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@the_billycan wrote:

I'm with you. It is a fact of life that buyers simply will not pay what it costs to ensure delivery for cheap items. No buyer is going to pay an additional $7.00 or more for a $5.00 item and if you include that cost in the original price, it only increases eBay's profits always assuming that a buyer thinks that the $5.00 item is worth $12.00 and you can sell it at all. The best you can do is make the SOD/registraltion option available but put a GREAT BIG disclaimer that you will not be held liable once the item is posted.

 

On the issue of photographing your envelope with the address AND the posting label that would seem like adequate proof of posting to me. Can you other people please explain to me why anyone would pay the postage for an article and then not send it, risking their reputation and all for a $5.00 item. That would be crazy!!! I don't know what you people sell but let me tell you it does not pay to inflate the cost of cheap items with fancy posting options because they won't be taken up or the item WILL NOT SELL. 

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the disclaimer will be ineffective - your disclaimer cannot trump the law.

so either evaluate whether to take the risk, pay the tracking or find something else to sell as it may not be a feasible item for online trading. Kinda like setting up a posh restaurant in Queens - if the custoers don't wanna pay, you go somewhere where they will or supply them with what they are prepared to pay for.

para 2 - hmmmm perhaps there was nothing in the envelope when they paid, perhaps the contents weren't as decribed so the seller didn't want to risk a neg or a chargebackand decided to blame aus post instead, or maybe, they just forgot to post it after paying, we often hear of people walking out of supermarkets with something tucked under their arm even though they went through checkout and paid for other stuff. Maybe they got distracted, or had a heart attack between payment and putting it in the letter box. dunno, but there are a few possibilities.

Rules are one size fits all, they are not made to discriminate between a $5 purchase or a $1000 one.

risking reputations? PayPal doesn't know if you are a scammer doing this a million times or a genuine person. i think the multi coloured rose seeds are about $3 a packet, and there are near on 200 listings for these on eBay atm with the scam netting the seller about $15,000 a month (might have been a week, can't remember) - he really isn't concerned about HIS reputation.

and if an item doesn't sell, regardless of it's cost, then if you want to stay in business, you find another product.

there are ways to protect yourself as a seller, and like most protection, this costs money. If you don't want the protection - don't pay but reconcile yourself with any possible consequences