PPI Labels can be sold once again on eBay
PPI labels can be sold again on eBay, at least there are none currently on the site but apparently banning the sale of PPI labels and eBay cancelling all PPI label listings was all a big mistake!
According to a response on the PowerSeller board by eBay (log in required) they were confused with sales of fake tracking labels. Some sellers use bogus tracking labels on parcels to discourage Item Not Received Claims. Rather then paying for a tracked delivery they simply attach a barcoded sticker to their parcels to imply that Royal Mail will be scanning items on delivery. eBay say that “After reviewing some of the listings, looking at the policy guidelines and potential impact the use of these stickers can have we have decided that these stickers are not suitable for sale on the site under our ‘encouraging illegal activity’ policy”.
eBay say that “We do understand these stickers have been marketed as a deterrent to fraudulent INR claims or buyer abuse too. eBay takes these issues seriously as seen the recent announcements around Seller Protection which will launch soon and any Problems with an eBay Buyer Protection case can currently be reported via this page.
eBay went on to say “As far as PPI Stickers are concerned these were confused with some of the stickers that needed to be removed. They were removed incorrect and we’re sorry about the confusion this has caused. Credits should have been issued for these listings at the time they were ended.”
eBay say that sellers are free to relist their PPI label listings and they should appear in seller’s unsold items and if the cancelled listings don’t then the sellers can contact customer support to have the labels restored to their unsold item listings.
Currently however a search of eBay UK doesn’t reveal any PPI label printing services currently visible on the site.
Stuart says
11:11 am on 11/08/2012
Funny how eBay say these tracking stickers ate illegal when Royal Mail reps come round and you complain about how many items they loose, they suggest these to you!
Gerry007 says
3:04 pm on August 11th, 2012
.
We could do with some of these, with RM constantly loosing mail…..
Where did you get template??
elvis says
10:33 pm on August 11th, 2012
I second your comment. My account manager at Royal mail suggested this for me as well.
I think some sellers were charging customers for tracked deliveries and were then using these pretending they were proper tracked services. I think this is the issue rather than genuine sellers using just as a deterrent
Gerry007 says
3:05 pm on 11/08/2012
.
Re;Currently however a search of eBay UK doesn’t reveal
Does now, the message is out there.
Moom says
4:40 pm on 11/08/2012
New to all this – what’s a PPI label??
Toby says
9:56 pm on 11/08/2012
PPI Labels are for those of us whom have Business contracts with the Royal Mail.
Never understood the use of these Fake Tracking Labels, at the end of the day the Buyer pays for the Postage & if a seller has a issue with INR’s then up the P&P element by 95p for Recorded etc.
All our orders are sent tracked & we only have 0.1% of orders getting lost & never returned, even via the NRC at Belfast.
Gerry007 says
10:09 pm on August 11th, 2012
.
Upping P&P works for more expensive items, but when you sell in the £0.99 – £3+4 bracket, it’s difficult charging another £1 for recorded. as other sellers don’t or neither do they seem to have problems….
Allan says
10:47 am on 12/08/2012
When a seller is contacted by a buyer to say they have not received an item and would like a refund, well upon refunding and cancelling the transaction there is no option in the drop down list of reasons for cancellation as INR, the only way any record exists of an INR claim having taken place is in the 0.01% of cases where a seller refuses to take action and forces a buyer to open a INR dispute to resolve (putting their account at risk in the process)
Ebay do not take INR seriously, they simply do not care one jot about it, in fact there system by design excludes any way to record and collate INR cases. They have closed there systems eyes to it therefore its does not exist as a problem just like they did with bidding privacy and shilling.
Seems like it might have been a good idea to me this fake tracking but only for a short while until the INR fraudsters cottoned on. Only an Ebay intent on doing nothing about this massive INR problem would ban this, a INR problem the size of which they will not even allow to be recorded.
Chris says
4:11 pm on August 12th, 2012
I have heard several times in the past that there is a massive problem with INR. My experience is that while there is a problem I have not found it to be massive. However I do think that there are probably a relatively small number of “Buyers” who do indulge in totally unjustified INR Claims.
Its a little like what you often hear about the younger generation. They are ALL supposed to be delinquents and drug takers and binge drinkers but in reality its probably only a small percentage and they give the whole of the “younger generation” a bad name.
The real scandal is that ebay seems to have a policy of aiding and abeting the INR Fraudsters.
I had a problem a while ago. I got the distinct impression in all the contacts that I had with the customer that he was well practiced in the procedures. Certainly ebay fully co-operated with him and his claims and totally ignored everything that I said.
According to the INR Fraudster I was totally in the wrong and he made numerous allegations against me-none of which was true. However ebay accepted everything that he said.
I have a very reasonable number of Feedback almost all glowing in their praise. Yet ebay took no notice of any of these. Just the untrue allegations of the INR Fraudster.
There is only one organisation who is in the position to control INR Fraudsters and that is ebay. They should be able to monitor who is making claims. While it is true that parcels do go astray alarm bells should start to ring if they regularly go missing from certain addresses.
There really can only be a limited number of causes. Either the Postmen in that area are dishonest and fairly regularly the Post Office catch Postmen with massive collections of undelivered mail at home. So we know that it does happen.
Or that the “Buyer” is receiving the goods and then claiming that it has not been received. The INR Fraudster.
Both of these situations exist and its totally unfair on the honest ebay seller that whatever the circumstances ebay NEVER EVER takes the Sellers side and indeed never ever carries out a meaningful investigation. In my case I am seriously out of pocket yet I supplied the Books ordered and ebay/Paypal refunded the buyer by taking the monies out of my account.
ebay also accepted the rubbish the buyer put to them and I suffered in other ways at the hands of ebay. I am certain that I am not alone in suffering in this way. Yet ebay seems not even to accept that there is a problem with some “Buyers”.
Bob Patel says
10:52 am on 13/08/2012
I’ve never heard of this before but the fake tracking label seems like a really good idea.
I print my own PPI labels, so from Royal Mail’s point of view, if I were to do this, would they have any problem with it?
Paddy says
10:00 pm on 13/08/2012
You would be seriously amazed of the amount of people on ebay who have the wrong address on their account. On certain products we ship them via Parcelforce so we must do a post code look up for each address to book the delivery.
Every day we are correcting addresses on peoples acocounts. The most common mistake is a completely wrong postal code.
What we also noticed were buyers getting the item shipped to completely the wrong address altogether. When someone sends us a message for one of our cheaper items sent PPI, stating it hasnt arrived, the first question we ask is confirmation of their delivery address. We have had quite a few customers with a completely different address on their ebay account to that they wanted it sent to.
Joe says
10:11 am on 15/08/2012
Well according to one seller on the eBay UK PS board, they’ve had more listings removed today, and at least two said their listings weren’t reinstated as promised.
Chris Dawson says
11:25 am on August 15th, 2012
Left hand, right hand… typical SNAFU
Gerry007 says
7:11 pm on August 15th, 2012
.
Plenty on ebay today