How do you prove you have shipped an item without a tracking number?

[lifeisnbd]

Any kind of receipts or pictures?

[reallynicestamps]

Wrong question.

The proof of DELIVERY has to be "electronically visible" to Paypal (or eBay) if there is a Dispute.

If you cannot show Delivery (shipping doesn't count) then you will lose the Dispute and PP will refund your customer and come after you for the money. EBay will also note the forced refund on your selling record (not publicly visible) and you may lose visibility in Search, have restrictions on the value, type and number of listings you can make, and even lose fee discounts if you are a TRS.

For these reasons, it is best to refund promptly before a Dispute is filed, and go to Canada Post with an insurance claim. Most of Canada Post's services have an automatic insurance coverage of up to $100 against loss or damage in shipping. Not all require that the loss be proven. *

Neither you nor your customer need proof of shipping. This is a purely emotional question.

If the service you choose is printable through PP it is worth doing so. First because of the fee discounts of 5% to 25% on the services.

Second, because a PP label is numbered. Give your nervous customer that number. No, it isn't "proof" of anything, but it is reassuring that the seller paid for shipping... and it is unlikely that he would then not ship. Right?

So.

Print your label through PP. Give the number to your customer immediately along with the date of shipping. I put this in feedback.

If you are using Letter Post shipping, you won't be able to print a label through PP. On the other hand, LP is cheap(ish), fast (usually travelling Air Mail) and very reliable. You will need to self-insure, which just means that you add a tiny amount (a dime or less) to each shipment's Handling Charge. If you get a claim of non-delivery, you refund from those self-insurance charges.

If your loss rate is one in 100 , and the average value of parcels sent is $10, then you would be refunding $10 from $1000 collected. And at a dime each, you would have collected $10 in self-insurance premiums. A wash, right?

In reality, the postal services are very reliable, and your loss rate will be much much lower than that. (Which is how insurance companies make money, of course.)

*This will change this month. There are threads about changes to the Small Packet service. Read them.