"Item not arrived" then later it does. What are we actually supposed to do as sellers?
You’ve seen it countless times during the COVID crisis;
“My order hasn’t arrived, please refund”
Of course it’s three days after the estimated delivery date during a pandemic and Royal Mail warehouses are stacked out the doors but what can you do? Tracking hasn’t been updated so you have to refund the order and ask the customer to let you know if it arrives.
Ten days later you figure you’ll just have a sneaky peak at the tracking and lo and behold it arrived an hour after or the next day after you refunded the order.
What’s the actual allowed process here? The customer now has goods they haven’t paid for but knowing Amazon like I do I can’t imagine them being on board with a seller contacting a customer after the fact. Not to mention there’s not actually a facility for re-billing a customer even if they offered to pay.
Of course with 2D tracked most of us know we’re just SOL but with most couriers suspending their service guarantees at the moment it’s applicable to almost all of us.
85 replies
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
this is why i prefer eBay - i actively encourage buyers in that situation to open a case as it gives us 7 days for it to turn up and if it doesn’t, you can then refund without reprisal and even if the customer does escalate on day 8, ebay will refund the customer (from your money if the tracking shows it hasn’t arrive) but as it had tracking, you don’t get a defect
Seller_lljyzgTxr5fgI
The allowed process is for the item to arrive within the allotted time frame or the buyer can request refund / open an A-Z et al. This year has been particularly bad because of Covid delays alone, without Christmas. There are several things you can do to help mitigate.
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Buy your Royal Mail shipping through Amazon. They have been removing any negative feedback left for late deliveries, without having to even be asked.
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Extend your handling and transit times to the maximum permissable or what you feel comfortable with
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Avoid using 2nd class / 48 hour tracked services. They are taking anywhere up to 12 days to arrive. We have upgraded everybody to 1st class (at our cost) and items are getting there well within the allotted time frame.
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If the customer has not opened an A-Z and tracking shows it has arrived, you could request return of the item but this in turn might cause the buyer to leave negative feedback so it’s a choice you have to make.
In conclusion, we have only found delivery issues with 2nd class post. Everything else has been fine and got there well within time. Indeed buyers have left feedback to say items have arrived well before time. If you can, use 1st class or courier services (if you haven’t done so already). The only saving grace will be the Christmas madness will soon be over and things may return to a better level of service 
Seller_NoMNQDGnEW5Bx
I’m just posting a load of chistmas cards, delivery by the 22nd to the 29th… None of them will have read the 29th bit just will all complain now if they come after Christmas!
Seller_NoLYurmb006tq
It’s crap for the first time ever we had one last week off ebay customer rang to say the item had arrived a few days later we had already refunded her but when she rang we took a card payment and give her a fiver discount she was happy and so was I that way no loss.
Seller_NoMNQDGnEW5Bx
I have swapped the majority of mine to 1st class too and the difference is massive. I would rather take the profit hit than have to have stopped selling christmas cards 2 weeks ago cos I couldnt guarantee 2nd class would get there.
I am still getting refund requests and an A to Z from someone who didnt have any patience but its gone down massively from the numbers I was getting in early November
Seller_DTufFoxJuMU0M
we just put the price up a bit, and took a bit of a profit hit to accommodate it, for letters it was only 10p, for large letter about 20-40p A lot cheaper than having to pay the return or refund and let them keep it because its late (sometimes its just not worth my effort paying the 65p post for an item I told for £2 including postage… easier and cheaper for me to just let them keep it.)
Seller_vTCC47DVMGUB8
Scardy Kat, Scardy Kat, don’t give the money back!
Wait, be patient, take an A-Z, not the end of the world if you are good at your job. Appeal if it arrives.
But above all, move on and sell more.
Seller_ws4PZEK3YTmos
This christmas we have closed ALL of our listings early because I am sick to the back teeth of customers complaining their orders haven’t arrived after THREE DAYS !!! Of course they haven’t , the country is in a grip of a pandemic and the Royal Mail ( like all companies ) have staff isolating if they cough or sneeze ! As it stands this has been our worst Christmas Ever - sales have been down on what they were in February and March earlier this year .
Seller_y4LYYJpB7iu9g
I’ve simply closed all my online shops until Dec 26th - really cannot do with the hassle this year, the way I see it even if they order today there is a good chance they won’t receive their goods until after Xmas - Royal mail have taken on delivering Covid tests now to add to their workload . have a happy, healthy Christmas.
Seller_DJwE1RXTpAHPh
there is a difference between lost and delayed - the typical Amazon customer is evidently unable to make the distinction - we tell them we will auto refund them after x working days have passed without delivery being recorded
