Am I required to give the buyer a refund?

[teriosullivan]

Just a quick one.

As a seller am I required to give the buyer a refund when their items arrive outside of the estimated delivery date? I post my items in plenty of time for them to be delivered in teh estimated time. I have proof of postage and Australia Post is taking in excess of 10 days to deliver sometimes. I know its Christmas time but postage has been extremly slow. Looking at the tracking sometimes Australia Post is sending this back and forth between states and other times I can't tell why there has been a delay.

When we have proof of postage and tracking details are we required to give a refund?

Thanks

Teri

[digupatin]

No.

If the items turned up why should a refund be given.

What AP does is outside the seller's control.

If you go by eBay's guesstimate dates just about every item would be late.

[teriosullivan]

Thank you for your reply.

So if I don't give the refund what are the chances of getting negative feedback?

[digupatin]

Has the buyer actually asked for their postage to be refunded?

If they have just explain that postage times are outside your control.

It'll be up to the buyer to decide if they would leave neg feedback.

I'd be adding them to my blocked list to stop the possibility of it happening again.

[springyzone]

It would be a bit unfair for a buyer to give a neg if they can see by the date stamp something was posted early but just took a while to arrive.

But if they do, at least you still have the money.

I don't think a buyer should feel they are entitled to keep an item plus get a refund just because something arrived a few days late.

If it didn't arrive at all, that's different.

If you posted about 2 weeks after they sold, they would have a right to be upset. And mark you down. But still, not get a refund.

[teriosullivan]

People seem to ask for refunds all of the time if their item arrives after the estimated delivery date. I sell cake decorations and if they don't arrive in time for their child's party they say that they are entitled to a refund as the item is useless to them.

The imparticular item that I was speaking about in my post the buyer wants to return the item for a refund even though I have a no refund policy. They have asked nicely and claim that they have not even opened the box. I wouldn't resell the item as its a cake decoration and I can't prove that it has not been handled by anyone.

I'm jusy very tired of this happening. Australia Post has been very very poor with delivery times especially in the last 3 weeks.

I just wanted clarification on the refund policy in regards to having proof of postage and tracking details and the item taking such a long time to arrive. I'm glad to hear that we can still claim that we have no control over Australia Post. They don't seem to take responsability for their delivery times. They just say as long as it has got from point A to point B their job is done no matter how long it takes.

[joethenuts]

the buyer has asked for there money back ,  so it would look like you will not only prob get a neg but a defect on item not ariving before the date,  because one of the questios is did you get your item by the date. 

now i will say this again , you have a few choices , increase your handling time, or change carriers, or except defects.

remember you cant blame a service provider like aus post when you employ them .  

[imastawka]

Just had a quick look at some of your listings.

Some say delivery will be  on or before 24 Dec -

today is 21st.    That's ridiculous, this time of year.

You have to increase your handling time as Joe says.

Any wonder people are getting disappointed.

[straybookoz]

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@joethenuts wrote:

the buyer has asked for there money back ,  so it would look like you will not only prob get a neg but a defect on item not ariving before the date,  because one of the questios is did you get your item by the date. 

now i will say this again , you have a few choices , increase your handling time, or change carriers, or except defects.

remember you cant blame a service provider like aus post when you employ them .  

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If the OP has a lodgement receipt showing it was posted within their handling time then the buyer does not get the delivery time question, so there would be no defect.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@straybookoz wrote:

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@joethenuts wrote:

the buyer has asked for there money back ,  so it would look like you will not only prob get a neg but a defect on item not ariving before the date,  because one of the questios is did you get your item by the date. 

now i will say this again , you have a few choices , increase your handling time, or change carriers, or except defects.

remember you cant blame a service provider like aus post when you employ them .  

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If the OP has a lodgement receipt showing it was posted within their handling time then the buyer does not get the delivery time question, so there would be no defect.

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That's actually still a bit wishy washy. I just left feedback for a few items I bought from the US. The sellers handling time is 3 days. They were posted within 24 hours. They were sent with tracking, which was uploaded. The delivery estimate was Dec 24 to Jan 4. I got the question asking if it had arrived within the estimate. Interestingly, the items I left feedback for last week from the same seller DIDN'T have the question.