Sold an item with tracking but not delivered yet. Buyer wants refund

[udoittwo]

I sold an item. The buyer had asked if it was shipped yet and I sent him the tracking #. 

It seems to be stuck in Miami where the buyer lives. The buyer put my funds on hold  and asked for a refund. 

I responded through the Ebay email with the tracking #.

Now what happens? 

I received the refund notice on Tuesday with so much time to respond. 

[rfmtm]

Did buyer just ask for a refund or did they open a Item Not Received case?  Wait till they open a case or ask for buyer for a little more time before they do.  Otherwise wait to just before the deadline to refund.  I'd also call USPS and find out what the problem is.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

I hope this was a Ground Advantage or Priority Mail shipment which is likely to eventually get a delivered scan and not an ESE which may never get scanned delivered even if it is delivered.

ESE shipments are also frequently received late.

If it is ESE, you have up to $20 insurance which you can claim from Ebay after the buyer is refunded.

[frecklesfinery88]

We have had this happen before a couple years ago.  Ours was stuck in Memphis a number of weeks and we dealt with an very undesirable customer. They emailed us several times a day and threatened us.  We ended up refunding the money, the item was delivered to the customer after the layover in Memphis and the Customer then left us a negative review.  We then blocked them. I hope yours moves quickly and has a much better outcome.

It is all out of your control once mailed, just provide the tracking number and hope that it arrives soon. You have provided all you can and USPS takes it from there.  We all have this happen over the years. Do not get discouraged.  

Have a great week.

[az93]

Buyers cannot put funds on hold. If buyer filed item not received and you unloaded tracking number that's all you can do. Only ebay can put your funds on hold. There is a place on usps to reportat a missing package. I have found that to be very useful. Keep assuring buyer their package will arrive. I have been doing this forever and usps has never lost a package.

[dolcetreasures]

Open a case immediately with the USPS, Miami is a USPS death trap. 

[sextons-sweet-deals]

I'm curious if your buyer is actually located in another country and using a freight forwarder in Miami? If so, the only tracking you will have will be for the delivery to the freight forwarder. You will not get an update or tracking of the package movement after it leaves the freight forwarder. 

Can you check that buyers' profile and see what it says they location is? 

[ittybitnot]

@udoittwo 

FWIW if you parcel went to a Freight Forwarder in Miami,  there has been a problem lately of parcels not being tracked and updated as "delivered" at these facilities.  Your local PO may have more information for you if that is the case.  Some have found that the USPS "intranet" will have proof of delivery, but whether eBay will accept that is unknown.  As @tobaccocardyahoo if it was an "ebay standard envelope"  know that these often will never say "delivered".  

[sin-n-dex]

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@udoittwo wrote:

I sold an item. The buyer had asked if it was shipped yet and I sent him the tracking #. 

It seems to be stuck in Miami where the buyer lives. The buyer put my funds on hold  and asked for a refund. 

I responded through the Ebay email with the tracking #.

Now what happens? 

I received the refund notice on Tuesday with so much time to respond. 

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This happened to me twice in the past couple of months. You shipped to a freight forwarder and they didn't scan it as delivered. The buyer may be honest and think is item is not delivered, or he might be scamming and knows they don't regularly do a delivery scan on items there.

C.