Two parcels I posted haven't turned up - do I have to refund and lose my cash and my items?!

[MrsFawlty]

Fricking royal mail. I recently sold about 7 different items and two have apparently not turned up.

Do I have to refund their money and try to claim it back via royal mail? I didn't send it registered as both buyers opted not to pay the extra but I do have the counter receipts for posting the items.

This whole thing sucks, if I dont' get the cash back from Royal Mail, I've lost a coat, a pair of jeans, the money for both, and the postage.

It's putting me off bothering using ebay again. What do I do?

I think the buyers need to just hang in there a bit with the postal strikes.

I sent them on the 7th though? One woman opened a dispute with me straight away because I didn't reply to her email within 12 hours. (I was moving house and had two ill children!) THe whole thing is such a pain in the arse, I really could live without it.

Tell your buyers to wait. I have had to wait 2 weeks for stuff to turn up since the end of summer - RM service has been disrupted for ages. After two weeks (which is when RM will refund on registered post so it's their timeframe for delivery), then you can refund.

Sodding PITA isn't it?

I would ask them to wait a couple of weeks. One thing I was waiting for got lost and went back to the seller and she resent for me.

I sell things online, not just ebay, and because of the way PAYPAL works I send everything recorded, I see it asprotecting myself as much as anything. PAYPAL won't accept proof of posting receipts as proof, they require a tracking number.

Hope your stuff gets through ok.x

Ensure that you get an email from the buyer that states they haven't received it 2 weeks after it was sent. You then use that to claim from royal mail.

I would ask your buyers to wait 2 weeks and if they can confirm then that they have/have not recieved it you will refund them that day and reclaim from royal mail.

Thank you. I've spoken to Royal Mail and got some forms to fill in. Do I actually need them to email me stating the situation, or will them opening a dispute via Paypal do?

Never, never posting anything without a tracking number again.

Recorded is (on ebay) not there to rpotect the buyer but the seller, if you always insist on recorded (it is only an extra 7o something pence so doesn't need to bump postage up THAT much) then you will be better off!! That only covers you up to £39 though so bear that in mind too!