Where do I Stand?

[character_parties_aus]

I recently sold a fully traceable item on ebay.  Most of my items are date critical delivery as they are driven by an event. Express Post was available but not selected and rightly so as  In this case the buyer correctly selected regular post Brisbane to Melbourne. Australia Post then took over two weeks to deliver the parcel. As the date for the event has passed the buyer refused delivery of the item and has told Aus Post to send it back and asked for a full refund including freight. The tracking backs this up 100%.  At no point did they contact to say not received etc. so it could be escalated with aus post ( if there is any point) I am not unreasonable and am happy to refund the product cost back to the buyer once its back as its not their fault Aus Post were slack, and I am also chasing a refund from Aus Post for the sloppy delivery. If I get one I will give it to the buyer. When this item arrives back with me if the buyer puts in a claim ( they have not entered the returns process formally they only have a feedback score of 2 and probably dont understand it all ) what will happen? Will I be slugged with the entire cost of sale and then get slugged for the cost of an Australia Post return as well caused by their own ineptitude?!

[bsal6160]

why are you blaming Aus Post for taking to long to deliver? the buyer should not rely on "just in time" delivery for event critical items. Poor judgement on buyers part.

The buyer has not followed the correct process either so how can you blame Aust Post for buyer for refusing the delivery?

[curraone]

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@character_parties_aus wrote:

Will I be slugged with the entire cost of sale and then get slugged for the cost of an Australia Post return as well caused by their own ineptitude?!

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yes

[digital*ghost]

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@character_parties_aus wrote:

 Australia Post then took over two weeks to deliver the parcel. As the date for the event has passed the buyer refused delivery of the item and has told Aus Post to send it back and asked for a full refund including freight. The tracking backs this up 100%.  

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While I empathise with the buyer, this is - in effect - a change of mind return (presuming you didn't personally guarantee an arrival date), so you're well within your rights to handle it the same way you handle those.

I'd be inclined to provide a goodwill gesture, personally, the same as I would in other cases where AP stuff up and don't deliver etc (my fault - no; my responsibility - debatable but nothing wrong with finding it acceptable 🙂 ). 

INR doesn't apply, neither does SNAD since the goods were not even inspected - eBay's MBG policies cover this kind of case quite specifically, so if a request is open, to help avoid the system from automating a decision, call eBay and point out the tracking and this part of the policy to them:

"Generally, the buyer is responsible for accepting the item when it arrives. If the buyer refuses delivery, their claim is not eligible for eBay Money Back Guarantee."

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/money-back-guarantee.html

[phorum_junkie*]

For a time sensitive item I would not have given the buyer a choice, I woulod have quoted the express post cost and have used that service.

AP exclude consequential loss so the fact the delivery of a regular post item took longer than hoped for would not qualify it for compensation, even if it wer an express item delivered late youwould only get the cost of the postage refunded.

[bettyboopsadaisy]

While there is merit in the comments from other posts on this thread, I really don't think it was unreasonable to expect a parcel travelling betw. Brisbane and Melbourne to arrive in much less than 2 weeks.

I have a customer enquirey lodged with Aust. Post at present for a parcel which was posted on 8 / 6 from Sydney to Melbourne. The last lodgement scan was 9 / 6 and auspost's estimated delivery time is 4 business days. Today marks 10 business days since postage !!!

While it may be unwise to place blind faith in auspost's estimated delivery time, there is a big difference betw 4 and 10 business days. I think both I and my customer were not unrealistic in expecting the item to have reached its destination by now. (My item was not a date critical it terms of arrival time)

It would seem this is a comparable case. I can see why this is frustrating and annoying for both parties.

[curraone]

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@character_parties_aus wrote:

I recently sold a fully traceable item on ebay.  Most of my items are date critical delivery as they are driven by an event. Express Post was available but not selected and rightly so as  In this case the buyer correctly selected regular post Brisbane to Melbourne. Australia Post then took over two weeks to deliver the parcel. As the date for the event has passed the buyer refused delivery of the item and has told Aus Post to send it back and asked for a full refund including freight. The tracking backs this up 100%.  At no point did they contact to say not received etc. so it could be escalated with aus post ( if there is any point) I am not unreasonable and am happy to refund the product cost back to the buyer once its back as its not their fault Aus Post were slack, and I am also chasing a refund from Aus Post for the sloppy delivery. If I get one I will give it to the buyer. When this item arrives back with me if the buyer puts in a claim ( they have not entered the returns process formally they only have a feedback score of 2 and probably dont understand it all ) what will happen? Will I be slugged with the entire cost of sale and then get slugged for the cost of an Australia Post return as well caused by their own ineptitude?!

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But seriously, because you had tracking and can show the buyer refused the item, there is no fault for you -  the buyer should not succeed in any claim - fight it to the beaches.

[clarry100]

We don't sell/ship time critical items....

But if we did and a buyer purchased one without choosing the express option as in your case, then I think I would have been inclined to send them a friendly message just to say that as the item is time critical you would strongly recommend considering an upgrade to express post for $xx because Australia Post do not always deliver in the timeframe they say they do. Then if they chose to either ignore or decline your offer then they have zip to complain about, having been forewarned.

[x3n0m]

Brisbane to Melbourne. Australia Post then took over two weeks to deliver the parcel

and people still want to side with australia post and apparently fully approve of their slackness .. incredible!!! ..

Aus Post were slack

.. it is pretty much the new normal .. you are being encouraged to use express or priority post on everything now, all ausposts tactics smack of what is termed incrementalism, they just keep turning up the heat and hope people accept this overpriced monopoly practices disgrace as just a pack or regular joes and jills providing a solid product in return for every increasing amounts of cash from us and diminishing responsibility and services from them .. this is very important for the auspost ceos and executive staff performance bonuses .. its called "disruptive innovation" and is routinely done by "so called" businesses with an effective working monopoly ..

>>  how can Australian mail order businesses function and compete effectively in such a sinister enviroment? .. with obstacles like Australia post and the UN postal agreement leeching off of our industries it is no wonder Australia is headed for a very serious economic downturn .. aty the very least auspost should reimburse you for loss but they won't as obviously don't give a stuff as have legal protection from running their business like a milking machine designed to milk the Australian public for every grubby penny they can lay their hands on .. this is just so typical of the "new economy" Turnbull boasts about .. just a pack of greedy fat snouts in the trough ripping australia new one .. nothing to see here folks ,, move along move along .. ..

[heihachi_73]

That's because priority mail and Express Post cost more than regular mail and Parcel Post respectively. If they manage to force people to use the more expensive options by making the basic service almost nonexistent, Australia Post's profit margin looks better on paper and then they can pretty much remove the lesser (cheaper) alternatives and only provide the more expensive ones while downgrading them to "regular" speed services behind the scenes by altering the delivery times to their favour. Let's see if Express Post becomes 3-5 days in the same state by 2020 by claiming that Australia is a sparse country and your next door neighbour is on average 30 kilometres away because no-one lives in 90% of the country since it is mostly uninhabitable desert and won't build outside the major cities anyway because it's sacred Aboriginal country or whatever! They love dividing the total land mass by the population to get the people-per-square-kilometre results and then comparing it with Europe, America, China, India etc.