

Ebay said why didn’t I track it and I said have you ever been to s post office at a busy time to get a tracking number in my local post office can take 30 minutes. I am so angry especially given 

not sure if you know how this works, I've never in my life had to queue up separately just to get a tracking number? normally what happens is once you get served(queue length is out of the equation here), you either pay for tracked and you get number on your POP receipt, or you don't.
however, I've not paid for postage over the counter for years, eBay's integrated delivery tools are very good in my opinion and it's just a matter of another click to select a tracked option.
The majority of my sales are sent Royal Mail 2nd class parcel (£2.99 online, I charge the buyers £3.49) and at the minute it's got free tracking, items show as delivered , and the tracking is automatically sent to the buyer you don't need to do a thing

If you want POP though you do need to queue. I use a mix of Post offices and a mail centre and whilst occasionally the mail centre will call me forward as I use a bulk POP for them, none of the others will though and I queue with all my pre printed labels just like anyone else.

However as you say, if you print parcels online then as long as you are happy to send without POP knowing you can't claim for RM for loss the items still have the tracking number if put directly in the parcel box.

It would appear though that OP just uses stamps or whatever and puts items straight in the box .I know many sellers who do that on the basis that actual scammers are few and far between  so the risk is worth it compared with wasting time in a PO queue, However they are aware that by doing so they have no claim against RM and in the case of LL no chance of any delivery confirmation either (whereas many LLs using ebay postage seem to show delivery information), they don't go around threatening to sue ebay. 

I actually do sometimes put parcels or LL directly in the mail after using ebay postage, I understand and accept the risk though by doing so.

bluemoonrising

You are spot on what you say. The queue at the post office can be ridiculous and you have to park up well I do as it’s not round the corner whereas my post box is.