Help! Amazon Marketplace buyer says he didn't receive item...

Kaos_2

I'm wondering whether anyone can tell me what I need to do...

I sold a book on Amazon Marketplace over 2 months ago and sent it out First Class Royal Mail the same day.

I have suddenly received an email today from the buyer simply saying "I haven't received this book yet".

Although I got POP when I posted the book, I actually sorted out and shredded all my old receipts only about a week ago (I know, I won't do it again). Obviously I assumed he would have contacted me earlier if there were any problems!

I've now gone into panic mode and don't know what to do... I'm 99% sure he is trying it on, as surely no-one would wait 2 months to chase up an item they should have received within 2 days?

Amazon help is no use... am I forced to just issue a refund?

He hasn't issued a claim or anything, do I wait for him to escalate it?

Any help would be appreciated!

*anticipates lots of people saying I shouldn't have shredded the receipts*

anewman

I agree with you on the 2 month thing - and yes unfortunately proof of postage would help. There's a compensation form you can get from the post office but I do not know if the sender or receiver is intended to fill it in.

rare_stuff

Sorry, no choice really. I'd state you shouldn't have shredded your receipts POP forms ( i keep my receipts for the taxman/account and the POP forms for 6months) but you don't need telling this now.

Depending on the value of the book and status of the buyer, they may not go down the amazon a-z route, but they still have another 30days to leave you feedback. So tread carefully!

Explain to the buyer that you had proof of posting but had assumed delivery had happened so had disposed of old receipts and that you would have expoeected them to have contacted you in regard to non-delivery before now. If they've previously bought from american sellers on amazon, 2 months isn't an unusually long time to wait for a delivery. Ask the buyer to confirm their address as it may have been sent to a different address.

be nice and prepare to refund.

In future <s>keep your pops for 6 months</s> and perhaps send a follow up email after dispatching to advise customers order has been dispatched and to contact you if not arrived by a certain date. Though many amazon customers do not have active email addresses or read their emails.