Package never arrived, now I have a "defect" on my record | Shipping

bajasierra · 2023-04-03T19:18:20.136000Z

In early March, I received an order and shipped it the same day. About a week later, the buyer complained that the order hadn't been received yet, so I checked the tracking and wrote her to let her know it said the order was still on its way. A few days after that, she filed a complaint with eBay that I hadn't sent the item, and eBay put a hold on my payment. I checked the status, and it said "in transit, arriving late" so I followed what I thought was the proper procedure and copied the tracking number into the hold request. She then wrote back, showing me that she had opened an investigation with the USPS and it said something about how she could file a claim, but the hold remained in place. There were several more entries on the tracking that said "in transit, arriving late" then on March 18th it said, "package research case closed". Since she hadn't answered my message, I took no action beyond that and just assumed it would arrive eventually. Then, the day before yesterday, eBay removed the hold from my account and charged me for the item, and gave me a "defect" as if I had never bothered to send the item. So let me get this straight. I send the item the same day, keep in communication with the customer and now I not only have to pay for the item but I get charged with a defect? It is possible she got the item or the USPS paid her in addition to the refund she got from eBay. Did I do something wrong? What should I have done instead? Is there anything I can do now?

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Package never arrived, now I have a "defect" on my record | Shipping | eBay Community