Refunds and other matters
Been getting a few messages from buyers to say they haven’t received items, as I expect many sellers are at this time. Just wondering how long it should be before giving a refund given the current circumstances?
I have one buyer in particular who seems to want to ignore all my messages of asking him to be patient, and asking when his item is going to arrive. Been 10 working days since that item was posted.
I’m kind of afraid of having to refund a number of people and then send off claims to Royal Mail and thinking I’ll have a low success rate of being compensated due to the number of claims I’d be making.
Due to all the apparent lost or delayed item enquiries, I’m considering increasing the number of signed for items I post as a safety precaution, but at the same time would rather avoid numerous trips to the post office given the circumstances. Is there any way round this?
Lastly, I’ve never bought shipping off Amazon before but am also considering this. How does this work regarding delivery? Can you buy the postage, print a label off, stick it on the item and then post as usual?
Thank you.
0 replies
Seller_lljyzgTxr5fgI
You can and that is what most of us do. However, in response to your issue of refunds, it’s not a case of the customer being advised to wait 10 working days to suit Royal Mail, it’s a case of once the due date for delivery has passed. When this date is reached, any customer can simply open an A-Z and they will be automatically and immediately refunded by Amazon and you will have a hit on your metrics.
If you have not already done so, you need to extend your handling times to build in at least some of the anticipated delays with the post. Amazon themselves have extended the transit times so this has pushed out the due dates for most deliveries but you still have to protect against any possible A-Z’s.
With signed for, you have to get the item scanned at a post office or put it in the box and take a chance because you can not claim for it if lost. The value of your goods determines your method of posting. We put hundreds and hundreds of LL into the post box here every week. Only one has so far got lost during the crisis and indeed, a replacement sent to another customer arrived the same day as his original one…but at least he was honest and told us. These are low value items which cost only pennies to replace so if they get lost, we replace or refund. Hope this helps 
Seller_y7wlA8Npjq1Or
Also i slight mitigation can be done by adding a longer dispatch days to your listings then posting as normal that way things may start arriving with customers before estimated date.
Under promise over deliver as a sales mentor of mine educated me many years ago a mantra I’ve never forgotten.
