Question on sales dispute

Cheddar765

First off, this isn't a major issue.. but I'd like to know how some of you have dealt with this in the past to have a better idea on what to do in the future:

Got an order for a minifig, not super expensive but fairly uncommon- the wife sent it off and we double checked and verified the address with them, so anything to do with it not getting there is on Canada Post's end. They did not get tracking or insurance for the minifig which isn't surprising (domestic order) .. but who is responsible at this point? Normally the lego community operates on good faith so i'm wondering what the course of action is here.

They have no buying history here, so probably came from bricklink looking for that specific item. Bought with paypal..
I don't think they are trying to scam me or anything, they've just been rather impatient in the last couple weeks due to a child expecting it haha.

Now i'm ok refunding them even though we are not technically responsible, but i'm wondering what guards are in place for the seller (especially when dealing through paypal) besides requiring tracking or insurance over a certain amount. What is Brickowl's policy in regards to this (Yes I need to read through the TOS again, personally the account was set up by my other half and she is going through a stressful emotional period right now and I need to take over more store duties)

tldr; need some insight on how to deal with possible disputes and put guards in place, and who wins and whats even worth fighting (if you think you're getting fleeced)

Thanks guys (and girls)

Calibrick

Hi Cheddar! I have run into several lost packages over time here in the US. My shipping methods are set to require insurance for any amount over what I am comfortable covering myself in case of a lost package, so I have only run into that in small orders, fortunately.

I have simply refunded the customer and just assume it will all work out cosmically, as in US, we can write refunds off of our business taxes. And even if we couldn't, I probably still would refund... it's just good customer relations. I also ask them to let me know if it ever shows up, but assuring them I won't ask for the money back - more idle curiosity than anything else! :-)

But I do also ask and agree with the customer to a reasonable amount of time to wait; for example, here in the US, our postal services are running a bit behind in many areas due to fires, hurricanes, and high COVID absence rates, depending on what parts of the country the package has to trek through to get to the customer.

While there's certainly the uncool scammer here and there no doubt, I have thankfully found that every BO buyer I have ever had the pleasure of selling to is inherently honest. :-)

Different stores find different things that work best for them, so this is just one approach obviously! There's no wrong answer, in my humble opinion. :-) I'm unfamiliar with Canadian Post, but our postal orders here bought through PayPal have free tracking, so when I couple that with my shipping setup to require insurance for orders $50 and higher, it's worked out really well for me as a business.

Hoddie

If you don't have tracking and the buyer paid with PayPal, you will almost certainly lose any claim they make.

Legally, however, it really comes down to your local consumer laws. As you rightly say, the Lego aftermarket usually works on good faith and many buyers will chalk a missing or damaged parcel down as bad luck, regardless what their legal rights are. But many buyers are also prepared to use whatever legal rights are available to them. When you say that you're not responsible once you hand the parcel to the post office, you can be almost sure that's just not true. Or at least I can say with confidence that it's not true in most countries. Consumer laws usually say that if a buyer makes a purchase, it is down to the seller to get that purchase to the buyer (usually with some exceptions, the most common being if the buyer arranges shipping themselves). But as I say, you'd need to check whatever consumer laws are in place where you are.

Regards Brick Owl, you should go to the order and select 'more actions' and then 'report a problem'. This will log the buyer's claim that they didn't receive the parcel against their profile, which at the very least lets other sellers know that it may be worth taking extra precautions when dealing with that buyer. It may also help Brick Owl in their attempts to protect sellers from unscrupulous buyers, though in all honesty I don't know if the site even does anything at all in this regard.

About protecting yourself from this. The number one protection is tracking, though this doesn't get rid of all scammers. If it isn't cost-effective to add tracking to every order, consider adding it for valuable ones, or ones throwing up a red flag or two (in my experience, trusting your gut is valuable). If you add tracking to all orders you can pass the cost on in your shipping rates. If you add it to 'red flag' orders only, you'll need to stand the cost yourself as you can't amend the shipping fee once the order has been placed.

You may also find that you can get an insurance policy that protects you from such incidents. Some countries have policies available for marketplace sellers at reasonable prices, though of course the prices vary wildly depending on the volume of sales you have. You can even elect to pay for insurance at the post office on a case-by-case basis, though this usually isn't cost effective.

Overall, in my experience at least, scamming via BL and BO is extremely rare. Don't get me wrong, it happens and it's annoying as hell when you get caught, but I've found the cheapest way to deal with it is to ignore it. Yes, 1 in 200 orders will bite you in the ass and cost you a few quid, but increasing shipping costs on every order will cost you more in orders lost than the occasional scam would. Insurance and adding tracking to 'red flag' orders will help ease any worries you might have but will probably also ending up costing you more than an occasional scam.

Cheddar765

Thank you, both of you tremendously. I have a question regarding the red flags; where do I go to view them (if any) on a person's account, and how do I place one?

Also, is there a way to get customers with no history i.e. a fresh account- to purchase tracking, or does that fall on me?

I already set up tracking after a certain amount, and insurance on another.. this falls below my threshold and is what it is. I'll ask them to be a little more patient and hope that is shows up for them in the next couple days.

Hoddie

On every order page at the bottom left, there is a little information about a buyer, how many orders, how many they didn't pay for, how many they claimed never arrived, etc. You have to make a judgement based on this information and other things - whether their IP address matches their location or not, if they're asking for you to deliver to a PO Box, if their billing and shipping addresses match, if they have a lot of orders but very little feedback, etc. Each on their own usually means nothing at all, even several combined usually means nothing but it may be worth taking a little extra precautions.

You can't force tracking onto new users. The only way to do what you suggest is to make every buyer use 'request a quote' but on Brick Owl that's not usual and may cost you sales.