Quick Q about selling on Half.com

[midjd]

I sold and shipped a textbook on Half.com about a month ago, and was just contacted by the buyer, who says she didn't receive it. I have the shipping confirmation (or at least a receipt from USPS), but it was a cheap book so I didn't pay for tracking. The buyer wants a refund.

Whose responsibility is it? I'm not sure whether I am obligated to give her a refund, or have her submit a claim under the Buyer Protection policy. I'd be out about $11 total - $7 or so for the refund and the $4 it cost me to ship. It's not a huge deal if I have to refund the money, but I just want to make sure that's the correct thing to do in this situation. IIRC the same thing has happened to me as the buyer and I'm pretty sure I ended up eating the cost... but again, I may have had recourse and just not known about it.

[wmpeon]

Half.com gives buyers 60 days after order date to file a claim. Not sure what it says about refunding product only for missing shipments, so you're not out both product and shipping cost? Did you inform the customer when the book shipped?

Unfortunately, the end result will probably involve you eating the cost. Ebay & half.com nearly always side with the buyer. Also, USPS does lose packages, which is why they offer insurance. Myself, I live an apartment building with thieving neighbors, so I have to have all packages held at the post office.

Before just refunding her, determine when the package should have been delivered and ask the buyer why she didn't contact you sooner. Did she contact her local post office to find out if they were holding a package? Did they check with the carrier to see if he/she remembered a package? Where would they normally leave a package, in case it fell off a stoop? Also have them reconfirm the shipping address in case there are any issues there. Wouldn't hurt for you to contact your own post office as well, to see if they have any insight.

Good luck.

[alabamagal]

Unfortunately, without the delivery confirmation, you really can't do much. I think the chances of the post office actually losing something are pretty slim. The chances of the item being delivered and then claiming it was not are probably more likely - I guess I am just a skeptic.

I sell stuff on Half.com and don't do the delivery confirmation if it is a fairly low cost item (which most of mine are). I am not really in the selling to get a lot of money, just find a useful home for stuff I don't want.

I did have a problem one time with a return item bought on the internet, and the seller says they never got it. It was a $25 item. I also had a problem with purchasing a used book from one of the large used book sellers. The item was never received, so when I filed a claim they sent me a replacement (It was like a $1 book).

As the seller, you are out of luck. I would advise delivery confirmation on items that are over $10.

[Gardening Grandma]

I also buy and sell on half.com. As a seller, I don't do delivery conf unless it's an expensive book. I just plan to eat it if a buyer says they didn't receive the book.

You can let he buyer go through the process, but you'd probably end up eating the cost and getting a bad feedback rating, so I'd just cut my losses now.

[midjd]

Yeah, I went ahead and refunded it - $10 wasn't worth the hassle (and losing my 100% feedback score!) Thanks for the responses. This has happened a couple of times, so I think in the future I'll use tracking or return receipt.

[gobermitcheese]

I find it is usually better to have a generous return policy to perserver your feedback rating.

[Deleted]

If you sell on Ebay (and half.com is a division of Ebay), you HAVE to have delivery confirmation or you will always lose any claim of non-receipt.

Paypal actually makes DC cheap so you might try buying your postage through them. All it takes is a cheap postal scale to know your weight.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

This smells. Who's to say she didn't get it? You should have sent it Certified at the very least and gotten a signature.

[midjd]

Probably, but it's done now. At least it was only a $4 book

[Gardening Grandma]

Jun 23, 2011 12:59:04 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

This smells. Who's to say she didn't get it? You should have sent it Certified at the very least and gotten a signature.

It does not make sense to pay to certify a $4 book. That would double the cost of the mailing. A delivery confirmation can be had for 80 cents. Yes, the buyer could be lying, but the OP has no way to prove that she shipped it, so refunding the buyer makes the most sense.