Items not received newbie help

[bronwynsgold]

Hi I know most of you will have seen or answered this question many times in different ways. Here is my problem the buyer bought an item on 26 Nov I posted on 27 Nov to NSW and it has not been received.

I asked the buyer to confirm address -  nada.

I asked the buyer to check with neighbours - nada 

Eventually I said I would refund and the buyer said they wanted another piece of fabric as they were waiting for it to make a particular project.

Should I send more fabric?  - doing so will actually mean that I am at a real loss, I mean I should have put the fabric in the bin it would be cheaper.

I am relatively new at this and of course I realise that the fabric may be lost but it has nev er happened before and lets face it who would want to steal a piece of fabric out of someones letterbox.

I just posted ordinary mail and the fabric postage  was $1.80 . This was a $7.00 piece of fabric . Iif I offered tracking and registered mail no one would buy from me.  Obviously if a larger amount is purchased I would ensure  postage with tracking.

[davewil1964]

Unless you are prepared to post a replacement registered, which is an extra $2.95 on top of postage, I would refund them. No point in throwing good money after bad.

Tell them you don't have any more of this fabric.

It is, however, getting close to Christmas and AP's delivery is getting ordinary for ordinary mail. maybe ask the buyer to wait another week then you will refund.

[haolove13]

HI welcome to the wonderful level playing field called ebay / paypal

When you post you need to obtain proof of postage and that will have a tracking number.

With that you will be able to see when it is delivered.

You need to lodge every item at a post office as items in satchels via post boxes are not traced.

You need to get a supply of  DO NOT SAFE DROP stickers to add to every parcel as without that attached you will find that about 20% of your items will never get delivered. (not stolen just not received by customers)

To be honest if you do not use registered / trackable  post you will need to increase your prices by about 20 % as that is what you will lose in "theft" "false claims" "undelivered items"

My personal record was five claims for non delivery of a fifty dollar item sent registered post, four claims were granted by paypal until I lodged the buyers signature on a run sheet, the registered post details and a claim to the ombudsman for fraud against the buyer and paypal Then it suddenly was granted in my favour.

Sorry to be cynical but there are a lot of scams going on out there and most of them are by buyers nowadays.

And also keep an eye on your DSR as the shonky ones leave low ratings for you anonymously which can impact on your ability to list on Ebay.

Merry Christmas to all.

[bronwynsgold]

thanks so much and I am sorry I have posted again - on a learning curve.

I guess I will have to live with my problem as the cheapest postage in tracking as I understand it is $6.50 and no one would pay that for half a metre of fabric

I will have to rethink - you know this is my first problem - at first I wanted to send what I had left to the buyer to make up for the loss and then I thought no, because they would not confirm address - it could happen again and that if why I posted. 

I wanted to know what experienced ebayers have learned.

You have a lovely Christmas too and thank you for responding.

[bronwynsgold]

Thank you and no I am not prepared to send a replacement at registered post.  I ambehind the  8 ball now do not want to go back further.

I will refund but you know I grit my teeth because I did post .

Thanks for taking the time to reply I appreciate it. Cheers

[davewil1964]

haolove is biased. Try to find a positive post by them.

Around half of my sales go as untracked letters.

I have yet to have an INR opened.

Admittedly I've only been selling on eBay for 5 years.

My items are pitched at what others are selling similar items for. I cannot afford to increase my price by $3 nor reduce my profit by that much.

I take the punt and chuck 20c in a jar to cover INRs on letters. I am due a good Christmas as I have a lot of 20c pieces in the (3) jars.

[bigbrickshop]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

Unless you are prepared to post a replacement registered, which is an extra $2.95 on top of postage, I would refund them. No point in throwing good money after bad.

Tell them you don't have any more of this fabric.

It is, however, getting close to Christmas and AP's delivery is getting ordinary for ordinary mail. maybe ask the buyer to wait another week then you will refund.

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I agree with dave. Tell the buyer that you're sorry they haven't received the item but you're unable to post a replacement. Ask them to wait another few days as the pre-Christmas mail may have caused a delay and if it still hasn't turned up then you'll refund them.

And for future sales, build a small amount into the cost of each item to cover you for the occasional lost envelope. There's a risk with posting without tracking but for low value items it's usually a risk worth taking.

[bronwynsgold]

please tell me what an INR is? Thank you

[bigbrickshop]

A PayPal claim for Item Not Received.

[the_great_she_elephant]

Bronwyn, where are you posting from? If you are in WA, then it isquite normal for parcels to take up to 14 days to make the journey across the Nullarbor. - at this tie of the year it is very likely to take longer than that.