I am a life-time stamps collector, and started selling my stamps on eBay since October. My stamps are all in great condition, and they are selling well. For items worth over $100, I ask buyers to pay for either certified mail or registered mail (for international buyer). However, for items less than $100, I feel uncomfortable to ask international buyers to pay $12 for registered mailing, and want to help them save some shipping costs. I of course watch the buyers previous and accumulative rating to decide if the buyer has adequate previous credit history.
I have been lucky so far that I have dealt with over 50 buyers, and the Post Ofice system has worked great. No delivery problems even with regular first-class mail until yesterday, a buyer who claimed that he did not receive a $50 item which I sent to him over one month ago. He paid for regular first-class international mail, and I have a policy stated in my selling description that the buyers assume the responsibility with regular shipping. Now he claims that he did not receive the item, and is opening a dispute through PayPal. I of course do not have the tracking number etc. for this item.
I guess I will have to refund him, right? Of course, mail does get lost occasionally, but what if someone just want to take advantage of the system and the seller?
How do I protect myself from this kind of disputes? Do I have to charge my buyers a heafty shipping charge for items that are not that high priced? That will at least have an impact on how willing people will be bidding on my selling. Anyone who can share your experience and lessons learned is very appreciated.
