HELP!!!!!!!!! Buyer didn't receive item

[peacockvintagepens]

Buyer did not receive item. Claim was filed with Canada Post. Canada Post says that due to no tracking or insurance they will not refund. Item sent to Australia. What happens now?

[rose-dee]

How long ago did you ship, and by what service (lettermail, Small/Light Packet, Expedited, etc.) and did you send it ground or air?  I've had items take 3 weeks to get to an Australian recipient, which of course probably included Customs time.  Have you double-checked with the buyer that his/her address was correct and complete as used by you on the parcel?  Sometimes a small detail can make a big difference. 

Depending on the value of the item and how the buyer paid, he/she may have Paypal coverage.  If so, the buyer should be able to make a claim through eBay.  However if it's less than 1 month, the parcel may still show up. 

For the time being, the smartest thing to do is keep in touch with the buyer, be very sympathetic, and communicate only through eBay so there is a record on the site of your attempts to resolve the issue.   At worst, in order to avoid negative FB you will have to refund, and if the parcel is undeliverable for any reason it may eventually find its way back to you.  If you refund the buyer, you can ask them to return the parcel to you if it does show up at some point (assuming the buyer is an honest person). 

Unfortunately rising postal costs has made this a dilemma for a lot of sellers.  We're afraid that showing the cost of an insured and/or trackable shipping service will turn buyers off.  My rule has become: if I don't think I could absorb giving a refund, I won't send it uninsured. 

I'm hoping the new "Tracked Package" may relieve some of this problem, but of course you always have to try to tailor the shipping cost to the value of the item you're selling. 

Hope this will be of some help!

Cheers!

[peacockvintagepens]

The listing clearly stated that the seller could not accept responsibility for lost or stolen items if the buyer chose a shipping method without insurance or tracking.

[ggsale27]

It does not matter what you put in your listing, you will lose any INR case filed against you with eBay or PayPal. The rules clearly state that the seller IS responsible for making sure an item is delivered. You're best bet in this case is to ask the buyer to wait at least thirty days to see if the item shows up or not. Then you should give a refund, and ask the buyer to either repay you for it if it shows up , or return it to you.

[rose-dee]

It does not matter what you put in your listing, you will lose any INR case filed against you with eBay or PayPal. The rules clearly state that the seller IS responsible for making sure an item is delivered. You're best bet in this case is to ask the buyer to wait at least thirty days to see if the item shows up or not. Then you should give a refund, and ask the buyer to either repay you for it if it shows up , or return it to you.

I agree completely.  For my listings that show uninsured shipping options, I do point out that there is no insurance, hoping buyers will choose the higher service(s), but I don't state that loss or non-receipt is not my responsibility if they choose uninsured shipping - that is not only inaccurate and against eBay policies, but I think such a statement can be seen by buyers as agressive and off-putting.

This is the Catch-22 sellers all face: we'd love to give buyers the lowest shipping costs, but we bear ultimate responsibility for ensuring their items get to them.  Some sellers may prefer to accept the occasional bad experience/negative FB rather than charging higher shipping.  It's an individual business decision.

As I said, I resolve it by deciding which items I'd be prepared to refund, and I send those by lower-priced uninsured.  For all others, I ship insured. 

There isn't much you can do with this particular situation now except ask the buyer to wait until 30 days are up before filing his INR case, and hope the item shows up by then.

Your main goal at this point should be to fend off negative FB by keeping in touch with the buyer and being sympathetic, apologetic and courteous in your emails to him/her, assuring the buyer you will be happy to refund after the 30 days.

[femmefan1946]

For my listings that show uninsured shipping options, I do point out that there is no insurance, hoping buyers will choose the higher service(s),

I don’t think this is useful While most people are honest, the ones most likely to choose the uninsured (as opposed to the cheapest) option is the guy who is most likely to make the phoney claim.

Just giving options is fine. Most people will choose the cheaper, but the possibility of fraud is lower.

Some sellers may prefer to accept the occasional bad experience/negative FB rather than charging higher shipping. 

There is a third alternative. Self-Insurance. By adding a small amount, based on your experience of claims and losses, to every S&H fee, you can cover the cost of the occasional loss, whether it is a real loss or a phoney claim. Self-insurance is much cheaper than third party insurance, since you only need to cover the cost of the loss, not the overhead and profit of the third party insurer.

By a small amount, I am thinking a dime or at most a quarter. If you have more lossses than that, you really need to rethink your product line.