Posting To France Possible Buyer Problem

heskpesk

I sold an old pair of my RayBan sunglasses and the auction ended Sunday and the item was paid for on Sunday. I was unable to post yesterday so sent the item to the buyer in France this morning. I have just had a message from the buyer stating that he needs by Friday as wants the item for his holiday and cannot see any reason why this should not happen.

Two questions really : Do you think the item sent Airmail will reach the buyer by Friday?

Secondly I get the impression that if they do not arrive the buyer is the type of person to neg. me even though it is now out of my hands.If so how should I handle this?

Thanking you in advance

lolarentt

Possible it will get there by Friday, but I usually reckon a week for France/Germany etc - I have known stuff to arrive in France within 48 hours so fingers crossed!

Assuming you made no commitment re delivery time then you've nothing to worry about. I'd send him an email saying the packet was despatched within 48 hours of sale etc etc and it's in the hands of Royal Mail and La Poste. If you were unfortunate enough to get a neg over it then you're explanation would be enough not to discourage your buyers in future.

heskpesk

lolarentt wrote: »

Possible it will get there by Friday, but I usually reckon a week for France/Germany etc - I have known stuff to arrive in France within 48 hours so fingers crossed!

Assuming you made no commitment re delivery time then you've nothing to worry about. I'd send him an email saying the packet was despatched within 48 hours of sale etc etc and it's in the hands of Royal Mail and La Poste. If you were unfortunate enough to get a neg over it then you're explanation would be enough not to discourage your buyers in future.

Thank you I have taken your advice but he has sent this reply:

"Hello

Thank you for your quick answer ,

Could you please provide me the cons number like that I will track the parcel .

Thanks

Fabien"

I dont know what a cons number is I sent the item just normal airmail(as per listing) with proof of postage so how will ne be able to track and would I have a cons number what ever that is?

Thanks

pinkgem

cons probably means consignment number

tell him that since he paid for airmail postage there is no tracking number

ArmitageShanks

Send him a copy of the receipt

custardy

he's a fool to buy form abroad for an item he needs 5 days later
if it was so urgent he should have paid extra for the likes of airsure

dollydoodah

I am so glad that my selling activity is not as complicated as yours OP. You do seem to get a lot of problems.

And the buyer was being totally unreasonable to expect and item from the UK to France in that short period of time.

heskpesk

dollydoodah wrote: »

I am so glad that my selling activity is not as complicated as yours OP. You do seem to get a lot of problems

Yes I know.Ive only starting dealing with our account this year as my partner normally deals with but because of health issues its fallen to me but I am slowly learning thanks mainly to the support usually given on here.

Thank you for comments.

I think again the problem here may have been my own doing.I invite non uk bidders to contact me for postage costs before bidding and usually fine but this gent from France did not.Therefore when I sent the invoice I sent message saying that I had slightly increased the listed postage amount due to the fact the listing read "Please contact me before bidding to confirm postage costs if you live outside the UK .Please note postage stated in this listing is for within the UK only".

So I amended the invoice to show Airmail without giving the option of Airsure etc.??? Sorry im confusing myself now.

dollydoodah

I have actually given up sending abroad now as I was finding it was far more trouble than it was worth to be honest. Buyers expecting items quickly, the risk of it going 'missing', fraudulent claims....

I stick now to UK only and send everything by recorded delivery.

lolarentt

Hi again - looking at your reply from Fabien he sounds OK to me - if he doesn't get it before he jets off I'd just tell him that if he wanted a guranteed delivery time he should have said so when he won the auction. You would then have quoted him a special delivery price and made the necessary arrangements. Re selling to Europe I must say I've had no problems sending smaller items to France, Germany, Holland and even via the notoriously unreliable Italian postal system.

lolarentt

heskpesk wrote: »

I think again the problem here may have been my own doing.I invite non uk bidders to contact me for postage costs before bidding and usually fine but this gent from France did not. .

On this point I always put European postal prices and service (eg airmail) in the listing. It doesn't take a minute to check the cost on the Royal Mail website, and it saves any uncertainty and delay in payment when the sale is over.