Please help! I would like to know where we, as sellers, stand

[meg-and-sam]

I am getting so frustrated as a seller as there doesn't seem to be any 'protection' for us against buyers. I clearly state on ALL of my listings that there is 'no insurance or tracking provided unless requested & paid for, no responsibility taken for lost or damaged parcels without insurance'. It seems that having this on my listings is a waste of time as recently a buyer was given their money back after claiming they didn't receive their item. Why are we, as sellers, held responsible for Australia Posts incompetence at delivering the item? Who knows for certain if a buyer received their item or not? What is stopping many buyers stating 'they didn't receive the item' just so they can get something for free? 

I sell mostly small priced items, lots of them and 90% are sent as 'letters/large letters' at a cheap postage rate. To insist on tracking or insurance would decrease my sales significantly so it's just not an option.

I have also had cases similar to this from my overseas buyers. When shipping overseas, I use the green 'customs declaration form' but this too, has proven useless when it comes to a missing parcel, and again, to insist on purchasing insurance or tracking would decrease my sales. I have even gone to the extra trouble of writing down the customers name & country plus the customs number in a book to try and cover myself if a claim is made, but to no avail.

Can anyone suggest what I can do to protect myself? Or, have any information that might help?

Thanking you in advance, have a wonderful day 🙂 Meg

[yeoldecoinco]

Hello Meg.

I sympathize, as the same thing happens to me from time to time.

However, Phorum Junkie is correct (as usual) in cases like this.

If you send items by standard mail, the onus is on you as the seller to replace/refund if they don't arrive.

That is how it works via eBay, or should work.

That is because most buyers, especially for cheap items, DO NOT complain unless they have a genuine reason.

After about 40,000 eBay sales of relatively cheap $4 to $25 items, I can vouch for this.

Most of my items under $30 get sent standard mail, because like your listings, people won't buy them with a $5 or so cost for Registered mail and I can't asborb that sort of postage charge on a lower priced item.

If they don't arrive (3 times this year out of about 500 sendings) then I have had to replace the item.

Just send another, if they are cheap, if it only happens now and then, just absorb the cost.

Don't lose too much sleep over it, unless it becomes a regular happening.

Sometimes it might be a dishonest buyer, but MUCH more likely it is either:

(A) The item was addressed incorrectly.

(B) The PO made a mess of delivering it.

(C) They live in a Unit, other people pinch their mail, this is where most of the problems happen..

The first item that I replaced earlier this year (a $4 item) later came back to me Return to Sender Insufficient Address, YET it was addressed correctly with all the details as they should have been, stupid Post Office.

The other two only happened a couple of weeks back, still waiting to see if anything gets returned with those two, or whether they magically turn up 3 weeks after sending them, that has happened before...

If a cheap item does not arrive, bite the bullet, replace or refund and move on.

The last thing you want is to get negative feedback for something that is worth very little.

If it happens too much, then reconsider whether it is viable to send by standard mail.

After it happened twice in the past couple of weeks, I have started taking photographs of my standard mail items.

This might prove to the buyer the item was sent, but I don't think it would save me from providing a replacement or refund.

[cq_tech]

Provided that you photograph your standard mail items after they've been postmarked by the PO, Paypal will definitely accept said photographs as proof of delivery, as once the article has been handed to the carrier, under AU Law it is deemed to have been delivered.

Ebay have been far less accommodating to date but as they are subject to the same law, if you push the point they too will ultimately cave and make a "discretionary" payment to the buyer, but only after an extended battle which makes you wonder if it's really worth the effort required.

[yeoldecoinco]

"Ebay have been far less accommodating to date but as they are subject to the same law, if you push the point they too will ultimately cave and make a "discretionary" payment to the buyer, but only after an extended battle which makes you wonder if it's really worth the effort required. "

You have summed it up well.

Not worth your time and talent. We only get one life..

Refund/replace, move on.

Set a limit for standard mail items you are prepared to lose.

Mine is up to $29.99, above that, it goes Registered/Tracked or not all.

Even taking photos of it all is a complete drag, just one more job to do..

[cathyjoyjoy]

Great info cq ........... This is the sort of stuff nobody tells you, but have learned only from people on this forum. Kind regards

[cq_tech]

Ebay have been trampling all over sellers' rights for years now, because most weren't aware of their consumer rights (sellers are no less consumers than anybody else) and eBay have even attempted to abrogate them in their BS policies, but no more. Any Policies or Terms & Conditions which attempt to abrogate Australian Law are by their very nature null and void and carry absolutely no weight at all, and that includes numerous aspects of their poorly considered MBG which should be immediately put on hold until eBay have sorted out all the problems, particularly those which breach Australian Consumer Law. What offends me the most is that eBay know this yet currently refuse to do anything about it.

[alambi-dolls]

i am a buyer who just genuinely had mail go missing thru post, the seller has already offered me a full refund, but i have asked for them to wait, i like the seller hope there is some honest people in aust post  🙂  and it can be sorted. i have wanted to sell things on e-bay for some years now and to learn i go to the sellers board,....and it scares me off every time....i hope not now...i am needing to sell  :{

[cq_tech]

With a positive attitude like yours, you could end up doing quite well as a seller.