I’m claiming for a lost package - the first one in about 5 years of selling - and they won’t accept the order receipt, they want proof of ‘cost of purchase or acquisiiton’, which I obviously don’t have as I didn’t buy it!
Has anyone successfully claimed, and if so, what proof did you provide? Do they want copies of all the receipts for the various materials? And how can I prove ‘labour cost’ when I’m effectively paying myself?
It makes me wonder whether it’s worth claiming compensation at all.
I claimed just once. Parcel was delivered then removed from safe place. Value was just under £20 but it was really annoying as it was custom made and I should have charged more but it was for a customer who has her Christmas present from her son from me every year. Had to make another one at a very busy time.
For my claim I simply attached proof of postage slip and my copy of the ‘invoice’ I send out with all my orders which states when and how posted (in this case RM small package), photo and description of what I sent, pricing details and postal address.
They paid up without any problem.
Hi Christine,
I’ve just sent a compensation claim online this afternoon. I just took a photo of the item sold on the manage orders screen on the dashboard which shows the item and price etc and then uploaded it along with the proof of delivery form. It did go through ok.
Thanks Joy @JOYSofGLASS and Dawn @dawnsneesbyjewellery .
That’s exactly the info I uploaded and sent to them online a week ago. It went through ok but they’ve now replied saying they don’t compensate for the selling price, only the cost. I have 5 days to send them proof of cost of purchase.
Oh I see Christine, I expect I will be receiving the same reply then. It is going to be difficult, I know I probably haven’t got all receipts now for the exact items used to make product. As you say, is it worth it.
I have had to do this before and just did a long, detailed list of all the component parts and their RRP’s that I got from the websites of the places that I had purchased the items from. (Even though some were quite a long time before the item was made)
This did the trick and I got full compensation for the items used to make the item. Although obviously not the time and effort!
Hope you manage to get it sorted. Very annoying when things go missing!
they did that to me , so I wrote them a letter explaining that I make the items and sell them on line and that I made the item using xx amount of xx supplies and that was itemised on the enclosed receipt. I also said that I spent xx amount of time at the minimum wage of xx amount an hour. I totalled this amount up and hey presto it came to more than the amount i sold it for. They will only pay £20 at the most
Sandra
That really is absolute garbage isn’t it
I just read this on their site :
*ist Class **
For stamped, metered and by account items a postage refund plus compensation on the basis of actual loss, where evidence of posting and evidence of value can be provided. This compensation is subject to the maximum payable being the lower of the market value of the item and the maximum of £20.00.
Surely what you sell it for is the market value !
And then I read this 
Actual loss is what the item cost you to acquire, purchase or manufacture (or repair in the case of damage)
Below is an example of actual loss:
Mrs Smith (the end purchaser) bought a pair of jeans from a shop and paid £25 for them. If she posts them on and they go missing she can claim what it cost her to purchase the jeans, i.e. £25.
The Shop (the retailer) that sells the jeans buys them from the manufacturer for £15. If they post them and they go missing they can claim what it cost them to acquire the jeans, i.e. £15.
The Factory (the manufacturer) that supplies the shop makes the jeans for £10. If they post them and they go missing they can claim what the item cost them to manufacture, i.e. £10.
That to me says you can claim the cost of manufacture as well as the cost of materials, Which we all know will come to much more than you are claiiming if you use a living wage rate !
Plus don’t forget
Paypal fees and Folksy fees ?
Someone is playing silly wotsits with you @ciesse, A job’s worth no doubt.
Hope you get it sorted.
I have always been told they will only pay the materials cost and not the labour- which usually means it hasn’t been worth the bother.
Good luck.
There has to be a difference.
If say you are a trader on Ebay. You buy something for £10. you sell it on (no "manufacture involved) for £10 then you can only claiim what it cost £10.
If you buy that same thing for £10 and add £10 value by painting it / sticking it back together or whatever…then you must surely expect to receive £20.
Any legal bods on here ?
PS
The sender or the recipient of the item may both claim for a lost item but only one will be paid compensation. If both claim for the same item then Royal Mail will process only the sender’s claim unless compensation has already been paid to the recipient. The claimant is required to provide the same evidence regardless of whether they are the sender or recipient.
So if the recipient claims for the lost item which cost then £20 they get £20 but if the seller clains they only get the material cost ! ???
This is surely enough to get a bad head banging it against a brick wall 
Their policies are aimed at big businesses I think, where the selling price includes a big mark-up.
I’ll send them copies of my ‘costing’ including my labour costs and all the receipts that I have for the various materials. Let them try to make sense of that lot!!
The goods were sent overseas, otherwise I might’ve asked the recipient to claim instead!
Wish me luck…
Thanks Sandra @sandranesbitt, I think I’ll do that too.
well i included my labour costs and it worked ! I got the full £20 , ie the maximum as I proved that the supplies to make it with and my labour came to more than that.
Before I sent the letter I did what you did and asked for advise from all other the place.
It you are the manufactor and sell it as part of a business trans action then yes you should receive the full invoice amount up to the £20 limit.
What happens is often the royal mail doesn’t realize it’s a business item and is thinking it’s a personal gift item only.
You have to state that you are the owner of the business an it takes ex amount to make including all parts, labour and all business fees within the invoice which is the amount you charge the customer and you now as a business will have to refund to your customer due to the royal mail losing the item.
When you state this they back down.
I’ve only ever made 2 claims - one for a Folksy item, for which I just filled in a form and the money came straight back and the other was for an item I sold on eBay, which got broken in the post. Again I filled in a form but it was far more complicated, as it was broken. I took photos etc and filled in loads of details but I never heard back and it was such a complicated process that, in the end, I didn’t bother following it up.
So 2 very different experiences - one very simple and one totally frustrating.
I had to make a claim a few weeks ago for a package lost in US. I attached a screen shot of the order page (was on Etsy) showing the cost of the item to the seller. I was fully refunded (apart from the cost of packaging which I include in Shipping charge but which doesn’t of course show up under the RM postage fee).
I just wanted to feedback the result of my recent claim.
After submitting the initial online claim, I was told that RM would only reimburse the cost of making the item, so I sent them a costing with receipts for the main materials and included a ‘labour & overheads’ cost for the difference between the cost and sales price. I also explained that I wasn’t a manufacturer but an independent maker.
Surprise, surprise…I just received a cheque for the full amount and postage! Thank you RM, and thanks to all you lovely people for helping me with the claim.
That’s good to know, as I have a US claim to make this week!