Delivery attempted by Royal Mail but there didn’t seem to be anyone in

[appolospb]

I sold a item and posted it out to the buyer via Royal Mail Tracked 48.  Before sending it out i had a chat with the buyer as i had noticed the postal address looked like a business address (Industrial warehouse) despite not being market as such on the customers address and i wanted to ensure someone would be available to accept it and not reject it upon delivery.  The buyer informed me very confidently that Royal Mail deliver there all the time and there would be no problems. 

Today i have been informed that Royal Mail tried to deliver the parcel twice (two different times of the day) and "there didn’t seem to be anyone in", they will attempt re-delivery again on the next working day.  How do i stand if the buyer continues to not be in on delivery of the parcel? i have messaged the buyer and kept them informed so they have no excuses of not being aware of the parcel plus its all track and traced.  The last thing i would want to do is have to issue a full refund and then be out of pocket the £5.09 for the delivery cost due to a bad buyer.

[btr.style]

Realistically it's their fault and so if it's returned to you and they open an item not received, you are covered as it shows delivery attempted and will win the case. 

That could well be that..... And the buyer goes out of pocket. 

Yet the right thing to do is to just refund them when it comes back to you and block them from ever buying from you again. 

[*vyolla* · Accepted solution]

If there's nobody around or the buyer doesn't make alternative delivery arrangements then the package should come back to you.

I'd then refund the buyer less the outward postage cost.

Whilst buyers aren't covered by eBay's Money Back Guarantee if the tracking status shows attempted delivery,  they would still be covered by PayPal or their debit/credit card provider if they paid by one of those methods. They'd get a refund via any of those providers.

[appolospb]

Id be inclined to only refund the item and not the postage if the buyer doesnt accept delivery when its re-attempted and it makes its way back to me (It should as it had senders address on it and is traced).  The item took a very long time to sell and has a non-existant profit margin and is very seasonal so its not like i can flip it again easily.  I dont like the idea of rewarding a bad buyer and then also not even getting the chance to give them any negative feedback.

[lucy_farmer]

'I dont like the idea of rewarding a bad buyer and then also not even getting the chance to give them any negative feedback.'

Erm....  you can't give them any neg feedback, *regardless* of what they do to you. (you may end up with a 'slap' from ebay for leaving neg comments on a green dot. You do know you can't leave them red negatives?)

It also just adds to their number of  green feedbacks- which is *all* anybody sees! nobody bothers reading the actual wording of buyers' feedbacks.....

[appolospb]

I think you are wrong on nobody reading the green feedback as reading the 'feedback as a buyer' section is the first thing i do when i get a bid on a item i sell at auction.  Its fairly common knowledge that it only allows you to leave positive feedback but people just put in the feedback wording "Buyer was bad beware!!" for eg instead of adding a positive comment.  There are ebay tips and tricks videos on YouTube informing sellers of checking on this.

I am sure none of us think its trully fair that eBay doesnt allow sellers to leave true negative feedback for a bad buyer.  At the end of the day lets not paint me as the bad guy here, i am the victim.

[papso22]

Whatever the apparent justification, any less than positive comments left for a buyer is 'negative feedback' and a breach of Ebay's policies.

[appolospb]

Fair enough, however in the case of 'lucy_farmer' response i think it came over as showing a lack of empathy.

[alell-955008]

just on this, i've now had numerous delivery attempted messages from various parcels shipped via royal mail and theres always someone in so this is an excuse used by RM. I also have numerous cameras covering front and rear doors which have never been triggered.

i've raised a complaint with RM and Amazon.

[ziplock9000]

Can anyone actually tell us what the official and proper way to deal with this is please?

I see a lot of speculation, but no solid answer?

Does the seller have ANY protection of a buyer simply never avails themselves to answer the door or elect a safe place to leave the item?

[sunshinedior67]

You have met your obligations as a seller  so don't worry. You posted to the actress provided by the buyer and it the buyers responsibility to take delivery in failing not to do so the buyer is not covered by eBay money back guarantee & you don't have to refund the buyer or send another item. If the buyer leaves neg feedback have it removed by eBay. If you call eBay they will confirm this.  

[sunshinedior67]

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@btr.style wrote:

Realistically it's their fault and so if it's returned to you and they open an item not received, you are covered as it shows delivery attempted and will win the case. 

That could well be that..... And the buyer goes out of pocket. 

Yet the right thing to do is to just refund them when it comes back to you and block them from ever buying from you again. 

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Had this happen to me and the item came back to me a month after dispatch damaged probably from the amount of times it had gone round the postal system. The buyer wanted me to pay & resend or refund. I'm doing neither as both myself & RM have met our obligations & the buyers not covered by eBay money back guarantee plus they were rude & demanding. Lesson here is take delivery or pick it up from sorting office 😀

[recyjuve-0]

What makes you think Royal Mail are telling the truth and are actually truing to deliver but the recipient is not at home? Could be RM have lost it and are trying to paint another picture

[sunshinedior67]

Makes no sense. If they've lost it why pretend to deliver as it doesn't
change the outcome. The recipient can claim compensation

[recyjuve-0]

I have had so many of this attempt to delivery messages from courier companies and Royal mail, when no one ever turned up. I have had also left with your neighbour which was also a lie. I even had a neighbour almost start a fight  as one of these companies said they left a parcel at my house which was a lie . They scribble signatures. put things on your doorstep. take pictures and then take it back into the van and sign delivered. I had one sign delivered at 1: 00pm and never turned up till 5: 00pm. Don't know where he was for 4 hrs. have they shown you any proof they even attempted to deliver? I don't believe they have attempted to deliver.  Its just another story they spin on their system to take the blame off them.

[appolospb]

This post was from back in June 2024 so its old, not sure whats caused the resurgence to what was a dead thread.

Issue was sorted, Royal Mail delivered to the business a second time and luckily someone answered and took the delivery.  The person who was the package recipient claimed they were in the toilet when they attempted to deliver the first time.

[recyjuve-0]

That's great. I asked the question because i am currently tracking a parcel on Royal mail website and it states 

"unable to attempt delivery", which for me is suspiciously worded to look like they turned up and non one was at home.  It makes the seller think so. I have just called RM and this message means that they did not even bother to get to the address to deliver the item. 

I have told them they need to word it better like "We could not get to your address" because  unable to attempt delivery is certainly not clear.

[appolospb]

You cant trust any of the couriers (RM included) with being totally honest, i had a delivery before Xmas where it said "Attempted delivery but no one at home" and i had been in the entire day (Nobody knocked or rung the door bell).  When you put such tight time deadlines on the couriers and quotas to meet it makes them all a little dishonest or resorting to bad delivery tactics to keep their boss of their back that day.

[sunshinedior67]

There are many reasons they might have worded it this way. There may have
been anything from a accident to a vehicle breakdown, medical emergency or
some other unforeseen reason. The message does indicate the problem is with
the delivery rather than the recipient & maybe we need to understand
sometimes things go wrong that's outside Royal Mails control 😀

[sml192]

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@recyjuve-0 wrote:

That's great. I asked the question because i am currently tracking a parcel on Royal mail website and it states 

"unable to attempt delivery", which for me is suspiciously worded to look like they turned up and non one was at home.  It makes the seller think so. I have just called RM and this message means that they did not even bother to get to the address to deliver the item. 

I have told them they need to word it better like "We could not get to your address" because  unable to attempt delivery is certainly not clear.

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"Unable to attempt delivery" seems pretty clear to me.  I don't see how it could possibly mean what you state, if that was the case then it would say "Delivery attempted".