• We try to provide comprehensive set of photographs for you to browse and to describe anything we see that you should be aware of.
• The item is stored in our own home at room temperature and is clean, fresh and useable.
• We sent items in brand new specialist packaging such as foam wrap, bubble wrap, boxes, mailer bags, polybags or whatever else is needed.
  
• My wife carefully hand-packs and also irons clothing, making sure there is a second independent check for quality and any other issues.
  
• I dispatch items Monday to Friday mornings at between 7am and 8am and as this is my sole source of income I care about what I do.
  
• Usually I send Post Office second class mail with Proof of Posting but sometimes we upgrade to 'sign for delivery' without charging extra.
  
• We are based 0.5 miles from the Post Office and 0.1 miles from the myHermes collection point so can usually accomodate faster delivery.
• We are dedicated to serving you full-time as this is our business and we will do our very best to look after you.

• We are based in England.  We will thus provide size information for labels based upon Imperial measurements and sizes as per GREAT BRITAIN standards. 
• We also provide a table based upon centimetres for customers who use metric, please see this a few lines down. 
• If our listing includes a line such as ***22w 29l 2XL*** this means that the item is about 22 inches wide, 29 inches long and is extra, extra large.
• The width measurement is from armpit-to-armpit and represents a Chest measurement.
• The length measurement is from the top to the bottom of the item.
• We will also research any information that the manufacturer specifically provides on children's sizing.
• The size label e.g. 2XL is always Great Britain specific and we will usually photograph the label where it shows other countries sizes.

Questions and Answers

Can you send a parcel to my country and how much will it cost?

Yes.

We will post Worldwide.

We will usually provide a price estimate on the listing. Our estimates are usually good value. When the item is heavier than 2KG we may have to use use Royal Mail's Parcelforce service which is very expensive.  We would try of course to get a cheaper quote.

If you want to get an accurate quote estimate then you can do this directly by going to http://www.royalmail.com/price-finder or https://international.myhermes.co.uk/quick-quote or https://www.parcel2go.com/international-couriers

Our postcode is TN24 8PR and you would know your own details to post to.

I would suggest that you put in 1KG and a size maximum is 45cm x 35cm x 15cm to get an estimate.

Please do drop me a note if you want items weighed on our electronic scales and/or you are interested in a multi-item bundle.

If you want further pricing information then http://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/RoyalMail_2016_Prices.pdf should contain guidance.

How quickly do you send items within the UK?

We aim to dispatch items every day Monday to Friday by 8am.

At the weekend, we aim also to post out on a Saturday before the collection at 11:15am.

We will sometimes additionally do a drop-off on a Sunday, although there is not a collection by Royal Mail that day.

It normally takes 2-3 days for items to arrive second class, although Royal Mail can in theory take 15 days and still be "on time"!

How much does postage cost?

For second class post our cost is normally about £3.25 when you consider only the stamp cost plus commission to eBay and the PayPal transaction fee.

We normally ask for a £3 contribution towards the postage costs.

If we were to send a parcel of between one and two kilos it would cost nearly £6 to send first class.

Given that it normally only takes one day more we do not usually offer first class as an option.

Where the customer buys multiple items, or items which are outside pricing in proportion, or over 2 kilos we will usually use myHermes and ask for about £5 towards postage.

The actual cost is usually £4.95 or £5.95 before commission to eBay and the PayPal transaction fee.

You can see for yourself the pricing information at:  http://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/RoyalMail_2016_Prices.pdf or https://www.parcel2go.com/ or https://www.myhermes.co.uk/send-a-parcel.html#/price or http://www.royalmail.com/price-finder

Why aren't you part of the Global Shipping Programme?

Our opinion is that the GSP is more expensive than sending the item directly.If you buy from a seller using the GSP then eBay will solely determine the postal charges.
They are a fixed, non-negotiable price.  The charges incorporates two lots of postage as the item must be sent to eBay and then sent on with no discounts for multiple purchases.The Postage & Packaging could include 'add ons' including mandatory tracking, insurance, signed-for-delivery or anything else they determine you need. They will pre-fill the paperwork for the authorities which will be included in the higher price you are charged. Our attitude is that the cost of trade should be minimised.  I will get proof of posting (which is free) and send the item international economy. I will describe the item normally as "used" - which normally everything I sell is - and state a price on the label, deducting the postage costs. It would be surprising if the authorities in your country want extra money; with the item likely to sail below the official customs radar given the more modest descriptions that we handwrite.

Do you offer "complementary" postage?

Usually no.  Our minimum cost to send an item, for a small parcel is about £3.25, without considering the costs of packaging materials.  What we will do, very sensibly, is bundle items together and normally offer a discount or 'free postage' on multiple purchases, usually where the P&P cost remains unchanged or similar. You can either pay up front or ask for a quotation.

Do you accept "best" offers?

Rarely.

We try to price items based upon previous sales prices achieved.

What we have found that "best offers" tend to be about 50% to 60% of the asking price; that negotiations are no more than take it or leave it; that the offers tend to be from people who are more demanding and aggressive than average - sometimes continuing to attempt to argue the price down on a completed sale and/or later on trying it on for a partial refund - whilst there is also a high ratio of those whose offers are accepted vanishing into thin air.

This is not really the kind of demographic we want to be dealing with in all honesty.

We would entertain a more educated conversation with buyers who are sensible.

Post-sale issues

Seigneur-Terraces has good feedback by looking after customers, however we are aware that mistakes can happen and will do our very best for you providing that you deal with us directly and let us know of the problem and work with us to resolve it.

If you want to go straight to the eBay dispute console that is your call, but we are then both locked into a "dispute process", which is against the spirit of eBay, whilst if you leave immediate negative feedback then common sense is that the seller has little upside in going out of his way to assist.

The item hasn't arrived.

We send out all mail with "proof-of-posting" as a minimum.  We keep the receipts. We can prove that your item was sent.  Seigneur-Terraces recommends that your first step should be to ask other people who share the same mailbox if they have seen the parcel or the "not in" card.  After this, you need to trace your own parcel.  T

UK Buyers

The way things work in England is that, if the parcel cannot be delivered, that it is sent to a central sorting office. This will be based near to where you live.  You can find this on the "not in" card or by going onto the Royal Mail website and entering your postcode:
http://www.royalmail.com/delivery-and-collection-office-finder

Please note that I expect you to try to locate your own parcel before opening up a formal dispute and to support any claims you make for loss.
If the item does not appear within reasonable timescales, then it is possible to offer a refund or replacement subject to my belief that you have made effort to help out!

International Buyers

Post normally takes about a week between countries, please do not contact me for the first time after a month or longer as the item has no chance of being found by then!

It is also worth pointing out that if you want a conversation please message me.

The eBay formal dispute process, which connects ebay.co.uk with other domains written in non-English is broken.

The websites are not only in two different languages but you cannot send a message via the dispute process if you cross from ebay.co.uk to an international version of ebay.

In fact you cannot really do anything except offer a refund back on eBay.co.uk

This may be what you want but I would imagine you would be frustrated not to get a proper reply and courtesy, so please message me directly and within the first 2 weeks.

People who commit to buy but don't bother paying or contacting me

I don't mind what the excuse is, whether the payment button suddenly malfunctioned, a family member logged in, you've been hacked etc. 

Just do the decent thing and either send me a cancellation request, which I will accept or please pay!

If you do nothing then eBay takes a commission from me on the assumption that I have been paid, even though there is no detected payment.

I have no dispute with you, I just have to press 'item not paid' to get my commission back.

Please note that if you simply need a few more days to pay, or are waiting for Payday or whatever just let us know, otherwise we will assume you don't want the item!

I've changed my mind after receiving the item

There are normal ways of behaving and then there are abnormal ways of behaving. This is our standard responses.

1) The buyer politely asks the seller if they will accept a return.  In Seigneur-Terraces case we accept returns. You need to return the item and we will then give you the purchase price money back.  You can do this via the eBay console or simply send us the item back.  We are yet to decline a return and would probably only ever decline a return if the item was brand new when sent and can no longer be sold as new or if the item was switched for an inferior alternative.

2) The buyer feels that the item was "not as described" and believes that the seller should not only accept a return but pay for postage both ways.  Where items are faulty or we have made a significant error we will have no issue with this. With respect to you, you should bear in mind that used items are allowed by eBay to show cosmetic damage and where the item is marginally unacceptable and would be "as described" by simply giving it a wipe or some other way which you would with any other item such as putting it in the washing machine it would make sense to just do that. If after that there is a functional issue then that is where we will step in with an offer to put it right.  We do not want to send out problem items, but as you may understand, with one full time employee and over 1,000 items in stock it is possible to overlook a problem without meaning to create a problem for you. We would appreciate that you write to us rather than just leave negative feedback with no contact as we believe that this is a spiteful way to behave and will not do business with you again.

Other scenarios

3) The buyer claims that the "Item is not received".  Please note that Seigneur-Terraces wishes to help the item be received.  We always get proof of posting at minimum and never simply post the parcel unseen into a metal box, so we prove we sent the item and always report "missing items"to the mail deliverer. Whilst the parcel may not have a specific barcode which covers our back with eBay, it will always be the case that the courier will have at minimum a record of the person who was responsible for delivery to an address on that specific day, if not fuller details for their own records. In a compensation scenario, there is a high chance that they will investigate and please note that the courier responsible may visit the delivery address and report suspected mail theft / fraud to the authorities.

4) The buyer may claim that the "transaction is unauthorised" to their bank or PayPal. We are sorry to hear about such a scenario.  To help things along we will make a report to the National Cyber Crime Unit for Great Britain to provide our full name, address, postcode, e-mail address and phone number to help with their investigations. We will be happy to disclose any communications we have received and any other information we can help with such as a description of the person who arrived at our doorstep in order that the person or persons concerned can be identified.  This will be independent of anything that happens within the eBay and PayPal processes.

5) The buyer may contact the seller outside the returns process with aggressive messages.  Please note that Seigneur-Terraces believes that a business transaction should be conducted with integrity and professionalism and reports such behaviour to eBay in order to ensure that the platform remains one of decent, honest people working with each other. Given that eBay and PayPal would know the full name, address, phone number, email address, bank details and many other pieces of information about the buyer it would not be wise to risk a lifetime ban from the world's largest auction website for all people sharing that IP address for the sake of being inappropriately rude

Au Revoir!