USPS screwup, what to do..

Did you pay extra for insurance on the item w/ USPS?

 

Call your local postal service.

 

Like bobrek said, call the PO but I have a feeling that this won't go down in your favor. If you offered insurance and he/she didn't get it, you could claim that it was their's and the PO's fault - not yours. Unfortunately most ebayers will still leave you negative (neutral if they are nice) feedback since they didn't get their item.

So you are either going to have to take a hit against your feedback or give them a refund. Though I sold some new items that I didn't test (they were fresh out of the package so why test? Now I know why.) and the buyer told me 1 of the items didn't work. I gave a complete refund including s/h (and they wanted a MO for a refund) and let them keep the other pieces that did work (no return of items needed) and apologized. I still got a neutral rating - my only non-positive.

 

Wow, that person sounds like a real arsehole. Reminds me of a story....

Once upon a time, I once sold a wireless mouse (back in the old days when they were still new technology and fairly expensive) to somebody over ebay. When it arrived, the person claimed it didn't work. I had already tested it and knew it shouldn't be dead. However, the temperature was like minus 70 degrees celsius on the night I sent it, and I guess the extreme temperature plus possible rough handling might have caused something to go wrong during shipping.

Anyway, I gave the guy the benefit of the doubt and I told him I would refund his payment if he sent it back to me. He refused and demanded that I pay the shipping costs for him sending it back, insinuating that I purposely sold him a defective item. I replied that I would not do that because how was I to know if he was telling the truth about it not working? Maybe he was the one trying to rip me off?

Well, he ended up getting it fixed at a repair shop for like $15, and I agreed to send him $8 or something to help cover that cost.

I had already left him positive feedback at that point, so he could have easily given me a negative or neutral with no repurcussions. But, after all that, he gave me a positive in the end. Looking back, I believe he was being completely honest and I don't think he was trying to scam me.

You were certainly more accomodating than I was, so I think it sucks that you got nailed with a neutral.

To this day, I have only one negative feedback on my account (no neutrals). That happened on my second ever ebay transaction, when I backed out of selling a $35 book which was only bid up to $1 dollar. At the time, I didn't really understand the whole "reserve" price system. Live and learn!

 

What a dick.

 

I hate doing it but to this day I withhold feedback as a seller until the buyer leaves feedback. I know she was "putout" by having to go shopping again, and I learned a lesson about testing first, but I felt she could have been a little more forgiving. She made out with free items. I was out the working items + ebay fees + shipping.

I hope your deal ends up straightened out Xenochimera.

 

I've only had two problems as a buyer. The first one was for a Nintendo DS that took nearly two weeks to get delivered. 2 days after Christmas. That ticked me off, so I didn't leave any feedback.

Another was for a TV for my office. I was looking for a used 19 inch, and bid well. Ended up finding one for $10 in Houston. Because they wanted $100 for shipping, I said I'd just pick it up myself. They said O.K., but then started getting really irritating. ie. Crying a river for not returning an email that they sent me wanting to know when I could pick it up. I believe I took a whopping 13 hours to respond. Hell, I'm not on my computer all the time.

Then when I said I could pick it up anytime, they said they had dropped it. I think they were just trying to make money on shipping. I didn't leave them any feedback either.