I paid $15 extra for express postage. The article did not arrive in time stated. Where do I stand?

[kopenhagen5]

Contact the seller.

Keep in mind if the seller posted within their handling time then they are not repsonsible for postal delays if sent via express.

[lyndal1838]

Was the package actualy sent by Express or did the seller make a mistake?  Were both you and the seller in Express Post zones?

If you were you should be able to get a refund of the postage from Australia Post.....ask at your local post office.

[papermoon.lady]

Usually when an item sent by express does not arrive as stated on the AusPost website, the sender gets a free express satchel of equivalent value. However, as the buyer has paid the seller, of course the seller should compensate the buyer after they are compensated by AusPost. In general I don't think that AusPost compensates buyers/recipients directly.

[marwi_3023]

Australia post policy needs to be changed to reflect the modern market.
It is still stuck in the old days where the sender was paying for postage.
There should be two types of claim now one for when the sender has the financial investment and one for when the recipient does.
I had an item that was bouncing between the sorting facility and the original post office and I had to keep contacting the seller who worked office hours to get him to contact Australia post for assistance because I was the recipient and had no sway in the situation.
It was most frustrating and I felt like I was harassing the seller

[digital*ghost]

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@marwi_3023 wrote:
Australia post policy needs to be changed to reflect the modern market.
It is still stuck in the old days where the sender was paying for postage.
There should be two types of claim now one for when the sender has the financial investment and one for when the recipient does.

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The reason that AP compensate the sender is because that's who AP has the contract with - i.e. buyer has contract with seller, seller has contract with AP. In order for compensation to become directly accessible to the recipient, they would need to be involved in the contract, or pay AP directly - however, if a buyer makes their own arrangements for postage and pays the carrier, they void all buyer protections offered by eBay / PayPal. (I wouldn't allow it as a seller, either, TBH). 

Sellers can waive their right to compensation and pass it on to the buyer, though I never would because it takes a couple of weeks for it to come through. Far easier and quicker for the buyer if I compensate them up front then wait to receive the compensation from AP. 

[respect.our.planet]

Yes, of course, but the problem is that sometimes sellers don't cooperate, don't start investigations etc. I understand "why" they do this, but it can be very stressful if a seller doesn't react and at the same time buyers don't want to be annoying either if AusPost is just late.

[digital*ghost]

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@respect.our.planet wrote:

Yes, of course, but the problem is that sometimes sellers don't cooperate, don't start investigations etc. I understand "why" they do this, but it can be very stressful if a seller doesn't react and at the same time buyers don't want to be annoying either if AusPost is just late.

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Yes - so this it what becomes a known, inherent risk of buying online. 

There are quite a lot of risks when a buyer decides to purchase online, many of which have been either mitigated or minimised to the point where a lot of people don't even think about them when they purchase. And while the risk of the seller doing something bad or wrong is there, it's not even limited to just those sorts of situations.

Some of the risks can be mitigated by additional actions, but then they create other risks, so the buyer has to decide which ones are more acceptable. A classic example of that is (aside from the scenario above), say the seller sends a package with signature on delivery and the buyer finds this inconvenient, because they may not be home at the time of delivery, and wants the package to be safe-dropped instead to mitigate the risk of maybe not getting the chance to collect at the PO for several days. If the service allows, they can request safedrop to avoid that risk, but then they have to accept the risk of the package being stolen after delivery (which they can not be compensated for, unless it is provided voluntarily by one of the involved parties). 

Every time someone buys online, they take the risk that everything may not go exactly as expected, and most people assume if it doesn't, the seller will be responsible. Knowing that in some cases, a seller can't be forced to be responsible then needs to become a consideration for the buyer when making a purchase decision. 

The best protection a buyer has is not from eBay, or PayPal, or their credit card - it is buying from a reputable seller who will look after them if something goes wrong. I know that's not always easy to spot or find when it comes to buying from strangers on the internet, but that doesn't make it any less true. 

[grmazm_jbwxvklq]

Express postage was with Couriers Please.

[padi*0409]

https://www.productreview.com.au/p/couriers-please.html