Sold item apparently 'lost' in Australia Post mail

[2012juliem]

I sold a block of four stamps and posted them after receiving Paypal payment.  Twelve business days later and the buyer is now messaging me saying they have not received them.  Ebay is saying that we can resolve it ourselves but the other option appears for me to refund the purchase price.

Do I have to paybak the money paid for the item when Australia Post fails to deliver?

[pennyforum14]

If the stamps were sent by standard letter post (which seems likely) then yes, you will need to refund the customer.  If they were to claim INR on either eBay or Paypal, you would not be able to provide proof of delivery to satisfy eBay, nor proof of postage to satisfy Paypal, so they would refund them anyway and you would receive a defect for your trouble.   If you resolve the matter directly with the customer by refunding her, then you may avoid negative feeback and/or defects.  Of course, if you have more of the same you could always send replacements.  If you registered  the letter, then you might win a claim with Paypal, and you might try claiming for the lost article from AP, but I wouldn't hold my breath for a positive result.

[collect247]

It seems as though you now have to register post every fricken thing that you sell because either the buyer tries to scam you with INR or the post looses the item and either way you have lost your money and the item.

This has happened to me and I have lost a heap of money and the items as I had to refund the buyer.

So I will never sell or buy on ebay again and will not recommend ebay to anyone.

Never give a buyer a postage option,always post with signature required because of this stupid MBG.

Never had any issues in the past but all of a sudden it happened.

Good luck to you,but you will have to refund.

[collect247]

That's correct penny don't anyone hold their breathe because AP will not reimburse anyone,I'm proof of that.

[clarry100]

Aust Post will re-imburse but its like pulling teeth. Here is my story...

A couple of months back we sent a buyer requested express item. Going by their postcode it should have arrived next day but it did not.

We sent the buyer a replacement item so she was happy enough with that.

Couple of weeks later it was still showing not delivered, but the replacement one got there OK.

So I opened a missing article claim with AP.

No response. Apart from them sending me a report number.

Couple more weeks and I called them again, they said they would escalate the case.

Still heard nothing from them so I raised an Postal Ombudsman complaint.

The very next day the original item turned up (6-weeks late by now).

So the buyer contacted us and said she would be happy to mail the item back to us, so we agreed to cover her postage cost to do so.

So she mailed it back by express. Arrgghh! I thought she would use regular mail. So we refunded her the express cost.

So now I'm out of pocket 2x express costs, but have my item back in re-saleable condition at least.

Meanwhile still nothing from AP but the original tracking number now showed delivered.

So I contacted the Ombudsman back again and explained what had happened. They agreed I should be refunded both my express fees.

So today I get an email from AP apologising for their lack of response and saying that they would be sending a money order for the 2x express costs. And that it would come within 10-days.

So when it gets here I will be off to my local PO with that to buy two more satchels.

I dont understand why they just did not send out 2x empty replacement satchels.

Very odd behaviour indeed.

So keep on their case... they will eventually do what you want done.

[typhoon4u]

Thanks for that Clarry100.

I may try the Ombudsman for some late/missing orders that I had to resend. All documented on Auspost "My support".

Unfortunately my customers have kept the original and replacement items.

Perhaps they see that as compensation for waiting a month for their orders....

They didnt neg me and I didnt tempt fate asking for one back..... 

[jellybirddesigns]

@ Crow

In 12 years of selling and over 1200 transactions, I have only had 1 item go missing, so AP have done a good job of things as far as I'm concerned.

Yes, I was out of pocket by $25 as I had no way of knowing if the seller was pulling a scam or not, but in the larger scheme of things, I can't beat Ebay for giving me the opportunity to supplement our family income.

Even if I was out of pocket by $100 bucks, when I look at the thousands of dollars I have made over all that time, I would not abandon selling on this platform.

[digital*ghost]

---

@clarry100 wrote:

Aust Post will re-imburse but its like pulling teeth. Here is my story...

A couple of months back we sent a buyer requested express item. Going by their postcode it should have arrived next day but it did not.

We sent the buyer a replacement item so she was happy enough with that.

Couple of weeks later it was still showing not delivered, but the replacement one got there OK.

So I opened a missing article claim with AP.

No response. Apart from them sending me a report number.

Couple more weeks and I called them again, they said they would escalate the case.

Still heard nothing from them so I raised an Postal Ombudsman complaint.

The very next day the original item turned up (6-weeks late by now).

So the buyer contacted us and said she would be happy to mail the item back to us, so we agreed to cover her postage cost to do so.

So she mailed it back by express. Arrgghh! I thought she would use regular mail. So we refunded her the express cost.

So now I'm out of pocket 2x express costs, but have my item back in re-saleable condition at least.

Meanwhile still nothing from AP but the original tracking number now showed delivered.

---

I sent an express post package within the guaranteed next day delivery network, that did not arrive the next day. I, too, sent the customer a replacement package which thankfully did get there the next day, but the original package took 3 days to make an appearance in the system, and was still "In Transit" after that scan for a week.

I asked the buyer to mark it RTS without opening if AP attempted delivery, which they thankfully did, and when it finally made its way back to me, AP wanted to charge me a fee for the privilege.

(I'm only laughing because I ultimately did not pay anything to have my parcel back - the staff at my PO are lovely and I think they couldn't bring themselves to charge the fee, since they knew the full story). 

[*tippy*toes*]

---

@moonandstarsshop wrote:

@ Crow

In 12 years of selling and over 1200 transactions, I have only had 1 item go missing, so AP have done a good job of things as far as I'm concerned.

Yes, I was out of pocket by $25 as I had no way of knowing if the seller was pulling a scam or not, but in the larger scheme of things, I can't beat Ebay for giving me the opportunity to supplement our family income.

Even if I was out of pocket by $100 bucks, when I look at the thousands of dollars I have made over all that time, I would not abandon selling on this platform.

---

Same. I've had 2 go missing, out of several thousand. One was $20 and the other $9, so nothing in the big scheme of things. Both buyers were great. One was in contact the whole time, the other messaged me 4 weeks after the due date. She offered to wait another week, then sent a message 2 weeks later saying it hadn't arrived. I told her that if it does end up arriving to just keep it.

Both were sent as large letter. Neither buyer opened a dispute, it was all done through messages, both have gone on and bought from me again. Those items arrived no problems.

At least half of my items go as large letter with no tracking, so I think I have done well to only have 2 go missing. I make a pretty substantial profit on most of my items, so it's more than enough to cover the odd loss.

[annies_fancy_dress]

I was contacted yesterday by a buyer from July, who I send a replacement to when the first supposedly din't arrive.

It arrived the day before, more than 4 months later.

Australia Post! Go figure!