Ebay Sellers Protection? Item Not Recived

Is there a way to ensure sellers on ebay from customers who write that they have not received item? If the mail is not sent as registered ebay buyers can always say that has not received the item and will always be refunded. This opens up the crime space. I understand any statement in the description that the seller is not responsible for lost mail, which is not a recommended means nothing when a customer picked up the case.

Short anwser NO. ebay protects their buyers and probably rightfully so. A seller has to determine for his/her own self at what Dollar level insurance is the best option and pass it on in the shipping charge. Insurance is for the seller, not for the buyer.

I've sold many items on ebay and have had only a very few small percentage not received. Of those there was only one case where I personally didn't believe the buyer. Just chalk it up as a cost of doing business.

Buyers that want to start making such claims, especially if untrue, will burn their bridges if they want to keep buying stamps on ebay since eventually no one will trust them if they keep on making such claims. ebay depends on honesty, trust and good will between buyers and sellers who want to maintain a long term relationship with each other. I have had it happen that I didn't receive items that I bought and paid for, but they eventually showed up after some time mostly due to the mail taking a long time from a short distance.

There are no buyer controls - if someone is dishonest, they can set up numerous new accounts and get as much "free stuff" as they want (there are posts all over the internet how to do this). In some sort of weird reasoning, e-bay considers buyers as its customers and has done everything in its power to reduce sellers (who are its real customers) to nothing more than a free supply house for dishonest buyers. As stated above, you need to protect yourself with insurance.

Very well put Jenny2U





A lot of people want to have a go at sellers with an example of reviews!

Not too many buyers are getting reviews!

So countries with buyer issues we do not sell to. And then there is the banned list. The ones that rip......

My wife forgot to put track and sign on an item that went out last week. This person would of had these expensive stamps by now. No feedback as yet. Bet I have a "item not received" claim in about 7 days......

The seller can consider, how many items have they sold the buyer in the past. If this is a regular buyer saying they did not receive their item then seller should believe them. If its a new buyer and its the first item the seller sold them, he can block the buyers id (banned list) and take the loss. If they create a new id seller will recognize their postal address and can cancel the sale. Out of thousands of sales on ebay I would say I have seen about less than 15 dishonest bidders. The most are very trustworthy. The worst I have seen is a bidder paying for something expensive on a Friday and raising an item not received case with paypal to get their money back two days later. And they were oversees! As Jogil put it these bidders with such claims, especially if untrue, will burn their bridges and any good seller won't sell to them again. There is a small group of on line robbers that want a good item for nothing 'free stuff'. Persons who do that actually hurt the sellers profits. They also will find it difficult to buy other items from that seller in the future. I put it down to anything expensive should go registered unless buyer is a regular. The main buyers of mine are great I always send them standard airmail with no losses in the post. And they keep coming back for more.

I take back everything and more from the bad words I thought about the buyer mentioned, big time.

Yes I am very sorry!

Hi Duncan

Wished it was the same for us we are loosing $100 + in one way or another per month.

This is what is the root of why reviewers upsets me. No one reviews the buyers. It always.......

Nice news today, I recived message from the Brasilian buyer he didnt recive stamps sent before 18 days, priority mail . 2 non recieved claims on 80 sales last month.

I am averaging one non receipt claim on about every twenty transactions these days. Have had to refund about six in the past year, one was to a US buyer, the others overseas. I no longer sell to Eastern Europe- too many bidders with poor English language skills who can't read descriptions then blame me when they get something they didn't bid on knowingly. I probably will one of these days just sell to US addresses only. It is sad- so many dishonest people out there.

I was talking with a well known dealer at a stamp show this Sunday who also sells a lot on ebay and their own website. Yes, there will be the occasional lost item here and there and a bad egg once in awhile, but it's best to concentrate on all the good sales you have had.

Out of all the thousands of shipments I mail worldwide each year how many are lost? So few that I can count them on one hand. Yes, take precautions and use tracking if needed. Pack your items so they don't scream there's stamps or covers inside. Use private insurance if needed. But to block all international sales is to deny yourself a potentially large part of your own sales. There's lot of great buyers in any country. Don't cut off the nose to spite the face.

I was even able to successful mail a cover to a buyer in Ukraine this last time - to someone near the war zone.

I have been currently running across buyers who bid on an item that I have listed with description of faults- even closeups of them. They then file a dispute because the item was 'not as described'. It was 'worse than you showed."

One of these days I am going to just stop selling stamps on ebay. It is getting ridiculous. As a seller I feel I have NO protection and am at the mercy of manipulative people. Some of these people have no concern about how they affect someone's standing as a seller- ever since sellers were stopped from negative feedback things have just gone to hell on there.

I ship about 50% of my sales overseas - over 10,000 ebay stamp transactions. My percentage of "item not received' allegations is very small - but still aggravating. When I start to see high #'s from certain countries I block the countries. My item descriptions mention that if 'you live in a blocked country please email me'. If someone does I check their feedback history and sometimes add them to my "Exception List" on my ebay preferences if they look like a solid buyer.

Over the years I have sold much to Russia - without many problems. In recent months I have had several "not received" allegations from Russia. I have now blocked shipments (sales) to Russia. My gut tells me that this situation might be related to either anti US sentiment or maybe mail delivery issues due to some of the skirmishes over there. Guess it doesn't matter why - it's plenty of work selling online and I don't like giving my stamps away or having my defect rate hammered due to situations beyond my control.

Ship everything with tracking... problem solved...

And for internationals, use ebay's Globsl Shipping System...

Multiple buyer IDs on different accounts sharing the same checkable delivery address and a checkable record for non receipt claims. Why is the bay taking no effective action against this fraud. Something that would be a REAL improvement to the bay than all the unnecessary fiddling they do. And better employment for their protocol design staff. All it needs is the will to do it. That doesn't seem to have arrived either.

Terry

disi123: ebay's GSP is an unnecessary cost on the buyer and such a huge unnecessary cost to the point that international sales would pretty much dry up overnight. Also the GSP program only covers certain countries and most of those are countries in which international mail is not a problem. The GSP program is a deal breaker for most international buyers.

Amen! I doubt any buyer would be willing to pay $30 shipping on a $5-$10 item