Bugger. Sent item recorded on Monday, still not arrived...when do I refund?

[Flightty]

The buyer just emailed me asking for the tracking number, which I duly gave to her. I've tracked it and it says 'being progressed through our system' whatever that might mean.

Rang up RM, they have no idea but said I can't claim for it being lost until the 4th of April.

I've apologised to the buyer but what do I do if she gets stroppy and wants a refund now? I can't expect her to wait for weeks and weeks.

And then what - if it turns up, and she's received it, and I've already refunded her. What then?

I'm guessing I wait until the 4th to refund if it hasn't showed up by then.
Does this sound Ok?

Thankyou.

if you posted last monday obviously if first class would expect by wednesday but second class generally thursday or friday , with tracking number she will know it was genuinely posted, if first class i think may need to refund next week but email really friendly say you rang up royal mail and they said 4th april she may be ok with this, very little recorded goes missing probably gone to wrong place and is just delayed

Thankyou both very much...I didn't know that, Thunder - is it what they term a 'no fault refund'? If so it might be worth a try.

Sarah, thankyou - that's very reassuring. I've had a few things misidrected before by people like parcelforce, or was it another courier, where it just went on the wrong truck by accident, but I had proper tracking for those things and this time all i've got is the number.

I really hope it does turn up as I've not insured it, it was sold for £75 and I think I'll only get £46 from RM if I have to put in a claim.

Will bear in mind the no fault thing. That would be great.

eBay will refund her out of your money from Paypal if the tracking doesn't show as delivered

Trouble is the buyer may have received it and postie didn't get a signature. And you can only claim for £46. I doubt very much eBay will give a no fault refund for £75 - it should have gone special delivery or courier.

Thanks, Fergoose. I was wondering if it was on the ££ side for ebay to do that.

I did wonder if she was being crafty, but she didn't know there was a tracking number, until I told her it and so she couldn't see what it said. So unless she knew the postman hadn't scanned it as delivered, she'd be taking a risk.

Mine often doesn't ask for a sig but he does scan things I think. Or maybe I'm getting that wrong.

Last time I had something that said 'being progressed' on the tracking, I rang them up and they could see the electronic signature on their system and sent me a copy by email.

This time they said it hasn't been attempted to deliver at all. So hopefully they're right and it's just somewhere sitting around in the wrong place.

Have got the number for local delivery office and will call them on Monday to see if they have it.

she would know there was a tracking number if she received it and didn't sign for it though?

You will never know though, sadly many posties don't get a sig. If it doesn't turn up you will have to refund in full so may end up out of pocket.

Oh yes. The tracking number would have been on the parcel wouldn't it.

I nearly went with SD but at the last minute thought, well, whatever, it'll probably get there.

I did only pay £50 for it myself so not too badly out of pocket, I suppose.

I thought a no fault refund was a not as described, buyer doesn't return, seller keeps money and eBay gives no fault refund

for not received eBay just refund the paypal money back don't they - or has the policy changed recently?

I might ring ebay and find out. AFAIK they change policy all the time, they're a proper nightmare like that sometimes it works in your favour though.

Last time I was having problems with a claim, they changed it just for me, and the seller eventually got so confused that he agreed to refund.

Not heard any more from the buyer yet so will bide my time, and see if it turns up.

technically if you paid £50 for it only entitled to £50 refund royal mail website goes into this in detail it is not what you sell for but what you pais for it so if you buy jeans wholesale at £10 a pair if they go missing you get £10 plus postage back regardless of what you sell for

if a recorded item fgoes missing ti is PO that refunds you and you have to refund buyer probably before you get money from PO but with signed for much easier to get full refund from PO