The customer expects a refund

Wouldn’t you, if you didn’t receive something you paid for?

I don’t feel like I’m the party at fault here.

Actually, you are, and yes, it’s a bummer. But when you ship with the PO, you have the option to purchase insurance to protect yourself against scenarios like this, and if you don’t buy insurance (most don’t, except for high-value packages), you accept responsibility if something goes wrong.

Having said that though, tracking numbers aren’t always right. Carriers sometimes miss making the delivery scan, and if that happens, the package may have arrived just fine, but the electronic ‘checkmark’ is just in error.

But if your customer says it didn’t arrive, and tracking backs them up, then of course you owe them a refund, because you can’t take money for an item you didn’t deliver. If you bought insurance from the PO, you would still refund the customer, but then the PO would refund you, and both you and the buyer would wind up even.

The first step normally is to call the delivery PO and ask them to investigate to see if they can figure out what happened, find the package, and get it delivered to the customer.

I’d still call them, even if it’s been weeks since the tracking updated, just to make sure and rule out a possible successful delivery and a customer fishing for a refund once they saw the tracking glitch.

Stuff like this does happen.
You have to refund the buyer.
If an expensive item go through trying to track it down at the po…
Although most of the time with this scenario the items goes POOF!
but…an inexpensive one…save yourself the headache.

Go to USPS’s website and start a missing mail search:

https://www.usps.com/help/missing-mail.htm

Enter the tracking number and all. I have done that twice in the last year and they found the package both times. they usually find it really fast when you fill out that form and submit it.

Yes, you are at fault for not insuring your package. Amazon tells you to insure packages every time you ship something. Priority Mail is automatically insured for $50 and if the package is lost you get the item invoice value and the shipping (postage) back as well. It’s in the DMM. (Domestic Mail Manual)

If you are on such a slim profit margin, that you can’t afford to eat 1 book in 12 years, maybe you should bump up your prices a little or try to sell more books

You have to refund, it is the rules & only fair to the customer

Did you buy shipping from Amazon.

Opinions differ on whether tracking must indicate delivered before the Amazon-shipping INR protection kicks in. If you go strictly by their language – then no, it doesn’t have to show delivered.

Note: If you purchase Amazon Buy Shipping and ship on time, you are protected against claims where a customer reports problems with delivery. Amazon will cover the cost of these claims and they will not affect your ODR.

Rarely do they go missing and stay missing. But I have found the Missing Mail search to be totally useless. They have never found a missing parcel of mine, even when they show up! I’m still getting notices that one parcel can’t be found, well after tracking updated and package was finally delivered.

One trick that works for me sometimes (and I can’t figure out how or why) is to set it so I get text alerts. That has moved parcels that weren’t moving before (and maybe I’m crazy and it’s all coincidence).

Recently a customer asked me for a refund because she said that the book didn’t arrive. However the tracking number indicated that the book had been delivered three weeks earlier. After informing her about that she still said that she never received it. I refunded her assuming that the package had been misdelivered. Of course I am not at fault since apparently the package was left at the wrong address. But likewise the customer is not at fault. Neither of us have recourse to the postal service. For good customer relations I think that the book is mine until it is in the customer’s hands so I take the loss. It hurts but overall it builds trust for all the sellers on Amazon. Steve

First time it’s happened in 12 years. Well it happens. Deal with it and refund the customer and move on. Your problem is with USPS. Your customer never received the merchandise you shipped. They are most certainly not at fault here. Your loss. It’s unfortunate but it is what it is. The Post Office let you down.

As others have noted, you pretty much have no choice but to refund. This happens with regularity to most sellers. For me (a small seller), I deal with it at least a couple of times a month. Tracking shows it delivered but customer claims it wasn’t. I have no way to prove it wasn’t. I also have no way to prove they’re not scamming me. One of the things about selling online you just have to absorb when it happens. I will say that in about 70% of the cases, the package ends up coming back to me eventually (one came back 2 years later). About 10% of the cases the customer admits it eventually showed up. The other 20% just go “poof” in to a USPS black hole, never to re-emerge.

Simply file a claim with USPS. All priority mail is insured up to $100 so if they lose it it’s on them. Not you. I would refund the buyer and then file a missing mail or damaged item claim. They are quick, takes less than 5 minutes and they almost always approve your claim. Then you both win. I don’t understand why most sellers don’t know this…I’m reading through these posts scratching my head. Any time there is “missing mail” it’s not your fault, as long as your ship to address was put in correctly, it’s between the buyer and the PO. Once you ship it off it is no longer your responsibility.