Buyer does not believe I have sent item

[twiglet59]

She says she does not believe I sent the item. It has been over 15 days since I sent it and I offered a refund, but she says she wants to raise a dispute. The package was sent 2nd class as listed. New to e-bay. Does anyone know what happens?

Do you have proof of postage? If the buyer raises a dispute eBay will refund the money. You then need to claim for the lost item presuming you used royal mail and obtained proof of postage. Thry have an online form you can complete on their website to do that.

I stupidly did not get proof of postage. Thanks for your advice.

if you cannot prove you sent it : proof of posting or recorded delivery number, sorry, they will charge back

In your shoes I'd tell the buyer I'm going to refund them but if the item does turn up they should contact you. Then I'd refund all the money they paid via Paypal.

Do this before they open a case. It might mean they don't leave negative feedback.

Why would she prefer to raise a dispute when you've already offered a no quibble refund, just to punish you? sheesh! Cowzilla.

Unfortunately if you don't send things recorded delivery the buyer always wins these cases on eBay, even if you did have a proof of postage! I've found out the hard way and now only ever send things recorded

yes always post signed for and get a tracking number or send with a courier which provides proof of delivery. Chalk it up to experience. You can't claim from RM because you don't have any proof you sent the item. Apologise to buyer refund them in full and hope they are decent (they may have your item and be trying it on but who knows - I always check out their fb and see if there are any clues - if they mention "thanks for the refund" a few times I am suspicious). Hope it wasn't too expensive an item.

If the buyer raises a dispute, all that'll happen is that they get a refund. It won't have any impact on you as such.

This same thing happened to me a few years back. Ebay refunded buyer, I paid money to ebay, job done.

And lesson learned, always get proof of postage (even if it's just the free receipt). These days I only post recorded delivery unless people insist otherwise.

Ebay would be brilliant if everyone were honourable. Alas it seems to have attracted more than it's fair share of people who are not.
Always send second class tracked, and charge accordingly.
In this case the buyer has waited 15 days and is within their rights to a refund. Ebay will give it direct from your paypal account, including postage. As you didn't get tracked postage there is a chance that they received it but are claiming anyway, or that it will arrive the day after they get the refund but you will never know.
I hope it wasn't too expensive.

The key thing is to get proof of posting so you're covered (up to £20 sale price).

What happens if OP refunds but then buyer opens a case after all (because buyer sounds vindictive). Would OP have to do a second refund?

There's a trick to how you refund, btw. First send a cancellation request (tell the buyer you both need to do this to formally break the contract and grovel with apologies for missing item) and immediately after cancel request send their refund (login to paypal to do that). If they accept the cancel request then you get most the Ebay fees back and they can't then open a case so you'll avoid a defect against your seller's record.

Often it's very uneconomical to send tracked postage; no one will want to buy the item at that price or the profit to seller becomes none. I don't bother with tracking unless item > £10 value.

If you have proof of posting it's pretty easy to claim from Royal Mail, in my experience. Because I charge Ebay's definition of 'free postage' I actually got sale price + 2 lots of postage back from Royal Mail on last claim (and I was only asking for the supposed Ebay 'sale price'). Not that I want to profiteer off of Royal Mail; lying buyers cheat everyone.