ebay buyer with negative feedback claiming item not received

[fluffyblue]

Hi I recently sold a pair of boots on ebay and sent them first class standard post. The buyer has contacted me to say they haven't arrived. Fair enough but I checked their feedback, they have sold items on ebay and have negative feedback for items not being sent, including one quite high value item. As royal mail will only compensate me up to £20 I will lose out on about £30 which I really cant afford. I am sure I'm being scammed and as the buyer's feedback is so bad and mine is fine, does the buyer have a case?

You may be being scammed but as you didn't send the item recorded delivery you haven't got any proof whether the buyer is genuine or not. You will just have to take the hot and send recorded next time.

Hit not hot!

Hi yes I know its partly my own fault, its just with their feedback being so bad, it seems obvious they are not honest ebayers.

you have no proof they are scamming you - and if you don't send tracked you really can't accuse them of anything. Send stuff Hermes or collect + - cheaper too. It is part of the paypal agreement you send with proof of delivery.

Unfortunately it is true that you cannot do anything but claim the £20 compensation plus your postage cost from RM - you will need to fill in the form and provide the ebay details and proof of postage certificate (hope you got one of those). Add buyer to your BBL - you could try reporting buyer to ebay. RM will be suspicious if the same person keeps having parcels go missing and claims for that address.

I had to claim for some boots I sent that supposedly or maybe really never arrived - stupidly I had not sent tracked and had to claim from RM - I got the £20 plus the £8 P&P it cost me to post them from RM but they had sold for more than that. Learned my lesson on higher value items. You do have to wait 15 days before you can claim from RM.

Unfortunately for you your buyer will win any case she/he opens for INR,this happened to me a while ago and I have made the concious decision to always send my parcels tracked its well worth the extra 90p for the peace of mind,also when I send the invoice with payment details I state that I do obtain proof of postage and since I have started doing that I have not "lost" an item.It is disgraceful the things you have to do to make an honest sale but it seems to be an ever occurring problem as it is so easy to get money refunded from e-bay now.

It just seems to me that its so easy to claim you haven't received when you have, that people will take advantage. And I know I've put myself at risk of this happening which makes it worse.

You live and learn OP.

It's a sad state of affairs, but that's why things have to be sent tracked.

Not helpful now, but as already advised ALWAYS send items worth over £20 by recorded delivery.

You have no choice but to refund I'm afraid. But firstly ask buyer to confirm their delivery address, check it against ebay and paypal addresses linked to sale.

Also ask them to check with their neighbours and local Royal Mail Depot as they might be sitting at either if no one was in to take the parcel when delivery was attempted.

OP may I ask where the parcel was going to? Just the town. There seems to be known towns that have RM parcel delivery issues.

it is part of the paypal agreement that everything is sent with online tracking.