Buyer claims he didn't get an item I shipped

[Regs]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
so he admits to giving you wrong address. it's out of your hands now and totally on him IMO.

Misplaced property, the founder is obligated to make a reasonable effort to locate the person who it belongs to. If they're neighbors then it shouldn't be too hard.

 

[pontifex]

tell the buyer to go talk to the person it was shipped to.

 

[blahblah99]

Originally posted by: geno
I shipped an item to a buyer from another car forum over a week ago through USPS. I didn't use delivery confirmation (which I usually do use, shame on me) but it most definitely should have been there by now. This transaction took place through another forum where I have sold many (I'd say about 2 dozen items sold) and have over 4k posts, I'm not a newbie to the board by any means. The buyer joined about 6 months ago and has 50 posts, nothing to throw up a red-flag about, but it can be contended he doesn't have any way of backing up his reliability.

Does none of this matter, and the fact I didn't get delivery confirmation basically dictate an automatic refund? I've been selling and buying items online for over 11 years and have never had this happen. I'm guessing either a) The USPS lost it b) Someone else got / took the package on delivery c) He's lying.

Can I get some advice from the buying / selling gurus here?

UPDATE - Well, just a small update - it turns out he gave me the wrong address! Well, it was the right address, but the apartment number was way off. For instance, let's say his apt number was 7B, he gave me something completely different like 3K... now I'm not sure what to do in terms of being a good seller

You didn't say what method of payment he used, so I'm going to assume paypal.

If you shipped to his address on paypal with proof of delivery, you should be covered.

If you did anything else besides that, you're screwed.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: geno

UPDATE - Well, just a small update - it turns out he gave me the wrong address!

I get red flags over the apartment number goof. Who messes that up and by that much? I have a feeling he was trying to pull something over on you and maybe hosed himself. What I would write:
Dear buyer:
I am sorry that you didn't get the package but I shipped to the address/apartment number you provided me. Since you provided incorrect information, it is now up to you to try to work out something with the people in apartment 7B.
Good luck.
Sincerely, Seller

You might need to throw in something about how you aren't a retail store nor a major shipper and if he wanted that level of service he should have went that route.