Lost parcel but no comms from buyer...

Dark_Star

OK...sorry for the long woffle - sold an item (under £10 with postage). Buyer did not pay or make contact.
Sent invoice, then polite nudge but nothing so opened a NPB case on day 7. Buyer coughs up but still no comment.
Parcel sent trackable & tracking uploaded to eBay/PayPal etc.  I kept watching it for delivery but it vanished. Tracking stuck at "it's with XYZ post office on date ABC". 3 weeks ago... 
Rang RM who suggested I put in a claim as they would investigate. Did that, not expecting to hear for months. Within 5 days I had a cheque for the sale fee + postage.
Emailed buyer via Ebay VERY politely to confirm parcel's arrival (just in case) but still nothing & no feedback.....so do I refund  them? Do I wait for them to contact me?    
I am bemused at the lack of contact as all the feedback is "great ebayer/paid fast etc". There's over 200 feedback so not a complete newbie.
I'm not keen on banking the cheque until I know they do not have it. More than happy to return it to RM if parcel has been delivered...but if  I refund them & they have the item that's wrong...
Plus...they have not opened a missing item case - how do I refund? There's "cancel order" but not much else on the drop down menu
Help!
Thank you  

jeffuk

No need to contact buyer, wait 180 days, not much chance of buyer opening a case after then so you can tear the cheque up.

MalMonroe

" Buyer did not pay or make contact."

This is weird because when you sell on eBay, the buyer HAS to pay before the seller can send the item. So I don't understand why eBay contacted you to send the item before the buyer paid up. You shouldn't have had any need whatsoever to send an invoice.

The buyer pays, the seller is informed and then seller prints off the appropriate postage labels which are on eBay, packs up a parcel and sends it off at the post office with proof of postage.

I'm also amazed that you got a refund (by cheque?! bit old-fashioned) from Royal Mail so very quickly and for such a small amount. Whenever I've tried to claim from RM they've told me that it'll take a while and also they never have refunded the whole amount anyway.

But this whole thing is very mysterious. If I've ever had any trouble with either a buyer or seller, I've just sorted it out through eBay. If I haven't received parcels I have paid for, I've reported it to eBay and received an immediate refund. 

If I've been selling and had trouble with a buyer, I've reported it to eBay and it's been sorted out immediately. But it's rare because the buyer always has to pay up before the seller sends the item. Why that didn't happen in your case remains a mystery.

Very curious indeed.

Spoonie_Turtle

MalMonroe said:

I'm also amazed that you got a refund (by cheque?! bit old-fashioned) from Royal Mail so very quickly and for such a small amount. Whenever I've tried to claim from RM they've told me that it'll take a while and also they never have refunded the whole amount anyway.

[I don't have anything to add to the subject at hand, but I had to claim for something from RM a year or two ago and it was very straightforward, cheque arrived for the item.amount plus postage within a few days - this was also something tracked, which may be the key. An ordinary parcel might take them a bit longer to investigate and cough up for.]

theonlywayisup

MalMonroe said:

" Buyer did not pay or make contact."

This is weird because when you sell on eBay, the buyer HAS to pay before the seller can send the item. So I don't understand why eBay contacted you to send the item before the buyer paid up. You shouldn't have had any need whatsoever to send an invoice.

The buyer did pay.  There are also some sellers who have made the mistake of sending before payment but this isn't what has happened here.  I also don't read it that ebay contacted the OP to send before payment....

MalMonroe said:
I'm also amazed that you got a refund (by cheque?! bit old-fashioned) from Royal Mail so very quickly and for such a small amount. Whenever I've tried to claim from RM they've told me that it'll take a while and also they never have refunded the whole amount anyway.

 My last refund from RM was by cheque.  The size of the refund is immaterial, if the claim is correct and the correct paperwork submitted the correct amount will be refunded (assuming the correct service for that amount has been used). If you are being told 'it will take a while' or that you've never been refunded the whole amount, you need to check you are using the correct service and submitting the correct paperwork. 

https://www.royalmail.com/retail-compensation-policy-loss

MalMonroe said:

But this whole thing is very mysterious. If I've ever had any trouble with either a buyer or seller, I've just sorted it out through eBay. If I haven't received parcels I have paid for, I've reported it to eBay and received an immediate refund. 

If I've been selling and had trouble with a buyer, I've reported it to eBay and it's been sorted out immediately. But it's rare because the buyer always has to pay up before the seller sends the item. Why that didn't happen in your case remains a mystery.

Very curious indeed.

Very curious indeed.  

I wish I got immediate refunds for lost parcels or immediate action with a troublesome buyer. 

Op - do nothing.  If the buyer opens a case you can refund and cash the cheque. 

Dark_Star

Thanks for the replies.
Buyer DID pay but only after I'd opened a NPB case. They never made any contact to explain why they had not paid before NPB case opened & their feedback implies this is very out of character to not pay asap.
I would have thought they would have squawked by now about non delivery of parcel but the lack of comms/feedback is odd.
I'm just trying to avoid a potential red dot of doom as 80 characters is nowhere near enough to explain what happened if I had to leave my feedback response.
Never claimed for a RM refund before  & the person on the phone said it could take a while hence my surprise when it arrived.
For the time being, I'll put the cheque somewhere safe with a note to return after 180 days...     unless anyone else has some more wise advice...

tempus_fugit

You shouldn’t get a red dot of doom as long as you follow procedures. Until you get an item not received claim from the buyer you just sit tight. It’s possible that the item has been delivered and the tracking has not been updated, this does happen sometimes.

And the buyer’s feedback is meaningless as you can’t leave negative feedback for a buyer and many sellers routinely leave positive feedback once they receive payment from the buyer, so you can’t really go by that.

If the buyer does come back with an INR claim then you just refund them and all should be well, so no need for a red dot and if you got one after complying with the refund request you would be within your rights to ask eBay to remove it as being unfair.

DiddyDavies

Dark_Star said:

I would have thought they would have squawked by now about non delivery of parcel but the lack of comms/feedback is odd.

More likely than not the parcel has been delivered to your buyer but the RM system hasn't been updated to reflect this hence the reason for the buyer not complaining about non delivery.
Don't contact them asking if they have it because if they do and they then notice that there is no proof of this, they may well decide to open a claim.