Recorded & Signed for delivery or not?

[oliverbanks]

Hey Forum,

I've just turned eighteen and run a little ebay shop at the moment. Pretty inexperienced in the whole business side of things; I'm awful at keeping track of my stock and not sure if I've made all the right decisions along the way.

Lately I feel like I've been getting scammed by a lot of customers. I've had lots of emails saying 'My order has not arrived, I want a refund'. Literally maybe everyone one in seven purchases this happens. Surely Royal Mail wouldn't provide such a poor service, right?

I usually send via Royal Mail 2nd Class, but have thought about sending via Royal Mail Recorded & Signed For First Class delivery. Atleast this way I will know exactly where the orders are going.

However, if I wish to do this I'll have to up my postage from £1.50 to £2.50, which sounds insignificant, but it makes plenty of other ebay sellers cheaper than my listing in what is already a saturated field.

I've been turning over ~£100 a day (£35 profit) with the £1.50 2nd class postage, getting between 8-12 orders a day, but now I'm just getting 4-6 orders a day; turning over ~£50 with the Recorded Delivery. The refunds I have to give cost me a lot though, since I lose out on what the product cost me, plus what I had to spend to post it. Not to mention Ebay side with the customer on every case.

Do I just stick to 2nd class or continue to see how the extra price recorded delivery goes? I'm trying to look for what's best for my business and/or any alternative options. I feel the recorded and signed for delivery is necessary as it takes the power away from the scamming customers who could potentially ruin my business.

Thanks for any input provided,
Oliver.

 

[coxdabd]

Hi there, I'm in a very similar position as you. I too have had many users demanding refunds. I did a little research and found that Royal Mail Recorded isn't all that reliable with many people finding that the online tracking doesn't update immediately, but rather can take a couple of days, even a week perhaps...or not at all. Many have said that some postmen sign for the package if no one is home.

Depending on how much your goods are worth, it may be worth considering Royal Mail Special Delivery (Next Day). This is taken much more seriously and I believe you have a good level of compensation. I sell used camera lens, etc so for me, this is quite important. If however I was selling pencil cases or something, I would probably just use Standard First Class. Hope this helps

 

[Philip Hoyle]

"Signed for" really isn't reliable enough to rely on. Your "scammers" would just sign in a different name and still claim they never received it. Unfortunately, some postmen do sign it themselves and others leave them anyway without a signature. Either way, you still lose your goods and have to refund.

You do realise that you can claim compo from the post office for lost parcels don't you? You don't need signed for to claim compensation. Just ask for certiificates of posting when you hand them over at the counter and then if any go missing, you claim from Royal Mail.

I don't think all your losses will be scammers. Royal Mail do manage to lose quite a lot of letters/parcels as well. But are you sure you're doing all you can to minimise loss? Are the wrapped safely & securely? Do you print the address largely and clearly? Do you show a return address on the back? Thousands of items end up in the "lost" post dept in Ireland because of poor packing or lack of a return address - meaning Royal Mail can't send it back to the sender!

 

[Beachcomber]

I know exactly where you are coming from - shockingly bad royal mail service used to cause no end of problems.

Firstly, get an online post office account - it will make your post cheaper and allow you to print your own postage labels etc saving time at the post office. Call thier business dept and talk through the options.

Secondly - keep track of 'lost' orders. 2nd class post is insured and you can claim up to about £35 iirc. for lost items. If an item goes missing I used to tell customers I can refund them if they are happy for me to add their details to a post office claim form so they can check delivery status / propblems in their area - knowing their name / address etc will be going on a form that will be followed up puts off alot of the scammers and it's surprising how many items used to 'just arrive'

Recorded is a waste of time - you'll just annoy your customers who miss the post and have to trawl down to the local sorting office to pick the item up - leaving you poor delivery DSR's in the process!

Lastly, make your packaging as plain as possible - don't make it look tempting to any sticky fingered posties.

 

[Bill Ryan]

It is a good idea to follow up lost post with the Post Office. It is a warning sign for them to check up on posties going bent.

They know it happens and they can tell the signs - too many not being delivered - too many arriving late (so often posties repost their own letters -dont ask me why but a sign that they are losing it which frequently leeads to theft).

 

[chalkie99]

I wouldn't bother with recorded delivery personally for the simple reason that if we ever receive one it gets shoved through the door with the rest of the post.
We are not asked to sign for it so assume the postie squiggles something on the form himself.

Not sure what the answer is but I have considered, if it ever became a problem, that we might put some sort of message on the order page to say something like

"In order to deter unscrupulous claims and thereby maintain our competitive prices for our honest customers all claims for non-delivery will be investigated with the Post Office"

Don't know if this would help or not.

 

[garysumpter]

I get quite a few things delivered to me, send recorded or special delivery. RM never ask me to sign, then either shove it through the letterbox or just hand it to me when i open the door, pretty shocking really.

 

[DeanCo]

If you are packaging your goods correctly there is no doubt you are being scammed as the Royal Mail loss rate is no where that high. This seems to be a common problem with traders selling through auction sites. I would think that some of your lossed items have genuinely gone astray, though. Unfortunately, there is no way to distinguish between the two.

As others on here have pointed out, I would not bother with recorded delivery as these just get shoved in with the normal mail and the loss rate, rather strangely seems to be higher for recorded delivery items than normal mail.

There is know way to eliminate the losses through scamming, unless you use secure courier, which, of course for low value items is not economical. Your best option would be to try and minimise losses by making sure that you have packaged the goods goods correctly and have put the right amount of postage. Some people seem to think that 1st class is more reliable than 2nd class because it is quicker. Whether this is true or not I do not know, but, maybe it is worth the extra few pence for the upgrade to 1st class.

Did you know that that some packages go missing because the sender or post office clerk have put the incorrect postage? Did you know that many letters go missing because they are too thick and the sender/clerk have not used a "large letter" stamp? The normal procedure is for the receiver to pay extra upon delivery, but this does not always work and the item goes uncollected/missing. Do not take the post office clerk's word for it, buy some weight scales and check the weights and sizes with the Royal Mail postage prices online.

If you get a certificate of posting from the post office you are insured for upto £46 per item at no extra cost. If you are mailing low cost items, under £46 then this is a better, more reliable and cheaper than recorded delivery.

Good luck.

 

[gemd89]

I was having the same problem - I reckon the see its come through 2nd class - knw that nothing is recorded and you dont have proof and think they can try it on as ebay always sides with the buyer!

I just usually state i have proof i sent it out as my local post office always gives me a receipt and writes postcode and house number on it so i usually tell the buyer this when they start complaining and then everytime i have stopped hearing from them - havent refunded anyone yet. I think some people buying on ebay just keep trying it on.

Gemma

 

[aapkae]

well its all is the part of business,loss and profit happens

 

[gemd89]

Profit and loss does happen - we were talking about people not recieving their posted out items.

Gemma

 

[paulears]

I sell microphones - £30-60 each being the most common price range, profit is ok but not huge. I increased my postage rates to now include 1st class recorded delivery, and mentioned this in the ads - It still won't stop the confirmed thieves, but you can give them the tracking number, and that is enough to deter casual idiots. On the rare occasions mine now get lost - and this really is quite low - you can claim compensation - BUT BEWARE - this is your cost price, not the selling price - so you don't actually lose, but no compensation for effort or packing or stuff like that.

They lost one this year and I sent a replacement, customer happy. 3 months later, after receiving the compensation and a letter telling me how sorry they were they had lost it - it appeared back here! result!

Make the recorded delivery a security feature, and most customers who really want the product will go for it. I'm sure I lose a few to 2nd class hope it comes delivery, but how many sales does it take to replace the value of lost stock.

The claim process is also very complicated and takes a lot of time to do, and then a long wait - and you can't even claim until 3 weeks has passed after posting, so a replacement is always needed. If it then gets delivered, the people have two, and most won't want to send it back unless you pay for it! - and that can't be claimed back.

 

[oliverbanks]

Thanks for the excellent advice and input everyone.

Sales increased today, so hopefully it's a sign to show that the Recorded Delivery hasn't put too many people of.

The Next Day delivery is too expensive, so I doubt many people would go for it.

I may just offer additional postage options in my listings; standard 1st and 2nd class, recorded, and next day.

I know I can claim compensation when the items go missing, but it's a really long hassle just for a couple of quid. Not to mention the long wait.

I'll see how recorded & signed for delivery works out for a week or two, even though I know some of you said it's a load of rubbish.

 

[paulears]

I suspect that many people are suspicious of all the bad things they hear about ebay, so when a seller shows interest and offers a safer method, people do perceive it as good value.