Whose responsibility are items lost in post - buyer or seller?

[yo2yo2]

I noticed this disclaimer in the description of an item I am interested in:

Unless requesting signed for or registered post we cannot be held responsible for any items non delivered/lost during delivery

If an item is not delivered is it the responsibility of the seller to replace/refund and take it up with the courier they used?

[1956glyn]

Hi

That disclaimer means nothing.   IF the item is covered under Ebays Money Backl Guarantee then its the sellers responsibility if an item gets lost or damaged in transit.    The seller should refund the buyer and then try and make a claim for compensation from the carrier.   Do not go for a replacement go for a refund.

Ebays Money Back Guarantee over rides any disclaimer like that a seller may put on a listing.

Personally.....i would look elsewhere as i would not deal with anyone that tries to put that kind of disclaimer on a listing.     Sending an item by the correct method is for the sellers benefit in case there is a lost/damaged problem  and not the buyers.     

[tommystrezures]

Always the sellers responsibility, regardless of service used. In effect the "contract" is between them and the carrier selected. No carrier will talk to a buyer if an item is lost. Its the sellers responsibility to claim as they would have also all the paperwork - eg receipts for service selected etc.

as a service registered post is actually called Special Delivery, and has been for years.....

[pillarboxred]

EBay sellers have to deal with lost items and compensate eBay buyers BUT ONLY IF  the buyer has instigated a claim using eBay's Item Not Received form and eBay has determined using Tracking information that the item indeed has not been delivered. This is why it is so important to always use a tracked service. 

[easyreset]

Unfortunately, it is seller's responsibility. Also most of the cases, only senders can claim against courier/royal mail not the receiver. So, again, it is seller's responsibility unless the pickup/delivery was arranged by the buyer.

According to the UK gov's Online and distance selling regulations, seller is responsible for the delivery. To be exact, this applies to who arranges the delivery. If the selling condition was you send the goods to the customer, it is your responsibility. If the selling condition was pickup only and the customer arranged its own courier, then, as soon as it is picked up by the courier arranged  by the buyer, your part is done.

Most of the cases, sellers are providing the postage on almost all ebay sales. In this case, if anything happens after the delivery, it may be arguable, but the customers are still protected with very strong 30days return window of "customer can return - nomatterwhathappenswhatreasons". Sellers are always lose unfortunately. This is a cheat key to the online customers.

So, I also gave up arguing with bad ebayers.

I started doing below.

1. I either send it by trackable service (which narrows my profit though). For items over 30 GBP.

2. For items valued below 30GBP, I send it by normal post and if customer claims, just resend it if that seems genuine and the customer has accummulated ebay feedbacks. In this case, I spend more time on the packing of the replacement item because if the products arrive with bad condition, negative feedback is guaranteed. Not trackable service could save around 2 GBP each shipping. So, sending additional when the problem happens was not that bad. The issue does not happen 10-20 times a day. eBay sellers are very careful when they leave feedback as they also understand other seller's difficulties. But people with nothing to lose on eBay would leave negative feedbacks easily.

3. I send refund, if the customer says that the item did not arrive and the ebayers are kind of new ebayers.

Even if you re-send the item, they may leave negative feedback. Claim agains Royal Mail for lost post. But you will have to go through so painful process to prove how much you bought it for and where and when and sold how where to whom... blablabla driving you xxxxy. For smaller ones, I simply chose not to claim for my mental health.