Michael Corvin

On the flip side you could use the automated postal machine to generate postage & a receipt and just walk out without actually mailing the package.

How do we know for sure that's not what you did?

reverie

I just bought two items from someone on eBay. They said they'd ship them together, but when I got it, there was only one of them in the box. I'm in the process of fighting it now, but they claim it was sent and use the UPS tracking number as proof; which as I said in my rebuttal, I'm not disputing something wasn't delivered, just not all of it!

Kevin M. Dean

Maybe it's gotten to the point with sender and receivers that you need to video everything you do as documentaion. So you video yourself opening the untampered box to reveal missing items and the sender videos the placement of the items in the box and the placing of the mailing lable on the box. I wonder if that would hold up in a dispute.

kd5

Knowing what kinds of assholes there are out there in Ebay-land, whenever I sell something I always get Delivery Confirmation through Ebay (.12 or .13 extra), then I take the item to the post office and get a receipt for it. That way, I have a record of it being logged into the system and both the buyer & I can track it to their door. I hope I never run into anyone trying to scam me, I've already had someone wanting to know if I would ship a DVD through their UPS account to save Media Mail charges, no way in hell am I going outside the system and getting my ass burned in the process. Told them 'Sorry, but I don't want to do that.' -kd5-

TheBang

As I mentioned a few posts above yours, along with the recent Postal Service rates increases, Delivery Confirmation is now FREE for all classes of package mail with electronically-generated postage, including PayPal shipping and eBay shipping. There should be no reason to ship anything without Delivery Confirmation now.

tecHouse

did this ebay seller have a good feedback score, and a lot of ratings?

Super X

I've sold a number of items over the years on eBay and I always, always, always use delivery confirmation. But that comes from paranoia about exactly the sort of situation that happened to you. I always want protection from a recipient who tries to claim they never received a package by having the evidence that it actually was delivered. I'll generally only use signature confirmation if I have particular concerns about a buyer.

RoadToPerdition

Speaking from experience and from reading others', you need to do everything you can to protect yourself as a seller. eBay WILL NOT side with the seller. No matter what argument you make, unless you have some kind of proof to back up your side of the story, they don't want to hear it. Very frustrating. Meanwhile, the buyer can have no proof whatsoever, yet they are automatically backed up by eBay.

Michael Corvin

Sad but true. People are assholes.

kd5

I'll have to pay particular attention to that next time I sell something, the last time I sold an item, Delivery Confirmation was a few cents extra. If it's now free as you say, that's all for the better. -kd5-

TheBang

It's listed here:

http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#1613376

As you can see, it's free for First Class and Priority Mail, which is what most people use to ship. I believe there is still a $0.19 charge for Parcel Post and Media Mail (they fall under "Package Services"), so I was wrong when I said all classes of mail.

Profane

This happened to me a few years ago, but I even used delivery confirmation. I shipped a Criterion to Brooklyn, NY and the customer said he never received the DVD even though it showed it was delivered. They filed a complaint with eBay and they won the dispute despite the fact that I had evidence of delivery confirmation.

Be VERY careful selling on eBay, they have an awful track record of protecting their sellers and it's gotten much worse in recent years. Every time they update their policies, it's usually to give buyers the ability to get a refund in almost any situation.

ben12

I would just factor that in as a cost of doing business. I've been selling on eBay for over 10 years and have a feedback rating of over 500. I've never encountered someone pulling this shit with one of my auctions, though I know it would be easy for anyone to do it.

If you're selling something particularly expensive (say, over $100), then take extra precautions -- video tape the packing, which includes putting a shipping label (or something similar) over the seam of the box opening, get signature confirmation, etc.

If most of what you sell is over $100, then this should be part of your regular routine. Unless it happens so frequently that the time you'd be spending doing this for every package outweighs the potential loss from one or two fraudulent buyers over a few years.