Buyer has started a Paypal dispute Without Contacting me First.

[Gingefringe]

I sold an item on 14th May and the buyer started a Paypal dispute yesterday stating that she hasn't received the item. The first I heard of this was an email from Paypal.

She didn't even contact me by eBay/email or via an eBay dispute so I'm a bit annoyed - particularly as Paypal have now suspended the payment from my account until the matter is resolved.
I've sent her the Royal Mail proof of postage and asked her to sort out with Royal Mail as there's little more I can do. Will this be enough for Paypal to cancel the dispute and refund my money?
She says that she has been in and out of the country during the last few weeks and some of her post hasn't turned up.
What's to stop anyone doing this if they just want to try it on? I thought she had to go through the eBay dispute route first.
Grrrr

Did you send it recorded or just with the proof of postage? You need to lodge the claim with Royal Mail, not her.

you will need the proof of postage to claim from royal mail - you had the contract with them so you are the one who needs to claim not the buyer.

If you have a tracking number showing proof of delivery then enter that into the dispute, otherwise paypal will give her back her money.

The only way to protect yourself is to send everything with a signature, either recorded, special or courier. If you don't then any buyer could claim not received and get a full refund every time and there is nothing you can do about it sadly.

Your comments are worrying! I have looked through her feedback and note 12 negative comments (as sellers can't give negative feedback unfortunately) in the last 6 weeks or so.
I have provided her with a copy of the RM proof of postage so it looks like I would be better off claiming against Royal Mail myself - luckily I have kept the original proof of postage form.
This is the first bad experience I've had on eBay (my feedback score is 1234) and it has put me off selling!
People like this give eBay a bad name. I don't understand why she hasn't been struck off eBay if there are so many negative comments in her feedback history - surely people would have started disputes against her?

well - it could genuinely be lost - you don't know if she is lying about not receiving an item

She has negative feedbacks as a seller then or negative comments under a positive rating from a seller?

Various sellers have posted negative comments on her feedback under positive ratings as you can't leave a negative rating as a seller (bonkers!!)

and they state she is a non payer or that she claims items don't turn up?

She maintained that she was abroad shortly after I posted the item and has only just returned. However, I checked through all of her feedback carefully and noted that she had actually been buying items during the time she maintains she was away and had also left feedback for these items (therefore she must have been in the house to receive them!!). I have raised the matter again with eBay and note today that she is no longer a registered user so eBay/Paypal must have thought her activity a bit strange (and hopefully her claim on me unreasonable) I still haven't had my money back from Paypal though and wonder how long I'll have to wait.