Lost item!

[spunkyjane]

I sure could use your help!  I sold a bracelet and matching ring on EBay today.  I am in the process of getting it packaged and shipped.  However, when I went to find the two items in my selling boxes, I could not find them!  I have looked everywhere!  UGH!  How do I inform the buyer that the items are not available; that they are lost or misplaced!  I need to know the next steps to inform the buyer!  Do I need to notify EBay and if so, how do I do that?  Any assistance you can give me would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you for your time!  Jane S.

[krazzykats]

Refund and explain gently to your buyer.  There really isn't anything else to do.

Manage returns, missing items, and refunds for sellers | eBay

[lux.ra_14]

Keep looking. They're there somewhere if you're sure they didn't sell previously.

[12345jamesstamps]

I usually refund the buyer at same time sending the email. It's a shame you don't have anything similar to offer in exchange. Even a freebie of something and the refund is something I do sometimes. It's the waiting game of months if buyer does a feedback that makes me sweat bullets...for months. You don't sell a lot so that feedback that hurt your account. Keep looking for the item. Don't give up.

[wastingtime101]

Because it's Friday @spunkyjane and post offices are closed on Monday, that gives you 3 full days to search for the item and ship on Tuesday.

Stop looking, relax tonight, then tomorrow start by looking in the first place you checked today.

If you can't find it in the end, send a message to the buyer to let them know and cancel the order as out of stock. You will get an account defect, but you can withstand one cancellation as long as it's not a habit.

You have so few items listed and most are very small. I'd take time this weekend to gather every single item that's active and store them all in the same box so you don't have to deal with this again. Just don't forget where you put the box - email yourself the location if you have to or put a note on your phone. Or put a note on the listings from your Active listings page in seller hub. 🙂

[vintage-camerastuff]

Sit down, take a deep breath and think.    You didn't sell these so they will be in the house.   Stay calm, you will find them.  You have time.   Don't be in such a hurry to cancel or refund.   

[chapeau-noir]

Don't panic! Give it some time and look again later. If you have other people in the house, get them to help. Those items are gonna be somewhere. If you tend to be absent-minded like me, it may have ended up somewhere odd on its way to where it's supposed to be, because something came up.

[wastingtime101]

---

@chapeau-noir wrote:

Those items are gonna be somewhere. If you tend to be absent-minded like me, it may have ended up somewhere odd on its way to where it's supposed to be, because something came up.

---

That's part of the reason I suggested the original poster locate all of their active items and put them in the same box. Aside from the obvious reason, the secondary reason is they have a bunch of other jewelry listed so it's possible the missing item is in the same place as (or even tangled with) that other jewelry. Hiding in plain sight. 😀

[studiodeflores]

Send the buyer an honest and apologetic explanation about the situation and give them choices such as: Do you want a refund now?  Or would you like me to continue looking for it and if I don't find it by such and such a date, I will refund you then?  Some people are very understanding and if they really want the item, they will be fine with waiting a few days to give you time to locate it.

A similar situation is when you go to pack an item and realize it has a defect that you didn't notice when you listed it.  Send a message to the buyer with photos of the defect, and give them choices of cancelling the order or giving them a partial refund and shipping it as is.    

[chapeau-noir]

When you finally find those items, don't forget to air kiss them - that's what I do!

[epowerbargains]

As others have said - take a deep breath and relax - you have time - Monday is a postal holiday. I once found a lost piece of jewelry in a jewelry box used to mail jewelry that was placed with other empty boxes waiting to be used for shipping. I had started to pack it for mailing - the order was cancelled, and I forgot that I had put the piece the box to be mailed and just put the box back with the other empty boxes. Check behind racks, desks etc. - it may have fallen. Slowly go thru each place you keep your eBay inventory. Fingers crossed you will find it - and as chapeau-noir said - time for an air-kiss when you find it! 

[mike_jayroe]

My idea might not be easy to do, But with me I had around 240 items at the beginning of this year. With slow selling going on, I went to the e-bay list of every item I had, made sure I still had them and in the description box I made a note of the exact location I placed the item. 

If you can do the same thing it will help in the future. Best of luck in finding the items.

[toysaver]

Look where you don't think it is.

[jewelbiz]

The same thing happened to me.

I sold a book here but completely misplaced it and 

 spend days looking for it knowing of course it’s here but it could be anywhere among my 10,000 other books.

Finally I put an ad in our nyc apartment building private inner email newsletter asking for help.

A young man I never saw before volunteered to help me out + arrived here with a gigantic flashlight 🔦 going up on the ladder scouring the shelves one by one for an hour to no avail.

A different woman also arrived here shortly after he left and I was so upset that the man had not found the book after the through search 👀 he waged, I almost sent the woman away figuring that if he could not find the book it must be completely gone.

She, another stranger to me, a  mother of an infant, found the book after another deliberate search.

How I didn’t see the book, and the man missed it, I don’t know.  

Hallejulah!  It got found!

[suavepenguin]

Sorry this happened, I can imagine the stress. Might I suggest using the "Custom Label/SKU" field in your listings, noting the location there. This field is not visible in the listing, only to you in your Seller's Hub, therefore you can use any text/code you want, like "in the gray box on top of my dresser", or "Box 25 B". You can add this to all of your listings in Sellers Hub without having to edit each item manually. If you don't see this field, go to a listing, and I believe in the "Title Options" area you can turn on that field.