Hi, I have a couple of eBay stores and I am finding more and more buyers are reporting that items I posted have not been received (INR). These items are always items sent without tracking i.e. large letters. (I am sure this issue has been raised before but I am fairly new to this discussion group and have not been able to find much by searching the threads.)
I try to compete with my competitors who offer free postage and are also selling the same items as me at reduced recommended retail prices, but with the eBay fees and increased cost of replacing or refunding buyers "claiming to have not received their items" I am seriously considering dumping eBay altogether. Now before anyone says send registered post, I don't think this is a viable option because a roll of labels still makes the cost $3.10 per item cutting down my profit to bare bones if I use this option and not worth it. My items are an average sale of $10-$25 and while this is not a large amount it adds up when you are receiving in excess of 5 or 6 INR's per month. What really burns is that some who claim INR and receive a refund also leave low star ratings & or neutral or negative feedback. Why should I have to wear a double whammy (refund & neg.) when it is either Auspost or a dishonest buyer who is at fault. On my off eBay online store my terms & conditions state that unless the customer selects Registered Post there will be no compensation available for lost or damaged items and I have had only one item reported missing in the mail in 12 months and I sell many times more items than I do on my eBay sites.
eBay has the Resloution Centre now (since PayPal split) and I would like to make a suggestion to other sellers who are as frustrated with dishonest buyers as I am (there is no way that many items go missing in the mail). Here is my suggestion - when a buyer reports that an item has not been received initially ask them the usual questions - check address, search around house, ask family members, check with post office and wait a few more days in case of postal delays. If after a few more days the buyer contacts you again to advise item has not arrived ask them to open a case in the Resolution Centre. This then becomes a record of the number of times a buyer claims INR and can be used by eBay to gather evidence of dishonest buyers or even dishonest posties if that is what is happening. If you then settle the case by refunding or replacing the item you do not receive any defects. I would also ask that sellers add follow up feedback to the buyers feedback stating that the buyer made an INR claim and was refunded. This will serve as an alert to other sellers. It wouldn't work the first time a buyer purchased from a seller but if the seller checks the buyers feedback after a case is settled they can see how many such comments the buyer has received and decide whether to add the buyer to their Blocked Bidders list.
If sellers started doing this it would perhaps become a deterrent to the dishonest buyer. We cannot leave neg feedback but we can leave a true record of what happend on feedback (use Reply to Feedback, even if positive feedback received) e.g. "Item lost in post - buyer refunded". While this is not a perfect answer to this problem, eBay seems incapable or doesn't care enough to do anything about the "you can get free stuff on eBay" scam that is becoming rampant, then we as sellers can at least alert each other to potential loss from the dishonest scum perpetrating this fraud. I would love to hear your thoughts.
