Should I send everything by recorded delivery?

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

If it's worth less then £46?

I'm going to list quite a few things, some of which aren't worth very much but if I get a couple of £'s I'd be happy. It seems a bit much for the postage to cost as much as the item so I was thinking of listing these things using normal 2nd class post purely to keep the P+P fees down.

Would I be asking for trouble?

No, send it 2nd class and ask for a proof of posting. If it goes missing, you claim the value from royal mail (proved by a printout of the auction page and an email from buyer saying not received after 15 working days) and refund the buyer.

well it is part of the paypal agreement that you send everything trackable, but for stuff for a few quid it prob isn't worth it, but I would if anything is over a tenner. You need to protect yourself from scam buyers.

That's great thanks.

Above £10 is what I was thinking would be worthy of recorded delivery fergoose so it's good to see that I'm on the right lines!

excellent - and always get certificate of postage for the other items - and keep it somewhere safe :)

Ah ha - even though I'm a novice and generally pretty badly organised, I already have an "Ebay" file with all both of my recorded delivery certificates and buyer info

I suppose once I've got positive feedback from the buyer I could get rid of the evidence couldn't I?

I'm off up into the loft tomorrow to look for other treasures that I can list!

It annoys me when i have to sign for ebay stuff, makes it so much more inconvenient.

If over £15-20 then yes.

i always pay the extra 70p for recorded, had too many claim item not recieved :(

I suppose as long as the listing states that it will be sent by recorded delivery then the buyer can opt to not bid if they will find it annoying.

I think I'd rather loose a few bidders than go through the hassle of buyers claiming that they hadn't received an item.

yes you are right - recorded is to protect the seller not the buyer, and if it stops lying buyers then all the better I reckon.

Don't ditch a receipt until 45 days have passed - positive feedback doesn't stop a buyer from claiming item not received, but they can't open a not received claim after the 45 days.

Yes I always send recorded as had someone claim their item didn't arrive, I had proof of posting, which I sent to ebay, but they said that wasn't good enough and I had to refund the -lying bastards- buyer.

lying bastards clearly

I only send Recorded if it's worth more than £10 or so.

Personally I find it a pain if some item I'm buying for 99p is sent Recorded, especially as the sorting office here is only open for about 3 hours a week.

I always send 1st class via the paypal / royal mail website. It prints out a proof of postage slip that the post office have to sign to prove I've sent it.

It's not quite the same as recorded but I've sold 60+ things and not had a single problem. I do wonder if people don't try and pull a fast one as I have proof of postage at least. Sometimes I think it would be great to save money and post second class but I can't do it via paypal.

I did sent an expensive book recorded delivery once as I was shit scared it would get lost.

i have sold well over 5-600 items on ebay ( though not tech stuff like camerams phones etc) only ever had 3 non arrival claims one was sent international signed for one turned up back on my door step 6 weeks latrer 1 seems to have gone missing,

some categories seem to attract scam buyers, I mostly sell collectables and china etc no point in getting extra protection on breakables as only covered against loss not breaking

I send recorded over £25 internationally ( and always if far east latin america asia) and about £40 within UK unless I think it is in a more risky category like jewelllery

i resent paying 77p extra for postage on low value items on something worth £3 it is a 30%,mark up, it is for seller protection no benefit for buyer at all
also resent having to go 16 mile round trip to sorting office for small item, tend not to bid on people selling t -shirts and sending 1st class recorded

proof of posting is good enough most of time, but remember you need to claim not the buyer, does not matter what you say in terms you are responsible for it getting there if no proof you have to refund

looking at the big picture refunding 1 or 2 people out of hundreds is probably worth it

It doesn't actually matter to the seller financially if the buyer is scamming when the item is 1st/2nd class but not recorded. If the buyer sends an email saying that the item hasn't been received, that means the seller can put a claim in against Royal Mail with a printout of the buyer's email as proof of "loss". Whether the buyer is telling the truth or not won't impact the claim that the seller is making. Even if Royal Mail found the buyer to be lying then it would be the buyer's problem, not the sellers.

out of interest do you have to wait the 15 days before making a claim .. .and do you wait the same length of time before refunding the buyer? It hasn't been that long on my item and the buyer is saying that they will open a case against me on ebay unless I refund.

Same as bodiddy, do you have to wait 15 days, and is that 15 days before you refund the lying scammer buyer?

15 working days or 3 weeks to make the claim - but most buyers won't wait 3 weeks for their money to be refunded.

how long has it been with your buyer Bodiddly?

if posted second class royal mail aim to deliver 90% within 3 days if not arrived within a week i would ask seller where is my item, would expect a reply within 48 hours and then a refund if not arrived within 2 weeks, less if sent 1st class; would open case after 2 weeks if refused to refund

not all buyers are scammers in fact most are not occasionally things do just go missing not often but prhaps 1 in a 100, and 3-5 delayed longer than normal