Postage of Goods, Buyer IS Responsible IF YOU DO IT RIGHT

[Anonymous]

Postage of eBay Items- Who is Responsable when goods are delivered to the Post Office/Carrier:

Sellers should always have proof of dispatch, or you are responsible for undelivered, lost or damaged goods - Free delivery, puts the onus on you the seller to always have proof, as the buyer according to the contract of sale, has paid no postage,  eBay says postage is free - the seller pays for it, as it is calculated in the cost of the sale price. Can you guess why they say it is free when it is actually not? - Thats right, it takes away any resposability fromn the buyer with regards to delivery, and it is back to you the ( Seller )

Postage via REGULAR, cover your self by duplicating the address on paper, and having the post office stamp it with the time and date, they will do it for you, this is proof of delivery to the carrier!

The Law regarding ( who is responsible for delivery is clear )

Deliver the goods to the carrier as requested on the purchase/sales order, as long as you do what the order states, and have proof, Paypal can not legally refund money, should they do so, and they most likely will, all you have to do is contact the ( Financial Services Ombudsman ) believe it or not, they have a section for PayPal on there web site. The law states the ( seller ) must refund customers for undeliverd goods, damaged or faulty goods, etc, not a third party, you can put your case to them and more than likely get your money back if you have delivered the item to the Post Office/Carrier as requested and can supply proof, ALWAYS take a photo of the package, it will help your claim, you can also send it via your iPhone and the ebay App to your customer to show them what to expect in the post.

Remember, the contract of sale is between ( you and your customer ) not ebay or PayPal, as there policys will tell you. ( The Financial Services Ombudsman ) is a great service.

Sale of Goods Act - Similar in other States

Sale of Goods Act 1895 - South Australian Legislation

32—Delivery to carrier
(1) Where, in pursuance of a contract of sale, the seller is authorised or required to send
the goods to the buyer, delivery of the goods to a carrier, whether named by the buyer
or not, for the purpose of transmission to the buyer, is prima facie deemed to be a
delivery of the goods to the buyer.
(2) Unless otherwise authorised by the buyer, the seller must make such contract with the
carrier on behalf of the buyer as may be reasonable, having regard to the nature of the
goods and the other circumstances of the case. If the seller omit so to do, and the
goods are lost or damaged in course of transit, the buyer may decline to treat the
delivery to the carrier as a delivery to himself or may hold the seller responsible in
damages.

[muppet_detector]

or in simpler terms, a supplier cannot be held responsible for the actions of a third party.

[lalala-au]

Good to know but I have 1 more question.

If you sell on Ebay you argee to their terms and conditions so does that mean a seller has no protection under the Australian Law where Ebay and Paypal policies differ  from the Law, because you have agreed with Ebay and Paypal's terms and conditions therefore giving up your rights according to the Australian Law?

(Sorry long question and maybe confusing. I really haven't had experience in this area and was wondering if anyone knew for sure.)

[cq_tech]

To the best of my knowledge, signing or "agreeing" to a web site's Terms & Conditions can only provide additional rights to those that already exist under the Law. They cannot abrogate, replace, or in any other way negate those laws which already exist under current legislation, regardless of what they may say.

As I understand it, that means that neither eBay nor Paypal have any legal right to refund a private seller's money to a buyer under any circumstances because the Sale of Goods Act specifically states that a private seller is not legally required to do so.

Even when it comes to business sellers, eBay and Paypal are still bound by the laws as they currently exist under Australian legislation and certainly cannot arbitrarily take the law into their own hands if it differs from local law.

As I said above, that's my understanding as a layman and I suggest that you consult either a practitioner in consumer law, or the ACCC or Consumer Affairs or the Dept of Fair Trading if you wish to verify this personally.