Australia Post Safe drop

[about-time-spares]

I have just been in contact with Australia Post regarding a missing delivery dispute. Tracking states delivered.

Item was marked as safe drop as requested by customer.  Customer says she usually gets a card to pick up, and has not received the parcel.

Australia Post customer service says all parcels without signature are always safe dropped and has been the case for a long time.

This is the first I have heard about it. 

This is a 12kg parcel worth $150.00.

Australia post are checking GPS location data as their last avenue of enquiry.

Customer put a claim through Paypal not eBay.

Customer will get money back.

Australia post will get paid

Ebay will get paid

Paypal will get paid

Seller looses out.

Not happy!

[*tippy*toes*]

I had this discussion with AP last year after a parcel was stolen from my front door (within a minute of it being dropped - I heard it). They told me that parcels are only meant to be safe dropped if it's safe to do so. I pointed out that my house is close to the footpath, I have no front fence, my front door is in full view of the street, therefore, it's NOT safe to leave a parcel there. They agreed. They said they would alert the delivery drivers to card any parcels that didn't require a signature.

Of course that fell on deaf ears and parcels were still being dropped. I sent another message of complaint and they were going to let the delivery drivers know again, yet they were still being dropped. Obviously they refused to be told, so now if I'm getting a parcel I know will be dropped, I either get it sent to my husbands workplace, or I use the Parcel Collect service, where parcels are addressed to the PO (with my name and My Post number on it).

Parcel Collect is a good concept, but still has a lot of teething problems. They are supposed to send you an email when it's ready for pick up, I'm yet to receive one. If you have the AP app on your phone, it's meant to alert you, I'm yet to receive one. When you go to collect it, it's a nightmare for the staff as they have to key in a LOT into their scanner to scan it out. I stopped counting after 56 steps and it took nearly 15 minutes. It's not just a matter of scanning it out like they do when you go to pick up with a card.

The only thing I can suggest is, for the more expensive items, add the $2.95 for SOD. If you have that as your only postage option (other than express if you offer it), then the buyer has no choice but to pay it. Obviously they can still deliver it to the wrong address and someone else can sign for it, but I think it would be a safer option than having items safe dropped into unsafe locations.

If AP come back with a location of where they dropped it, and it's not at the buyers address, I'd be submitting that to PayPal as they might refund the buyer from their funds rather than yours.

Edit: if the buyer requested it be marked as safe dropped, why would she then expect to get a card for it? She wouldn't get a card for a safe dropped item.

[clarry100]

If your tracking number can be associated with the buyer's PayPal postal address and that tracking says delivered then you are protected against Item Not Received (INR) cases with either ebay or PayPal.

PayPal require proof of postage, which you have.

Ebay require proof of delivery, which you also have.

You should therefore not lose your money.

The buyer may get a discretionary refund from PayPal coffers but not yours.

Make sure you submit the tracking details to the PayPal case and also call them to discuss it.

The other part of it is to follow thru with Aust Post on behalf of the buyer so in the end they get what they paid for or their money back from somewhere, but no you.

[twyngwyn]

Buyer claims from PayPal
Seller claims from Aust Post

Am going through the same thing. I am the buyer...item supposedly delivered in March...item had tracking.....Ebay claim rejected...AP can't help because I'm not their customer (the seller is)...so am waiting on PayPal to 'decide'

[247newdeals]

I had the same thing happen a few months a go the item was worth $100 and just left at the front door. I did s google search of the house and talked to the buyer there was no fence to the house and the front door could clearly be seen from the pathway. It took over 1 month of both me and the buyer constantly calling AusPost to get them to even admit they was at fault, I then refunded the buyer myself. AusPost then put another investigation into it, that was over 6 weeks a go and I am still waiting to hear from them. I do expect to eventually (with in 6 months) get something back from AP but how much is anyone's guess I am guessing anywhere between $50 to the full $100 more than likely nearer the $50 though.

I had several other people contact me about parcel just being dumped outside no card left. I have had several parcels left for me just dropped outside my door they do not knock they do not leave a card and just leave and it can be seen from the street.

I stop using them and I am using couriers now and getting much better results for a lot less I am currently saving about $5 a parcel compared to APs + SoD and I am looking at other ways which may save me a further $3-4 a parcel.I have been able to lower my prices and my sales have increased so increased profit. Delivery is faster and safer.

My customers are happier, I am happier and so is my bank accounts

[about-time-spares]

I have had a few things go missing last year Australia Post don't seem to want to reimburse for anything lost. Even items that dissapear from the Chullora centre.

I also don't want the customer to be out of pocket either.

[thesoulyearns]

For the future, it is probably worth paying the extra $2.95 for a signature for an item of that value.

[247newdeals]

---

@thesoulyearns wrote:
For the future, it is probably worth paying the extra $2.95 for a signature for an item of that value.

---

The problem with that is losing $2:95, out of the profits, is a lot especially if you send a fair few parcels. I am only a smallish seller but I send over 30 parcels a week so SoD would cost me $90+ every week. If you add the $2:95 on the final price (well $3:40 with ebay/paypal fees) you become less competitive so will more than likely lose sales which will in turn make your listing drop and less and so on. 

We pay for delivery and that is what we should get it should not cost extra to get that service and currently we are not getting that. Not 100% sure why but seems to have gotten a lot worse in the last 3/4 months

[thesoulyearns]

Yeah, it does depend on what your profit margins are, even if the item is at a high sale price. As said in the thread, tracking showing as delivered (and maybe even a photo of the parcel at the post office) should cover the seller most times but if your profit margin is quite alot on an item, it's good to not risk it with a small fee for a signature.

As you probably know, that's the good thing with some couriers. Paying for a signature isn't any extra.

[247newdeals]

---

@thesoulyearns wrote:
Yeah, it does depend on what your profit margins are, even if the item is at a high sale price. As said in the thread, tracking showing as delivered (and maybe even a photo of the parcel at the post office) should cover the seller most times but if your profit margin is quite alot on an item, it's good to not risk it with a small fee for a signature.

As you probably know, that's the good thing with some couriers. Paying for a signature isn't any extra.

---

My items sell around $100 and TBH maybe I should of paid for SoD but when the parcel went missing I had sent well over 100 parcels so if I had paid for SoD it would of cost me over $300. With the parcel that went missing I was covered but I could not just make the buyer pay. I refunded them, even though by rights I may not have had to, they did rebuy from me (and yes I added SoD on that parcel) and thankfully the buyer made a lot of calls and AusPost did eventually agree it was left in an unsafe place and I may still get some compensation but if and when I know not. 

Not 100% sure why but in the last 3/4 months AP parcel delivery has gone down a lot IMHO I was actually pretty happy using them I did plan to try couriers but a few mess up by AP really left me no option but to either use SoD or use couriers. I made the swao only been a month so to early to know how it will go for sure so far been pretty good so fingers crossed. Saving (currently) $5 a parcel is a big plus and if I stick with them that might drop to $8 a parcel so really hoping it works out but price even though important is secondary to service and time will tell on that