How does a seller get compensation for item lost in the post - Simple delivery

[abtrade09]

Sent an item with Royal Mail.

Buyer raised a 'not received claim' and eBay said I need to refund them within 3 days which I have now done.

So how do I claim for the lost item and postage cost?

Before simple delivery, I would claim from Paclink but now I am not sure how it is supposed to work. Can anyone enlighten me?

[**peaseblossom**]

With SD ebay should have issued the refund themselves and you keep the payment.    That's assuming item was sent to the correct address, etc..   Get onto ebay and ask them about it.   You can request a callback on here:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid

Or join the Q&A session on at the moment and ask there:

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Chat-with-the-eBay-Community/Weekly-Chat-with-the-eBay-Community-Tea...

[abtrade09]

Well that's confusing because eBay said I had to refund the buyer within 3 days otherwise they would issue the refund anyway but it would count negatively against me. AI says I should claim off Royal Mail. Maybe I'll have to ask for a call back then.

[abtrade09]

So I just spoke with eBay and they said I have to claim from the courier used i.e. Royal Mail in my case. If eBay had issued the refund, then I would have got a 'strike' on my account so your advice with SD is incorrect according to the person I spoke to.

[jckl1957]

Which item was it?

I have looked at your current listings and recent sales and you don't seem to be using Simple Delivery.

[papso22]

And it says this on the recent sales:

Buy any number and pay £3 shipping.

Shipping only gets charged on the first item, any more you add on the same order are free shipping.

I will combine shipping if you want other CDs listed by me. Either add to basket and request invoice (if using browser) OR pay for all items as one order and I will refund excess postage (if using eBay app).

Doesn't look like SD at all.

[papso22]

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@abtrade09 wrote:

So I just spoke with eBay and they said I have to claim from the courier used i.e. Royal Mail in my case. If eBay had issued the refund, then I would have got a 'strike' on my account so your advice with SD is incorrect according to the person I spoke to.

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That would only be correct for non SD sales.

[abtrade09]

I asked the eBay rep. specifically about Simple Delivery and he said exactly what I reiterated above. 

The label was purchased through eBay but tbh I don't know if it is simple delivery or not (the screens have certainly changed) but the eBay rep said that since eBay dropped Paclink, you have to claim directly from the courier; so either way (SD or not) the answer was the same.

[papso22]

The answer can never be the same for SD and none SD sales due to the seller protection  inherent in using SD.

The advice from the rep was wrong for a sale using SD, as seems quite common at the moment.

RM were never part of Packlink so you do need to claim direct with them (RM).

[john1297576]

There does seem a lack of correct information. Why does ebay charge buyers a fee (insurance) if they do not pay the compensation?

When you pay an insurance premium, you do not expect the Insurance Company to tell you to get lost if you put in a claim. It does seem to me that the whole scheme is open to abuse, by buyers, sellers and ebay itself.

[abtrade09]

I could see nowhere to claim compensation through eBay. I did purchase the label through eBay using the exact same screens as a very recent advert and sale so I presume it was 'Simple Delivery' but not clear to me whether it was or wasn't. Chap from eBay call back was quite adamant that all seller compensation for loss had to be taken up with the delivery service used and said it had been that way since Paclink was off the scene.

So I had to refund the seller but I can't claim from Royal Mail yet because not enough days (10 days) have elapsed since the expected delivery date. Yet trigger happy buyers can claim for non-delivery before the courier service agrees that it has not been delivered.

I think the buyer protection fee only covers the buyer and eBay in the case of a dodgy seller; don't think it covers the seller at all.

[abtrade09]

Update: I put a claim in to Royal Mail using their website. They have accepted the claim but say the most they can pay for my class of postage is a book of stamps?? When I bought the label through eBay, it said compensation up to £20. However in this case the item was low value so probably a book of stamps exceeds the value however I don't really want a book of stamps as I use online postage!

Here is the relevant part of the reply:

"Having reviewed the evidence submitted, I can see we’ve let you down on this occasion and I apologise for that. I will shortly be sending you a Stamps 1st x 8 as payment for this service failure. If you requested a higher amount, I’m sorry, this is the maximum I can offer in line with the conditions of the product used. Please visit our website at royalmail.com for more information. "

So why do eBay say that I am covered up to £20 when using second class postage?