SimonD

I need to return some items bought on Ebay that are very heavy and bulky. Because Ebay is involved I need them to be sent recorded delivery and with tracking information.
There will be two parcels of 30-35kg each!
As far as I can see the Royal Mail will not handle such a heavy parcel, neither will the likes of DHL for a retail customer. Small courier firms won't be able to satisfy ebay as far as tracking and recorded delivery are concerned.

Does anyone have any experience of this kind of thing or have any suggestions? The parcel will be going from the South East to Scotland.

Cheers
Simon

bazzabugs

iTrader: (2)

have you tried parcelforce

scubbay

iTrader: (61)

Paypal postage service up to 30kg £10.99 Its a parcelforce service and they will collect from you.

GazTheHat

parcelbroker.co.uk

Rob Day

iTrader: (78)

Wthout a doubt: http://www.interparcel.com/quote/

Rob

Trout

iTrader: (1)

If you have a Staples nearby then they will take retail, non-account customers for DHL. I use them all the time. You can also use ParcelFarce.

SimonD

Well.... thanks for the suggestions. My biggest problem appears to be packaging. The items were delivered to me wrapped in bubble wrap and black film. I had intended to do a better job of this and return them.
All of the couriers that will deal with this size and weight of item want them boxed in at least double ply boxes. I can't find anyone that can supply a suitable size or weight of box - I have five days left to send them or Ebay will close the case.
Interparcel quoted £240 to ship them assuming I can pack them satisfactorily - all money I won't get back.
The seller appears to have "done a runner" - shut down all auctions and is not responding to mails from me or ebay. They want me to return the items recorded delivery and supply a tracking number but I'm not sure what happens if the seller is not there or rejects the parcel.

It is getting to the point that I think I should cut my losses and either sell the items on (at a significant loss) or replace the faulty parts (silly money) and use as intended.
I would talk to Ebay more but both calls so far have been frustrating experiences trying to make myself understood to someone whose first language is clearly not English.

Excuse the rant........ I feel better for that.

Rob Day

iTrader: (78)

South East Scotland £240...... 30kg... what are they

firebug

iTrader: (3)

parcelstogo is a compare site try that.

scoobyvirgin

If he's genuinely done a runner, just send him an empty envelope recorded so that you get a tracking number to satisfy ebay.

fitzscoob

Alternatively you could put them on a small pallet and have them shipped up to scotland.

However, if there is no answer, the couriers will try a few times then return the item to you and you could be liable for additional delivery fees.

Where in the SE are you and what size boxes are you after?

Also worth a shout is parcelmonkey if you dont want to go down the pallet route.

mickywrx

iTrader: (29)

Doing a lot of 3rd party collections for these at work lately.

Just fudge the weight and dimensions.

What is it you need to send?

fitzscoob

Their prices seem to be silly cheap compared to CityLink and Fastlane, considering its the same drivers that do the collections.

SimonD

It's a good job I didn't manage to post these things yesterday. Ebay sent a mail last night telling me that they have closed the case. When I questioned them they just said they considered all the information and decided to close the case.
Quite why this has gone from "your seller has offered a refund" to "your case is closed" in four days is something of a mystery.
I'm sure many have had problems with ebay in the past but this is a first for me after seven years and well over one hundred transactions. I'd call them but suspect that I would need a new keyboard and screen before I got to the end of the conversation!!

Thanks for the help everyone. The shame is that this ****** will, no doubt, be up and running again soon.

Rob Day

iTrader: (78)

eBay would usually say 'No longer a registered user' againt the transaction on your eBay summary page.

If you paid via paypal then i suggest you start a claim, this can be done via eBay drop down box on the eBay summary page against that item, or go direct to paypal and start a dispute. This can be long winded but usally is affective. Normal during the above processes paypal will remove fund upto or equally to the amount you have paid and hold on to it whilst thsi is investigated. I would suggest you keep on the ball with it though by logging into the paypal dispute daily to ensure that all is ok. Sometimes during a dispuite the seller can add comments on and you have several days to reply or it goes in the sellers favour. Equally the same for you, so if he doesnt reply and paypal manage to get hold of some funds you will be rewarded a refund (somtime full, sometime partial) End of Case.

I have several issues myself in the past, and using the above methods I can happily say that i have won 90% of my issues acting as buyer and seller.

I recently had one where i bought a STI TMIC that was a WRX one sprayed up.
I started with a paypal dispute for a partial refund and to keep the goods. I paid £100 for the TMIC although my bid was much higher. When i won the item i though it was suspicious for the win as such a low amount .
Anyway it arrive, I was disapointed hence the above after trying but failing to contact the seller. I asked paypal for £60.00 partial refund, I got this and sold the TMIC for £40 on eBay as a WRX intercooler .

HTH
Rob

Rob

SimonD

Thanks for that but I think I've missed the boat here. Without wanting to go into details, I noticed some damage when I originally got the items but decided that it was not worth doing anything. It was only later when I couldn't get them to fit that I started talking to the seller. We realised that there was more damage.
He said he would consider a refund as he had a list of buyers lined up but as soon as I asked for a delivery address all went quiet.
I think this was a bluff to get me to go away or a stalling tactic designed to get past the 45 day deadline. I then filed a case with ebay on the 44th day.
After giving the seller a couple of weeks to reply they came back to me and said that the he had offered a refund. That is why I started this thread. I now wonder whether they had any contact at all with the seller and just forwarded me the address based on my assertion that he had offered a refund.
......so now I am down another £45 for a big roll of bubble wrap. It could have been worse, I could have posted the bloody things yesterday!