In May, I sold a bandana but it returned in the mail about a week later marked as "not at this address." I immediately contacted the buyer and attached a picture of the returned envelope. And I got no response from the buyer.
In the meanwhile, he purchased other items so I think that he surely must have seen the message notification. However, after more than 60 days had passed, I finally got a message from him saying that he had thought the item (and more from other sellers, too) was lost but now he wants to know if it is still available and he gave me his new address.
I sent that bandana "free shipping" which, of course, means that it cost me $2.61. Between the fees and the packing materials and wholesale cost and gas to drive to the PO, I figure that I clear $1.00 each on the bandanas that I sell. This, of course, is not the buyer's problem; it's mine. But if I re-send the bandana on my own dime, it IS certainly my problem. I can't afford to lose money (not even a little bit) because this guy was too careless to change his address--money has been really tight this month so I actually do not have enough cash to cover the postage.
I know that it's too late for him to leave feedback for me or to make a claim on eBay. But it's not too late for him to claim on PayPal.
That bandana is still sitting, re-packaged, on my shipping table because I am unsure how to proceed. I think that I should send it because he bought it and it's his now. But I also don't think that I should be on the hook for the postage. If I had charged shipping, it would be easy enough to ask him to cover the cost of sending it again but that seems harder to do when an item has Free Shipping.
I'd like to know how others would proceed.
