Who is ultimately responsible for making sure I receive my parcel? Seller or Royal Mail?

[jellytot76]

Hi,

I bought an £110 item from Ebay last week. The seller has posted the item using standard 2nd class delivery. I received a "You were out.." red card through the letterbox when Royal Mail tried to deliver it during the week. I went to the Collection office on Saturday to collect it. But they could not find it. So what do I do? Who do I chase to get the money back? Or who's responsibility is it to chase Royal Mail? Me the Buyer or the Seller? I just don't want to be £110 out of pocket!

[poodicat]

Would think it would be royal mail

[sara3]

def Royal Mail. the seller fulfilled their side of the deal.

[mike11111]

2 things:

1) Did you allow 48 hours for the parcel to get back to the collection office?

2) As you have received a card the Royal mail clearly received the parcel, so I am afraid it is between you and them. The seller has obviously discharged his duty.

[Canary42]

Providing they have Proof of Posting, the Seller is not liable.

[boxtops]

Hi, I buy and sell on eBay and in this instance your first port of call should be to chase the Royal Mail, but please do keep your seller informed of what is going on. The package has obviously been in Royal Mail's hands as you had the card, so it's Royal Mail who have lost it. The comment above about leaving enough time to get back to the sorting office is fair enough so go back tomorrow, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, until they find it. IF it's gone missing completely then it has to be the person who sold it to you who raises the claim with Royal Mail (which is why you need to keep them informed), as the seller has to fill in a claim form for a lost package and provide details of the transaction cost, proof of postage etc. Personally I would not be happy selling an item of this value and only using second class post, I would want it by recorded delivery at least so it should be tracked, and it's good practice for sellers to ask the PO for a proof of postage so there is no doubt when it was mailed - and you also have the delivery card so keep hold of that, take a copy in case the sorting office asks to keep it.
I have had one instance where the Royal Mail mislaid a package addressed to me when I went to fetch it, it was missing - but I went back the next day and they had found it, so don't despair yet.
The other query is, did you pay by PayPal? as you may have some recourse there but I am not sure. If the claim has to go to Royal Mail to investigate then it can take some weeks to resolve and the money will be sent to the seller who then has to refund you for the value of the item. Postage is not included in the claim (or wasn't the last time I had to do this).
Sorry for the length fo this post but I have tried to give as much info as I can!

[jellytot76]

Yes, it was 3 days between attempted delivery and attempted collection. I have been given the manager's number at the collection office to ring tomorrow. So will see what they say. From what I have read on the Royal Mail website, I will only get up to £39 compensation as the seller used the cheapest possible method of sending the item (which I'm annoyed about as I have lost out!) providing that he has kept the proof of postage, again this rests with the seller not the buyer. So if they don't find it I will be at least £60 out of pocket

[Buenchico]

If you paid using a Visa debit or credit card, or a Mastercard credit card (but not a Maestro debit card) you should be able to claim under the chargeback scheme:
http://www.which.co.u...debit-cards/index.jsp

If you paid via Paypal you can still use your card issuer's chargeback system (even though you've not got the normal rights that you would have had, under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, as if you'd paid directly to the vendor by credit card). However Paypal's own compensation system might also be open to you.

You've probably got more chance of getting your money back from either the chargeback scheme or from Paypal than you would have directly from the vendor. The vendor's bank, or Paypal, might then seek compensation from the vendor but that's got nothing to do with you.

If the vendor can prove the value of the item they posted, they can get a maximum of £39 in compensation from Royal Mail. If they can't prove the value of the item they'll get just 6 First Class (39p) stamps:
http://www.royalmail....0743&mediaId=80300750

Chris

[ABerrant]

You should wait a while to confirm the loss but in any event you should not be left greatly out of pocket because the seller must chase the claim and receive the (up to) £39 compensation and you should be refunded the purchase price of £110.

A few points to clarify your position -

• Royal Mail will not consider the item lost until the 15th day.

• An eBay customer with a claim for loss will have insufficient information to make an acceptable claim to Royal Mail. The seller has contracted the service and it is their responsibility to make the claim not their customer, irrespective of their terms of trade.

• The eBay seller must compensate the customer. Under English Law it is the vendor's responsibility to deliver the goods. Statements often seen on eBay such as "I am not responsible for non delivery or damage" are totally invalid. If a customer chooses to force a repayment through eBay or take legal action, the vendor does not have a leg to stand on.

[ABerrant]

http://pages.ebay.co....tem-not-received.html

[Canary42]

Thanks for that Aberrant, something I wasn't aware of.

[jellytot76]

Thank you all for your advice, I will wait the required 15 days to confirm it is officially lost in Royal Mail's hands. I am hoping it will turn up of course. In the meantime I will contact the buyer explaining what has happened and see what he is prepared to do about it. I do feel angry that it wasn't posted by Special Delivery or sent by courier given its value at the very least by Recorded Delivery. Will keep you posted (pardon the pun!)

[boxtops]

Jellytot, one further thought occurs to me - and yes I do endorse the comments about using the eBay resolution centre - but if the package is not delivered to you/collected from the sorting office, then after three weeks (if they've found it) the package should be returned to sender. This happened to me when a buyer declined to collect the item, it was returned to me, although admittedly not until some weeks later. If your seller is then willing to remail the item to you (at their own expense, and using a safer tracked method of despatch) then you just might still get your item. I do hope so - experiences like this leave a sour taste and give eBay trading a poor name. I still think your first recourse is the sorting office - the postman obviously had it in his hand when he put the card through your door.

[boxtops]

That's interesting Eddie - I must admit I don't give a choice to the buyer, I state what method I'm using (usually 1st class with proof of postage, but RD or SD if the item is of value) - but I have had a buyer request RD and has paid the extra. How do you do it, do you contact the buyer after the sale's finished to ask them which they'd like? (sorry jelly for borrowing your thread.)

[boxtops]

Thanks Eddie - I've not used that extra option, I will have a look next time I list.

[Houchenshead]

Has it been returned to seller? I had an item returned to me after the RM had tried to deliver 3 times (I always put a return address label on box). Anyway, I contacted the buyer and she clearly wasn't bothered that the item had been returned but she paid for me to re-send it. Guess what? It was returned to me again a week or so later. I think she wasn't quite all there??

[boxtops]

Jellytot, I had a remindeer this morning about the eBay buyer protection policy, it says:
..........
Always pay for your purchases with PayPal.
To use eBay Buyer Protection, you’ll need to pay for your item using PayPal.
If your item isn’t as described or doesn’t arrive, contact the seller first.
Give them a chance to sort things out for you.
If you still need help, let us know your problem. We’re available 7 days a week.
You can notify us online or our customer service representatives who are available Monday-Friday: 08:00AM-10:00PM and Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays: 09:00AM-06:00PM.
We’ll work with the seller to help sort things out.
We’ll contact the seller on your behalf and ask them to solve your issue within 10 days. After 10 days if the problem can’t be resolved between you and the seller, you’ve paid using PayPal and your claim qualifies for coverage with eBay Buyer Protection, eBay will arrange for the purchase price plus original shipping to be refunded through PayPal.
If you didn’t pay with PayPal
If the seller hasn’t resolved your issue you can still contact us and we will work with the seller to try to resolve the problem.
.....
You haven't mentioned so far that you contacted eBay so may I recommend that you do as they suggest (and so do I!) - it may be that a pattern is emerging with this seller whcih (as others say) may not be evident from feedback. eBay will do its best to help you, I am sure.
Good luck - let us know how you get on!

[jellytot76]

Well good news, I got a phone call from Royal Mail yesterday saying they had found my parcel. They sent it out for delivery and I received it yesterday, so I am very relieved! I wrote to the seller and told him what had happened. I told him that in future he should send items of value using Special Delivery or a Courier. That way he is guaranteed to not be out of pocket if anything should get lost. He appreciated my feedback.

So thank you all for your advice, I have certainly learnt a lot from this thread.

[robbo966]

The responsibility lies with the seller until it arrives at your address. Check the law on this one.