Paypal and lost parcel

[greatgodpan]

Hi, I recently sold an item on ebay, the buyer paid $200. I posted the item along with two other ebay buys. The other two arrived at their destination no problem but the item mentioned above did not. The buyer contacted me to say they had raised a dispute with Paypal. I contacted PP and told them I had the receipt showing date,time,cost and postcode where item was delivered to. PP said no problem you will be covered under sellers protection just download a copy of the receipt to us via the resolution centre. I did this, I have today received notification from PP to say they found in favour of the buyer. Now I understand I should have posted it registered, but surely there must be something I can do, I have lost the item, the postage and been charged sellers fees and yet the buyer only had to say they did not receive the item, how could they provide proof of not receiving something ??, surely we could all do that. Thank you

[greatgodpan]

*****''''''OP for what its worth, my commonsense indicates that sending goods valued $200 unregistered without insurance is just foolishness IMO, and serves to lower buyer confidence (and spending) and does other sellers and ebay reputation a great disservice in relation to safe trading reputation.'''''''''*******

Firstly to thecatspjs ,IMO, the above statement you wrote made me LAUGH till I cried (thank you)!!!!!!

Secondly, my thanks to Brothers in Arms and others who gave me such stirling advice, which not only got me my money back but also an apology from Paypal.

I phoned PP after reading your post and it is indeed the case that a receipt which clearly states the postcode is enough to prove postage, the money has now been returned to me.Thank you very much once again.x

[***super_nova***]

I phoned PP after reading your post and it is indeed the case that a receipt which clearly states the postcode is enough to prove postage, the money has now been returned to me.Thank you very much once again.x

So, you are obviously very happy with the outcome, but what about the buyer?  They paid $200 and have no item, which means they will most likely never buy anything on eBay in hurry.  All that for $3 extra for registration that you should have added to the postage, which would have made it more likely that the item was delivered.

[coast_golf]

Congrats on the win GGP 🙂

I do sympathise with the buyer, if it's the one I think it is then they don't appear to have had any INR issues so I doubt it was an attempted scam.

One area where I think the postcode requirement falls down is where an item is incorrectly addressed but the postcode was correct. I've done it a couple of times before where I've transposed house numbers, each time I've been fortunate enough that it has found its way to the rightful recipient but had it not, I still would have won a Paypal claim and the buyer would feel (quite rightfully) aggrieved.

In saying that, buyers agree to the same agreement as sellers when they sign up to Paypal and should be aware of the risks and take all reasonable steps to mitigate them. It's a fine line between looking after the customer and placing yourself at a competitive disadvantage.

[davewil1964]

I don't think you would find too many posters here who would tell a buyer too bad, blake; even the ones who are primarily sellers. We all want buyers to stay, not tell everybody they know how they got ripped off by an eBay seller. If it was paid for with Paypal the buyer will hopefully contact Paypal and point out they have buyer protection and that the Ombudsman would doubtless agree.

Did you report the parcel as lost, pan? What was AP's response?

[greatgodpan]

Hi davewil1964, not only did I try my post office where I posted it, where I was told there was nothing they could do to help, and why was I trying!!

I rang the AP customer service, they suggested I wait before I do anything, I waited 20mins for them to answer the phone to tell me that.

I posted a message on FB explaining my problem, no responce from AP but 40 responces from people saying, Good Luck getting anywhere.

After a day trawling the internet I got a number for the buyers local post office, ( no mean feat) The postmaster at the buyers office, first asked me how I got their number ?

When I told him I was trying to trace a parcel he laughed and said he was sympathetic but parcels went through their local sorting office not the local post office. I asked for the sorting office number the guy said he was not allowed to give their number out, 'Probably because they would receive abuse from the general public' his words not mine.

Since this happened I have done some research just putting Australia Post missing parcels into Google and you find its not an isolated case, I am now looking into an alternative to AP, and before anyone mentions Registered post  'its not worth the paper its written on, anyone can sign for it and once its signed for there is no claim against AP' again not my words.

What really irks me is that it must be somewhere, my address is on the reverse, why can't AP tell me where parcels go when not delivered. They auction off hundreds of unposted parcels every year yet I cannot do anything to try to locate it, all avenues to the general public are closed.

[phorum_junkie*]

So, you are obviously very happy with the outcome, but what about the buyer?  They paid $200 and have no item, which means they will most likely never buy anything on eBay in hurry.  All that for $3 extra for registration that you should have added to the postage, which would have made it more likely that the item was delivered.

The onus is now on the buyer to convince Paypal they did not receive the parcel, quite easy if you know what you are doing, so that Paypal will cover the refund, that is what buyer and seller protection is all about.

I think that Paypal should change their policy to make it clear that a seller needs more than just a postcode receipt after all they could send an empty satchel to any random address in the same suburb and have seller protection.

As it is cheaper anyway to use click & send i can't imagine why sellers leave themselves open to disputes and neg feedback when they can so easily be covered properly.

[syrupsmummy]

Congratulation for getting money back, OP.

And I apologise for my wrong information posted. I think my info was outdated. I think AP receipt with postcode wasn't accepted before. And when AP did compensate up to $50 for lost regular post parcel they did try to track down the parcel. Because I use C&S satchels I didn't know much about AP recent receipt.

Thank you for the update. Now I know the new info.

[heybooks]

Seriously? Margins are so low for sellers sometimes that it eats into costs too much to send registered. 

[davewil1964]

Seriously?!?!?!?!

This thread is THREE AND A HALF YEARS OLD!

it is hardly relevant to now, and none of the posters can reasonably expect to be held to comments they made THREE AND A HALF YEARS ago.

If you have an issue, post it in a new thread; if you cannot restrain yourself from reviving a dead thread, try posting something relevant.

Edit: sorry, I didn't realise that a sale of OVER $200 would not give a seller enough margin to pay $4 for registered post. Silly me. Or somebody.

[black*poppy]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

Seriously?!?!?!?!

Edit: sorry, I didn't realise that a sale of OVER $200 would not give a seller enough margin to pay $4 for registered post. Silly me. Or somebody.

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kudos for reading enough of this dead thread to find that gem.