Lost item as a result of Ebay providing an incorrect 'Click and Collect' address

[7missedcalls]

Hi, I'd like advice on whether its worth pursuing Ebay, to a Small Claims Court in the UK if necessary, over the loss of an item in the post.

I sold a camera lens in June 2020 for £560. I posted it to the address provided by the seller, which was a 'Click and Collect' address in Aberdeen that he had selected from a list provided by Ebay on the website. The address proved to be incorrect, inasmuch as it had an 'eCP' reference, but didn't have the store name that the seller should have specified as part of the address.

It was posted via RoyalMail as a signed for, next day, parcel. It got as far as the DO (delivery office) in Aberdeen, who identifed that the address was incomplete and marked the tracking for the item as 'Incorrectly Addressed. Return to Sender'. I never got the parcel back and lodged a claim for loss with RoyalMail, which got rejected as one of their T&Cs is that they are not responsible for the loss of incorrectly addressed items. I took this case as far as the Ombudsman who deals with RoyalMail disputes, but lost the case.  The parcel had my return address on it, and would have been damn difficult to lose. The parcel didn't get passed on to their National Collections Centre for lost mail either. I suspect that it got 'lifted' by an employee or contractor though I've obviously got no way of proving this. I'm looking to see if it comes up on Ebay via another seller!

When the buyer started to contact me saying that the item hadn't been delivered was when, upon investigating how 'Click and Collect' works, I realised that the address was incomplete. He said he just selected it from a drop-down list and made no alterations to it (and indeed I don't think you can even if you wanted to). Sure enough, when he looked at the list entry for this particular Click and Collect store when purchasing another item, the address was incomplete. At some point the address got taken down, I think.

During the 'what the hell has happened?' period, I tried to contact Ebay regarding this, but found no way I could navigate past the unheplful 'help' pages on the website to write or speak to anyone, and I asked the buyer to raise a dispute on the item in case he had more luck, hoping that Ebay would have a look at the addressing. They didn't. They just waited until the end of the dispute period and found in favour of the buyer as I (obviously)  couldn't provide proof that the item had been delivered. I objected to their decision, but got nowhere, Nor did that even bother to look at the Click and Collect addressing to identify for themselves that something was wrong, correct it, and apologize. That's when I started to pursure RoyalMail - though as stated above that didn't achieve a result either.

So for, I've got no lens, have paid for postage, and both Ebay and Paypal have claimed fees from me for the item.

So I'm back with trying to decide oi whether to pursue Ebay for the loss. My point is, why should I be any more liable for the cost of the loss than Ebay, who provided the incorrect address in the first place, or the buyer who selected it and didn't realise it was incomplete any more than I did?

With hindsight Ebay do provide some information about Click and Collect, and RoyalMail found an article (though I can't find myself find it - can you??) saying that the eCP number should appear on the second line of the address and implying that a store name should be on the first line. The address I was given was formatted as <persons name>,<eCP number>,<Road Name>,<District>,<Postcode>.

Any advice on what I do from here? Needless to say the stress, frustration and grief this has caused me so far has been enormous..

[rusticrye]

I'm amazed that Royal Mail's decision wasn't overturned by the ombudsman.  I would have thought that they would be fully responsible for getting an undeliverable package safely back to the return address on the package. So I would advise you to go to the CAB's website for advice, as I can't see how that can possibly be right.

As far as I'm aware, Click & Collect addresses are supplied to Ebay by the participating stores. They aren't something that Ebay would make up. And no, buyers can't make changes to these, for obvious reasons. So if you get nowhere with an appeal against the ombudsman's bizarre decision, I would see if it's possible to take legal action against the store, for supplying an incomplete address.

But contact Ebay first, to find out how they get these addresses. Help & Contact is at top and foot of any page, with Live Chat and Request-a-callback available during working hours. I recommend the latter under these particular circumstances. And try early morning, when you're more likely to be called back by an agent in Dublin rather than The Philippines. You need to speak with someone whose first language is English.

I hope this helps you in some way. Wishing you lots of luck.

@7missedcalls 

[7missedcalls]

RoyalMail are an interesting entity. They are deemed to not be under any contract to customers, but providing a service. Since there is no contract, they are effectively 'immune from prosecution' in a case like this and cannot be taken to a Small Claims Court, for example. All you, as a customer seeking redress can do, is go to the RoyalMail's 'Escalated Customer Resolution Team', then the 'Postal Review Panel', then the (independent) 'Postal Redress Service' (i.e. the Postal Ombudsman). I've been through all of these. RoyalMail's T&Cs state that they have no liability for incorrectly addressed items but 'may' return them to the sender.

I did discuss this issue with the CAB before I approached the RoyalMail 'Escalated Customer Resolution Team'. They suggested I pushed for redress from both RoyalMail and Ebay, but so far I've only tackled RoyalMail.

I'm disappointed but not surprised to hear that Ebay might also take no responsibility for the data they provided to the seller - in this case the 'Click and Collect' address. Things get really messy when all the providers simply say 'it wasn't us that was at fault' and try to pass the buck to one of the others..

[m25jet]

Although you're not likely to get anywhere with the Royal Mail, I think it would definitely be worth appealing the case with eBay, saying that if it wasn't for the fact that they provided erroneous address details on their website for the Click & Collect store that the buyer chose to use then not only would the package have been correctly addressed but it would more than likely have successfully made its way to the seller.  Be prepared to stand your ground and fight your corner if eBay refuse to give in - if they get awkward just argue the fact that the only reason the buyer didn't get the parcel is because eBay supplied incorrect address details regarding the Click & Collect store to send the item to, and you don't feel that you should lose the money from the sale and your account hit with a defect just because they've screwed up.

If you are lucky enough to get through to a helpful eBay representative who sees the matter from your own perspective then you may well be able to succeed in getting the defect removed and your money refunded by eBay, especially if you can argue the case in such a way that it becomes clear to eBay that the evidence points to the item having been lost in transit due to an error of their own making.  If, on the other hand, you get an unhelpful eBay representative then be prepared to argue your case quite stubbornly, and if you get cut off then just keep on calling back about the matter until you finally get through to somebody who sees what you're getting at and agrees with you, as if you can get through to somebody who's clearly on your side once he/she has reviewed the case you've got a better chance of being able to get rid of the defect and get your money refunded.  It may seem as though there's not much chance that you'd be able to successfully pull it off, but if you just throw in the towel and don't bother to fight your corner then not only will you be stuck with the defect but possibly any negative feedback that the buyer may decide to leave in relation to the transaction.

Good luck with getting the initial decision reversed if you do indeed decide to fight your corner.

[tsmgmd]

The Click and Collect address will have been supplied to eBay by Click and Collect, so the incorrect delivery info is there responsibility. 

The fact that Royal Mail and the ombudsman have refused your claim seems to point to a small claims court issue been a waste of time. 

In respect of UK law as far as I understand it the seller is responsible for safe delivery.. The fact the item was incorrectly addressed is not a Royal Mail problem. 

Did you not realise the discrepancy when you printed out the label that the stores trading name was missing. 

And as no Royal Mail staff would know the contents I cannot see how someone would "lift" it because they wanted a camera lens..