Shipping Without Tracking

[gracedesign]

I'm sure that endless discussion has ensued around this topic and I apologize in advance if this is redundant but I am not in the forums too often. I just had a situation in my shop and really wanted to a) vent b) get feedback and c) see how others handle this kind of thing.

Up until now I always shipped with Small Packet Air - without tracking. As most of you are probably keenly aware, shipping with tracking up until recently was very costly with Canada Post. I've looked around and see that a lot of Canadian sellers use this method. But I actually had one parcel go missing this Christmas - which is pretty rare - and it was a pretty rude awakening in that we as sellers have not a leg to stand on when sending without tracking.

A few weeks passed (but less than 14 business days) as it was over the holidays and this customer had not received her order. I politely asked her if we could wait a bit longer to give it time to show up. (and believe me, it took a lot of restraint but I was very polite and friendly). She freaked out, opened a case on Etsy and Paypal and has been attacking me in those two forums since, saying I was unhelpful with a subtext that seems to say that I deliberately ripped her off or would knowingly take somebody's money and not ship their product.

Anyways, long story short, I have now learned that if a customer pays you via Paypal and they escalate a case, you have two options - refund them or provide tracking. Oh and "seller protection" means nothing without a tracking number.

So I changed my entire shop so everything ships Trackable now. It is not that much more expensive to the Us but outside of North America it is ludicrous - like $45 for a small clutch bag.

What are others doing? Do you ship without tracking and just take the hit if something goes missing? It is pretty rare after all.

Also, in this instance - would you have refunded her right away or waited a bit? Things have degraded so much and I feel really bad about it. I obviously don't want to have nasty exchanges with my customers and I am really worried about a negative review. I don't think my request was so unreasonable but would welcome others feedback.

Thanks!

[castillejacotton]

I ship small package without tracking as well. So far I have not had anything go missing. I do tell the customer that there is no tracking to let me know when the package arrives and if the package does not arrive in the estimated time usually 7 days. I would have probably ask the customer if they wanted a refund or was willing to wait a bit longer.
I have had tracked order go missing and had to resend the entire order.
In this case the us postal service said they delivered the order so insurance didn't apply.
I have had small package order in a strong envelop arrive ripped apart with items missing and replaced the missing items.
It seems with shipping anything that can go wrong probably will over time.
I take the view that the customer is the one I need to make happy. After all it is really not their fault.