How do I get MY postage refunded for a lost item which I sold?

[evie.l_5]

I sold an Item. It was free postage on "anything but"-Simple Delivery, so that meant I paid the cost. Fine, been doing it a while and got my head around most of it.

The item has been lost by EVRI and tracking not updated since 13th May. I, proactively, contacted EVRI myself when I noticed tracking had stalled to find out what was going on. Many an email (from I'm pretty sure is just another BOT and just as useless the one on their chat) back and forth and no actual details, just a lot of it's on it's way.

So today comes, buyer has claimed with Ebay for item not received, Ebay see tracking is *bleep* up, refund the buyer what they paid, sent me an email to say "this happened, we sorted it for you, no harm no fowl, no need to do anything.".

Except there is!

I paid for postage, using "anything but"-Simple Delivery, yes, but out of my funds. So where is my refund for the postage for the failed delivery? The 'Help' pages are a joke and not a single word about such a scenario, meaning no one ever thought it could happen, meaning they've done what most people do when trying to explain something they know all about to someone who knows nothing yet it's assumed, albeit unconsciously, that they do know something.

So how do I claim my postage costs back? Ebay (ha!) or EVRI?

Oh, and I tried the little form for cancelling a postage label that's hidden under a billion copies of War and Peace so not even the Customer Service phone team know of it's existence. It doesn't apply to items lost in the post.

[dch2112011]

You have received seller protection from ebay for the item price which surely included the cost of the postage ?

Free delivery means that the postal cost is incorporated within the item price - you were paid for the item including 'free' postage  and from that you bought the label - you were refunded the item plus the 'free' postage which is included by ebay - the fact you used part of the original price paid for a label is irrelevant ! You do not get the item price which includes the postage cost and get refunded  again for the postage seperately !

Curious why you think you should be refunded twice ?

[edwardian-dreams]

It was simple delivery so seller pays eBay for postage even if stated as free 

seller should get postage back

seller shouldn’t have tried to sort it with evri 

this is all for eBay to sort out because under simple delivery once posted seller is responsible for nothing 

I could be wrong but that’s how I understand it 

best thing might be to get a call back from customer services 

someone here will have a link for this 

[dch2112011]

Free delivery means that the advertised price includes the cost of delivery - ie the item price plus the delivery cost !

ebay refund the advertised price ie the item price which includes the cost of delivery !

The seller has been refunded already for the item price which includes the cost of delivery !

The seller cannot be refunded for the 'free delivery' element  as this has been refunded as part of the item price !

What the seller is suggesting is that a buyer paid him for the item including delivery - the  seller used part of the sale price which includes delivery to buy the label.

The seller then was refunded for the total sales price which includes the 'free delivery' cost and then appears to want to get the delivery cost refunded again seperately - 

The delivery cost has nothing to do with the buyer - it was free for the buyer ! 

It's not rocket science !

[edwardian-dreams]

Maybe I am being thick here

ebay refund the advertised price ie the item price which includes the cost of delivery !

The seller has been refunded already for the item price which includes the cost of delivery !

the item price does not include free delivery because  ebay charge seller for the delivery even if it’s advertised as free

so seller has to be refunded advertised price plus ebays imposed simple delivery charge for free postage 

[evie.l_5]

I’ve not been refunded at all. I’ve received the money for the sale value as soon as I sent the item. The cost of the label has taken from my eBay balance when I generated said label. So, for example: item sold for £100 free P&P. I received £100 into my eBay account and paid out £2.94 for the postage label. The buyer has been refunded their £100 as per buyer protection policy. I’m still down the £2.94 for the postage. Is that not covered by the insurance that SD from eBay keep banging on about?

[evie.l_5]

To clarify, I only asked Evri where the parcel was and have not taken any other action with them.
Also, I know the seller buys the postage regardless. My query is how do I go about getting it refunded back to me seeing as it got lost.

[edwardian-dreams]

@peaceblossom  @tressygirl @vyola 

they may be able to help, they know the ins and outs 

Good luck 

also try this for a call back in th r morning 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid

[dch2112011]

If the seller sold for £10 free delivery  the seller receives £10 and has paid £2 for the label leaving the net proceeds as £8.  (ie the buyer paid £8 plus £2 delivery)

When an INR under simple delivery is found to be lost in transit or damaged in transit - ebay will refund £10 to the buyer without any cost to the seller. (ie the buyer has been refunded the £8 plus the £2 delivery)

The label cost of £2 paid to ebay by the seller will not be refunded - this is part of the complete £10 paid for the item including postage and is no loss to the seller whatsoever -  the seller retains the full  £8 net proceeds for the sale - there is no cost to the seller 

Think if ebay refunded the £2 as well as letting the seller keep the proceeds of £10 they would gain £2 receiving a total of £12 or net receiving £10  instead of £8 

The seller should not look to profit from an Item not delivered !

[xyz307xyz]

Can you explain it in terms of (changing the figures below):

The item sold for £15 excluding the buyer protection fee.

I was charged £3 for the label.

Ebay are refunding me £12 (refunds might possibly be pending and take a while to actually receive, I don't know one way or the other.)

It's possible in your case the first figure - second figure <> the third figure. I'm just trying to understand what (might) have happened. thanks

[evie.l_5]

Thank you. When I saw some of the comments from dch2112011 I thought I'd fallen into my own trap of unconsciously assuming other people know what I mean and I'd left out vital details. 

[dch2112011]

Correct your item proceeds would have been before the INR case £12 - your item proceeds after the INR case will be £12 

The £3 was paid to you as part of the item price by the buyer - the buyer has received £15 as a refund plus fees 

You have incurred no costs - yes you paid ebay for the label but not from your net proceeds but from you gross proceeds - you receive the same amount for your item 

[dch2112011]

Think if there was no SD protection -  you would have been paid £15 - paying £3 for postage - the INR case found in the buyer's favour would leave you paying back £15 to the buyer leaving you at minus £3 - and having to claim from the carrier be it direct or via packlink for compensation - even if you were successful and got back £15  you would be £3 out of pocket 

It looks like a good deal to me !  

[xyz307xyz]

Several posts were made all within a couple of minutes/and some edited, so I hadn't seen them whilst typing. Also I'm not the one asking the question, I was trying to understand exactly what had been received and refunded.

[dch2112011]

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@evie.l_5 wrote:
I’ve not been refunded at all. I’ve received the money for the sale value as soon as I sent the item. The cost of the label has taken from my eBay balance when I generated said label. So, for example: item sold for £100 free P&P. I received £100 into my eBay account and paid out £2.94 for the postage label. The buyer has been refunded their £100 as per buyer protection policy. I’m still down the £2.94 for the postage. Is that not covered by the insurance that SD from eBay keep banging on about?

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It's the same principal  ebay have given you seller protection under SD and you keep your sales proceeds and ebay refund the customer in full

If the item was delivered succesfully you would keep the £97.06  being the net proceeds of the sale

With an INR  ebay have refunded the buyer in full at no cost to yourself - you are allowed to keep the sale proceeds of £97.06 

You do not get the postage refunded - this has been refunded to the buyer as part of the total price ie the buyer paid £97.06 plus £2.94 postage  which ebay have made on your behalf from ebay funds !

Think of it this way if you had not got ebay protection you would have had to pay the buyer £100 leaving you at a minus £102.94 

You would then have to claim from the carrier who if successful would refund £100 leaving you £2.94 out of pocket  leaving you with £97.06 

You cannot receive the postage back twice - either via the carrier's insurance or via ebay's seller protection

[evie.l_5]

I do hope you don't run a business if that is how you are working things out because you must be throwing money away.

You are entirely correct saying I should loose out the cost of the shipping label ONLY IF the reason for refunding the item in the first place was something like it was not as described or was damaged because I'd not packaged it adequately (therefore my fault).

You are entirely wrong however, to think that because Evri lost the item I am not entitled to a refund of the shipping label. Ebay's SD has insurance included and seller protections so if the courier (Evri/Royal Mail) loose your item (or they damage it) then ebay claim the full value of the item and shipping from the courior and pass that back to the buyer and seller accordingly.

The fact that I offered free P&P doesn't negate anything regarding a refund of shipping costs. Shipping was paid for. A contract was made to ship the item safely to it's destination. In this instance Evri failed to meet the terms of that contract (they lost the item) and so must refund the cost of the shipping to ebay who should then pass that on to whomever bought the shipping label. That would be me.

And yes it is a commonly used practice for sellers that offer FREE P&P to add the cost of shipping to the price of the item. That is does not make it a policy of ebay's own making and ebay do not take that into any account when issuing refunds.

[xyz307xyz]

This suggests you get/keep the full selling price (not the buyer protection fee "obviously"). You've paid for the label, as you would have done if the parcel was delivered.

https://pages.ebay.co.uk/shipping/delivery/seller-terms/

12. Liability for Loss or Damage.
You remain responsible for any loss or damage to your item until it has been scanned into the carrier’s network. Once your item has been scanned into the carrier’s network and providing you used the Simple Delivery label and are compliant with these Terms and eBay’s Policies, as well as the relevant Carrier Terms, your item will be covered for loss or damage during transit up to the sold item value on the eBay.co.uk site. This means you will retain your sales proceeds in relation to the item sent using the Simple Delivery label. The item will be in transit from the point it has been scanned into the carrier’s network until it has been marked as delivered by the carrier.

[sml192]

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@evie.l_5 wrote:
I’ve not been refunded at all. I’ve received the money for the sale value as soon as I sent the item. The cost of the label has taken from my eBay balance when I generated said label. So, for example: item sold for £100 free P&P. I received £100 into my eBay account and paid out £2.94 for the postage label. The buyer has been refunded their £100 as per buyer protection policy. I’m still down the £2.94 for the postage. Is that not covered by the insurance that SD from eBay keep banging on about?

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Was your buyer refunded out of your funds or eBay's?  If eBay has refunded out of their own funds then there would, in theory, be no reason to make a claim against the carrier as you still have the funds originally received.

If you had to refund out of your own funds and you purchased the postage direct from Evri then you need to claim from them. 

If you purchased the postage through eBay via Packlink, who are a postage broker, then you need to submit a claim with Packlink rather than the actual carrier:

https://support-ebay.packlink.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360014270619-EasyTicket

You will need your reference number which you can find here:

https://delivery.ebay.co.uk/private/shipments/ready-to-purchase/

[dch2112011]

 Take a breath - ebay have refunded the postage - free postage is included in the sales price which is refunded to the buyer  which is what you would have to do without SD - you cannot pocket the postal cost under any circumstances when offering free delivery !

You have not had to refund the buyer and you keep the sales proceeds

Think of it this way - ebay refund you £100  - you refund the buyer what they paid you gross £100 - you claim £100 from the carrier - you have still paid £2.94 for the postal label and have £97.06 in proceeds - the carrier will not refund you for the sale price and more for the label because the label is included in the sales price nor will ebay !

Unfortunately you are not wanting to understand the simplicity of the situation and want to make it personal - your loss - in time you will learn the obvious !

[sml192]

Apologies, my previous response isn't relevant in this instance as the item was sent using Simple Delivery. 

That means that the buyer will have been refunded in full by eBay. 

Not sure why you think that you should be refunded for the shipping as well as the buyer?  If there is any compensation due from the carrier then that would belong to eBay as they were the one who had to compensate the buyer.