eBay etiquette

Hi guys and gals

I’ve been buying a few bits and bobs recently but I’ve just had my first ever item fail to show up in the post.

It was a second hand Hope seat quick release so not a high value item.

But now I’m not sure what to do as this hasn’t happened to me before.

Both the seller and myself have 100% positive ratings. I paid by PayPal(not gift!) straight away and it was marked as dispatched within a day or so. I contacted the seller a week or so after the dispatched notice to warn her that things did not look good. We agreed to give it a bit longer but 15 days after didpatch its still a no show.

Given the above my assumption is that she did post it but that it’s been lost in the post or pinched by someone in the Royal Mail. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

I’ve contacted her again and got a swift but slightly huffy reply and an offer of a 50% refund.

I was minded to say yes but then have started to reconsider. Isnt it my job to deliver the money to her (done) and her job to not merely post but to deliver the item to me?

On a scale of 0-10 how unreasonable is my thinking?

You are due a 100% refund.

Their job to get it to you. No question. Only they can claim from the delivery service for compensation. Open an eBay dispute. They will refund. Simple.

Yeah that’s what I was starting to think.

I just don’t want to lose my 100% rating and also don’t want to look like a t*** about £12.

If she’d been bit more chilled in her reply I’d have said “fair enough” to the offer.

I just don’t want to lose my 100% rating

not possible. Seller can only leave positive (or nothing)

Have you checked with your local sorting and office?

No not yet. Would that help?

Sorry to seem naive.

I send everything recorded delivery now,iff they don’t like it they don’t buy simple as that,weens out the scammers,I have had a few things I’ve sent got lost or “not arrived” and I’ve just refunded straight away,she’d hasn’t learnt this lesson yet but soon will.
Like ^ they said you WILL be refunded one way or another but she is being unreasonable but I would be gutted if RM lost my gear.

Would you take a 50% refund if a shop hadn’t sent you what you’d bought?

If it didn’t fit through your letter box and the missed delivery card was missed or accidentally recycled then it will be at your local sorting office

It’s her problem- but as long as she has the postal receipt, she’ll also get her money back. You’d have to be daft to settle for less than a full refund.

Ok guys thanks for setting me straight.

I’m *occassionally* unreasonable so have learnt to check first just in case.

Cloud nine the item is tiny and was being delivered to a work address so that issue won’t have arisen. But fair play I missed that bit out of the story.

Ok I will email her and ask her to refund then it’s eBay dispute if she won’t.

Cheers guys.

Don’t hang on too long as there is a time limit for disputes. Also how good is your work post? Could it be say somewhere?

1. As stated above she can’t leave negative feedback now due to an ebay policy change a few years ago.

2. Double-check at work that it isn’t lying around somewhere.

3. Check with your local sorting office to make sure that it isn’t there.

4. If no joy in locating then open a case on ebay asap – item not received (I think there is a 3 week time limit, not 100% sure but it might be a little longer).

5. Ebay will contact the seller automatically who then has to a. agree to refund, b. upload tracking information for the package to show it was delivered. If no response after 7 days then it automatically gets refunded anyway.

Be civil but firm with the seller. If she has good feedback then it obviously isn’t a scam. If you get any flack off her then politely inform her that it’s her job to contact Royal Mail to make a claim.

Raise a case for a refund but DO ensure you SPEAK to ebay. I had something similar just a month ago on an item at nearly £200. it had been sent RMSD so was insured. they makred it agaisnt the tracking number as delivered but it wasn’t. investigations showed they had no proof of delivery. I raised a case to ensure the seller was motivated to pursue RM but didn’t push it and kept talking to the seller. The seller rang ebay and somehow they decided he had done everyhing and close the case!
I appealed, stating there was no proof of dleivery. appeal rejected. At this point I’d written off the cash but called ebay and politely asked for an explanation, pointing out that RM admitted they had no proof of delivery and admitted the seller had raised a compensatin claim. Talking to them must have worked, they refunded me in ful yesterday.

So my advice, TALK to ebay.

Yeah agree with the above – you are absolutely owed a full refund. No doubt the seller would appreciate it if you checked with your local sorting office (get the ‘phone number on the Royal Mail website) and made sure it wasn’t lying around somewhere at work (if that’s where you got it sent).

If the seller is not a business, and has proof of posting (not delivery), they can claim their costs back from RM. If sent via a business account then they can only claim for loss if sent using a tracked method – but that’s not your problem. Business sellers have to choose between sending untracked (cheaper but you have to self-insure for lost items) or sending tracked (more expensive, but expect fewer losses and can claim when something does go astray).

Either way, it’s not your problem that it got lost. Ask the seller to refund in full once you’ve checked with Royal Mail, and if they won’t, go to eBay claims process. You’ll get a full refund including P&P costs (if any).

Been checking with the post boys at work every day for the last week so pretty confident it’s not there. I’ll check with the sorting office tomorrow then ask the seller to refund. If not then its raise a case time I guess.

Don’t raise a case… YET. That really screws things up for sellers.

Send her a polite but firm email explaining that she’s taking the p*ss. Tell her you expect a full refund within 48 hours (she may be away in the north!!) or you will open a case, which damages her standing with ebay.

How she’s got 100% if this is how she deals with missing items, god only knows. Perhaps that was her way of testing if you’re genuine, or one of these “It hasn’t arrived and it’s also the wrong size/colour” buyers.

Raise the dispute tonight. You may already be too late. Explain to the seller why you have opened the case. They should understand. If not…

You get get 30 days to open a case “buyers will have 30 days after actual (or latest estimated) delivery date to file a case — the same as with the current PayPal dispute resolution system.”

going to your local RM PDO is good. if it was sent tracked then RM will tell you where it went, if not just go to your normal one and ask. I did that, I found out it got there, went out with a driver that didn’t cover my address…then it all went hazy. I have to wander if a postie near me now boasts a nice wrist watch 🙄
anyway, the info and effort was appreciated by the seller and may have helped ebay to finally find in my favour.

Interested in this as a seller I’ve currently got a buyer who has told me something hasn’t been delivered. I’ve asked him to give it a few more days BUT also note that I can’t claim from Royal Mail until 15 working days AFTER the expected delivery days so that’s 18 working days in total. Fortunately it was sent signed for but only a £10 item ! I posted another item at the same time and of course that’s been delivered so I figure this item is ‘lost’.

The so called tracking just advises the date & PO it was posted from.

It looks like I will have to issue a refund and then wait another 2 weeks or so before I can claim off RM and have you seen the online form / hoops you have to jump through. Probably why the seller in the OP’s case is stalling !!

What happens if the lost item suddenly gets delivered in the mean time ????

you hope for an honest buyer that tells you and pays you again.

going to your local RM PDO is good. if it was sent tracked then RM will tell you where it went,

Only Special Delivery, all Recorded does it’s gets a signature at the end. In fact isn’t it now called ‘signed for’.

She needs to be refunding you in full though, as folk have said.

To be fair it has made me rethink my approach to selling stuff on eBay. With the odd exception I sell small value items. I suspect that’s true of most people. And I’ve always just popped them in second class to keep the buyers costs down. Not sure ill be doing that anymore, as has already been suggested.

Don’t raise a case… YET. That really screws things up for sellers.

This. I sold off loads of little things recently when I moved shop – mostly little things that just went in a Jiffy bag by first class post. A couple of things didn’t turn up. Buyers contacted me, I said “no problem, if it doesn’t turn up by the end of the week let me know, and I’ll send you a full refund.” Buyers then later opened a dispute, I refunded in full, but eBay complain that because I’ve had disputes I can’t have top eBay seller status or something.

So disputes are for when you have a dispute you can’t resolve amicably – not for when you just want to ask for a refund.

Ebay seems to automatically open a dispute when you select the contact seller option.

bencooper is spot on….top advice

no it does not Nickjb 😯

njee20 going to your local RM PDO is good. if it was sent tracked then RM will tell you where it went,

Only Special Delivery, all Recorded does it’s gets a signature at the end. In fact isn’t it now called ‘signed for’.

Yes, which means exactly the same thing, Signed For on delivery, as opposed to a Record being made of the date and time of Delivery and the person that it was delivered to.

Actually contacting the local RM PDO helps a lot even with Recorded as quite often Postman Plod, cannot be bothered to leave a card telling you that you have an item awaiting collection, if the item isn’t “Signed For”, it just sits there gathering dust. If the item is “signed for”, if he has done 50% of his job, it will be updated on the RM system as awaiting collection, but you’ll only find this out if you check the tracking number.

I sold a lot on ebay in the past before downsizing and had no end of frustration at lazy posties.

drinkmoreport, it doesn’t do it automatically, but unless you are a seasoned ebayer, it definitely guides you down a route that makes you much more likely to open a case rather than simply communicating.

no it does not

it does for me. Just done it this morning.

Find item in purchase history and click on contact seller
Choose topic from list e.g. not arrived
Click on contact seller
Write message, send, case automatically opened

Nickjb, There are other ways, but you have to look at your responses to ebays “leading” questions. Don’t choose the “item” from their list, unless you have a genuine grievance.

They are now using every “case” to beat up sellers. ebay seem to be on a mission to self-destruct, by driving their smaller retailers away.

There are no leading questions. Just the option to select a topic and the option to contact the seller.

Edit. You have to select a topic or you can’t proceed but it looks like selecting ‘none’ might allow you to message without it automatically opening a case

It used to be that raising a dispute was the last resort but that’s less the case these days, Ebay definitely do channel you towards it. I still find it kind of rude but I think that’s just me being oldfashioned.- opening a dispute isn’t prejudicial, nobody gets penalised for having a dispute raised against them.

nobody gets penalised for having a dispute raised against them.

Yes they do – I was penalised for having disputes opened against me, even though they were settled quickly and amicably.

Well all’s well that ends well.

I emailed the seller asking for a refund. She declined and offered a 50% refund because she couldn’t be sure I wasn’t lying.

I emailed her a copy of the eBay Rules of Engagement and said that I would rather not open a dispute if at all possible.

She refunded me quickly but with poor grace.

I posted a positive but suitably vague feedback.

It’ll be interesting to see what feedback I get from her!

Thanks chaps.

bencooper – Member

Yes they do – I was penalised for having disputes opened against me, even though they were settled quickly and amicably.

Really? I stand corrected, I’ve had a bunch (due to dickhead buyers) and it’s never been a problem. How does it happen?

I got an email:

—————————————————————–
Your seller status is no longer eBay Top-rated
—————————————————————–

Dear Ben,

Unfortunately, your account no longer meets the eBay Top-rated seller
requirements under the UK seller performance standards programme:
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/seller-non-performance.html. To learn
more, go to your Seller Dashboard:
http://cgi6.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SDPerformance&tabValue=lastEval&spsProgram=UK.

Visit your Seller Dashboard and review the eBay Top-rated seller and
PowerSeller requirements and see how your eBay business measures up.

Thank you again for selling on eBay. We hope to welcome you back to eBay
Top-rated seller status soon.

Follow the links, and the only marks against me are the two little orders that went missing in the post – both raised disputes, I refunded immediately.

Interesting that their link basically says you should be fine, too. Good old ebay.