Am I liable to refund an item that was lost in the mail

[$teves_$tuff]

Recently one of my buyers claimed that he didn't receive the item.  I have since investigated this buyer and he has told this same story to his last several sellers that the items were not received. He has left me negative feedback ( my first since joining eBay in 2006....960 feedbacks) . I'm wondering what I can do to restore my 100%  record since this buyer is obviously unscrupulous ?

also....am I liable to refund any buyer who claims non receipt of goods since my listings all clearly say that all items are sent at buyers ris I and I offer to send registered post for an additional $2.95. 

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@$teves_$tuff wrote:

Recently one of my buyers claimed that he didn't receive the item.  I have since investigated this buyer and he has told this same story to his last several sellers that the items were not received. He has left me negative feedback ( my first since joining eBay in 2006....960 feedbacks) . I'm wondering what I can do to restore my 100%  record since this buyer is obviously unscrupulous ?

also....am I liable to refund any buyer who claims non receipt of goods since my listings all clearly say that all items are sent at buyers ris I and I offer to send registered post for an additional $2.95. 

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anything that appears in an item description that contradicts eBay/PayPal Policies is invalid, so no point having "not responsible for items lost in post" or "items sent at buyer's rsik" in there.  eBay/PayPal Policies trump anything in an item description.

The additional $2.95 for registered is essentially asking the buyer to provide you with unbeatable seller protection.  Little wonder your buyer did not pay extra to diminish their protection while bolstering yours.  You need to start having registered post as the default postage where necessary i.e. higher priced items.

For low priced items add 50 cents handling fee to your postage on those listings.  It's like a self-insurance against INR claims for low priced items.  Imagine that you put that 50 cents into a jar and after ten listings you get a claim about a $5 item . . . . . . refunding is then like taking the $5 out of the jar.

[the_pooze]

Unfortunately in the wonderful world of eBay, no tracking = no Seller protection. 

The only way to be covered is to send everything with tracking, offering it as an opton that Buyers can select or reject means nothing under eBays archaic policies.

[*tippy*toes*]

If the item was sent as a large letter with no tracking, you will lose any not received dispute and eBay will take the money from your PayPal and refund the buyer. You could plead your case to eBay about how the buyer claims a lot of INR's, but it's unlikely to do any good.

If they have not opened a dispute, I wouldn't do anything at this stage. They've already left negative feedback, so can't harm you in any other way as far as that goes. I wouldn't do anything else until they open a dispute. It's possible that just be messaging the sellers they get their money back, so may not know about the dispute process. If they have opened a dispute, all you can really do is refund them.

As you seem to run auctions, a habit I've got into is checking every bidders feedback left for others when they bid. If they look to be a trouble maker, e.g. leave lots of negs or show lots of comments about refunds, I cancel their bid and block them. Of course that doesn't work with last second bidders, but many do bid early enough to be able to check up on them. Of course some negs are warranted, as are some refunds, but if there's a definite pattern, then it's off with their head.

I had a buyer contact me 2 weeks ago saying his item hadn't arrived. I said that mail often takes up to 4 weeks to arrive to his location, so asked him if he would mind waiting another week. If it still doesn't arrive, let me know and we'll go from there (I didn't mention refund). I haven't heard back from him, so hoping it's arrived! That item was sent untracked, so if he ends up telling me it hasn't arrived, I'll just refund him. No point aggravating him and risking back feedback. I'd lose any dispute, so easier just to refund.

[davidc4430]

unfortunately if the system wasnt as it is, little or no protection for sellers when posting without tracking, there would be a huge number of bad sellers flooding ebay. 

taking orders, recieving payments, then not bothering to post. if they ever had the items to post anyway.

i dont mind people complaining about the 'system' as long as they produce a solution that would work better than what we've got.

its a sad situation that some sellers items would be unsellable if they had to add tracking to the price but that is just how it is.

i cant think of a way to confirm delivery without paying for tracking. i certainly never post anything without it.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@$teves_$tuff wrote:

Recently one of my buyers claimed that he didn't receive the item.  I have since investigated this buyer and he has told this same story to his last several sellers that the items were not received. He has left me negative feedback ( my first since joining eBay in 2006....960 feedbacks) . I'm wondering what I can do to restore my 100%  record since this buyer is obviously unscrupulous ?

also....am I liable to refund any buyer who claims non receipt of goods since my listings all clearly say that all items are sent at buyers ris I and I offer to send registered post for an additional $2.95. 

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bookmark this thread for the next time someone starts a thread about sellers waiting for buyers to leave feedback first.  This seller's feedback for the buyer that claims their item has not arrived is "Lovely person to deal with. Thanks for an easy, pleasant transaction".

Surely, this is a case in point that sellers are entitled to wait until a transaction has run its course before leaving feedback, and that includes seller's being entitled to wait until a buyer has left feedback to be able to assess the transaction.

[digital*ghost]

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@$teves_$tuff wrote:

Recently one of my buyers claimed that he didn't receive the item.  I have since investigated this buyer and he has told this same story to his last several sellers that the items were not received.

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Ask all of the sellers you've spoken to about this buyer to report the buyer to eBay - by phone, by Facebook, or by this link:

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/sell/handle-problems.html

That's not a guarantee anything will be done by eBay, and it probably won't help you in this specific situation, but the more reports they get the better. Constant attention on suspect buyers does sometimes, eventually, result in action being taken. 

[thecatspjs]

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@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:

bookmark this thread for the next time someone starts a thread about sellers waiting for buyers to leave feedback first.  This seller's feedback for the buyer that claims their item has not arrived is "Lovely person to deal with. Thanks for an easy, pleasant transaction".

Surely, this is a case in point that sellers are entitled to wait until a transaction has run its course before leaving feedback, and that includes seller's being entitled to wait until a buyer has left feedback to be able to assess the transaction.

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Sellers are already "entitled" to leave feedback before or after a buyer does.

By leaving feedback prior to this issue, the OP seller now has the means ready to go to put on the record the "missing item" through a follow up comment.

If they had not left feedback it makes it bit tricker to word the positive feedback so its not removed if requested. 

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@thecatspjs wrote:

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@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:

bookmark this thread for the next time someone starts a thread about sellers waiting for buyers to leave feedback first.  This seller's feedback for the buyer that claims their item has not arrived is "Lovely person to deal with. Thanks for an easy, pleasant transaction".

Surely, this is a case in point that sellers are entitled to wait until a transaction has run its course before leaving feedback, and that includes seller's being entitled to wait until a buyer has left feedback to be able to assess the transaction.

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Sellers are already "entitled" to leave feedback before or after a buyer does.

By leaving feedback prior to this issue, the OP seller now has the means ready to go to put on the record the "missing item" through a follow up comment.

If they had not left feedback it makes it bit tricker to word the positive feedback so its not removed if requested. 

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sure, I know that sellers can already choose when to leave feedback for buyers.

My post was really geared towards the threads that start with something like "I've done my job by paying so why doesn't the seller leave feedback when I pay, why do they want to wait for the buyer to leave feedback first?" type threads, and being able to point to this OP's experience for one reason why.

[d_t_sk]

Well ebay wants to proof of delivery , so tracking isnt really proof of delivery ... at least in Australia .

And what the diference if you post item with tracking and they lost or damaged parcel in shipping process anyway  ??