Stamped items getting lost? What do I do to cover my self?

[mazar007]

Hi guys,

I sent items using 70 cent stamps, but 1 in 10 doesn't reach its destination.
Since I can't track this item or prove that I have posted it. 
It has been costing me alot of money, right now I resend the items to keep the customer happy.

But this is not sustainable in the long term.

Do you guys know what I need to do to cover my self and avoid this in the future?

Thank you

[wilk1149]

You can register letters. It costs $2.95 just increase your postage charge to cover it plus eBay fee

[jerryman12a]

Do you send all your items this way ? I see only 2 listings that could go as a letter rate the rest as a parcel type . If that's the case then the % getting lost is pretty high .

Sending them as Registered wouldn't make sense as it would just outprice your item . If your sending all your items using stamps then you need to use a parcel rate with tracking to cover yourself.

If it's just the one item I'm thinking off then it's odd so many would go missing in the mail , perhaps post from another PO and see what happens  . Just a thought .

[mazar007]

I checked the register letter price, they are $3.75 plus $1.40 for stamp. Not economically viable. Thank you

[mazar007]

Ya I only send two items through letter with $1.40 stamps. Customers are saying they have not received it. If I send them through registered post as you said, it would just outprice my item plus won't attract customers. I will try to send them through another PO.

Thank you

[wort68 · Accepted solution]

This is probably obvious, but make sure you have a return address on the envelope. That way if the address is wrong, incomplete, or the person has moved, hopefully it will come back to you.

I have a similar problem, but not as high as 1 in 10.

I make it a rule to always resend the item if possible, instead of refunding the money.

Why? Well I figure if they are pretending they didn't get it, and I give a refund, they have gotten the item for free.

Whereas if I send it again, they have gotten two for the price of one. That isn't quite as bad.

Having said that, Im sure the vast majority of my lost items are genuinely lost.

I always get them to confirm the address before I resend also.

I often find obvious errors in addresses, which I try to correct.

An address like 16 Smith Street, Sydney, 2037 is obviously wrong. They have left out the suburb, and just put the city as Sydney. If they lived in the actual suburb of Sydney, the post code would be 2000 or 2001. All the capitals are like that.

I find www.whereis.com very useful for this. Look up Smith Street, 2037. Most likely there will only be one Smith Street in that post code.

As someone else said, adding $3 for tracking is a good option.

I guess if the items are cheap, add 10% to the price to cover ones that get lost.

If they are more expensive, add $3 to the price to cover tracking.

[clarry100 · Accepted solution]

We had an INR case raised against us a while back which ended up being closed by PayPal NO FAULT.

The two low cost items (about $10 each) were sent separately 3-days apart using regular mail. ie no tracking. Chances of both items getting lost to the same validated address were miniscule so we assumed a scam attempt. PayPal agreed with us and closed the case NO FAULT. We did not lose our money but the buyer did get a refund tho from PayPal coffers.

During negotiations PayPal told me that even when sending by regular mail if you take a picture of the front of the envelope showing the buyer address and the official PO stamp cancellation they will accept this as proof of postage. Means you have seller protection. They also said if you get a PO lodgement receipt showing the postcode and the PO stamp that will also do the trick. So maybe go for both.

So if you are not mailing too many doing this might be an option.

Then at least if the buyer wishes to raise an INR claim you will win on the grounds of the evidence provided.

Downside: If they don't want to go that track and make it official they might just leave you a big RED dot which will be very difficult to get removed. If they are truly scamming they may not want to make it official as it will then be recorded on their account.

The only other option as I see it is to just "suck it up"  as part of the cost of doing business and resend the item each time no questions (other than please confirm the correct address).

[mazar007]

I will probably increasing the price by 10% at this stage. Thanks for the tip.

[mazar007]

I usually take pictures of each item i send or sometime a group picture.
At this stage I am going to suck it up and see what happens.

Thank you

[clarry100]

The pic will only be accepted by PayPal if it also shows the official PO stamp which cancels the stamps.

So you have to take the pic at the PO counter as you lodge the item and AFTER they have stamped it.

So if you take a pic at home then drop them into a red street box they will not accept that as any evidence of postage. Such a pic is useless and a waste of your time. This point was made clearly to me by the PayPal CSR at the time. It MUST show the PO cancellation stamp. That is what proves you have mailed it as far as they are concerned.

The CSR said the other thing you can do is to fill out a lodgement form at home (you can download & print them) showing the buyers name/address details and get that officailly stamped at the PO. Again this means you have to lodge over the counter and as the PO staff sight each address on the envelope they will stamp your related receipt. This is acceptable proof of postage also.

It's all a bit of a rigmarole I know, but these are about the only ways to get seller protection if you use regular untracked mail. But if you don't mail out too many each day then not too bad I guess. If you are putting out 25 envelopes a day then it will be a bit burdensome.

This all came fom the mouth of a PayPal CS Rep, it's not of my making.