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@andrew0123 wrote:

What are self-lodgement terminals? What is proof of post? What can Aus. post give you to prove post (is a receipt enough)?

 

Also, what success have you had using this method when faced with cases? 

 

What percnt of your of your letters are being delivered since covid-19? 

 

Thanks in advance for your response. 

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I switched from Aus Post to DHL when sending internationally, so some of my answers may no longer apply. 

Proof of post just establishes that you sent something to a buyer, so you need evidence that a package was sent, and what address it was sent to. eBay currently want more than that with their policies, though (they require proof of delivery usually, which you can't get with untracked packages, and their current policies require online tracking scans - at least one that shows lodgement). 

My post office has self-service terminals, like they might have at a local supermarket, where you scan everything yourself, and for a while the lodgment receipts printed through those for international (untracked) letters would print out the customs number of the declaration. I always used the green CN22 forms because they're smaller (and lighter), rather than the bigger CN23 forms (the ones that are A5 size and are done in triplicate). I don't know if you can still use the green ones, there was talk years ago of having them phased out but I was able to use them long after those whispers started. CN22 all started with UC when I used them. 

Anyway, all the self-service terminals are closed at my PO, since covid, but they print the custom number on lodgements receipts if it's done at the counter now too (or they will, when letters with merchandise are allowed to be sent again - officially they are currently not allowed, only parcels. It should work with untracked parcels as well, once that is available again). 

This can help establish proof of post, in conjunction with evidence that a unique customs number belongs to a specific package anyway, but it wouldn't be any good for eBay, even with their current policies, because there won't be a tracking scan. It may help in a PayPal case, but I couldn't guarantee it and never had to test my theory. 

Australia Post now allow you to create customs declarations / shipping labels online (CN23 version), for any type of article I believe (even letters) and this would be a better way to do it if the letter can accomodate an A5 size label and don't mind the paper / printing cost, because then you can download a copy of the label, which should contain both the shipping address and the customs number so you'd have a single document that the unique customs number was assigned to a specific address, and then would have a lodgement receipt when done over the counter, so even with no tracking, it should suffice for PayPal (for as long as that remains relevent to eBay sellers), but still wouldn't for eBay.

https://auspost.com.au/prepare-customs-declaration