Ebay Item Failure of Return, Left £180 Out of Pocket
Discussion
Hi folks,
In mid December 2011, I win an Ebay auction on a tuning part for my car (circa £180). The seller provided excellent communication and sure enough I had the part the next day. Unfortunately the part didn't fit my vehicle as it was wrongly described (was meant for a 1.9PD not 2.0PD engine), ongoing communication with the seller he was happy for me to return the item and provided me with a return address for a full refund.
I posted the item back to the seller re-sealed in its original packaging. Week 1, the seller does not receive the return. Week 2, still no sign of return. Week 3, still no sign.
Having contacted Ebay, they suggested continued communication with the seller, which didn't really help my situation of a missing parcel. I suggested to the seller to ask his neighbors and to check with his local post office, all of which didn't know of the whereabouts of the parcel.
I asked in my local Post Office the best solution for missing items, to which they handed me a claim form. I completed the form with all the necessary evidence for the claim however in receiving the correspondence; "I realise that you requested a higher payment, but the service you used does not attract that level of cover" (Royal Mail) - Enclosed a check of £48.61.
Now I am left out of pocket by about £150, and its not my fault. I guess its neither my, or the sellers fault. I am reluctant to cash in the cheque as it is such a minimal amount.
Furthermore; am I able to take any further action to claim back my money?
Is it really for me as the 'buyer' who is making a 'return' to make the claim, or should I be entitled to the full refund, and should it be the seller to make the claim?
All advice would be much appreciated. This is a lesson learned!
Cheers,
Lund
In mid December 2011, I win an Ebay auction on a tuning part for my car (circa £180). The seller provided excellent communication and sure enough I had the part the next day. Unfortunately the part didn't fit my vehicle as it was wrongly described (was meant for a 1.9PD not 2.0PD engine), ongoing communication with the seller he was happy for me to return the item and provided me with a return address for a full refund.
I posted the item back to the seller re-sealed in its original packaging. Week 1, the seller does not receive the return. Week 2, still no sign of return. Week 3, still no sign.
Having contacted Ebay, they suggested continued communication with the seller, which didn't really help my situation of a missing parcel. I suggested to the seller to ask his neighbors and to check with his local post office, all of which didn't know of the whereabouts of the parcel.
I asked in my local Post Office the best solution for missing items, to which they handed me a claim form. I completed the form with all the necessary evidence for the claim however in receiving the correspondence; "I realise that you requested a higher payment, but the service you used does not attract that level of cover" (Royal Mail) - Enclosed a check of £48.61.
Now I am left out of pocket by about £150, and its not my fault. I guess its neither my, or the sellers fault. I am reluctant to cash in the cheque as it is such a minimal amount.
Furthermore; am I able to take any further action to claim back my money?
Is it really for me as the 'buyer' who is making a 'return' to make the claim, or should I be entitled to the full refund, and should it be the seller to make the claim?
All advice would be much appreciated. This is a lesson learned!
Cheers,
Lund
blueg33 said:
I use Parcel Monkey and select a carrier with a full tracking service.
It really is up to you as the poster to ensure that you use a service that gives enough insurance and a good way of tracking etc.
I wasn't aware of the claim/compensation limitations attached with each of the services.It really is up to you as the poster to ensure that you use a service that gives enough insurance and a good way of tracking etc.
ollycolly said:
I am afraid it is "your fault" if you didn't send the item using recorded post 
Be careful with recorded post, I found before it actually means you can find out if it was signed for or not. That's it.You can't actually track where the parcel is midway, so if it gets lost there is just as much cover, just you know it's not been signed for.
Special delivery is the option which actually tracks it with Royal Fail.
Right, well that certainly won't help as there's a chance the seller got it back and realised you could do nothing.
Part of the ebay buyer protection rules is to send back everything recorded, and the seller can say what they like as long as you can send ebay a signed delivery note.
If the guy is a seasoned ebayer, as soon as he'd see a return coming back without recorded delivery, he'd know he's quids in.
If you don't trust the guy, post him a house brick, and then moan to paypal about getting your money back.
Part of the ebay buyer protection rules is to send back everything recorded, and the seller can say what they like as long as you can send ebay a signed delivery note.
If the guy is a seasoned ebayer, as soon as he'd see a return coming back without recorded delivery, he'd know he's quids in.
If you don't trust the guy, post him a house brick, and then moan to paypal about getting your money back.
TheEnd said:
Right, well that certainly won't help as there's a chance the seller got it back and realised you could do nothing.
Part of the ebay buyer protection rules is to send back everything recorded, and the seller can say what they like as long as you can send ebay a signed delivery note.
If the guy is a seasoned ebayer, as soon as he'd see a return coming back without recorded delivery, he'd know he's quids in.
If you don't trust the guy, post him a house brick, and then moan to paypal about getting your money back.
I was just about to post something similar. Always a chance the seller has the item and knows you can't claim your refund as you've not secured / insured the delivery. Out of curiosity I'd probably keep an eye to see if it's relisted at some point. Not that there's anything you could do of course... Part of the ebay buyer protection rules is to send back everything recorded, and the seller can say what they like as long as you can send ebay a signed delivery note.
If the guy is a seasoned ebayer, as soon as he'd see a return coming back without recorded delivery, he'd know he's quids in.
If you don't trust the guy, post him a house brick, and then moan to paypal about getting your money back.
Lund said:
All I have is proof of postage
This is your downfall.I sell about 400 items a month on ebay and have been stung a few times by unscrupulous buyers/Dodgy Royal Mail Postmen.
The bottom line is that without a recorded delivery number you don't stand a chance. To be fair, even with a signature there are no guarantee's. I once bought a Sony computer on eBay and it got delivered to an address 30 miles away from me and signed for by a Mr Akanwembo, and still paypal found in the sellers favour as all they needed was proof of postage and proof of delivery. It was irrelevant that the signature was not mine. Also, the online tracking for recorded delivery just states whether the item has been delivered and NOT what address it was delivered to. So even though Paypal could not prove it had been delivered to me and had been signed for by somebody other than me, they still found in the sellers favour!
After getting the police involved, it turned out to be an elaborate scam between the seller and a DHL worker who re-directed my computer to his Nigerian friends. I managed to get my money back from DHL somehow as compensation but it went on for months!!
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