EBay case opened against me

[jdlmk11]

I am a seller and have an eBay case opened against me for item not arriving. It is an international sale to Sri Lanka. The item had no tracking as it was sent in an envelope. I state all of this in my description and that tracking isn't included. Will eBay automatically rule against me and make me refund the buyer? Perhaps I should not post to Sri Lanka although I have another regular buyer there who always receives their items which also have no tracking.

any advice on how to defend myself in this instance?

[*tippy*toes*]

As you sent without tracking, you have no proof that the item was posted, therefore eBay will force you to repay the buyer. You can block buyers from Sri Lanka, but your regular buyer would still be able to buy if you add them to your exemption list.

Has the buyer allowed enough time for it to arrive?

[phorum_junkie*]

You may as well just refund straight away and not wait for the buyer to ask ebay to step in as you will then avoid a defect.

Of course ebay will find in the buyer's favour as you are tasked with the burden of proof that an item has been delivered which you cannot provide without tracking.

I rarely send things in envelopes but I do stuff up sometimes and send the wrong item or something has a fault I have not noticed so my business model has a small sum built into the cost of every item to cover the losses on the few.

Telling buyers you do not use tracking is like painting a target on your back, a scammer knows from the minute they read the listing that they can get the item free.

I am unsure why you would stop selling to one particular country because one envelope didn't arrive or one buyer said it didn't.

[stampdog42]

Unfortunately there's no protection for sellers who send untracked letters. You just have to refund if the buyer says it does not arrive.

Mostly, international mail gets there, but you do get an occasional lost letter and an occasional dishonest buyer.  Just look at how many overseas sales you've made in the last year and then see how many items have been lost.  If the proportion of lost items is decently small then you should be able to factor it in as a cost of business. If it's getting too large, then consider eliminating troublesome locations or even selling overseas at all. A single lost item doesn't make a location troublesome, in my opinion.

On my selling ID I send many many letter rate items all over the world and lose less than 1 in 200 : it's just not worth banning overseas buyers over a few refunds. ( I do draw the line at sending parcels to Italy though, the ebay postage times are unrealistic and Italian customs/postal system too unreliable/slow.)

[jdlmk11]

The sale was 24th Nov and I posted on the same day so I would have imagined it should have arrived by now. I like the idea of the exemption for my usual buyer, thanks.

[jdlmk11]

Interesting that you said Italy was a place you don't send to I have seen that with a few buyers and wondered why. What about South America? Do they have reliable postage service.

[kopenhagen5]

I don't post to the following countries because of missing parcels.

Spain, Italy, Turkey, India, South America.

[davewil1964]

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@kopenhagen5 wrote:

I don't post to the following countries because of missing parcels.

Spain, Italy, Turkey, India, South America.

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I occasionally allow buyers from NZ to purchase, after they agree to the fact that postage is approximately twice the cost of postage to WA, even though they are closer.

Other than that, my goods are available world-wide except for the odd rare 1st edition, so anybody from further away than NZ can probably get it cheaper in their own country.

I ask myself when I get enquiries "Why would they want to pay THAT much for a book they can get easier and cheaper in <insert country here>"? I answer myself "No idea unless the are a shoplifter/scammer" and don't sell to them.

[jdlmk11]

This is all good info I appreciate your answers to my questions. Thanks 

[saarzi]

Its Sri Lanka. their postal system is appauling, items regularly dont show up unless you use a courier (I have a friend who used to live there).   Im actually suprised you have another regular buyer who always receives their mail.

Refund the buyer, because theres not much you can do now, and add Sri Lanka to your block list, along with India.   Add your regular buyer to your "Buyer Requirements Exemption List".  That should work?