eBay/Post Office skanked me; do I have recourse?

Due to the number of counterfeit trainers in the world, eBay now have a system where you no longer send direct to the buyer, you send to an intermediate that verifies first then they post to the buyer.

I sent a pair of trainers that I sold via the post office to said eBay verification location.
Eventually I get messages from eBay and the buyer asking where the footwear is.
I find out from the Post Office that they tried to deliver (once @ ~8.15am) and according to their system the item was refused, they're trying to find the item and to come back and try again.

When I questioned eBay about the refusal to sign, they said, they'd never do that and that the item was posted outside of business hours, hence no one signing for it.

After a few weeks it became clear that the Post Office have lost the item.

The things that pissed me off about this whole affair:

1. Why have the Post Office only attempted delivery once? Surely you'd at least leave a card? Or try again the following day??
   
2. eBay said nothing about about ensuring delivery was within business hours. Why am I penalised for this?
   
3. Who is lying, did someone actually "refuse" the item or was there just nobody present?
   
4. Turns out I cannot get the full value of the item as it wasn't posted at full value...because when I posted, my local PO didn't ask me the value, and I forgot to ensure the correct value.
   
   

I can only claim £50 for something that I sold for £115.00

Is there anything I can do to get more money back or just cut my losses?

The ebay verification place is a fuck off warehouse with cages of parcels delivered in bulk from couriers, I had a photo proof of delivery that was about 50 boxes in a stack, No postie involved.

Sorry I had to edit the sloppy initial post for clarity...

Just saying there is no way a single parcel would be delivered to that address so it’s been 100% lost/stolen but you would be at the mercy of the terms of their compensation scheme

Its not helpful now but these days I always send stuff 2nd class recorded, too many people trying to scam

Yeah me too, on eBay it’s the fuckin worst.

Is there anything I can do to get more money back or just cut me losses?

I would have thought cut your losses.

Long story short, post office lost a parcel that was insured for £50. So you’ll likely just get £50.

Bloody annoying, but not sure there’s much else to do. eBay won’t be any use as PO haven’t delivered it.

But they say the did. They didn't say there was nobody there. They specified it was "refused". Why didn't they leave card?
Why didn't they go back?

Irritating af

Might be worth questioning eBay's arrangement with RM. It got to the point that RM were delivering the post later as later to my work place that it was impacting business so we appointed a courier to deliver, and the tracking was all over the place. People were getting notified their parcel had been delivered the day before it had was very annoying.

Turned out the issue wasn't the delivery it was the sorting, and the courier was just delivering yesterday's post. it was such an arse ache to cancel and go back to regular deliveries.

That’s because it wasn’t correctly insured. When you complete the missing parcel form on the post office website you can enter the value, attach proof if possible.
When I did this, in this situation, I ended up with more than the maximum but not the full amount. I can’t explain why but that’s my experience.
I also ended up getting the item returned months later!

It was my understanding that RM don’t redeliver, it’s either get it first time or it’ll sit at the delivery office waiting for collection.

Deliveries to businesses may always have been different and we are starting to get redeliveries at home just recently if the posty has been unable to get access to our close which also means they won’t have left a card (though technically they could as we have a post box slot that’s accessible from outside but it very rarely gets used).

Even if being sent on by eBay through the GSP you need to fully insure for it's full value for it's trip to their warehouse. However I've had stuff that I've paid a fortune for sending to them fully insured and then they use some shitty courier in the country it's going to who breaks it and makes your initial outlay seem a bit ridiculous.

Had a similar experience to Goat above ^^. Add proof that the item was worth more and you might have some joy.

Yeah, I have all the paper work plus the eBay listing...finger crossed.

As a result of this mess and nobody owning any part of it, are there better alternatives to selling footwear?

If the addressee refuses to accept the parcel there is no point in leaving a card or trying again.
People often refuse parcels that are damaged. It may have been poorly packaged. I have received lots of horribly packaged “new in box” components, which were put loose in a plastic pouch.

StockX?

Even its a pain in the arse and tbh there fees are a fuckin joke.

Fuck eBay, fuck RM etc.

Sell trainers on Facebook to people who will come to your gaff to collect them.

Thanks to all that have listened to my grumblings and tried to offer help.

Howard's post above made me chuckle; fuck eBay, Parcel Force, Royal Mail...Fuck all the big conglomerates....Come to Facebook instead..

The enemy of my enemy etc

Even selling stuff to cunts on FB is the worst. They message "are these still available" then never message you back. Cunts.

WHAT IS YOUR LOWEST PRICE U ACCEPT

etc

And selling stuff on here jesus christ

Errr. Depop?

Car boot