Special delivery claims process and experience

[Tn21]

Very briefly - 1/4oz Brit was sold a month ago to a fellow forum member. A few weeks past by and the item still had not been delivered. At which point a claim was made to the royal mail and I refunded back the buyer the full cost of the coin. 2-3 weeks had gone by and I thought it was a lost case. Item was eventually delivered a month late 'better late then never'.

The buyer @Ducat916 thankfully is a very honest and straightforward individual. He let me know the coin had arrived and he returned back the money I refunded him. So thank you for your honesty and integrity. 

TO the wider forum 

This was the first time I have had an item go missing/lost via SD. Going through the claim process I have a few concerns about whether or not items bought and sold in the private market place are covered with special delivery. 

Evidence and a paper trail need to be provided during the process of a claim i.e receipts. However about 70% of my "stack" was purchased from the forum so there are no receipts or formal documentation. 

Screen shots of PM's and bank transfer amount would that be sufficient with Royal Mail? If not then we are in hot water. 

 

I would be greatful for any replies regarding special delivery claims, with details the type of transaction, evidence provided, outcome etc.

 Please do detail down your experience with special delivery when items have gone missing.

 

[Tn21]

Sorry I should have done a bit of digging arround found the below thread however still a big ? Surrounding forum member to forum member selling and buying. 

 

[Tn21]

@KDave @BackyardBullion

Would you agree that having no paperwork with items being bought and sold on the forum will lead to no payout in the event the item is lost or stolen. 

Would appreciate any of your comments regarding SD. 

[BackyardBullion]

So, I have never had to make a full claim for a lost SD so from that perspective I cannot comment on what Royal Mail would say is enough evidence.

I have successfully made 4 claims for international packages that have gone missing and for those I was asked to provide evidence of the transaction to confirm what was in the parcel. On one of them it was done via the forum and so sharing screenshots of the conversation, agreed upon price and proof of payment (via bank statement) this was enough to successfully make the claim.

Hopefully the same would apply for the special delivery side of things. 

My concern is that any insurance is always contingent on ethical behaviour from the underwriters and it does seem that many institutions will wiggle and wrangle their way out of payments.

Common sense should always prevail, but that is not always the case.

[KDave]

@Tn21 I would expect the agreed sale on here would be enough to back up the value of a claim. I have not had the misfortune yet, but would be confident that the item would be paid out if I had proof of agreed value and a bank transfer or payment for that amount as evidence. 

I have only had one issue with a royal mail claim, it was my mistake with a single digit in the postcode; due to covid no signature was required and the item was delivered to a completely different person at a completely different address - but right postcode. This was guaranteed delivery on a 1/10 ounce platinum coin which has never been refunded as the item was technically correctly delivered to the postcode with signature (the postie's) just not the right person and address. An expensive mistake but could have been worse, and a tough one to argue given the circumstances. 

In the past I have made a claim for a fraudulent sale from eBay, an item I bought from ash that I sold on ebay (kilo silver bar). Item sold, item posted, seller then changed address and claimed the account had been hacked and forced eBay to issue a refund from my PayPal. The silver bar had been delivered at this point to initial address. In the end PayPal covered the sale based on the sold price on eBay under seller protection, so someone in Glasgow got a free kilo and PayPal are out of pocket a few hundred quid. Not much could be done differently just luck of the draw, but seller protection worth the fees in this case. Royal mail didn't get involved in that one but I needed tracking/proof of postage AND the postage receipt for PayPal's fraud team, not just the tracking, so keep all receipts until a transaction is sorted. 

[Pete]

You should not worry about Special Delivery provided the contents are within the claim band £500 or higher if the extra is paid.
The tracking number should show receipt at a post office but retaining proof of postage is worth keeping on all SD packages.
As for value generally this is the amount your buyer paid so showing a receipt in the bank or PayPal is sufficient.
However - suppose you exchange an item or send as a gift there is no bank transaction so how is the loss assessed ?
If you sent a coin that you can show by example, described by a bullion dealer, is valued at £500 ( maybe your coin was valued for less ) then that would form your claim.
I am not sure how the Royal Mail could ask for proof of contents which would be unreasonable if for example you posted a unique family heirloom.
Good news that your item turned up so go ahead and claim for late delivery and get your postage refunded.