if you sell an item and it doesnt get there, do you refund it?

[poppy123]

hi, I sent an item which the buyer said he never received. so he opened a dispute though he was quite pleasant and not at all nasty, so i have had to give him a refund. Will the post office refund me for the cost of postage and the price the item sold for and how long does it take? I have a proof of posting but looks like i have to do it as the buyer gets his money back through paypal protection anyway. thanks for your comments!

[bubblagirl]

hi how long was it until the item had not arrived? you can claim from royal mail i think from about 15 days but usually yes if item hasnt arrived you would refund and then royal mail will refund you not sure how long that takes

did he email first to say not arrived or opened dispute straight away and have you tried to track item at all?

[sarah573]

If you go to www.royalmail.com and follow the item has not arrived link, you will be able to to fill in a form, print it out and post if off to RM with the proof of posting.

I've not claimed recently, but in the past it has taken weeks rather than days. They send you a cheque.

Its a bummer you have to refund before you get the refund, but unfotunately thats the way it works.

[MrsMagooo]

You have to wait 15 working days before you can claim.

Then you have to fill out a form include as much info as poss (i usually print off the Ebay listing, Paypal recipt etc) describe the packaging etc etc.

They will send a letter to the recipent asking them to confirm it hasn't been recieved & get them to sign.

Then once/if they agree it's lost they will issue a cheque for the value of the item (so winning bid) but no more then £36 & not postage costs.

This whole process can take from 30-60 days.

I would strongly advise to send everything no matter how small or low in value recorded delivery - it really is worth it!

[saltire]

Like MrsMagoo, I would recommend sending everything recorded. I had an incident where the buyer claimed the goods hadn't arrived and paypal refunded him. I contacted him and said "the tracking number shows its been delivered" which was a lie as it hadn't been sent recorded, and he replied with "there was no tracking number on the parcel". proving that he had indeed got the item plus his refund, so was lying just to get a refund. So now everything goes recorded

[poppy123]

hi, thanks for your messages. It has been more than 15 days, and he said he hadnt received it after a couple of weeks and was going to open a dispute before I had the chance to refund him, infact he didnt ask for a refund until he had opened the dispute. I must have sold about 140 items on ebay and this is the first thing to have gone missing so I never really bother with recorded but after this i think i will. It seems a bit of a swizz that they dont refund postage costs, the item only sold for 8 pounds so it wasnt even that much! oh well, I know for next time