Basically I sold a load of stuff on E-Bay recently. Most of it unwanted standard Exige bits and bobs that had been sitting in my worshop following various upgrades.
So one guy in Portugal bids on and wins my standard 190 ECU and standard throttle bodies. He makes payment in full (�450) via Pay Pal and I package the stuff up and post it off to him.
I use the air mail parcel service at the post office and they tell me delivery should take about a week.
After about three weeks the guy e-mails me saying they have not arrived. Unfortunatly and this is my BIG misatke I have lost the proof of postage slip, so I can’t chase the parcel. As soon as I tell him this he goes to PayPal and files a claim to get his money back.
A few weeks prior to this I sent an Anti Roll Bar to a guy in Switzerland via the same method and in all fairness it did take about 4 weeks to reach him.
I e-mailed the Portugese guy and told him this, I also put all of this info in my defence to Pay Pal, along wih my 100% feedback record etc.
But PayPal ruled in his favour without seeming to take anything I had said into account. They instantly debited my PayPal account of �450 (leaving it about �430 overdrawn)
A couple of weeks have past since this and the guy hasn’t left me any bad feed back or anything. My reckoning is that the stuff got to him, albeit late and he is just keeping quiet in the knowledge that he has had his cake and eaten it!!
I know there is probably nothing I can do, as I don’t have any proof of postage and the post office cant trace anything without a number, but if nothing else I have vented my anger and other people will heed my warning.
Personally I simply wont sell anything to anyone outside the UK ever again.
Sean - i assume that you have tried emailing him and he is just not replying? Does he post on any other Forums? Maybe some peer pressure if he does.
My Paypal account is backed by my Credit Card and although I haven’t been in your situation, I would be going to them if anyone debited my card without my permission.
Sorry to hear of your bad luck Personally I would never use e-bay etc for that very reason.
Despite losing your copy of the post slip, i would have thought that if you can recall the date, destination, sender details etc they should be able to trace what happend
I used to send large items all over the world, sold through Ebay. Always insure the item for more than it’s worth (charge the buyer for this in the postage agreement) and get proof of postage, and a signature of reciept. With these things you are fully covered. I had a few items squashed, and a few go missing, so I just refunded the buyer and claimed on the insurance.
I think all packages now travel via barcode, so if you don’t have the corresponding number you are bolloxed.
Yeah that is what they have said, no tracking number, or the tracking slip with the bar code on, no way to trace the parcel. I guess I am mopst annoyed with myself for loosing the prrof of postage and �450 is not an insignificant sum of dosh.
To be honest I have bought and sold many things on E-Bay with payment both ways via PayPal and until this incident I have nothing but praise for the whole thing.
The thing that gets me though is that all PayPal have is two peoples word on the subject. My word that I did indeed send the goods and his word that he didn’t receive them. I guess I don’t like being basically accused of being a liar!
So this is why you Brits never want to sell us Yanks any parts? Honestly, I’ve gotten loads of parts for odd bikes (grey market even there) from the UK and never had trouble.
Silly question, but is there any chance you emailed or input the tracking number into Paypal/ebay?