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]

You and casbit33 have picked up the point.

Did you read my original post about the cynic in me...!!!

Unless someone can work out 'something'? 'somehow?', apart from SOD, hand deliver, stand outside buyer's mail box and watch postie put it in the box (don't forget the photo on that one), then you're all up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

And just watch the buyer's disappear into the sunset if everyone has to start adding $3.75 for SOD - actually more: forgot the additional FVF's on that postage, plus extra for good old PayPal as well.

[davewil1964]

It undoubtedly comes back to consumer law. And ACL deems an item delivered when handed to the carrier. I can't see how eBay expect to impose conditions that are illegal.

I certainly won't be adding $4 to my charges, or reducing profit by same, especially when I have only ever had one INR and untracked letters have never had seller protection.

So, no change really.

[firkin-cellars]

I think i have posted this up before but when posting letters NEVER USE STAMPS, make sure you lodge it at the postoffice and they have there printed sticker on it, if it costs $0.70 tell them to charge it as a large letter $1.40 and once that sticker is on TAKE A PHOTO. Was told this last year from paypal as this is proof of lodgement with the reciept. After losing a few items and having a few cases opened paypal have favoured me everytime with this method, hope this helps  🙂

[5kazam]

Do you really think that eBay is going to listen to a small seller telling it this against Australian Consumer Law?  Probably about on the same level as it listens to sellers now re unfair/unwarranted bad feedback, defects acquired through no fault of their own, etc.... 'can't be removed, buyers can say and mark you as they want', and other responses from the Generic Answers Handbook.

Has anyone been in touch with ACCC yet?  I'm sure we'd all be interested to find out what they have to say on this matter.

That entity is the one that is going to have to come down on eBay to advise them this policy is against Australian Consumer Law, and cannot be implemented.

Unless this is sorted quickly, sellers are going to lose case after case ($ after $) to scammer after scammer, until it is resolved.  And see how long it'll take to get your money back!!

Plus there is the little matter that sellers will possibly have been DEFECTED out of eBay by then.  So you finally get your $'s back, but can't sell on eBay anyway.

[pennyforum14]

I had about a dozen large letters to send today so I tried this method out on my local PO agency.  The postmistress was more than happy to oblige, even when I said I thought it might be an imposition on her to have to go through this process.  She told me she has other Ebay sellers who photograph all their parcels at the counter.  She happily printed labels for each letter, suspended the sale and set them aside at an area of the counter where I could photograph them while she went on with serving the next customer and then when I was done, came back to me and dealt with the payment.  I said I thought I might not bother unless it becomes an issue for me, she said I would be better off doing it this way rather than waiting for a problem.

I was pleasantly surprised with her reaction (probably shouldn't have been, after all that is why I like to use the little PO even though it is further away, you can't beat the personalised service).  I wouldn't like to suggest such a thing at the big PO though, if you hand them a letter with a stamp on it they tell you to take it oustside and put in the slot in the wall!

[imastawka]

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@casbit33 wrote:

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.

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 From the Spring Seller Release 2014 -

3. PayPal funds may be held temporarily in certain situations

For some sellers or transactions, we may place a temporary hold on PayPal funds to help ensure buyers receive their items as expected
If your payment is held:

• The funds will show as 'pending' so you'll know the buyer has paid. (The hold isn't visible to buyers.)
• We'll let you know why your payment has been held and what you can do to get access to your funds.

Learn more about payment holds.

I assumed it was just for the item/s in dispute.  Am I reading it incorrectly?

It seems a bit OTT and unnecessary for the whole account to be frozen.

[5kazam]

Another good reason not to leave one cent in your PayPal accounts.  Realise they can access your linked account, but at least it will only be in relation to the one disputed transaction.