inr help please

[nickstmoritz]

Hi, Could anyone help me resolve this please? Is it best to ask buyer to open an INR case or just refund via paypal and claim from RM? I suspect buyer is not being honest but I sent standard 1st with pop cert not signed for (yes I know!) but it was for a £12 item so wanted to keep postage low. Buyer left it 18 days before contacting me about the item. What is the best way to avoid a defect and bad fb as buyer's fb left for others has quite a few negs neutrals and mentions of not receiving items (sigh). I would prefer to get my fvf back if possible but protecting my 2000 + pos fb is a priority too. Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas.

I would just refund and claim - and send them cancellation request too. Nothing you can do will guarantee they don't neg though.

Thanks twinkle I did just that. Best to take the hit and claim back this time. I can't really prove anything but I might try report buyer button. maybe they can look at messages sent as this person doesn't open inr case (probably because it would become obvious what they were doing).

To be honest I hate selling around xmas as there are always a little crop of bad buyers and the post is always slow so it makes for problems. I have had some 1st class signed for items take 5 or 6 days to arrive this year.

99% of buyers are lovely but the bad apples really do spoil it (and yes I know same goes for sellers too)
Merry Christmas all and thanks for the help on here x

unfortunately that's the risk you take when you don't send items tracked. unless you're willing to take a defect on your account by asking them to open a case, you just need to refund and move on. however, firstly i'd ask them to confirm their delivery address and check it matches up to the one provided at the time of purchase.

if you have a 2000+ feedback then i'm thinking maybe you are a business seller, in which case, you can claim back any refunds for items lost in the post against your tax return, if you don't manage to get compo from RM.

After reading your post I see you mention about your buyers feedback I would report for possible misuse of of refund system far too many people are doing this at present and it gives genuine buyers who do loose items a bad name.

glam / op I missed that bit about buyer having loads of feedback for INR's. In that case I would be tempted to tell them to open a case and tell them you will be conducting your own investigation with ebay. (then report them as being dodgy).

also please note, if an item is NR'd (circumstances outwith your control) and you refund / replace in good time, then any neutral / neg feedback can be appealed and is usually removed by ebay. I've had some removed this morning in fact!

If a buyer is reported enough, EBay block them from opening cases. This is why serial offenders now send you a reasonable email asking for refund.

Personally I would prefer them to be blocked from buying, but this is ebay we're talking about.

The good news is that Royal Mail are the ones getting fed up with having to pay out for apparently lost Ebay items and are now investigating - their fraud department is very busy at the moment!

Sorry - that should say RM are investigating the dodgy buyers - not the sellers putting in claims.

AD - it still means sellers are less likely to get a pay out for "lost" parcels though. I fail to see how far they will get "investigating dodgy buyers". Quite simply they send a form to the buyer asking for details of the item that "hasn't arrived". Buyer doesn't respond and seller doesn't get any compo for the "lost" item. Great.

I always send copies of all emails from the buyer saying they haven't received the item, and RM usually pay up.

My sources tell me that if RM receive more than a couple of "lost parcel" claims for the same address within a short period of time, they start a fraud investigation and are starting to bring prosecutions. There is also an organisation called Action Fraud which is keen to stamp out this theft.

I have had a number of INRs over the last few months, which, when challenged, either suddenly receive the parcel or go quiet. I quite often contact the last 6 sellers who have left feedback (looking for business sellers who leave automatic feedback) and then contact them to see if they had the same issue. If they have, I ask them to report the buyer. I then contact the buyer with this information and ask them to open a case so Ebay can see the issue, I know this is dangerous due to defects but so far none of them have opened a case.

I should point out that I only do this with buyers who set off red flags, if I feel the buyer is honest I offer a replacement immediately.