USPS lost my item

[caitlintucson]

Tracking stops a week ago mid-shipment.  How do I refund the buyer?  Do I have them open an INR case?  Will this hurt my seller rating/status?

[caitlintucson]

I should add, the total transaction was only $10, so I’m not too concerned about the money, I just want to protect my status. 

[darlmontoy0]

Wait till the buyer contacts you.

[itsjustasprain]

ts way too soon to start worrying. Did the buyer actually contact you about this? If they did then ask them to be patient and say youre watching for it and it should turn up any day now - it probably will.

f they did not contact you then you do not have a problem yet.

You do not tell them to open an INR. That just means you lose and have to refund because you dont have a delivered scan yet. If the package shows up after that you cannot force the buyer to pay you again. If its on the way then it is 99.9% sure to get there even if it hasnt shown on radar recently.

[luckythewinner]

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@caitlintucson wrote:

Tracking stops a week ago mid-shipment.  How do I refund the buyer?  Do I have them open an INR case?  Will this hurt my seller rating/status?

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If the buyer files an INR and you immediate respond with a refund, it will not create a defect and will not affect your status. 

But if you refund the buyer without a case, eBay may consider this a cancellation and give you a defect. 

So yes - you want to refund inresponse to a case, not on your own. But whether you proactively ask the buyer to file one is a different question entirely. 

[rschissler]

Did you file with USPS to find it?  A similar thing happened to me once where a package was stuck in Philadelphia for a week.  They eventually found it, but after I had refunded the buyer.  I told the buyer he could keep it (also about $10) if it ever showed up, and it did a couple hours after refunding.

[loveyourimagination49]

Where was the package going to?

[onthelake4854]

Go to the USPS website

FIle a "you lost it now go find the @#$%! thing" claim with USPS

https://www.usps.com/help/missing-mail.htm

USPS is dropping the ball on tracking a LOT

It is also sending stuff off on an around-the-county tour a lot (like 22% of time in the past 4 weeks on stuff being shipped to me - added 7-10 days to expectd shipping time and when I would check the tracking, it semed to be sitting in the wrong part of the country for days and suddenly it arrived with no real tracking record)

Odds are it may even have been delivered but USPS simply didn't pick up the scan - had that happen on something a seller shipped to me about 4 months ago and it turned up

Might be a very good idea to add insurance to the tracking - costs very little and you would get back the price of the item and the shipping

[caitlintucson]

Thanks everyone.  Yes, the buyer did email me about the item.  It’s going from Northern California to Missouri. 

[castlemagicmemories]

You can sign up online for delivery and tracking updates, this usually shakes loose a package and gets it moving again.

If the buyer opens an INR, and you have tracking showing movements, you can call CS and ask for an extension and they may give you ten days.