Is there postal tracking for letters?

[casbit33]

With the new Money back guarantee policy thats coming in, i have concerns. If someone buys an item, then receives it, then decides to pull a swifty to get their money back. they just say it didn't arrive. It is then in the sellers hands to prove that 1 - they posted it and 2- the buyer received it.

Now while this is going on sellers will get a deficit, they will also have their paypal accounts frozen. The problem i have with this is that i sell a lot of things that get posted as large letters. While i get tracking on parcels to prove postage and delivery, this option does not apply to letters, as far as i know. How am i to prove that i have posted the letter and even more impossible to prove, that the buyer has received it.?

maybe i will have to put all my prices up and box my little letter items so they can all go as parcels with tracking.

Any other ideas please

[5kazam]

While the proposed methods above may be acceptable to PayPal, it should be remembered that it is eBay's goal-post shifting rules that will be the ones in play.

As of today, Proof of Delivery was accepted as having been lodged with AP, from 1st November it is to the buyer's address.

The cynic in me says this another ploy by eBay to get increased FVF's due to the necessity of adding $3.75 (for SOD) to each and every item, making it a much more pleasurable expensive buyer experience.

Way to go eBay!!  

[clarry100]

Please correct me if I am wrong here, but I thought SOD would only be required where the item value is more than $750.

Under that figure the usual proof of lodgement rules would still apply.

[casbit33]

Are you sure it's not the whole account. This is what it says.

eBay Money Back Guarantee

If a buyer opens a case through eBay Money Back Guarantee (because they’ve not received an item or got something that wasn’t what they ordered) we’ll ask PayPal to hold your funds while the case is open. The funds will be released if a case is found not to be the seller's fault.

If eBay is asked to step in and help and we decide in the buyer's favour, we will give them their money back. To do this, we may reverse funds held in your PayPal account back to the buyer, or pay for the refund and then seek reimbursement from you (either by debiting your PayPal account or adding a charge to your monthly selling invoice).

Your PayPal account can be on hold for up to 7 days.

[5kazam]

When a buyer doesn't receive an item

If a buyer doesn't receive an item, the buyer needs to report that they didn't receive the item by contacting the seller from My eBay. The seller should address the buyer's concern and provide updates on the delivery of the item, tracking information, or a refund.

If the buyer isn't happy with the seller's response or doesn't receive a response, the buyer can ask us to step in and help.

If asked to step in and help, we review the information provided by the buyer and seller for evidence of successful on-time delivery to the buyer's address. We require proof of signature to confirm delivery for items with a total cost of $750 or more.

The point I was making Clarry is contained in the above.  As said in my earlier post, Proof of Delivery has previously been accepted as having lodged at AP.  From 1.11 it is to the buyer's address.

Which would mean the large letter sellers are going to have to find a strategy around this.  Otherwise it is a case of the buyer's word against the seller's.  

And we all know which way eBay would go.

[egglesdtp]

So how do you prove delivery to the buyer's address (for any item?) Tracking doesn't always show actual delivery does it?

[5kazam]

I've never had a problem with AP tracking, but I believe that others have.  

Though, just thinking about it, AP tracking only shows as 'Delivered', but doesn't show delivered to an ACTUAL ADDRESS.   So probably not worth even printing it off for 'evidence'.  And PO receipt only shows Postcode, evidence only of posting, not receipt at the other end.

Which indicates that sellers are going to be between the proverbial 'rock and a hard place' no matter what they do.  

The only way I can see is that everyone will have to send items with SOD - a heck of an expensive way to cover rear ends when item and post may be worth, say, less than $15/$20.

Hopefully some of the brains on here may be able work out a way around the problem.

[egglesdtp]

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@clarry100 wrote:

Another method he suggested at the same time is to fill in the lodgement receipt forms (available from the AP web site) with the name and address of the buyer. The PO staff member at the counter sights your addressed envelope and stamps the matching receipt.

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Clarry - I've just had a look at the lodgement receipt forms on the AP website, and I am concerned that there are only three options you must choose from for the type of service being used:

* Registered Post

* Express Post Platinum

* Signature item prepared through Click and Send

What if it is just a letter???

________________________________________________________________________________________________

It seems to me that getting a Lodgement Receipt Form signed at the PO when you post your items (letters AND parcels) may be the way to go, but only if the Form (currently only allowing for Registered, Express Platinum and whatever a signature item prepared through C&S might be) can be updated to include regular satchels, parcels and letters - perhaps a separate checkbox for each?

[5kazam]

It may sound like nit picking - and certainly not intended to be - with the wording in the new rules, lodgement at a PO will NOT be considered to be delivered to the buyer's address.  And those five are the operative words. 

Hopefully, I am very wrong, but I wouldn't want to see any of you get caught because you could not prove the item you sent was DELIVERED (RECEIVED) at the buyer's address.  

All the photos of envelopes, stamping of this, that and whatever, are only proof that you went to the PO and paid for the postage to send the item/envelope.  

From there it is out of your hands.  You have no knowledge of what happens to it after you walk out of the PO, and are therefore unable to state/prove categorically that the item/envelope was received by the buyer.

[casbit33]

this is so true. We may be able to prove that we have posted the item, but short of hand delivering it ourselves, we have no way of proving that it actually got delivered to the right person. Ebay know this, they are expecting us to jack up our postage prices to cover registered mail. This gives them more $ from fees.

[egglesdtp]

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@5kazam wrote:

It may sound like nit picking - and certainly not intended to be - with the wording in the new rules, lodgement at a PO will NOT be considered to be delivered to the buyer's address.  And those five are the operative words. 

Hopefully, I am very wrong, but I wouldn't want to see any of you get caught because you could not prove the item you sent was DELIVERED (RECEIVED) at the buyer's address.  

All the photos of envelopes, stamping of this, that and whatever, are only proof that you went to the PO and paid for the postage to send the item/envelope.  

From there it is out of your hands.  You have no knowledge of what happens to it after you walk out of the PO, and are therefore unable to state/prove categorically that the item/envelope was received by the buyer.

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Unless we stand outside the buyer's letterbox, how ever will we prove the purchase was delivered to the buyer's address? Unless of course someone pays for SOD.

And if the cost of SOD is added to the selling/postage price, I can see sales plummeting further, simply because if the majority of your sales are under $20 (including postage - as mine are) then adding a further $3 or whatever SOD costs these days will mean not only is it more expensive for the buyer (if we get them to pay for the SOD, which they will hate doing, not only because of the extra expense but also the hassle of having to be home when the parcel arrives or else having to make a special trip to the PO), but also more expensive for the seller, since ebay will no doubt demand their 9.9% fee on that SOD - aarrggghhh I could go on, but it's all too hard.