Item apparently gone missing in post - advice needed please

[Tryharder]

I sold an item way before Xmas to a newbie ebayer (no feedback) who sent me a postal order. The postal order arrived and I promptly posted the item by normal post (not recorded).

I have now received an email from the buyer asking if I had posted the item correctly (not sure what they mean by that, how can i post incorrectly?) because the item has apparently not turned up.

So now what? I can't even find the bloody listing because it was more than 60 days ago and buyer took a while to send the postal order. Have tried looking around in the selling manager or whatever it's called without success.

I should have the postal receipt somewhere but without the information from the listing, not sure if I can identify the right one iyswim. I cant even remember how much I sold the bloody thing for or how much the postal charge was. I normally keep my paypal emails but obviously this didnt go through paypal.

Can anyone tell me what I should do now? The email from the buyer was a bit weird - full of txtspk and I thought it was strange to email me 2 months down the line and of course, am a bit suspicious of a newbie buyer even though I appreciate that everyone has to start at some point!

Basically I want to know:

How can I retrieve the presumably archived listing from ebay?
Do I have to refund in full?
Can I claim a refund or anything from the post office since they are to blame?

Thanks for reading!

[nickschick]

Ive had this too for one roughly the same time- my lady insists she hasnt had it yet i phoned her local sorting office and they remembered it - it has been returned to me with ll the stickers on saying uncollected etc all the stmps and STILL shes asking me to refund her,ebay are a crock too they are no help.

You can claim a refund from royal mail but i dont presume it would be easy .....how do we s sellers prove they havent got the items???? maybe you should ring up her local sorting office?

[nickschick]

I will not be refunding my buyer ....If she sends me postge i will post again.

[Tryharder]

Thanks for this. At least I might get the money back from the post office! I actually found the posting confirmation last night by a sheer fluke - the lady at the post office forgot to print one off so i asked for a handwritten one so it's got the address on - I remembered it as soon as i saw it.

I agree with you - it's the best scam in the world to say you havent received your goods and get your money back when in fact you have. Although to be fair, it may well have got lost in the post!

I am getting fed up of selling on ebay now - a lot of trouble for a few quid... I started selling when I was on maternity leave but I'm back to my 'real' job and it's waaaaay too much hassle.

[nickschick]

I can only list if I know ive got a quiet period of time when the auction ends.