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The Fox Report Barry Fox’s technology column A blurry, indistinct photo isn’t ‘proof of delivery’ I f you buy goods online – and who now doesn’t, even if they would prefer to shop in person – this is for you. Keep it in mind when you next consider ordering from any seller using Royal Mail Tracked as its carrier service. Royal Mail’s letter service is legendarily unreliable. To my acute embarrassment, a birthday card I sent weeks ago still has not arrived. But Royal Mail Tracked delivery is supposed to be different, with real-time, end-to-end tracking of items along with photo proof of delivery. It’s the service online sellers pay extra to use (and charge us extra for). Recently, for the second time, electronic components I ordered from an eBay seller were sent by Royal Mail Tracked and failed to arrive. In each case, the (different) sellers provided a meaningless photo as a worthless ‘proof of delivery’. In each case, the eBay seller failed to challenge the useless proof from Royal Mail, telling me to contact them. I quote: “We already clearly tell to you that Your item was delivered..from our side we cant do nothing please contact with the courier service”. This is wrong; the seller is Royal Mail’s customer, having paid them to carry the package. Royal Mail’s official advice note headed “Marked as delivered but not received” clearly tells recipients who have failed to receive goods: “If you’re the recipient. Please contact the sender. They will contact us to enquire on your behalf”. See https:// help.royalmail.com/personal/s/article/ Marked-as-delivered-but-not-received I know from experience that it is relatively easy to sideline an unhelpful seller and make a chargeback request with the credit card company used to pay for goods or services. The card company considers the facts and claws back money from the seller if things look wrong. But as an exercise for these pages, I hacked through eBay’s jungle of looped FAQ Help pages, chatbot advice and noreply messaging to pursue a complaint and help others with the hassle. I’ve itemised the bare bones here, but note that eBay’s menu options may change depending on what steps you have already taken. Also, only correspond with the seller via eBay. Do not contact the seller directly, even if you have an email address. Open Your eBay Account, go to My eBay, Purchase History, find the item in Practical Electronics | December | 2025 question, click “More Actions” and use the “Contact Seller” option to write politely to the seller, confirming non-receipt. If the seller isn’t helpful, go again to Purchase History/More Actions, find the same item under Purchases. Then select “See Request Details” and “Ask eBay to Step In and Help”. Choose the appropriate reason and Confirm. You will (quite reasonably) need to assure that you have checked that the delivery address on the order was correct and have checked for misdelivery with neighbours and in possible ‘safe places’. Having done this, I complained that the fuzzy tracking photo provided showed no signature, no person and no house, and was thus obviously not proof of delivery. I also complained that the seller had wrongly told me to contact Royal Mail. Nevertheless, eBay rapidly rejected the complaint in a brusque “Case Is Now Closed” email. This offered no reason or reasoning and had a distinct whiff of Artificial Unintelligence automated responding about it: “This case is now closed... the seller provided tracking information that shows the item was delivered to your address. After reviewing all the details of this case, we determined that you won’t receive a refund.” There was no obvious option to appeal eBay’s unreasoned ruling. Still, the option exists. The trick is to access the Case Outcome details, which contain a small-print link named “If you disagree with the outcome, you can send an appeal”. But finding the Case Outcome is not easy, especially as the menu options change with case progress. One way is to search Customer Help for “Appeal the outcome of a case as a buyer” and click on the link offered; or you can go to Purchases/See Case Details and look for the option to “Send us an appeal”. Condense your text to the short length limit and Submit. eBay warns that it will only consider appeals against its decisions if there is new evidence. But just for the heck of it, I appealed the refusal to refund, essentially re-stating the facts and adding that “eBay has failed to give reasons for relying on self-evidently worthless ‘proof of delivery’... This undermines eBay’s guarantee promises... I no longer dare order anything from eBay that involves Royal Mail Tracked delivery”. Expecting another rejection, I started preparing a chargeback request to my credit card company. This is the process where the card company that made the original payment considers the facts of a dispute and claws back money from the seller, or middleman (eBay in this case), if they believe it is valid. The burden of proof then shifts to the seller, or eBay. The usual routine is for the seller to make a token defence by parroting what they already said, but give up when the cardholder rebuts. As if psychic, eBay Customer Service then came back with a rethink: “After reviewing this case, we decided to refund you for this purchase. We did this because we determined that the item was stolen during delivery.” In a separate email, an eBay employee (or AI-created character?) added: “I understand that the tracking shows item has been delivered but you have not received the item. … we’ve granted your appeal and as a courtesy, I’m happy to issue this refund for you. … Please note, this is a one-time exception to our policy and we will be unable to issue this courtesy again if future situations like this arise. … Have a wonderful day.” So, eBay was not admitting any mistake or failure in not challenging obviously worthless “proof of delivery”. Most significantly, eBay then offered “Some useful tips that can help to ensure that your future deliveries arrive safely.” Apart from the obvious “ensure that the correct address is on the order details when purchasing”, these tips are: • Select Click & Collect for hassle-free delivery to a collection point near you or • Choose a secure delivery location (like a locked porch box or an indoor delivery if available) or • Redirect the package to a nearby pickup location, or locker service, or by using eBay’s Click & Collect Service. This appears to be clear advice not to buy from any seller who only dispatches goods by Royal Mail Tracked. It’s exactly the conclusion I had already reached. I shall in future buy from Amazon, which uses its own courier service; or routinely avoid any transaction that involves carriage by Royal Mail Tracked. With customer advice like this from a sales organisation as big as eBay, how long can Royal Mail stay in the PE mail business? 45