I’m well aware of this listing policy. I’m also well aware that the policy does not say, if you sell on eBay, you accept responsibility of goods until they have been received, and for the purposes of distance trading “delivery” and “receipt” are not one in the same.
In connection with the sale of all specific goods that require to be delivered, that is those goods paid for but which cannot be picked up, the seller is only responsible for the goods until they have been handed over to the carrier, at which time they are deemed delivered. This applies in every case irrespective of the location or site on which the item is purchased, and irrespective of whether the listing warns the buyer that this is case. That is for the purposes of the statute, delivery has occurred before the item is actually received and there is no requirement in the statute that the seller warn the buyer that that is the case.
Now, by using the word delivery as distinct to receipt, the listing condition doesn’t extend the definition of delivery to when the buyer receives the goods because, if the intention of the clause was to do that, it would have had to have been worded something like ‘Say that you're not responsible for item until it has been received’. That is by retaining the word delivery the condition does nothing more than acknowledge that the item is at the buyers risk after it has been handed over to the carrier (delivered).
Therefore if in the Terms and Conditions part of the listing, the seller says something like ‘I don’t accept responsibility for item lost or damaged after they have been handed over to Australia Post’ this is in no way in contravention of the cited policy. That is because, by retaining the word delivered as distinct to received the policy has limited its application to what the sellers must do before it is handed to the carrier.
Oh and just for the completeness sake, the statute imposes specific obligations on seller as to what they must do before item is handed over to the carrier, and the sole purpose this part of the listing policy is to stop sellers contraction out of those responsibilities.
As for the other examples you cite, it’s not a good idea to cherry pick because it provide for a flawed outcome.
The policy you cite deals with what the seller can/cannot include in there listings and where within the listing things are to said/included.
The initial clause “Say that you're not responsible for item delivery” is a restriction imposed on the seller to as to what they must not include in that part of the listing where the seller divulges their Terms and Conditions which forms the basis of sales contract, whereas the examples you cite (eg “'I'm not responsible for the item once it's been dropped in the mail’ and “I'm not responsible for items lost in the post”) are limitations imposed on the seller as to what they should not include in that part of the listing provided to disclose “Postage Times”.
Therefore in actually, the policy does not preclude the inclusion of ‘You are not responsible for items lost or damaged in the post’ just as long as this is said in that part of the listing where the sellers divulges their Terms and Conditions, and not in the free text compartment of teh same listing where the seller advises the buyer as to when item will be posted.
