Damaged USPS package arrived with no product inside

[yscvso]

I sent an item from Nevada to Connecticut first-class with tracking number.  USPS tracking shows item arrived in Mass. then on to Conn, where it states, for the first time, VISIBLE DAMAGE, EAST HADDAM, CT 06423.  Buyer notified me today, item was not in package.  He says, the package was cut open, "I’ll hold on to the envelope in case they request it. It appears the envelope was cut. The cut is too clean to be a tear."

Do I file a claim with USPS, remembering it's only first-class or is there a procedure through E-Bay?

Thanks

Walt

[poolfixer]

Not much you can do in this case. The same thing happened to me on an item I repeatedly sell. You cannot do anything with USPS because the package you sent was first class. You could file a claim if the package was sent priority mail. 

I ended up having to re-send the buyer the same item again which I then sent priority mail. 

[simba6]

Nope. Unless you purchased insurance, your paying for  refunding.  Could have happened in some sorting machine. Was it a envelope?

[kensgiftshop]

@yscvso 

Unless you insured the package, not much you can do but give the buyer a full refund.