Customer wants a refund

[booksnstuff_8]

I shipped the item, via USPS and now the customer says they didn’t get the item. 

1. Do I issue a refund?

2. What can the customer do to me?

3. How do I avoid this situation?

[misfitfun]

1.If tracking does not show delivery you owe the buyer a refund.If it does show delivery to address on order you owe the buyer nothing

2.Leave negative feedback

3.Ship w tracking to address on order

[rixstuff]

Go into MyEbay (upper right corner of your screen) and find the item under selling/sold.  When you printed the shipping label, it came with a tracking number.  Put that tracking number in USPS.com and get the history and delivery confirmation.  Provide that info to the dispute.  Theres what the buyer says and what the US Post Office says.  He may have gotten it and not known or may be fibbing.

[pburn]

---

@booksnstuff_8 wrote:

3. How do I avoid this situation?

---

I strongly recommend you read the eBay seller pages, including refunds and returns, all the seller updates from this year, the seller protection information, the Money Back Guarantee, the User Agreement, etc. These message boards are a great source of information when confronted with unfamiliar situations, but they are no substitute for reading the information provided by eBay on all the basic procedures for sellers.

It's like you've been on the job for over a year  and have never read the work manual. Seriously--INRs are eBay Selling 101.

[mam98031]

---

@misfitfun wrote:

1.If tracking does not show delivery you owe the buyer a refund.If it does show delivery to address on order you owe the buyer nothing

2.Leave negative feedback

3.Ship w tracking to address on order

---

More information is needed before jumping to refunding the buyer.

You are correct, the OP should take a look at the tracking to see where the package is.  If it shows delivered, then the buyer should contact their local PO and see if it can be tracked down.  If it does not show as delivered, what does it say?  Is it close to being delivered?  When was it shipped?  Is the buyer looking for it too soon and just hasn't allowed enough time for delivery?  We have more questions than answers.

If it shows delivered on the tracking ALL sellers should work WITH their buyers to see if they can help them to locate the package.  Sometimes going to USPS website and putting a trace on the package will gain you some information you don't currently have.

On line tracking does NOT provide for the address the package was delivered to.  No carrier does that.  Privacy issues.

This does not have to result in a negative FB for the seller.  Work with the buyer and get more information.

[robot-hands]

---

@booksnstuff_8 wrote:

I shipped the item, via USPS and now the customer says they didn’t get the item. 

1. Do I issue a refund?

2. What can the customer do to me?

3. How do I avoid this situation?

---

1. Hecks no, if you have tracking and it shows delivered.

2. Anything. Leave back feedback, get a buddy to buy something and give you bad feedback, open an INR, open a paypal case, start a chargeback, send you nasty emails, call you...none of it means anything if you have tracking and the staus shows delivered or it is being returned....besides a buyer could do all that because it was Tuesday and they have indigestion.

3. By getting a discount on shipping by printing the labels through ebay, they automatically upload tracking numbers.

[booksnstuff_8]

Can you provide a link please so I can start reading?

Thanks

[mam98031]

---

@booksnstuff_8 wrote:
Can you provide a link please so I can start reading?

Thanks

---

You don't know where the Ebay policies are located and/or the help section?  It is at the top of every Ebay page.

Sometimes however it can be hard to search Ebay's policies and it is actually easier to Google the question to get to the right policies you desire.

Here is a link for you to start with.  Make sure you read all the linked pages too.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling-guides-tips/selling?id=4081

[disneyshopper]

Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on SELLER CENTER. You can also read these links:

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/listings?id=4072
https://www.ebay.com/help/listings/creating-managing-listings/creating-managing-listings?id=4105
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selecting-listing-duration?id=4652
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/cancelling-listing?id=4146

[vendeur_de_luxe]

How did you ship it? USPS Priority Mail? If not, did you get a tracking number? If you have a tracking number and it shows delivered then enter the tracking number into the eBay case to enact your seller protection. You should always add the tracking number the day it is shipped, it will help you to avoid false claims of item not received. If it was insured you can file an insurance claim with USPS.