How to deal with "Goods not received"

[Andrew Thomas]

Im in the UK, and thinking of selling a few goods online.

What are the posting methods used to prevent the buyer saying he never received the goods.
Some of the items will be very cheap, so should i just use a stamp, or someone like parcel force?

Also what can happen if the customer said he never received it, do I have to send another item if i have no signature?

[Morgenhund]

1. You could say in your terms of service that only your career, not you is responsible for goods lost. If the lost happens you can refer to your rules, refusing responsibility. Then you can choose if you want to re-send this item as a gesture of goodwill (if this is a valuable customer), or not.

2. You can offer several delivery methods: insured/reliable, but more expensive, and not insured/not reliable, refusing responsibility.

Just a matter of your strategy.

[topr8]

>>1. You could say in your terms of service that only your career, not you is responsible for goods lost.

sorry in the uk this does not cut it! although people do have terms like that, the retailer is responsible if the buyer does not receive the goods.

[Morgenhund]

Thank you topr8...

I'm not in England, but in EU. Wondering if there are laws in my home country requiring similar terms... Never checked it out.

[steve]

The UK regulations are based around the EU distance selling regulations.

So if you are in the EU and selling to consumers (not businesses), yes you do have to comply!

[steve]

What are the posting methods used to prevent the buyer saying he never received the goods

You can ask the PO to get a signature on delivery. If no ones home they leave a card, your customer then has to collect it from their local sorting office.

[CernyM]

Our orders average around $100, with large orders sometimes being as high as $300.

We've found that using anything other than non-guaranteed postal services would cost us more than to just accept the occasional mis-shipment loss.

As it is, around our package loss rate is around one in a thousand. Of those, we're able to help customers track down about half (e.g. local postoffice still has it, boyfriend picked it up and forgot it, its still in the mailbox). For the remainder we just ship replacements. In the very rare case that I feel like the customer is trying to pull a fast one, I'll send the replacement via a signature release mechanism.

[PCInk]

The Royal Mail in the UK offer £30 insurance (100xPrice of First Class post) to anything you send within the UK (possibly outside - but never checked it). To claim, you need to have a proof of postage form filled out when you despatch the item at the Post Office and you also need to fill in a claim form (available from the Post Office).

Over £30, you need to find a courier or send it Special Delivery (Recorded delivery is little benefit here as that only gives you £30 insurance, but does get a signature on delivery).

[internetpilot]

Wow. Stinks to be a seller in the UK then! Here in the USA, you simply put that once it leaves your (the seller's) hands, the shipping company holds all the responsibility, and then you usually recommend insurance.

When someone claims to not receive goods, it's one of two things: They either didn't receive it or the did and they're ripping you off for a second item. Either way, the chances of this customer coming back to you are slim to none. If you it's a legitimate claim and you send a second item, they customer is still likely to be miffed that "you" lost the first one and only consider you 50% reliable. If it's a fake claim, most con artists aren't going to be stupid enough to try the same thing again, unless you're a really big store and they think their name or address won't stand out the next time around.

It's an "icky" situation, for sure. UK law doesn't seem to make it any better for you sellers over there!

[Andrew Thomas]

Thankyou for your help, in particualar PCInk, I'll find out more details from the post office.

Never really posted anything expensive before so I dont know all the possibilities.

Im just worried there may be too many crooks out there claiming they never received the goods when they did, to try and scam another.

thanks again

[Deab]

We send orders £20+ via recorded delivery (cost 66p extra). We don't fill out the paperwork for this so can't ever claim (handwriting all those addresses is not worth time) but it means packages are not left without a signature / on a doorstep and gives us a limited form of tracking.