Buyer claims item not received

[laurielottie]

Item posted on 27th Nov by special delivery. Item signed for 28th Nov. Buyer works in wine shop and this is his delivery address in eBay and Paypal. Signature has 2 initials which isn't the buyer. He says it's never been delivered what can I do as he wants a refund and the item is £255

[rusticrye]

Signatures cannot be obtained from buyers, due to strict Covid Health & Safety rules. All parcels requiring signatures are signed for by the postie, usually with 'C19' or similar. You can read all about this for yourself on Royal Mail's (or any carrier's) website.

When tracking proves delivery to the address supplied at checkout, the buyer cannot win an Item Not Received case. That's the whole point of tracking. If he can't find the package in the store, he will have to take it up with Royal Mail. If Royal Mail have misdelivered (seems highly unlikely with it being a wine shop) and can't retrieve the package, they, Royal Mail, will have to compensate him.

@laurielottie 

@ruby*tuesday 

[laurielottie]

Thank you for your reply. I'm hoping the case goes in my favour as I only
sold the ring to pay a vets bill.

[jaykay6063]

you can follow the parcels complete journey with special delivery.

[john1297576]

Have you loaded the tracking onto ebay?

Tell buyer to open a Not Received Case, if tracking which is seen by ebay shows as delivered then you win.You only have to refund if tracking DOES NOT show as delivered. You have done all that is required of you.

Signatures have not been taken for Months, but if buyer has not received it then he will have to take it up with the local delivery office. He should however make sure that it was not taken in at the shop and just mislaid.

[laurielottie]

Hi
He's already opened a case and wants a full refund. Tracking has been added
to ebay and a signature of some sorts uploaded on the royal mail website.
If signatures haven't been taken where do I stand. I've had a big vets bill
and only sold the ring to help pay for it.

[m25jet]

So long as the tracking shows that the item has been delivered to the address in question the buyer's case will collapse and you will win the Item Not Received case. Not all tracking methods actually include a signature upon delivery - all you have to do is prove that the item was delivered and you'll be able to blow the buyer's allegations of non-receipt right out of the water. eBay will not decide the case against you if the tracking proves successful delivery of the item to the recipient's address.

[laurielottie]

Buyer has just sent another message stating it's not received. It's been
signed for,just 2 initials which arnt his. It was £255 so I can't afford to
lose this.

[ruby*tuesday]

Ask him to Open an Item Not Received Case in the Resolution Centre. Add your Tracking Number and if EBay find that Delivery is Confirmed to the Address on PayPal the Case will Close in your favour. I would have thought that Special Delivery would have been signed for by the Buyer? Covid or No Covid. If you loose the Case you can make a Claim.

[red_magpie]

Royal Mail's special delivery terms state that due to the covid situation "we're no longer asking the recipient to sign for items".

As a signature is still required, I imagine that the postman signed it.

Special delivery is a premium service for valuables. It's most unlikely that they will have dumped the parcel on the doorstep, as other services often do.

I think you need to do two things here. First, as has been stated, ask the buyer to open a case under eBay's money back guarantee. With a signature for delivery, eBay should find in your favour. If so, they will block the buyer from leaving negative feedback, or remove any already left.

Secondly, I think you have to take this up with RM on the buyer's behalf. A claim of non-delivery for an item recorded as being delivered by special delivery is very rare. I imagine that RM investigators will wish to look into your buyer's claim. If found to be justified, as this is a fully insured service you should be able to claim full compensation for them.

One of the many shortcomings of eBay's money back guarantee is that they're unlikely to wait for the outcome of RM's investigation.

To keep things friendly, I suggest that you let your buyer know that you will be taking this up with RM on their behalf, regardless of the outcome of their eBay case.

[laurielottie]

Hi
Thank you, I've done all this.Gina

[m25jet]

As others have already said, so long as the tracking shows that the item was successfully delivered to the buyer's address then you will win the case.  Therefore, if the buyer has already opened a case then should he/she send you an e-mail via the case just respond politely, saying something to the effect of "The tracking shows that the item has already been delivered on [insert date here].  If you have not yet done so please check with your neighbours, or anybody else at your own address, to see whether they have accepted the parcel for you."  Don't let the buyer's replies get you angry - if you do start feeling angry then make sure that you calm down first before you reply to the buyer's responses.  So long as you remain polite during the case, despite any rude and/or antagonistic comments from the buyer, then the buyer will lose the case so long as the tracking proves that the item was successfully delivered.

Once the case has been decided in your favour the buyer will not be able to leave you negative feedback in relation to the transaction.  If, however, he/she leaves you negative feedback prior to eBay deciding the case in your favour then get onto eBay Customer Services straightaway once the case has been closed and ask for the buyer's negative feedback to be removed, reminding eBay that they decided the case in your favour.  If you do that then the any negative feedback left will be removed, along with the associated defect, and it will not have done any damage to your account.

Finally, add the buyer's User ID to your Blocked Bidders List.  If you're unfamiliar with how to do this then click on this link https://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/ebay/isapi.dll?bidderblocklogin and a big white box will appear on the screen.  Add the buyer's User ID to that box and then click on the Save button beneath it.  Once you have done that the buyer will be prevented from purchasing anything else from you in the future, in which case he/she will be unable to cause you any further aggravation in relation to any of your future sales.