EBay parcel left on step and stolen

[pantalonmagique]

I posted this in the EBay section but it’s super quiet there so am posting here for more traffic. My eBay parcel - sent tracked 48 - was left on my step and subsequently stolen. The tracking clearly shows it on the step with the door closed. Annoyingly someone was at home at the time and they didn’t even bother ringing the bell. The Seller says that as it’s marked as delivered to my Safe Space (I would never designate that as my safe space as it clearly isn’t) I need to contact Royal Mail. I’ve checked Royal Mail website which says that the seller needs to do this. I think they can claim compensation. A quick google suggests that eBay will find in the sellers favour as it says delivered. Does anyone have experience of this?

You can report it to eBay as undelivered/lost. If the seller purchased postage from eBay then they will contact the seller and RM, but more importantly you will be refunded.

In my experience, not if there's a tracking number that says a parcel has been delivered. Even if that tracking number is for a parcel shipped to Outer Mongolia and you live in Romford. Ebay will take the tracking number as proof that a parcel was delivered and it's one of the rare times when they will consistently find in the seller's favour. OP has no chance.

The item wasnt delivered safely @Rumblerum it was left on a doorstep. This doesn't constitute pod rather just that it was left on a doorstep. The consumer rights act 2015 requires a parcel to be delivered safely which this hasn't.

Have a look at the act

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/29/enacted

It is the sellers responsibility until it is delivered into your possession or someone nominated by you. Leaving on a doorstep isn't this.

When this happened to me with an eBay parcel, I was refunded by the seller as the parcel wasn’t in fact delivered to me. If would be the same thing if the parcel were delivered to the wrong address.

I have been in touch with Royal Mail and raised a complaint. The woman was really helpful and confirmed that leaving items on door steps absolutely isn’t allowed and that was not my safe space. She also confirmed that it’s the sender’s responsibility to make a claim. I have provided them with a complaint reference number so let’s see.

I had a £200 Amazon parcel (electronics) left out in the rain yesterday. They hadn't wrapped it in plastic and left it on my doorstep.

Wow impressive to have got through to a human before 9am from the RM!!

Even if RM won't refund you because their contract is with the seller/ebay you're still entitled to make a formal complaint of 'doorstepping' to RM as all delivery staff are instructed not to leave parcels in this way.

If you escalate the complaint they might decide to offer compensation as it's such a small amount.

You seem not to believe me? Their lines open at 8 and I was on hold for approximately half an hour.

Yes, this.

How did you pay OP? I've found paypal dispute resolution helpful in similar circumstances.

I am left parcels all the time on my doorstep . They hardly ever ring the doorbell. Often claim it is my safe space when there isn’t one. It enrages me. I think the drivers want to do their rounds as quickly as possible so just dump and run.

In this case Amazon should refund without a fuss. Do you have a photo?

Yes, this.
How did you pay OP? I've found paypal dispute resolution helpful in similar circumstances.

Yes, good point @PencilsInSpace I will check. Thanks

Did you pay for the postage or the seller? If they used EBay simple delivery, the seller is not responsible once it has been handed over to Royal Mail.

i would contact eBay and ask there advice.

As others have said, you need to go through eBay. This has happened to me several times over the years as a buyer and I’ve been reimbursed every time. It’s also happened as a seller, and I’ve issued an immediate refund. It is the seller’s responsibility to get the item to you, and if it isn’t delivered to you or a designated safe place, which in this case it wasn’t, then you will get refunded.

It's shit OP and I sympathise. I don't know how Royal Mail manages to cling on to business these days given the way some of its employees behave. DP has a business account and a designated collection place. Last week he found out three days after collection was supposed to have taken place that it hadn't. The person supposed to collect hadn't seen this collection tacked onto the end of his usual round and was therefore too late to collect and get the items in the system that day. The delivery guy contacted his manager who told him not to bother then marked everything as collected! Only when the second weekly collection was due did DP find out. Incompetent liars.

It wasn't delivered safely. Left on a doorstep is not delivered IMho.

Unless there are instructions with the carrier a package is not delivered until safely into the property - by letter box, handed over etc
Carriers take it as risk that they put delivery targets on their staff that will involve packages left on doorsteps - should it go missing then a claim can be made

The contract with Royal Mail is with the sender (with ‘simple delivery’ the sender is eBay, with international eBay forwarding the onward sender after it is at the depot is eBay, in other cases the sender is the seller)

@pantalonmagique
If you have not already done so (eg you have only been messaging) raise it as a not received dispute

It is correct that the default view of eBay is that the tracking says it had been delivered and they would still payout to the seller. But it had not been successfully delivered and the photo is evidence of that.

The sender claims from Royal Mail (you can go to the Royal Mail compensation claim page but will not be able to process a claim without being the sender - and if you had enough details including despatch receipt, eBay transaction receipt etc, then a successful claim would payout to the sender)

With a dispute, based on the information available eBay would refund you.
If the seller is the sender then they need to claim compensation from Royal Mail
If eBay are the sender then they still payout to the seller and claim compensation directly

I have had this happen with a doorstep delivery, (though with Vinted)
As seller I received my payout and the buyer was refunded.

@NeedtosoundoffandbreatheThey are in a state of managed decline. It’s so frustrating as a customer.

Annoyingly I just checked and I didn’t pay with PayPal.

i’ve raised a dispute so I’ll just have to wait and see.

The Consumer Righrs Act cover traders and retailers but is significantly curtailed if the seller is a private individual.
Also complicated by the fact that the seller would have no idea, or proof, of whether the buyer had informed RM to leave parcels on the doorstep - yes, I know OP didn’t, but seller can’t prove that - though in that case if they did claim I imagine RM would just reject the claim.
And finally, as pp said, eBay are pushing Simple Delivery on private sellers as it automates the process in a way that benefits them (logistically and financially presumably). The sellers contract with eBay is that once they have handed the parcel to the carrier, it’s eBay’s responsibility after that point, including making a claim to the carrier.

If you paid by credit card you can do a goods not received claim to them. However I would go into the contact us section on ebay and ask them to call you (they usually do within a couple of minutes). Then you will be speaking to a sensible human being and you can explain the situation and say that the seller is being unhelpful/uncooperative over a parcel that was not safely delivered by RM and ask that they (or ebay if it is simple delivery) claim the compensation from RM and refund you. This should work as ebay staff do have a reasonable degree of discretion. As a seller I'd always help in these circumstances so its pretty shit of them not to. You can always leave feedback that they have been unhelpful.

Why not simply say, "I don't believe you." Instead you make a snidey, snarky insinuation that OP's not truthful. Have courage of your convictions!

Lots of bad things happen with white van type deliveries. That's why people use Royal Mail as it's not supposed to with them.

I have a big red sign on my locked gate, "DOG LOOSE PLEASE USE FRONT DOOR". They don't. They do hang over the gate contorting themselves to unlock it, until I shout to go to the front. Then they're shirty at having to.

The named deliverers know to use the front door. How else would they post a card where there's no letterbox.

I’m beginning to think that @Rumblerumis the seller!