I have delivery confirmation but seller says never received item

[four.wards]

Hi all,

Wondering if someone to point my in the right direction to help resolve this matter with buyer.

I shipped an item using USPS on May 12 and it shows delivered with delivery confirmation on May 14. Buyer just let me know that the item was never received. See note from buyer below:

Thanks for sending me the tracking number for my purchase. I checked on the USPS website, and it showed as "delivered" on May 14. However, I have yet to receive this item.
I've checked with the front office of my apartment, and I've called the USPS to see if they could locate the package. The front office says they never received it. The mail carrier says he knows nothing about it, and when I called the USPS I never heard back.
Is there anyone you could contact on your end to try to run this item down?

Thanks,

four.wards

[scifan57]

If you do decide to refund the buyer,you will not be able to initiate a postal insurance claim.The post office delivery confirmation says it's been delivered and is not going to pay you any insurance money. Personally I think your buyer is shoveling it on,but that's just my opinion.The decision whether or not to refund is your's.

[brandeentertainment]

I had this happen to me before and to keep all parties happy I assumed they were telling me the truth so I simply got a Refund for Item and shipping cost from post office and refunded buyer...

Assuming the buyer is lying is notthe way to go because it will only end up in negative feedback.,..

You have delivery confirmation so the buyer can not win a case through paypal but as long as you had proper insurance why fight it when you can just get a refund from the post office and then refund buyer.....

You send buyer money back and cancellation request they accept you get your fees back from ebay and paypal and the postal service refunds you ..

Little bit of leg work but no negative feedback or you can avoid all the work and just accept a negative feedback ...

[dmil8030]

Hello 'four.wards',

This is one of the chief reasons postees rarely deliver items to apartments, opting instead for the little card whereby the recipient has to show ID at a postal outlet to collect it.  Is the item small enough to fit into an apartment mail box?  Or is it big, - could it have been laid against the buyer's door?  It could have been placed in the wrong mail slot, or 'lifted' before the buyer found it.  Or none of it's true, and the buyer thinks that because you are a new seller, you will be more likely to refund without question.

You have a Delivery Confirmation number, so if the buyer tries to open a disupte you simply enter that number and you win.  The problems you may encounter result from neither of you being truly able to 'prove' the whereabouts of the item.  So you will win a dispute but you may end up with a negative.  A buyer *can* threaten a negative in certain circumstances regarding refunds.  And if that buyer genuinely did not receive the item, he will not be feeling particularly positive.  Have a look at this link about it:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/feedback-extortion.html#what

Your parcel was automatically insured with Canada Post for $100 when you mailed it, so if you cannot urge your buyer to "find" it, you may have to refund and pursue reimbursement through a postal claim.

[scifan57]

Since you have delivery confirmation that shows that the buyer has received the item you are covered in case the buyer opens an item not received dispute.If such a dispute is opened all you have to do is add the delivery confirmation number to the dispute. You have no way to prove if the buyer is lying to you.There is also nothing you can do from your end as the post office won't initiate a trace on a package that shows as delivered. It all comes down to whether or not you believe the buyer.If you don't believe him refuse a refund if asked.If you believe him,send a refund. If he threatens to leave negative feedback unless you refund but won't return the item he can be reported for feedback extortion and any negative feedback can be removed.

[four.wards]

Much thanks everyone. I spoke to customer service at USPS and they initiated a claim for the buyer (even though it shows delivered). I gave the buyer the claim number and told them they would have to follow up directly. Haven't heard back yet.