I got an email from Half.com today saying that the buyer reported to them that a book he bought from me in late July never showed up. I was asked to verify date and method of shipping. Of course it was book rate.
Has anyone had this happen, and were you, the seller, charged for the price of the book and shipping?
I know that some sellers here use delivery confirmation routinely. I do not (I would on ebay sales if the buyer paid it), so I am not sure what to do next. Should I contact the PO to see if it can be traced in some way?
posted on September 6, 2000 08:49:54 AM
Keziak -
YOu have the reciept for the mailing? Ask the USPS to run a "lost mail" trace on the book if it's over 30 days. As part of the process, the buyer will have to sign a affadavit they never got it.
posted on September 6, 2000 09:10:50 AM
>>"Has anyone had this happen, and were you, the seller, charged for the price of the book and shipping?"<<
I've never heard of that before and wouldn't sell on a site that did that.
Do you have a receipt from the PO that possibly shows that the package was shipped? The receipts I have show the destination, weight, postage type, etc..
posted on September 6, 2000 09:11:30 AM
If the book didn't arrive, I would just accept the loss and the resulting debit.
A very few items just wander around for awhile but get delivered or return home after as long as a few months.
Twice I've experienced that the need to sign an "item not received" offical form from the USPS helped the customer to "find" that the item was misplaced in their home. As in "Sorry but I just found out that my husband/wife got the mail and put this into/on top of/behind/under the _ and didn't tell me it was here.
posted on September 6, 2000 10:22:46 AM
thanks, all. I've had a few episodes of books not showing up (and eventually did) but on ebay it's person to person and we worked it out.
I'm not sure what half.com wants me to do aside from the email reply I sent. They said if I didn't reply, I'd be debited, but they didn't say what would happen if I did reply and the buyer never received it.
I'm a bad businesswoman and haven't kept all my receipts. My New Years resolution will be to set up a better record and receipt-keeping system.
posted on September 6, 2000 10:53:56 AM
You CAn get delivery confirm on Special Standard Mail ie, book rate. I consider it cheap seller insurance, so I send everything delivery confirm out of my own pocket. Doesn't take too many debits for that 60 cents to pay for itself.
posted on September 6, 2000 05:15:16 PM
Half.com is a keep it simple kind of operation. On the one hand that's what we like about it. Easy listing, no e-mails, no collections etc.
The flip side is that when problems occur the solutions are also kept very simple. Buyer says book doesn't arrive, you don't get paid! Delivery confirmation is not going to do one bit of good with this setup. But that's just my opinion.
posted on September 7, 2000 04:07:06 PM
Misinformation is dangerous. And this thread needs to be corrected. Half.com only debits the sale if you FAIL to respond to their request for shipping verification within a time limit.
Out of 500+ sales, I have had three inquiries and was able to tell them the date, time, and method of shipment and verify the customer's address.
This does not prevent a customer from leaving you bad feedback, whether it is actually your fault, the post office or their absent minded husband/wife.
I put a DC tag on sales over $10, or multiple purchases, and every video sale since they were 2 out of 3 of the problems, but only a small portion of the sales.
If any of these go missing, I will be able to report back with the DC tag number and proof of mailing.
Larry
Thanks, I appreciate the info. here's what the half.com email said (in part):
"It is important that you respond within 48 hours. If you do not respond,
we will assume that you did not ship the item and we will credit
the buyer and debit your seller account."
It didn't say what will happen after I respond (which I did at once), so I have been unclear if my account will be debited, or what I need to do to trace the parcel.
