to refund or not?

[jcentenera]

 I sold an item a couple of weeks ago, i received a positive feedback from the buyer, now she is claiming that she didnt receive item? what to do refund or not?

[putney32]

what do you mean 'she is claiming she didnt receive it'?

has she emailed you

has she instigated an Item not Received dispute

or

has paypal informed you that there will be a 'chargeback' on the payment??

[jcentenera]

The customer left a feedback saying "very happy..thank you", now she emailed me and said that she didnt receive the item and that she now wants a refund.

[foxette-in-sox]

If you sent the item with a tracking number have you checked to see where the item is & if its been delivered?

[*kazumi*]

Maybe there is another, similar, item she did not receive.  Answer her saying she must have made a mistake as she acknowledged that she recieved the item from you by giving positive FB.

of-courser, it is also possible that she did not receive your item and left the FB by mistake.  Do you always write your return address and include invoice or something else so the buyer knows where the item came from?

[wishuponastarcelebrationsandgifts]

I agree with Kazumi. It is possible the buyer left feedback for your item in error.

I have had buyers leave me feedback on a couple of occasions immediately after they purchased and paid. Perhaps check when they left the feedback in comparison to when they should have received  the item and see if the feedback was left after that date.

I would simply ask them if they have contacted you in error instead of another seller as you note that they have already left feedback for their purchase.

[phorum_junkie*]

Did they pay with Paypal and if so did you send by a method that qualifies for Paypal seller protection?

If yes to both then check the tracking and email the buyer telling them the ttracking shows it as having been delivered and they have left pos feedback so have the perhaps contacted the wrong seller.

If they paid with Paypal and you did not send using click & send, registered, platinum express or eparcel then you can ask them if they have got the wrong seller as they have left a pos but if they say they left that in error you may as well refund them as you will lose a Paypal dispute anyway.

If they paid by bank deposit then you cannot be forced to refund but if you did not send by a fully trackable method they have the option of reporting to the on line auction fraud report site if it is a lot of money.

[tall_bearded]

“If they paid with Paypal and you did not send using click & send, registered, platinum express or eparcel then you can ask them if they have got the wrong seller as they have left a pos but if they say they left that in error you may as well refund them as you will lose a Paypal dispute anyway”

Ignore this advice as it is patently WRONG.

Whether you choose to reimburse the buyer is your decision and yours alone.

If the buyer paid by PayPal, PayPal will require you prove postage, and if you are not able to do so to their satisfaction, then they will find for the buyer, but it’s been a long time since the proof they would accept has been limited to the postal options listed by PJ.  In fact for present purposes their policy says they will now accept a postal receipt showing that something was sent to the buyers’ postcode.

Furthermore, PayPal’s decision is not binding, and should you be dissatisfied with the outcome you can dispute it,  with the best vehicle to do so being with the Financial Ombudsman Service, the best because it is not only user friendly and free but also because the Ombudsman has the power to order PayPal to reverse its decision.

Now if you decide to dispute, then what PayPal is prepared to accept as proof of postage of the purposes of its internal dispute resolution process is rendered irrelevant.  Rendered irrelevant because you are now in a judicial process where the onus is not proof absolute (the PayPal requirement) but proof on the balance of probabilities (the ordinary civil standard), and the Ombudsman staff will be more than happy to provide you with any advice you may need as to exactly what proof they need so the required standard of proof is satisfied.   

 “If they paid by bank deposit then you cannot be forced to refund but if you did not send by a fully trackable method they have the option of reporting to the on line auction fraud report site if it is a lot of money”.

If they report you to on line auction fraud, then if you SAY you sent it, the onus is wholly on the buyer to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you are lying, and if they can’t, you have no case to answer.

This is the reason why, though PJ often recommends to buyer to make such complaints, they inevitably end up in file 13 (the shredder), simply because they are founded on a complaint by the buyer which they simply can’t prove.