Buyer says item never arrived

[cmtr29]

Item was sold 2 weeks ago (14/07) and the buyer sent me a private message today to say it hasn’t arrived. 

Item was sent during a normal second class delivery, not via Simple postage and not purchased through eBay. I have proof of postage from the post office so will claim back direct from Royal Mail. 

What advice should I give to the buyer, am I correct in saying they should have an option to file a report that the item never arrived, and then I can respond to this and issue a full refund? 

[susapric-68]

Unless you have tracking the best thing to do is have them open a none received item claim and refund them. Proof of postage only shows you sent it but will give no proof it arrived so you can't win

[cmtr29]

Yes I am happy with this, I can claim back from Royal Mail. 

[4_bathrooms]

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@cmtr29 wrote:

What advice should I give to the buyer, am I correct in saying they should have an option to file a report that the item never arrived, and then I can respond to this and issue a full refund? 

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You're guaranteed to lose an INR case; proof of posting is insufficient evidence where eBay's Money Back Guarantee is concerned. You can direct the buyer to open an item not received case; if they refuse to do so inform them you can only refund if they open a case.

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@cmtr29 wrote:

Item was sent during a normal second class delivery, not via Simple postage and not purchased through eBay. I have proof of postage from the post office so will claim back direct from Royal Mail. 

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How did you pay for the postage; i.e. did you use stamps, purchase from Royal Mail's website or did you pay at the Post Office counter? Also, what was the value of the item?

[cmtr29]

Thanks for reply. I wasn’t going to appeal the case. l was going to issue a refund straight away and then claim back from Royal Mail, I thought that’s what you’re meant to do in such circumstances? 

ltem was worth £10 or so, plus 87p postage, hence why just posted as a letter as well within the £20 limit. l pay for everything at the counter although for letters all they do is stick a normal stamp on it before typing onto the terminal for Proof of postage. 

[therenewalworkshopltd]

If you are confident that the item has been lost, then there is no need to ask the buyer to open an item not received case.
To do so, will actually result in a strike against your account.

The odd one is fine, but why take one if there is no need to?

Just inform the buyer what you are doing and refund them from the order directly.

[4_bathrooms]

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@cmtr29 wrote:

Thanks for reply. I wasn’t going to appeal the case. l was going to issue a refund straight away and then claim back from Royal Mail, I thought that’s what you’re meant to do in such circumstances? 

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I wasn't suggesting you appeal the case; you can't if the buyer opens one. However, eBay sometimes prevents buyers from opening INR cases if they have a history of abusing the MBG. That is why I advised you not to refund unless the buyer opens a case.

If you are going to send lots of Letter-sized items normal Second Class it probably won't be a good idea to get more than two or three INR cases opened as it will affect your service metrics. Second Class Large Letter does provide a delivery confirmation (or should); it is just Letter sized items that don't.

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@cmtr29 wrote:

ltem was worth £10 or so, plus 87p postage, hence why just posted as a letter as well within the £20 limit. l pay for everything at the counter although for letters all they do is stick a normal stamp on it before typing onto the terminal for Proof of postage. 

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It'll be interesting to find out whether they give you 10 x First Class Stamps or the money as both would work out about the same (if they pay anything out, that is).

[*vyolla*]

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@therenewalworkshopltd wrote:

If you are confident that the item has been lost, then there is no need to ask the buyer to open an item not received case.
To do so, will actually result in a strike against your account.

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Only if the seller ignores a not received case and the buyer escalates it to ask eBay to step in, and they have to force the refund. 

[therenewalworkshopltd]

No, it still goes on your metrics.  It becomes a full defect against you if you don't do anything about it.

It makes no sense to me to force a customer to open a case, when you can resolve it before that happens.
Why would you want them to, unless you think it's dodgy in some way?

[susapric-68]

Could look like it was out of stock and that would be a bigger mark against the account

[*vyolla*]

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@therenewalworkshopltd wrote:

No, it still goes on your metrics.  It becomes a full defect against you if you don't do anything about it.

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Exactly, it's not a defect unless the buyer has to get eBay to step in. Yes, there's still peer benchmarking, that's unlikely to apply here to a low volume private seller. You're a business seller, so in your shoes I agree that metrics should be taken into consideration.

Under some circumstances I'd refund without having the buying opening an item not received claim, but for untracked items I feel that it enables eBay to see how many times that buyer is claiming. 

[merv9104]

did you check the 16 digit reference number on your certificate of posting. If delivered it will confirm and show you proof. Unlike tracking it will not be able to show where item is but definitely shows delivery. I have had occasion to use when buyer claimed not received 

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Only if you choose that as the reason for the refund!

[gjalp]

I only refund if a buyer opens INR case. Its rare a letter doesn’t arrive although it is common for it to be late. Ive had 2nd class take 2 weeks recently. The one time I just refunded without a case I got an ‘out of stock’ defect which had me scratching my head.

[suelel1968]

@cmtr29 Yes, that is what you are supposed to do. Never failed to get a payout from RM, but the claim I raised in June only got dealt with last week.

Some buyers open a case without contacting you first , some contact you, either way I try to drag it out to the give RM the chance to deliver, but to be fair most buyers have waited long enough by the time they get in touch.

[vinylscot]

I agree with what @merv9104  states above. (However, I believe it's now an 11-character string of numbers and letters)

If you input that into Royal Mail's tracking (without dashes or spaces), it may indicate that the item was delivered, in which case eBay will not require you to refund when the case is opened, as long as you input the details into your sold items AND separately into the case itself.

If it doesn't show as delivered, you will need to refund, but ONLY once the case has been submitted. Then, as you suggest, you claim from Royal Mail.