Royal Mail Compensation - Ebay Sellers

savergrant

It was this;

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82021151#Comment_82021151?utm_source=community-search&utm_medium=organic-search&utm_term=ebay+royal+mail

soolin

Thank you, I’ve now merged the threads .

soolin

At 1.33 am (according to the time stamp) I got the following email from RM. Again the useless stamps but it shows a claim can be made for lost ebay items where labels are printed online. My total loss, including postage was £7.75. This is the fastest ever claim resolution yet, well less than 24 hours from uploading claim form to a decision.

Dear xxx,

Case Number: xxxxxxx

Thank you for getting in touch with Royal Mail.

I’m very sorry to hear you’ve had a reason to raise a complaint regarding an item in our care.

We’ve reviewed your case under reference number 12530735.

After carefully considering the evidence you provided, it’s clear
that we didn’t meet our usual standards on this occasion, and I
sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.

We will be issuing a Stamps 1st x 8 shortly in recognition of this
service failure. If you requested a higher amount, I regret that this is
the maximum we’re able to offer in line with the terms of the product
used. For more details, please visit our website at www.royalmail.com

This response concludes your enquiry. However, please be assured that
the information you’ve shared will help us improve our services moving
forward.

If you are unhappy with this outcome, you can contact the Escalated Customer Resolution team by completing the online form at www.royalmail.com/escalation or by writing to Freepost ESCALATED CUSTOMER RESOLUTION TEAM, ensuring you include your Royal Mail reference number.

Regards

Royal Mail Customer Services

eAliens

The rules on eBay and Royal Mail shipping labels are very simple once you understand them, and they do make sense. I have gone into a bit of detail here, and I am not saying that it will necessarily address your specific issues - it's just useful knowledge. My experience is entirely based on Royal Mail Tracked 24/48 and Special Delivery services.

When you sell something on eBay, and generate a Royal Mail postage label on the eBay platform then eBay is responsible for that delivery from when it gets it's first scan. If it goes missing, then the customer files a claim with eBay and will get direct compensation from eBay without it coming back on you as the seller. It's a very simple, easy and fair system that works, and eBay make the claim against Royal Mail because they own the label and have the contract with Royal Mail - you don't have to do anything.

The alternative is to generate your own labels directly with Royal Mail and manually enter the tracking numbers on eBay when you mark it as dispatched, but you must include the code which is usually on the second line of the address that reads something like "ebayxxxxxxx" as this is an identifier code that links the tracking details to the eBay sale. Without this the tracking on eBay won't update and it will just sit there saying "awaiting delivery", so don't be tempted to exclude this code from the address label thinking that it's pointless.

Generating your own labels directly gives you ownership and control of the postage, but it is not generally recommended as you would then be responsible for putting in the claim for lost items, and eBay would still potentially compensate the buyer - deducting the sale price from your account - which you don't want.

There are exceptional circumstances where it would be appropriate to buy your postage directly such as if you were offering a service for say £100, and the customer sends an item in to you for repairs or customisation. The item might be worth £500 which would make the combined return insurance value of the parcel £600. eBay would only compensate the customer the purchase price of the service, and not the value of the article itself.

You would have to make the claim from Royal Mail, and in the meantime the customer may have already claimed their £100 from eBay which will have been deducted from your account, and you would be expected to compensate or replace the lost article fairly quickly if you want to maintain your positive feedback.

eBay platform shipping services including the "Global Shipping Program" have proved to be totally reliable in terms of "peace of mind". Recently a package of mine got lost in the Australian outback somewhere, and it was quite an expensive item. I simply told the customer to report it through eBay and he swiftly got compensated for his purchase. I still had the sale, and he even came back for another one - "who's the winner?"

So, in a nutshell, always use the eBay platform shipping labels, and if a customer reports a non-delivery to you just tell them (in a professional manner) to go through eBay to resolve this as they are responsible for the shipping, and there is no reason for you to get involved in the process other than maybe a little polite customer service.

I have been a professional seller on eBay for over 25 years now, and I am still learning new things. In fact I only learned about the the code on the address label very recently, and it all makes sense now.

soolin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82105704#Comment_82105704

To simplify it .

if it’s simple delivery then eBay are responsible, If I buy postage via eBay then I’m responsible for claiming (ie custom postage) . However I don’t need to add tracking or anything as that is done automatically for me and RM accept a claim online using my POP and a screen shot of the refund page showing that buyer has a refund from me.

I rarely ever need to buy postage from RM direct for eBay, it’s easier to do it via eBay itself.

If you are customising items then that suggests a business so SD wouldn’t apply,and for any after sale extras would need a label purchased from RM , but the claim is different as businesses can’t claim for lost profit, and in those cases RM would need paperwork showing the actual cost of the item as that is all that can be recovered. For some business sellers who use RM business service accounts , many of those do not offer any compensation at all.

lastly if the customer has won an INR claim for a custom postage item on eBay , eBay take the money from seller to refund the buyer. The seller doesn’t have to make any further refunds or compensation payments to buyer.

savergrant

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82106173#Comment_82106173

I agree up until your last point...which I'd disagree on as it is better to be proactive than to let ebay rule against you. If there is no proof of delivery on custom postage it is better to pre-empt ebay ruling in the buyer's favour and issue the refund yourself and claim, rather than risk a strike on your seller account.

kalsha

Soolin, can I ask if the postage rates are different for direct from RM and from Ebay. I thought if you buy from ebay they were cheaper. Recently I had a few small parcels to post but the postage was coming to more if I buy from Ebay. I was looking at tracked 48 small parcel rates. So I bought directly from RM to save some money.

These were for custom items for toiletries as for some reason Ebay does not allow SD on certain toiletries.

Just wondering if I had been looking at wrong figures as I was in a hurry?

soolin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82106179#Comment_82106179

apologies yes , another of my badly worded comments. I too would refund before eBay forced it, I usually refund the day before eBay is due to intervene.

soolin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82106353#Comment_82106353

The parcel rates up to 1kg are the same on eBay and online at RM, for parcels over 2kg RM is cheaper. POst office though is considerably dearer for both.

I believe RM small letter over 100g is cheaper on eBay than on RM.

savergrant

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82106370#Comment_82106370

I thought 100g was the limit for 'letter size'