scrooge7

hello
first time I have this problem,I have just sold zelda free disk on march 6 and mail it out on march 8 now buyer just email me and wondering where his game is.I have send it out by priority mail and do have the receipt showing that I send it to his zipcode but I did not get a tracking number for that item.am I screw,I also notice that he sell that Item also,what would you do if you were in the same situation.
any help is apreciated.
thanks in advance.
scrooge
p.s. here's the link to this item and also to his feedback.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ESSO%3AIT&rd=1

kayak99

First thing is DO NOT GIVE HIS MONEY BACK!

That is what has been tried on me and most who sell. Bet he's scammed you and others.

Go to the post office and have a trace sent. He will have to sign for it on his end certifying he did not receive it.

You also offered optional insurance. If he did not purchase it that's his fault.

Lastly, do not leave him a feedback until he leaves one for you. Even if he leaves you a complaint, (which I doubt he will) that gives you th opportunity to leave him another red mark and to explain you are not responsible for the post office especially when he does not buy insurance.

scrooge7

thank you Kayak99 for the info,on the trace send how does that work,I made a dumb mistake and did not send it with a return receipt.does a trace send still work.again thank you so much for the information.
sincerly
scrooge

LasVegasMichael

eBay large volume seller here. Okay, first of all, how did he pay? This is MOST important. If he payed with paypal, you will have BIG problems. More on this later.

First of all, no claim can be filed with the PO until 30 days after mailing. After thirty days, you can fill out a missing parcel form, to which he has to agree to do as well (which is unlikely), and then submitted. The problem is that if he paid with paypal, he must claim that he didn't receive the item PRIOR TO 30 DAYS. This is a double edged sword that is in the buyers favor.

Not necessarily. Once again, if he paid with paypal, insurance is not required for the seller or the buyer to be protected. All that is required is TRACKING, which the seller did not get (very bad idea).

Without tracking, you are really stuck in a rut, which is very unfortunate. If he used paypal, he will win. No question about it. Tracking (and shipping to a confirmed address) is required to be protected in any way.

All you can do now is wait, and hope that he tells you that he received it. If he paid with a money order or check, then the ball is in your court, but you may not ever know if he is legitimately telling you the truth or fabricating lies.

For the future, be sure you get Delivery Confirmation ON EVERY PACKAGE. It is $.45 on Priority Mail (or free online) and worth every cent.

Good luck!

Tony Dvdfan

LVM hit every point...if paypal was used you are, in fact screwed....if the guy does a chargeback and you didnt get DC, you will be required to refund his money......ALWAYS use delivery confirmation. Good luck!

LasVegasMichael

In fact, Paypal doesn't just require you to do it, they do it for you, with no choice!

If a claim is filed, paypal automatically takes the money from your Paypal account, even if you have a zero balance (will show as a negative balance).

Tony Dvdfan

good point....do they still add a $10 fee when they do a chargeback against you? Havent had a chargeback in about a year, but i remember they took an extra $10 out of my account.

LasVegasMichael

Knock wood, I have never had a CC chargeback, so I couldn't tell you, but it wouldn't surprise me.

It is not in the buyers favor to go through their CC and do a chargeback, as Paypal may then restrict the buyers account (chargebacks hit paypal as well as the seller).

It is in the buyers favor to go through the Paypal complaint process (which is what most likely will happen). The only times a buyer would go through the CC would be if Paypal declined their complaint, or if they were really, really dumb.

scrooge7

thank you so much for all the reply,if anything I have learned a valuable lesson.again thank you again to LasVegasMichael,Tony dvdfan and to kayak.
scrooge

resinrats

I always add in a Delivery Confirmation when i sell something. I don't give the seller a choice on the matter. Just add $0.45 onto the shipping price. It has saved my butt in the past when people have asked where an item is. I punch in the number and it said it was delivered on a certain date. Didn't hear a word more about it.

marty888

Most of the 1000 items I've sold are less than $20 (DVDs, VHS tapes, CDs, theatrical playbills). For the pricier items that were more than $20, I used delivery confirmation - maybe 10% of the items. For the rest, I did not.

Twice I had buyers claim they did not receive their items and I had not done the delivery confirmation thing. I simply refunded their money - $14 in one case, $7.50 in the other. Total refunds given = $21.50.

Not paying for delivery confirmation on 900 items @ .45 per item saved $405.00. Subtract the refunds I gave, and I'm still ahead by more than $380.00.

The point is, if you are selling a lot of items at modest prices, it may not be worth spending the money on delivery confirmation each and every time. If you get burned on an item every now and then, it's simply the cost of doing business.

resinrats

The delivery confirmation does not cost me anything. I add it into the shipping cost that the seller has to pay.

BigT

If you use Priority, you can print out a label from the USPS site https://sss-web.usps.com/ds/jsps/index.jsp and delivery confimation is free! I do this all the time. There's a one time download. If you use Media Mail, there's a page (I don't have a link) to print a label and delivery confirmation will be only 13 cents.

BigT

It's too late now, but always use delivery confirmation or tracking if it's available. Also, in your auction description, add a paragraph that says that if the buyer declines insurance, you (the seller) are not responsible for lost or damaged packages. The later probably won't help you on a PAYPAL chargeback, but it does give the buyer a warning.

Troy Stiffler

Actually, that is a service on your PayPal account now. You can just ship it directly from there, and don't even have to fill in the address.

scrooge7

wow,thanks for all the great info,if anything I have learned so much from everybody.Update,I went ahead and refund him the money.thanks again for all the great info.
sincerly
anh

LasVegasMichael

But it doesn't have to be.

1. DC is free if printed online.

2. Adding $.45 to your shipping charge ($.55 if First Class) is really irrelevant and doesn't cost you anything. It costs your buyer two bits, and not a dime from you, the seller.

Eric F

Delivery Confirmation isn't proof that anyone received the package, only that it was delivered. It's no good. You will lose on eBay/Half with it every time.

Better to use Signature Confirmation, which costs less than Delivery Confirmation+Return Receipt.

Troy Stiffler

PayPal doesn't need a ($1.30) Sigunature Confirmation on purchases under $250. They will accept a Delivery Confirmation as proof of delivery. So if you're dealing with an honest customer, everything is cool. If the person is not honest, it doesn't matter if you Fed Ex Overnighted it, had it signed for, and hired a notary to witness the delivery. They'll do a direct credit-card-chargeback, and PayPal will hold you 100% liable.

Plus, if you are dealing with an honest person/lost shipment, it'd be reasonable to think that they'd take the loss. I know I would if it said the package was delivered, but it's not in my hands. I mean, when someone ships for their PayPal account, it is trackable from your account, and shows the address it was sent to. So I would consider that as something to take up with the mailman.

And why would you pay for a return receipt anyways? I think that's for people who don't have internet access. You can see if something was delivered on the USPS website.

Not sure how half works.

And I'd like to note that I use Priority Mail on most of my shipments, and the PO has NEVER lost a package of mine! I've probably sent upwards of 1K through them, and everything has been absolutely fine. Same thing goes for Fed Ex Ground, who I use for around 250 packages per month.

Heat

You could try bluffing him. Make an educated guess as to when he received the item, then email him back and say that your delivery confirmation says that he received it on that date.

You don't have anything to lose by trying it.

potnoodlez

I had the exact same thing happen to me recently. I didn't hear from the guy after a few weeks, so I assumed he received the item and left positive feedback. Well, after I left the feedback he emails me claiming that he never received the package. I grew immediately suspicious of this guy because he was trying to squeeze every penny he could get from me. Not only did he want a total refund, but he wanted money for the stamp and envelope. I know it's not a lot, but come on.

Anyway, I went to the ebay community forums to ask them their opinion and I was told the proper way to handle the situation was to offer a partial refund. He wouldn't accept it, so I just took the neg. So not only did I learn to use delivery confirmation, I learned to not leave any feedback until you know for sure everything is clear.

diesteldorf

Just wanted to say a few things. Feel free to comment.

Most people that buy new items on Ebay do so to save money
by not having to pay the higher prices at a conventional or
online store.

Unfortunately, those same people still expect the same
rights and protection they would get at a conventional store

If you require the buyer to purchase insurance on every single item in order to have so protection that's your right. However, a couple of things could happen.

1) The buyers will end up bidding less or going elsewhere.

2) Buyers will not purchase insurance.

If someone states that they didn't receive their item and you say,
"Sorry, you didn't purchase insurance etc....." They will
still be upset and may or may not take further action (negative feedback, chargebacks etc.)

If the item I'm selling is one that I can't afford to take a loss on,
I wil purchase additional insurance. Otherwise, if it's a
smaller priced item, I'll refund and write off the loss as a cost of doing business.

I've also shipped overseas and have only had one package in over
100 shipped go missing----it was going to Sweden and I refunded.

If you sell enough, you'll eventually encounter a problem or two.
Having to refund for a lost package isn't fun, but it happens.
Similarly, I've sold new DVDs on ebay only to have the buyer
say that it won't play correctly etc. I've always refunded after
I receive the item back. However, it still ends up being a
loss because the item is now longer sealed and in brand new condition.

Requiring a buyer to pay an extra fee for delivery confirmation will
probably mean that the final bid price will be less, so it will probably cost you money even though the buyer pays for it.
That's why, as others have said, it is better to print the labels online and get DC for free.

Most buyers will be pretty patient when waiting for packages
if you make an effort to keep in touch with them. Right after
September 11th I had several people e-mailing that they were concerned because their packages hadn't arrived after a
week (Priority mail). I kept in touch with them and assured them I would file a trice with the post office after 30 days and refund their money.

Every package did arrive eventually. One didn't come until 2-3
weeks later, but the guy was very understanding when he
could see that it was mailed on the day I said it was.

Finally, with regard to Paypal, it has it's good and bad points.
Buyers love it (inclusing me) because of convenience.
By not offering it, you will probably lose potential bidders.

It's also unrealistic to refuse to accept Paypal on large purchases and require that people send a check or money order. While
doing that will certainly offer more protection as a seller, it offers
no protection as a buyer. Many people use Paypal on large purchases simply so they have recourse with Paypal or their CC
company. I really doubt that most buyers would be thrilled
to send a check or MO for a substantial purchase.

Would anyone here send a money order or check if the item was more than $100-$200? You can bet if I'm buying a high-priced item, I will use a CC.

The bottom line is HONESTY. If a buyer or seller is unethical and
determined to screw you, they can usually find a way to do it.

al_bundy

Best thing on low priced items is to add the cost f thievery and loss into the selling price, or in case of ebay into the S&H. For expensive items I still add the cost of insurance and DC into the shipping quote.