eBay advice please.....

[mrs.chappie]

The eBay item I sent out at the end of April still hasn't arrived.

The Royal Mail say that I must allow 15 working days before declaring it lost in the post. Because of the recent Bank Holidays, this means there's still a few days to go, but the buyer has sent me a curt email saying she's waited patiently for long enough, she now doesn't want the item even if it does turn up.....and she wants a refund immediately.

I can understand why she's annoyed, I'm a bit brassed off too - I posted it within a day of the auction ending, but I know that stuff can get lost in the post, it's just one of those things.

Anyhoo - as we are only talking of about £4, I am willing to stand the loss, but I suspect she'll give me negative feedback as she's clearly annoyed. I have 100% positive feedback and don't want to spoil that. Should I send her an apologetic email in the hope that she'll calm down and accept that it's not my fault that it's gone missing?

Can you realistically expect a buyer to wait fifteen working days for an item to arrive? Should I have offered to refund her before she got annoyed and demanded her money back?

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated, peeps. Thanks very much. x

[Purple_Popple]

Hi Mrs C, was the cost of the item sent £4 or is that the cost of the postage alone ?
It wouldnt hurt to send an apology message to the buyer and see what happens, is the buyer in the UK or abroad (they may not understand all the bank holidays etc we have had lately), but a bit too harsh of them to give you negative feedback this soon.

[boxtops]

Mrs C - don't refund her. The position is either that it's gone missing in the post, in which case RM will refund YOU and you can then let her have the money back - or if she doesn't want it when it does arrive, eBay will expect her to mail it back to you (or refuse to accept it) and only when YOU get it back in the same condition are you obliged to refund it. Otherwise she could keep it and have her money back too, in the worst case scenario.
I would say that you have taken eBay advice, it's not yet 15 working days, and then you are reporting to RM as missing and she will have to wait while they investigate what's happened to it - they may even find it.
If she gives you bad feedback you do have the opportunity to write a (very) short note in your defence (i.e. item went missing in post, I kept you informed)
This has happened to me and it did take several weeks to resolve, but it's not your fault so don't feel guilty. You can't refund something if you haven't had it back.

[mrs.chappie]

Thanks very much peeps. She is in the UK and has 100% positive feedback but she has it set to "Private", so I can't read any of it. The £4 is including the postage, so we're not talking about a lot of money.

[mrs.chappie]

Boxy, did the item turn up eventually?

[jack daniels]

you could give her the refund (to keep your positive feedback) and in the meantime make a claim through Royal Mail once the 15 working days are up if still no joy - hope you got your proof of posting!

Anna x