Order lost in the post

[sadsack80]

Hi

A buyer has just contacted me to ask when an item I sold to them was dispatched.  This was sent by Royal Mail first class (sadly not tracked) on 19 September, and has not arrived. 

I've messaged the buyer to confirm when sent, and have sent them photos of the proof of postage. 

Buyer has said that they will leave it a week to give it a little more time to arrive, then contact Royal Mail. 

I've asked them to let me know either way. 

Sellers- is it the buyer's responsibility to contact Royal Mail re this?  I would have thought that this was something I needed to do as the seller/sender of the item?  I assume Royal Mail has a lost parcel procedure that one of us would need to go through.  Rightly or wrongly I had assumed that I would need to refund the buyer first, and then claim back the amount lost (item plus postage) through Royal Mail- is this correct?

Any help would be much appreciated, and I will then advise the buyer. 

[four_mid_able]

In this situation it is the sellers responsibility to refund the buyer in full and claim from RM.

BUT ,are you sure you don't have a 16 digit code on the proof of posting ?.

If you do you may be able to see it's status via RM's Track and Trace site

https://www.royalmail.com/track-your-item  (site currently not working as i write).

[1956glyn]

Hi

Firstly check your postal receipt to see if there is a 16 digit number under the bar code.   If there is put it into Royal Mails Track and Trace online site and see if the items been delivered.   If it has then add it to your sold listing.

IF you cannot prove delivery by a tracked means then yes you will have to refund the buyer and then try and make a claim for compensation from the carrier.

[**peaseblossom**]

You are correct.   Seller refunds buyer and claims from RM for themselves.   All standard RM postage now has deivery confirmation ref number on the receipt which ebay accept as tracking.    You could check that to see if it shows delivery.   If it does buyer will not win a "not received" case and should ask their neighbours in case someone has taken it in.    You should enter the tracking number into ebay when you mark as dispatched (if you don't use ebay generated labels).

[sadsack80]

Ooh thank you, I'll have a look.  It was sent first class large letter.  I don't have it with me at the moment, but will check when I do. 

[beechvale76_5]

The thing with large letters is the postie doesn't always scan it to say it has been delivered whereas a small parcel is nearly always scanned. 

[station13thirteen]

Good luck trying to get any refund from Royal Mail.

As a business we have given up trying to claim for lost items.  Royal Mail make it very difficult to claim any kind of refund or compensation and it's simply not worth the time and stress for us.  The one thing RM always ask for is proof of the cost of the item posted in the form of a receipt. This is simply not always possible, and in our case often impossible, to provide.

Making a claim takes for ever, and you are never kept updated.  The only time we ever got any kind of refund for a lost item,  a letter eventually turned up out of the blue from Royal Mail with a book of first class stamps in it. How nice! As a business, we can't even use these stamps as we require an online bought label so we have a record of the item and postage. Absolutely shocking, and a total bloody disgrace on RM's part!

Saying this, claiming from any courier is a nightmare, they all try to shirk their responsibility because the last thing any of these couriers want to do is pay out on any claim, even though they just have one job, and we trusted them to do it.   There is no pride anymore, and they just don't want to take any responsibility.

[vinylscot]

I have claimed from RM about a dozen times over the past couple of years, and only had to put up a fight in one instance,  where one item was sent "signed for", and one was not, both going to the same address. RM's own website showed it had been delivered about 400 yards away from the correct address. Eventually, I got my refund.

Any other time, I have received a cheque in the post (in business name, as I have a business account). In the week before Christmas, I received a cheque within 36 hours of submitting my claim online. I have never been asked to prove what the missing item actually cost me; they seem to be able to proceed with the ebay listing details.

[station13thirteen]

Hi.

Maybe having the business account with them is the key then - we don't. Odd that you've never been asked for proof of cost, this is always our big stumbling point, and linking to the ebay sold item only does so much. I think we may have to look into the account option as it appears they take more responsibilty.  Thanks. 

[station13thirteen]

Wow, there's an awful lot going on in RM's business booklet, 40 pages and RM certainly don't make it easy to work out their business accounts. Looks like quite a few options and various  abbreviations without full explanations... and in many cases the business account postage cost is inexplicably MORE expensive than a personal account or Post Office postage... quite bizarre!  

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2023-10/business-price-guide-october-2023-v1.pdf

[vinylscot]

Just investigate "Click and Drop" and link it  to your eBay account. It's quite simple, and I don't think there's much point in going much further if you're a smallish business.

I print my labels at home, hand my parcels to the person in the post office, and am given a proof of posting. I also save on each parcel (currently 50p - £3.69 for a small parcel under 2kg, instead of £4.19). I think there are also more options available, which can also prove cheaper.

[station13thirteen]

We do use 'Click & Drop' and indeed print our own labels but via Royal Mail's 'Click & Drop' website rather than via eBay. We prefer to have some things independent from eBay. Like you, we then drop at the PO and get our POP.

I assume the example you give above is for 24hr tracked, because 48hr tracked 'Click & Drop' small parcel under 2kg with Post Office drop off price included is only £3.45.  We tend tou use the 48hr tracked as standard, with the option of 24hr tracked at an additional postage cost.

I assume that 50p saving is across the board and not just for 24hr tracked?

Regards, Stephen

[busybee9610]

Royal Mail Codes

I stumbled across link. I am not a business, just someone who occasionally has to use the post office.

In reference to the 40 page booklet, you mentioned there are codes contained within it, this link, yet again, a 40 page booklet has an explanation of those codes.

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2023-03/royal-mail-account-barcode-unsorted-user...

The codes  are also contained within this link, which has hyperlinks at the bottom and there is perhaps, some useful information within the videos on this site.

https://www.royalmail.com/business/barcodesavings

Royal Mail Size Guide

Some time ago, for a couple of pounds, I purchased a “Royal Mail size guide”, from Ebay. I found it useful to work out which envelope size to use, when it was to contain several family greeting cards, going to the South of Ireland. I reuse Amazon’s cardboard envelopes and have on occasion cut them down, to fall in line with Royal Mail’s sizing and costs. I also wanted to work out if it would be cheaper to send in 2 packages or cheaper in one.

Brexit – Sending things to the South of Ireland.

I have experiences a lot of problems since Brexit, sending items to the South of  Ireland. So, much so, that I do not want to continue sending things. On one occasion the recipient was charge almost £5 import fees. This was on a package containing birthday cards for the family. There should be no cost as it is akin to sending a letter and not an item that should reflect a charge.  On another occasion it took almost 4 weeks for a birthday card to arrive.

I addressed this with the postmaster and he refunded me the amount. I offered him the paperwork for the amount, asking if he could recoup the money and he said, “No”.  He then, as a last thought, asked if he could copy the paperwork as he wanted to share it with other postmasters.

The postmaster says, they have had a very large drop in items being sent since Brexit, for a number of reasons and experiences, similar to mine.

As a side mention:-

Royal Mail has been fined £5.6m for failing to meet its first and second class delivery targets in what the regulator has called a "wake-up call" for the postal service.

Under Ofcom's rules, Royal Mail has to deliver 93% of first class mail within one working day and 98.5% of second class mail within three working days.

But in 2022-23, only 73.7% of first class mail was delivered on time and 90.7% of second class mail was on time.

Royal Mail is obliged to publish its delivery performance every year, and this is scrutinised by the regulator.

[lasto_6888]

Hi there so what you are basically saying for the part where they ask for proof of purchase what do i put yes or no because for yes they ask for proof of purchase which is hard for me to find and there's the option of no

[tedbun369]

What if Royal Mail doesn't cover the full value?

In the past I have offered buyers an option of cheap/slow postage (eg. Tracked 48) or speedy (Special Delivery). If they buy something for £250 and choose to save a few quid on the postage option, am I then stuffed because Tracked 48 will pay only up to £150? Or is it the buyer's problem because they chose to take the risk, when they could have paid a bit extra for the SD and had cover up to £750?

[4_bathrooms]

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@tedbun369 wrote:

In the past I have offered buyers an option of cheap/slow postage (eg. Tracked 48) or speedy (Special Delivery). If they buy something for £250 and choose to save a few quid on the postage option, am I then stuffed because Tracked 48 will pay only up to £150? Or is it the buyer's problem because they chose to take the risk, when they could have paid a bit extra for the SD and had cover up to £750?

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As far as eBay is concerned buyers don't choose to take the risk; sellers do. If a buyer doesn't receive their item they are all but guaranteed a full refund and the seller is left to claim from the carrier they employed. The buyer is only responsible if they arranged their own carrier; this means the buyer booked and paid for the carriage outside of eBay; i.e. they didn't just choose an option offered by the seller.

[tedbun369]

That's useful, thanks. I need to be more careful when selling things as an auction if they sell for more than £150!