No protection against loss after using "Simple Delivery"

[lordkristoff13]

Early last month I sold a book on Ebay, it was through the Global shipping program going to Germany. I used the Simple Delivery label that was provided and dropped it off at the post office. It was scanned into the network but then went missing. Ebay's terms clearly state

• You'll be protected if the item is lost or damaged from the point the item is scanned into the carrier's delivery network and until it's marked as delivered

The buyer opened a claim, we went through the process and ebay refunded them.

I then appealed stating that I used Simple delivery, so Ebay should take responsibility for the refund. It was rejected (the email was in German and from Ebay.de). I then got in contact through chat, who could only put me in touch with relevant team who weren't online. I get a pretty much identical email back again in German, telling me they'd thoroughly investigated and had declined my appeal and not to appeal again.

It seems there's something a miss with Simple delivery and Global shipping. Any idea where I go from here?

In case there are any mods out there who can look into this for me, the case ID is 5366478454.

And by the way, I've only been a business seller a couple of weeks, this item was sent when the account was a personal one and was definitely using Simple delivery.

[john1297576]

Your mistake was getting involved with ebay Germany, they no doubt have never heard of Simple Delivery and the loss would relate to delivery to GSP, not German buyer, so need to deal with Ebay UK.

[red_magpie]

ebay refunded them.

I didn't think that simple delivery could be used for overseas deliveries. Are you sure you don't mean eBay's global shipping programme?

If correctly used, in either case eBay itself should meet the cost of refunding lost items.

Whichever it was, are you sure that eBay has actually charged this to your account?

I think you can disregard any statements made by ebay.de.  

[lordkristoff13]

Hi, thanks for the reply, yes the refund has come from my account. Simple delivery was used for the shipping to the ebay fulfillment centre.

[lordkristoff13]

Yes I agree that seems to be the problem. I'm not sure how to avoid it going to Ebay.de though.

I made my appeal through ebay.uk and then started a chat on ebay.uk but they tell me they can't deal with it and need to forward my case to the relevant department. Behind the scenes it must go to ebay.de.

[red_magpie]

If the loss occurred during simple delivery to eBay's fulfillment centre eBay should have been responsible for the refund under the terms of SD  - assuming of course that the required proofs of posting and tracking were obtained. Whatever happened, it's hard to see how ebay.de came to be involved.

Once received, any loss during the international delivery using the GSP would likewise have been eBay's responsibility, not yours.

Something seems to be amiss here, but I fear that at this stage you may struggle to get it corrected.

[papso22]

Presumably the buyer claimed on their own site and that is not set up to recognise the issue might be at the first stage, which was simple delivery.  

The seller then needs to tell ebay uk that they used simple delivery as soon as they receive a claim, and then they should get seller protection if the item didn’t make it to the hub.  But is ebay UK CS going to handle that properly?

Even before SD sellers were protected if they could show delivery to the hub, but they still had to get ebay CS to recognise that it was after that point that there was an issue.

With a lot of Global shipping issues sellers have to be proactive in defending their position. 

[lordkristoff13]

Thanks for the reply, yes that's exactly the problem. The claim goes to ebay.de who don't recognise simple delivery. When I appeal or contact Ebay UK, they seem to agree with my position but can only refer my case to the relevant department who I can't contact myself to explain. I then get the standard email back from Ebay.de rejecting the claim as the buyer didn't receive it and warn me not to appeal again.

Does anyone have a contact at Ebay Uk who could look at this? 

[papso22]

I will call on the community managers.

dave@ebay kat@ebay marco@ebay 

Can any of you help the OP and perhaps explain on here what sellers are meant to do when they have SD seller protection for the domestic leg of Global but no-one at the ebay organisation where the claim is made recognises this?

If it's actually excluded from seller protection could you provide a link?

[lordkristoff13]

Much appreciated, thank you.

[kat@ebay]

Thanks for the tag @papso22 ,

Hi @lordkristoff13 ,

Thank you for reaching out.

Simple Delivery protects the journey to the shipping hub and then GSP takes over after that. Its likely here that with it being a DE buyer the agent on the appeal may not have been aware of the SD process. Let me get it checked and I'll follow up with you once its reviewed.

Thank you,

Kat

[kat@ebay]

Hi @lordkristoff13 ,

Following up as they were very quick in providing a good update. They have advised a refund will be processed and should be available within the next 48 hours.

Thank you,

Kat

[lordkristoff13]

That's brilliant news, thank you Kat