lost item

Question

I'm a fairly new seller to Ebay and I need some advice. One of my items is way past it's "received by" date and USPS isn't updating regularly. It sould have been received by the buyer on April 3rd but it's the 9th and still nowhere close to where it's supposed to be. Actualy it looks like it hasn't even left Missouri (it's going to Louisiana). I've been in communication with the buyer and she posted a claim requesting a refund. My question is what happens if I refund her the money, she receives the item, and never sends it back? Then I'm out the shipping fees and the item.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

comics-scifi-collectibles · Answer

@mapos_49

Since the buyer has filed a not received refund request you MUST refund them before eBay forces a refund from your account or you get a DEFECT and do not get your sellers fees back.

When/ if the item finally arrives these are your options>

I hope you have an honest buyer.

These are the options for dealing with this type of situation. There is no way within eBay to handle this. I hope you have an honest buyer as eBay can not force the buyer to pay you back.

I would contact the buyer and say I see that your X finally arrived, I hope you are enjoying it. I would offer a small discount to encourage them to pay you back since part of your money is better than none.

#1 You will need to ask the buyer for their email address to send them a PayPal invoice

#2 You can share your PayPal email and they can send the money as friends and family or other electronic payment method such as Venmo

#3 They can snail mail you a check

#4 If they no longer want the item and have not opened it they can mark it as refused return to sender.

#5 You can send the buyer a return shipping label in eBay messages as a JPEG. Buy the label on Pirateship.com. They refund you for the label if it's not used within 30 days. They charge the same commercial base rates as eBay.

You are allowed to share contact information after a recent sale.

For Future Reference>

When I see that a package is running late or "stuck" somewhere the first thing I do is sign up for text updates and let the buyer know that I am checking on the package and thank them for their patience.

If the package is 5 days late then I file a missing mail search for it.

I have had buyers tell me that they only were willing to wait longer for their item and not file a not received refund request because I kept them informed. I have had packages go on weeks long "walk abouts" in the totally wrong direction and never had a buyer file a not received case. I always thank buyers for their patience and assure them that they will receive their item or a full refund. My buyers are always willing to wait for the item.