topic Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it? in Selling

Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

flashback_deals — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 07:16:00 GMT

I have been using Click & Send for months now, my only concern was ebay wriien on the side so staff at Australia Post who handle the satchel will know there is goods inside that people have paid for.

Today, I had my 8th missing satchel. I am not a big seller so this is a lot. I went into my local Post Office today was was told even though Click & Send has tracking, they cannot do anything.

So I rang Australia Post, explained to them a satchel was posted on July 26 and only had to go about 500km in the same state (country town to the city). They told me postage can take up to 15 working days within Australia even though the declaration was signed. They also told me I cannot claim a refund on lost items sent in the Click & Send satchels, yet I have had refunds before!

Makes me wonder even though Click & Send satchels are cheaper than the PrePaid Parcel Post Satchels, is it worth it logging into a site which runs very slow and takes several pages before you print the postage slip when it is much easier to get a PrePaid Parcel Post Satchel and write the address out even though it costs a bit more to post it

Is anyone else having issues with these satchels?

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

yodablu — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 07:36:54 GMT

Hi flashback, Sorry to hear about the dramas you have been having with C& S. I can honestly say since I stated using their system 12 months ago I have had no problems at all. I very rarely lodge them at the post office but prefer to put the satchel in the red box outside the post office. If I am posting a box I will take that inside the post office & get a lodgement reciept from the staff.

Sounds like yu have a postie with sticky fingers to have so many parcels go missing.

I would be taking the matter up with C & S as I am sure you are entitled to be reimbursed for all missing parcels. I dont know the process as I have never had to go through it.

Before using C & S I would have atleast 1 missing item every few weeks.

Tina

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

flashback_deals — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 07:49:56 GMT

Hello Tina

I always take them into AP and they scan it and give me a lodgement receipt.

I remember getting a refund on one a while ago, I had to fill out a Customer Service Complaint form and as I have had refunds from the satchels before, I will try again with this one.

Their 15 days I think is rubbish, especially considering I sent a satchel on Wednesday from Mount Gambier to Sydney and the buyer received it today. Whereas this one was posted on July 26 and only had to go from Mount Gambier to Adelaide

I was told if you don't sign the declaration, your parcel goes by road which means it will take longer

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

phorum_junkie* — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:14:12 GMT

Unless you lodge them over the counter and get a receipt you have no proof of anything other than the fact you have paid for a label and satchel so I can understand why AP would not pay compo in those circumstances.

If you do lodge over the counter then there should be no reason why you cannot claim up to $50 or $100 if you pay for signature delivery, if I put in a claim and they did not pay up I think there is a postal ombudsman type service you can complain to.

I would certainly be filling out green complaint forms for every parcel, however lodged, as it looks like a case of sticky fingers somewhere along the delivery chain.

I have posted hundreds of C&S satchels and so far not one has gone missing.

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

koalablue12 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:42:20 GMT

Most parcels you take to the PO have got something in them that someone has paid for, surely? Not sure why the eBay tag would make a parcel any more of a target than any other? Maybe I missed something, it's been a long day

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

digital*ghost — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 10:03:11 GMT

If you do lodge over the counter then there should be no reason why you cannot claim up to $50 or $100 if you pay for signature delivery, if I put in a claim and they did not pay up I think there is a postal ombudsman type service you can complain to.

Alice (from AP) stated recently on another board that there is no compensation for lost C&S parcels unless signature on delivery was purchased. From comments on the forum, it seems the same applies if the tracking shows a parcel as delivered (i.e. non-signature required parcels), but a 'delivered' status doesn't necessarily mean that it has been to the correct person/address or according to the delivery instructions specified.

I always select the 'leave a card...' option in the delivery instructions so that the parcel is (hopefully) either delivered directly to a person or taken back to the nearest PO for collection, but I know that sometimes those instructions are ignored, or the parcel delivered to the incorrect address etc. However, I've personally never had a C&S parcel go missing.

In this case, I'd definitely make AP aware of every single missing parcel, as it may help pin-point the problem.

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

phorum_junkie* — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 10:50:37 GMT

DG back in the days before C&S AP used to say they didn't pay out for missing regular parcels but they nearly always did. I suspect that the same thing applies with c&s. Most AP compensation is on a voluntary basis but that doesn't mean they don't usually volunteer lol.

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

tonalidesigns — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 11:15:37 GMT

A good example - earlier this week I sent a parcel to my daughter via Express Post though C&S (able to track on line) and it showed as delivered at 11.59.

She didn't have it.

Her street name is Rosina Drive. I accidentally typed Robina Drive ... and there is a Robinia Cres in the next suburb (with same postcode) - which is where it had gone.

But it was showing as Delivered (quite correctly).

Good illustration of how it can go wrong so easily.

(Incidentally, because we were tracking we were able to identify the problem, contacted AP within the hour, who followed up with the driver straight away, figured out what had happened, sent a postie out to the incorrect address to retrieve the parcel and delivered it correctly all within 60 minutes!)

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

thecatspjs — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 11:58:45 GMT

I have had 4 missing Click and Send parcels over past three months.

As Alice from Australia Post pointed out in other thread, the current policy is not to pay compensation on click and send parcles without signature - and whilst they have this discretion under legislation - my own experience (and other posters) with recent investigation outcomes is the only reimbursement made under the current policy is for satchel post costs not contents of satchel.

This is even in situations when the parcel tracking shows lodgement and other events, but not delivery.

Whilst lodgement proof may be suffice to avoid a paypal refund - what about the buyer as they are out of pocket ? it falls on the seller to refund - or I suppose some might hope that paypal may make a discretionary to the buyer ( noting that paypal do not advise the seller of this anyway !)

I am getting very peeved that click and send and its tracking was heavily promoted, yet I am finding an unacceptable number of delivery events are not being recorded for the parcels I send. If something is sold as " tracking " - I reckon it should be tracked at the minimum - at lodgement and at delivery.

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

flashback_deals — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 02:09:33 GMT

I have had a few satchels that havent been scanned - the just grab them and I have seen them throw the satchels into the big box

One concern I also have would be the AP staff knows there are goods in it paid by someone because it has the ebay logo on it, whereas the Parcel Post Plus satchels dont

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

***super_nova*** — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 04:00:20 GMT

.

One concern I also have would be the AP staff knows there are goods in it paid by someone because it has the ebay logo on it, whereas the Parcel Post Plus satchels dont

Every parcel has something that somebody paid for. Or what do you think people send to each other; worthless bits of junk?

Even if AP does not compensate for lost C&S satchels, I am sure it is much less likely that people will do false claims if the tracking shows it was delivered. I cannot see any reason why people do not use them. I use them for anything cheap that is too big to be sent as a letter. If it has to go as a parcel it may as well go with the C&S tracking.

Nothing will ever be 100% safe, and occassional loss has to be factured into pricing of the under $50 items. That is the down side of on line trading.

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

***super_nova*** — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 04:02:14 GMT

One concern I also have would be the AP staff knows there are goods in it paid by someone because it has the ebay logo on it, whereas the Parcel Post Plus satchels dont

Every parcel has something that somebody paid for. Or what do you think people send to each other; worthless bits of junk?

Nothing will ever be 100% safe, and occassional loss has to be factured into pricing of the under $50 items. That is the down side of on line trading.

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

kangarooislandleathercraft — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 04:58:53 GMT

I may be missing something obvious here but I have not seen any explanation for the missing parcels. Using Click and Send the tracking number is automatically uploaded to the ebay posted entry so even without an AP receipt the item should be trackable by entering the number in the AP tracking site.

I am now using Pack and Track AP satchels which are more expensive simply because I found the entry process for Click and Send frustratingly slow and because I only have a printer connected to an office computer not the one I do most ebay transactions on.

However I am pretty sure it was a Click and Send parcel that I had a not received enquiry on some months back and by entering the tracking number I was able to advise that AP had attempted delivery and had returned the parcel to the P.O. as nobody was home. (Apparently no card was left at the address but the item was indeed awaiting collection at the post office).

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

*mrgrizz* — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 04:59:35 GMT

how come my letters with bills in never go missing?

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

***super_nova*** — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 05:30:32 GMT

I may be missing something obvious here but I have not seen any explanation for the missing parcels. Using Click and Send the tracking number is automatically uploaded to the ebay posted entry so even without an AP receipt the item should be trackable by entering the number in the AP tracking site.

It is only trackable if AP scans it; if it is not scanned how do you imagine it can be tracked? When you enter it on line the number appears in your sold items, but unless it is scanned when you hand it over there is no proof it was actually posted.

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

***super_nova*** — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 05:35:11 GMT

I may be missing something obvious here but I have not seen any explanation for the missing parcels.

Parcel goes missing when:

- it gets caught in sorting machine and the address becomes illegible

- somebody in AP nicks it

- somebody nicks it from the buyer's mail box

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

dylan11235813 — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 05:51:47 GMT

I have never had any issues with them, and don't use them any more as the prepaid satchels only cost a little extra and I find them easier to use.

AusPost should be scanning them and giving you a lodgment receipt if handing them over the counter.

I think the AusPost tracking system is updated when the label for the Auspost/Ebay satchel is created, so it is tracked before lodgement.

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

lane-ends — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 22:34:19 GMT

The fact that they upload ebay checkout addresses and print them (no misread hand writing or errors writing address), along with crosschecking suburb and postcode match, reduces most lost or delayed post.

The 15 day investigation rule is more to allow for stray items to be redirected or RTS than actual normal delivery time.

Over counter scanning is more secure, but street lodged is still way more secure than the old prepaid system, and often worth the convenience.

The fact there is tracking discourages opportunistic INR claims.Reduces a lot of when did you post emails

Overall C & S is better value than other forms of post in regards to cost/convenience /security, for moderate priced items.

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

ecomian — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 00:23:28 GMT

I have been using Click and Send for 12 months or so without a problem. In the years I have been selling on Ebay I have had one item that the buyer said he never recieved but I suspect it was at his end. I was a to a Sydney suburb with a slissy reputaion. I know one of my supplier personally who operate in a bush area, who have outmail picked up by the postie who lost hundreds of dollars worth of outgong orders till they put a lock on the post box and gave the postie a key! Ever since that I always select "if unattended, leave a card in the mailbox to collect at nearst Post Office" . I also ensure that the declaration is signed and that I recieve a lodgement reciept. That way there documentation and that equal proof in writing. I would be making some waves in Aust Post for a full investigaion with that many lost. Someone knows you in Aust post and are waiting for your orders! Probably locally.

Re: Click & Send Satchels - Are they worth it?

tall_bearded — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 01:34:27 GMT

Post 8

“Whilst lodgement proof may be suffice to avoid a paypal refund - what about the buyer as they are out of pocket ? it falls on the seller to refund - or I suppose some might hope that paypal may make a discretionary to the buyer ( noting that paypal do not advise the seller of this anyway !)”

The sellers’ responsibility for items sent by post ENDS the moment the item is handed over to Aust Post.

Therefore if the item is sent regular post (including standard click and send) and the buyer says it isn’t received, and if Aust Post reject any subsequent claim, and if PayPal decide not to make a discretionary payment, then the buyer’s only other recourse is to lodge a complaint with the ombudsman or take Aust Post to the small claims court.

That is when it comes to items not received, once postage is proved, the buyer has no recourse against the seller be it via Paypal or in a court of law.