buyer saysing the "Envelope is empty" - what can I do?

onlyoneme

Can someone help as to what to do next? I sent them in ordinary post (did get a proof of posting) but I got this message today

"I have received a C5 brown envelope this morning which is empty!! The one side of the envelope is sealed with selotape however the other side is open and there was nothing whatsoever in the envelope. Please could you kindly make a claim from The Royal Mail and issue a refund or else send a replacement. Many thanks."

Please help me - what can I do? can I claim from Royal mail?

chemical.galaxy

Yes you can make a claim, you will need the proof of posting and the empty envelope so your buyer needs to send that back to you!
Also your original receipt for the lost item.

freddysmith

How much was the item bought for?

theonlywayisup

You can claim if the item wasn't a prohibited/restricted item and is worth up to £46 (presuming you used 1st or 2nd class).

Not much you can do with the buyer other than apologise and refund.

onlyoneme

freddysmith wrote: »

How much was the item bought for?

I don't have the receipt, but it was about £10. and the sale was £5.69 including postage.

No chance for claim if I don't have the original receipt then?

freddysmith

Original evidence of value is needed according to the claim form, maybe try a photo or webpage with your item price displayed + your proof of postage.
Might even get away with your own Ebay listing + the Paypal receipt for payment.
You will need to refund the buyer in any case, and fortunately a low value item.
If you receive back the empty envelope you can then ask to cancel the transaction and get your Ebay final value fee returned.

QuackQuackOops

Very old scam and to be honest I would ignore the buyers request.
I would only deal with it if it comes in the form of a dispute.

Yes yes, I know that noone knows for sure whether or not the buyer is scamming but looking at the odds chances are that it is a scam.
So, make it difficult for the buyer.
Perhaps then some buyers will think twice about scamming if it takes 6 weeks to get their money back.

GregtheHammer

QuackQuackOops wrote: »

Very old scam and to be honest I would ignore the buyers request.
I would only deal with it if it comes in the form of a dispute.

Yes yes, I know that noone knows for sure whether or not the buyer is scamming but looking at the odds chances are that it is a scam.
So, make it difficult for the buyer.
Perhaps then some buyers will think twice about scamming if it takes 6 weeks to get their money back.

You say scam, I have had this happen to me both as a buyer and a seller. If you make it difficult for the buyer, they will easily punish you with a neg, low stars etc

custardy

let me guess.some sort of item with a bit of weight to it that can slide around in the envelope?

Badger_Lady

QuackQuackOops wrote: »

looking at the odds chances are that it is a scam.

There are plenty of incidents of items disappearing from their packages in the post too though, most of us have seen this happen at some point.

If the OP doesn't respond, the buyer will assume that they are scamming and report them appropriately :eek:

freddysmith

Have to agree. Protecting your own Ebay survival (if that’s important) comes to the top of my agenda when dealing with complaints.
Scam or not the seller still has to deal with it.