Tracking not updating, buyer requesting refund

[nursebuck94]

I mailed item Monday & there’s been no tracking activity. As a courtesy I reached out to the buyer & asked her to let me know if package does/doesn’t arrive & if no arrival I’m happy to provide refund. Her response was “No tracking updated, I’ll take the refund now”. How do I know she won’t get item yet? Am I required to provide refund & she can still keep item if it arrives? Thanks

[nickdanger*thirdeye]

I reached out to the buyer & asked her to let me know if package does/doesn’t arrive & if no arrival I’m happy to provide refund.

I hope you realize that wasn't a good idea and think twice about doing that again. Why would you tell your buyer their package might be lost only 2 days after their order was shipped??? Chances are that the buyer hadn't even noticed the lack of tracking updates.

At this point, your only recourse is to tell the buyer that you need to document the refund by way of them filing with ebay. If you're lucky, ebay will make them wait until the expected delivery window has passed and the package will arrive before then.

[missjen831]

Yeah why did you do that? It has been barely 2 days since younshipped! The package is NOT lost. There was absolutely no reason to contact the buyer. You basically just told her you don’t know what you are doing and can be easily tricked! Just stay silent for now. She can’t file a case with eBay until after the latest delivery estimate. DO NOT tell her to file for a refund. Just stay silent. You are neither obligated nor required to refund her. USPS doesn’t scan all packages upon acceptance and their tracking is not reliable, there is often no tracking activity until the item is delivered. 

[labs118 · Accepted solution]

I agree stop watching the shipments & never reach out to buyers .

If it was me now I would log into USPS.com & add tracking number & click Get updates.
This may & has in the past for me rattled the shipment information & I then saw movement
you can have texts or emails. I would do it now