Buyer has advised Item not recieved? what is the next step?

[lady_and_the_tramp]

Hi, I received an email this morning from a buyer stating that they did not recieve their item which was purchased and sent on the 23rd March ' 15.  The item (child's apron NEW) as a large letter and therefore no tracking was recorded.  This method of postage, and the option to upgrade to tracking was mentioned in my listing. They did not advise they wished to take up this offer, so item was sent as large letter.  Post was from QLD 4211 to Vic 3195. Should the item arrive by now?  What is the process now for me as a selller?  I have advised I will look into it with Aust Post first thing Monday as today is Sat, but what is the chance they will do anything?  Any advice from experience sellers appreciated.

Thanks

[jensmanchester-australia]

After this amount of time I would refund or replace. If the buyer opens a case through ebay for item not received, as well as having to refund, you will be issued with a defect by ebay.

[lady_and_the_tramp]

Is that what I am obliged to do even though they took the option that didn't provide tracking? Do I refund both the item cost (don't have another to replace it with as I generally only sell one offs) & the postage?

[mbselections00]

Hi,  I am sure someone more experienced than myself will drop in shortly and comment, but for what it is worth, I also send most of my items by large letter & I am also in Qld.  From my experience, your parcel should have arrived by now as I find they usually only take 3-5 working days, so even allowing for delays, it does seem your parcel has gone astray.  There was an Aust. Post truck fire, but I just checked that (http://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Selling/Australia-Post-Impact-On-Sellers-another-Truck-Up-In-Flames/... and it was last weekend, so I doubt your parcel would have been on board.

As your buyer has messaged rather then open an Item Not Received Case (for which there would be consequences in the form of defects etc), and because the item did not have tracking, personally, unless you have proof of posting, I would send back a very apologetic message confirming the date you posted it and offer a replacement if you have another one, otherwise offer a full refund.  You have really great Feedback and in my opinion you wouldn't want to risk a neg or red dot.

I know it is hard when you know you have done the right thing & the buyer has not chosen Registered post, but given the added cost of Registered post it sometimes isn't really viable on lower value items.

This next bit of info won't help in this instance, but may be of some benefit in the future.

When I do up my address labels, I keep a copy in list form and take that to the PO with me & the wonderful staff at my local are happy to stamp it for me as proof of postage.  I have only ever had maybe 3 or 4 buyers say they did not receive their item - so I send a very polite msg asking them to check with their neighbours & check at their local PO & I send them a photo of the stamped lodgement list (with other buyers names & addresses edited out - I just leave the suburb & postcode showing).  I tell them if the item is still missing after they have checked, I will happily send a replacement.  Miraculously on all but one occasion, the parcel has arrived within 1 or 2 days, and of course, I sent a replacement for the one parcel that did genuinely go missing.

To be honest, PayPal have told me, the proof of posting I am able to supply is sufficient should there be a claim, but my understanding is that eBay actually require proof of receipt, not just posting - so it really depends how a buyer opens a dispute as to whether my method would be sufficient cover.  But as mentioned, it does at least seem to sort out the dishonest buyers from the honest ones, as once the dishonest ones see you have the proof of posting, they back down.

Hope this may be of some help

EDIT  As I am such a slow typer, I see now that I have posted you have a few responses already !

[joethenuts]

unless you can prove you sent ,and they got the parcel,theres not much you can do , no good going to the post office ,without proof.

its a catch 22.    did the seller send it......did the post office loose it........ and did the buyer realy get the parcel........[we will never know]

have a nice day  also excelent post by myselections

[pennyforum14]

If you sent without tracking you cannot prove either postage or delivery. If the buyer lodged an INR with either Paypal or eBay they would win the case without that proof, and you would be forced to give a full refund including postage AND receive a defect to boot.  8 defects and you can no longer sell.  It doesn't matter whether the buyer opts for tracking or not, if you sell items that cost you more to replace than the additional postage cost with tracking, you are better off using it anyway. 

That said, most of my items go as large letters, and I always refund or replace if it doesn't turn up (there have only been two or three cases of this).  Factor in the cost of replacing one or two a year into your sale price, or don't give the buyer the option of letter rate postage, you will be surprised how little it will affect your sales.

[mbselections00]

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@pennyforum14 wrote:

. . . . . . . . . . That said, most of my items go as large letters, and I always refund or replace if it doesn't turn up (there have only been two or three cases of this).  Factor in the cost of replacing one or two a year into your sale price, or don't give the buyer the option of letter rate postage, you will be surprised how little it will affect your sales.

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Absolutely agree.  I personally have a rough cut off point, around $12 - $15.  Any listings over around $15.00 I only offer Registered or Express.  Individual small items under $10.00 are Large Letter rate of $1.70 (to cover cost of padded envelope as well as postage), and then combined post, I calculate based on the total value of the items ordered.

[elusiveeditions]

Agree with the other posters, unfortunately when you send via untracked letter rate (which I do most of the time), if they go astray you're best to refund the buyer's original payment and wear the loss. That's just how the ebay cookie crumbles.

As mentioned, the fact that they've alerted you by msgs and not buy opening an Item Not Received case is a really good thing, they've done you a favour and avoided giving you an automatic defect. Exact same thing happened to me a few weeks ago, I refunded and sent an apologetic msg and all was fine- except of course I lost the item, the fees & the postage cost.

Because of this, I only send low value items via large letter, but it varies between sellers a bit. Some sellers might do enough volume on higher-priced items sent untracked to build the odd loss into their system.

Sorry your item went missing, if it's any consolation it doesn't seem to be all that common (about once a year for me as a low-volume seller, here and other sites).

[stationmasterhobbies]

yes I had five in the one week raisied as item not recived dispute, for letter items so i now make it composury for registered post or tracking on the ebay bags. so the lables cost 3.70 eack a box of 50 155? but i was able to aquire some of ebay for $130 for 30 which make them about $2.60 remember ebays 10% on postage and handling . so  I charch 3 on the top of postage. If people complain say they should of gone to Quicksales.

[dylan11235813]

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@station_master_hobbies wrote:

yes I had five in the one week raisied as item not recived dispute, for letter items so i now make it composury for registered post or tracking on the ebay bags. so the lables cost 3.70 eack a box of 50 155? but i was able to aquire some of ebay for $130 for 30 which make them about $2.60 remember ebays 10% on postage and handling . so  I charch 3 on the top of postage. If people complain say they should of gone to Quicksales.

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I would assume that it is very rare for a registered post item to go missing but you require a reciept (I assume from Australia Post) to make a claim with those registered post labels. I have never had to make a claim so don;t know if they actually enforce it but it is in the terms.