Problems with cancelled transactions

[BubbleTea]

The buyer opened a case: Item not received

Details provided by the buyer:
The buyer has not received the item
The buyer paid on 22 Mar, 2012
The buyer paid for the item with PayPal.
The buyer did not give permission to share a phone number with you.

Additional information:
"Item was cancelled by ebay but I had already paid. Item never received."

The buyer wanted:
The buyer prefers a full refund.


Alright, so this item was cancelled by eBay due to Vero takedown but the buyer had already paid and the funds were in my Paypal.
So I went ahead and sent the item to the buyer.
Few weeks later, she opened this case.
Well, I refunded her (as usual) since I have no tracking to prove the item being sent.
It was a low value item.

I'm wondering if she really did not receive the item or if she just wanted to take my money, knowing that she can since the item got cancelled.
Does anyone else have such experience?

In future, if I get my item taken off but the buyer has already paid, should I go ahead and send out the item or refund the buyer?

[Thankful]

Because e/b is likely to email the buyers telling that such and such were taken and they are advised not to pay blah blah.

Some will obviously take advantage and say they didn't receive it as your already in trouble with e/b.

But it makes sense for you to send out an item if the buyer has already paid and an item is taken down - you could msg the buyer trying to explain to them that it was a misunderstanding with e/b try to reassure your buyers .

[BubbleTea]

Originally Posted by Thankful

Because e/b is likely to email the buyers telling that such and such were taken and they are advised not to pay blah blah.

Some will obviously take advantage and say they didn't receive it as your already in trouble with e/b.

But it makes sense for you to send out an item if the buyer has already paid and an item is taken down - you could msg the buyer trying to explain to them that it was a misunderstanding with e/b try to reassure your buyers .

I think I had 2-3 taken down but buyer paid.
I sent out all items. No trouble from the others.
Just this one.
From UK.
I get a lot of item not received from UK.
Not sure if it is the mail - I post from overseas now.
I never had this issue when I posted from within UK.
Is international mail more prone to getting stolen by Royal Mail?

[Thankful]

Originally Posted by BubbleTea

Is international mail more prone to getting stolen by Royal Mail?

With Royal Mail i would any mail is prone to get stolen to be honest with you

There have many cases of staff losing their jobs over stolen mail here.

Although over the years they come down hard on them - but obviously you still have some thieves i'm sure - I ship just within the UK I would say for every 100 parcels i send out i'll have about 5 to 10 reports of missing items.

Perhaps you've been unlucky and stumbled upon some thieves with that said i can't always blame them may just be lost mail.

[BubbleTea]

I had only ever lost one package posted from within UK and that was a camera worth £100+.
It had tracking but still got lost.
I probably posted around 25-30 items in total.

Now my international lost mail rate is about 10%, 1 in every 10.
Mostly UK and US. :(
Is lost (not stolen) mail common by Royal Mail?
Do mail with tracking have a higher chance of not getting lost?
My UK friend said sometimes people bomb the mail vans.

Actually, sometimes nasty neighbors can steal your stuff too when the postman leaves it with them. I notice the postman in UK like to leave the packages with the neighbors if the recipient is not in.
Once, my housemate 'stole' the neighbor's bag that the post left with us.
It was an online purchase but not from eBay... some company.
But he did it just because he hated the neighbor... so there, nasty neighbors (my housemate).
Another time, they left the other neighbor's stuff with me; but I'm nice and I gave it to them when they came back.

Yeah, I read the post about how many thousands of them got sacked for stealing. It's so terrible.
Do you know how much they get paid for work?
Are they paid decent salaries?

[Gamefreak]

its sad really but buyers need to do things like this to teach sellers a lesson. The first lesson in online selling is ALWAYS provide tracking no matter how inexpensive the item is. It protects you from the buyer in most cases.

perhaps she knew you didnt put tracking and she knew she would get away with it. Like you said yourself u can do sh!t. Buyer claims what will happen ebay/paypal will side with her

[BubbleTea]

I don't agree with your "first lesson".
And this buyer haven't "taught me a lesson" or taught me anything new.
This is not new.
I'm not stupid and I've done my sums.
I have factored in the cost of these refunds and calculated that it costs me ~75-90% more to send by tracking, as compared to no tracking plus refunds.

So why would I send by tracking... just to avoid buyer claims?
When I can happily refund and still end up paying much less overall?
Tell me where is the logic in paying more for shipping?
Just so buyer cannot make claims? Even though my cost is much higher without these claims?

You can't blindly follow these rules.
I know about this tracking rule for selling.
But you just have to work out if it is worth it to pay for tracking or to pay for refunds.
Also, tracking does not guarantee your protection if the item cannot be tracked in the other country.
And if the final status is something else rather than "Delivered."
There are still grey areas... it is not a fool-proof insurance.
While the money in my pocket saved from tracking cost is 100% guaranteed!

I posted this not to whine about refunds, don't get me wrong.
Since I have factored this as part of my cost, I am "happy" to pay it.
But of course, I want to minimise cost and loss.
And since this was a different situation, I wondered if it made me more prone to getting these false refunds.
Cos I could very well just refund without sending the item as the transaction was cancelled.