Lost parcel...when to refund

[HiccupHaddockHorrendous]

Item posted last Tuesday, second class.

Buyer contacted me a message on Saturday to say they hadn't received it yet so I replied asking them to wait a couple more days.

They emailed again on Monday to say it still hadn't come so I asked them to check at their local depot and with neighbours incase postman had forgotten to redcard. Also said that if they still hadn't received it by Friday to email me again.

I've just had another email to say it still hasn't arrived and to confirm the address I used incase I've made a mistake.

IMO, it could still turn up as it has only been 8 days but I get the feeling they want a refund ASAP.

Do I try and put the buyer off a bit longer or just refund and make a claim through the RM.

Haven't had a 'lost' item for years so not quite sure what the protocol is.

3 weeks until officially lost so they are pretty quick off the mark if they want a refund now.

Would it be reasonable to explain that to them and expect them to wait the 3 weeks?

I have a feeling (possibly, unfairly of me) they'll just open a case against me.

maybe not 3 weeks - but I would wait a bit longer. The cynic in me says the item actually arrived on Sat. But without tracking you will never know.

I insist on 10 working days before I will refund. Quite often second class mail takes over a week to arrive.
In generally I find once an item has been reported as missing ( whether they wait 3 or 8 days) you end up refunding anyway. Once someone has gone to the trouble or reporting not received it is not often that they will fess up even if it does arrive!!

I thought the Post Office's policy was that something couldn't be considered as lost until 15 days had elapsed since the item should have been delivered. I would ask them if they'd mind waiting a little bit longer. Do you have proof of posting?

Thanks.

I'll explain about it not being officially lost until three weeks after estimated delivery date and offer a compromise of a refund after 2 weeks if it still hasn't turned up.

I have proof of postage so will then put in a claim with rm.

I'm a little cynical, too because of the speed in which the buyer has raised this but will have to give the benefit of the doubt.

yes it is 15 working days until lost - so 3 weeks. But most buyers won't wait that long so you will have to compromise probably.

Royal mails policy has nothing to do with ebays. Basically a seller can open a case (which will leave a defect on your account) as soon as the latest estimated delivery date has passed. Unless you used a tracked method of postage and can prove it was delivered or delivery was attempted. Then ebay will force you to refund anyway. I kindly ask buyers to wait a week after posting before I issue a refund. If there is no sign of it after that, then I will refund. If you drag your heels and have no proof of delivery, you're only going to delay the inevitable and end up with a defect (and possible negative FB) in the process

Please consider whether you refund them informally or whether you insist, as I now do, that they go through the proper channel of raising an "item not received" case through e-bay.

This summer I found E-bay is rife with scammers who will tell you they haven't received the item you sent and expect a pay-pal refund. This leaves no trace on their feedback or e-bay account of how many times they "didn't receive" items.

After the amount of items not being received crept slowly up to 10% I started insisting they raise a formal claim so that e-bay can monitor such data. I also left feedback (positive, obviously !) detailing that the buyer stated item not received and had been refunded. If more sellers did this then scammers would be caught out more, although they could just keep creating new e-bay ID's I suppose.

I now rarely risk sending anything by standard Royal Mail, I always price p&p for second class signed for or myhermes who track the parcel all the way to the recipient.

I let one would be claimant know that e-bay were now monitoring the amount of items not received and I'd be including his details in my latest submission to them also forwarding to Royal Mail who were disputing the amount of claims I was making, having kept proof of posting each time and guess what happened ? The item apparently turned up a week later - coincidence eh !

if you send with online proof of delivery than there is no need to raise a case. Send My Hermes for £2.98 if under 1kg - RM signed for is pretty pointless as many posties never bother to obtain a signature. It is part of the paypal agreement that you send with tracking - they even state that on the email you will receive when you are paid.

Bear in mind though that Hermes often don't obtain a signature either. Today Hermes delivered 4 of my large packages, one was "Delivered - signature received from customer", two were "Parcel delivered" ie left outside houses, and one was "Delivered - parcel posted in letterbox" ie Hermes specifically lied when in reality they'd left the package outisde a house.

Hermes don't need a signature to prove delivery though - I have never paid extra for one.

Hmmm, if a buyer opened a case saying they didn't receive a parcel left outside their house by Hermes I'm not sure I'd win as the seller.

you would as you have online proof of delivery.

You can track the delivery of stuff sent by myhermes standard service but if you want the recipient to sign to acknowledge receipt that costs extra I believe.

I've now sent 128 parcels with myhermes since I found they have a drop shop which is on my way to work and not a single item has not been received despite no signature being required in all but a couple of cases (high value items). I only pay £2.78 per parcel weighing under 1kg and can track its progress to the recipient.

I'm a total convert to myhermes drop shop service as it also takes a lot less time to hand over parcels and get a scanned receipt for any number of parcels in a drop off than it does to queue up at the post office and have to request proof of postage for each parcel.

Yup I am a total convert too - except I pay for stuff to be collected. I just leave stuff in the porch and local chap picks up regular as clockwork. Cheaper than RM and just no hassle. And linked to eBay so tracking automatically added at point of purchase. Cheaper than RM too. And the one item they broke, full refund within days. Is a no brainer.

I use them for most stuff but I like to be aware of potential limitations. I always opt for a signature on items over £100 or if an item is going to a flat in a city and costs more than £50. This encourages couriers not to leave intriguing large boxes outside.

Also, during the Summer round here the courier service fell on its face and simply stopped operating. Hermes HQ weren't interested no matter how I complained. There were reports a couple of years ago of parcels just being chucked out of vans at the front doors of delivery addresses on the run-up to Christmas.

My view is that if a couple of percent of deliveries go wrong then if I've saved a few quid per delivery it's a valid economic trade-off.

Anyway, fingers crossed you hear your item is delivered OP.

Ha! As if by magic 15 minutes after my post I get a message claiming that a package has not been received. It fitted my criteria for requiring a signature so I had spent the extra quid and the Hermes tracking information on ebay shows "Delivered - signature received from customer". Let's see how this goes.

How does myhermes link to ebay ? Is it in the print postage label section ?

I don't use that as I assumed it was all about Royal Mail/Parcel Force

no - you log into hermes and click import ebay - just double check because it seems to default parcels to 2kg and try and charge you more - you may have to go in and change to 1kg before you pay.

Thanks Chrissy41 will try it with my next batch of parcels