buyer says not recieved item from 10 days ago

[carlacutie696]

buyer message me today to say the package not received yet and  'when should they expect them'? seeing as xmas has just gone and most buyers want items before xmas i feel suspicious they not contacted me sooner about this like 'it hasnt arrived before xmas'  which is why i posted First Class.   same post office i usually use with no previous problems.

i posted late same day was sold and First Class on 18th december.   . now 28th.

my problem is i'v cleared out all my receipts drawer now assuming all my posted items had been received so i now have no proof of post.. 

personally i would not wait longer than 5 days to make contact had i not received an item, especially if 1st class post.

does this sound genuine ?

[angelah1847 · Accepted solution]

The buyer may very well have given it more time than usual because of Christmas and how busy Royal Mail have been.

I'm afraid you made a mistake in getting rid of your proof of postage receipt, you should really keep them longer than a few days.

If it was a parcel then the receipt would have had a 'tracking number' that you could have used to check for delivery but as things stand you won't even be able to make a claim to RM for a lost parcel.

I'm afraid unless you can prove the buyer received their item then you would lose an item not received case as buyers have up to 30 days from the estimated date of delivery to make a claim for non receipt.

[carlacutie696 · Accepted solution]

im assuming the buyer wanted as a xmas gift. i always keep proof of post, just didnt this time 😞

[*knight-rider* · Accepted solution]

` i always keep proof of post, just didnt this time`

in the case of a buyer claiming not received, proof of postage would`nt have helped anyway, because you need proof of delivery to stop a claim, it would have only helped for claiming off royal mail for the loss.
Personally, i would ask the buyer to give it a few more days, because whilst it has been 10 days, 3 of those were christmas hols and given how backed up royal mail were/are, it could still arrive.

[carlacutie696 · Accepted solution]

item turned up this morning so all ok 🙂

[ruby*tuesday]

Genuine or not you will have to Fully Refund if your Buyer opens an EBay Item Not Received Case. You should have Entered the Tracking Number into Dispatch when you Posted the Item. Both Buyer and Ebay could then check for Confirmed Delivery. 

You should keep all your Postal Receipts for up to 13 Months as Buyers can open Unauthorised Payment Disputes through their Bank within the 13 months.

[m25jet]

Given that this is the Royal Mail's busiest time of the year, not to mention the fact that the Royal Mail is having to cope with reduced staffing levels owing to the coronavirus pandemic, I'd say that the buyer's claim that he/she has not yet received the item could well be genuine.  If you had added the tracking number against the item as soon as possible after posting the item then in the event that the buyer opened an Item Not Received case against you it would have been possible to get the case decided in your favour if the tracking details had proved that the item had been successfully delivered to the buyer.

In light of the fact that you've thrown away the receipt with the tracking number you're just going to have to hope that your buyer is patient enough to give it a bit longer and is not dishonest enough to open a false Item Not Received case if the item does indeed turn up.  If the buyer is honest and the item turns up and he/she leaves you positive feedback in relation to the item then there's no problem.  If, on the other hand, the buyer opens an Item Not Received case and you've got no way to prove that the allegations of non-receipt are false then you'll have no choice but to refund in full in order to avoid being hit with an account-damaging defect.

Going forwards, make sure that you despatch all items via a tracked means of postage and keep all receipts for at least twelve months in the event that the buyer tries to do a chargeback against you further down the line.  That way if you can prove with the tracking number that the buyer successfully received the item and signed for it as well (that's if we're back to buyers signing for their own items in the near future) then you'll be able to blow the buyer's claims of unauthorised card use right out of the water.  Should that happen, though, report the buyer to ActionFraud for trying to claim a refund via fraudulent means.  That way the claim would backfire on the buyer and give him/her a nasty surprise when he/she finds out that ActionFraud are looking into the matter in order to ascertain what exactly has been going on!

[john1297576]

You only posted on the 18th,haven't you seen some of the mountains of parcels in the various sorting offices. Bearing in mind that the last delivery made by Royal Mail was on THURSDAY the 24th it is not surprising that it has not yet been delivered. What is the estimated delivery date shown on your sold item, Ebay did at last extend te estimated delivery times and the buyer cannot open a case for Not Received until after the estimated delivery date. "personally i would not wait longer than 5 days to make contact" In present circumstances 5 days is being very optimistic and as there have been no deliveries over the last 4 days, they can hardly be taken into account. In fact your buyer has only allowed 5 normal days to pass, Saturday the 19th and Monday the 21th to Thursday the 24th.

[ticklingstick-transport]

It will arrive, First Class letter  postmarked 19th received this morning.

[gabranna]

That's been happening to me as well. To make matters worse, the tracking numbers i have aren't working on the track and trace tool.

I have my proof of purchase receipts - you shouldn't really throw these away, especially at this time. I have emailed my buyers to let me know what is going and i have assured them, if they don't receive by the end of the year i will issue a refund. Nothing more to do except to pray my buyers receive their items.