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Buyer says the item has not arrived - where is my item

Yes I have sold my item, so happy.

Wow they paid quickly as well. Excellent.

I have waited a few days, ok payment is ok. Brilliant.

I will parcel it up and send it. Phew all done, I have got proof of posting so we are all happy.

Two weeks have now passed well they will have their parcel by now, oh no an email has just arrived stating that they haven't received their parcel.

What shall I do, ask them to wait a while longer? I have proof of posting so it should be ok?

No absolutely not, you need to act now before they escalate the case to ebay. Ebay very quickly find in favour of the buyer almost exclusively don't lose your money, acting quickly will save you time money and hassle.

Once the refund has gone through is when it will cost you more money.

Don't fight the claim, ebay rarely find in the sellers favour.

Action to take to avoid being ripped off:

Firstly tell the customer you are so sorry this has happened and you will send them another immediately should this also not arrive you will issue a full refund. Any scammer will be clapping their hands with glee, what I get two items and a refund, yes I'll close the case happy bunny.

Ok that's them off your back while you sort things out. – of course do neither of these things, this is to buy you time before they put a hold on your account.

Next and this is very important:

Transfer all your money out of PayPal into your bank account

Cancel your credit/debit card associated with paypal, tell the bank it was stolen out of your handbag and you think someone may use it. They will put an immediate block on the card. Cancel the direct debit/standing order to both paypal and ebay from your bank account. Ok now they cannot get at your money so at least you are safe there.

If you think the buyer is scamming you, the next day send them an email which says that in the parcel was a tracking device, and upon investigation the tracking device shows up at the address that the parcel was sent to, and that you will be sending the fraud squad around in the next day or so to investigate.

If they are genuine then start an investigation into the parcel to find out where it went. Hopefully you will still have the receipt.

Most people really do get scared and if they are scamming you are just part time and don't want to be caught.

Next: Contact ebay and report the buyer if you believe they are scamming. Ebay will investigate your claim then especially if they then can’t get the money off you. You probably still owe ebay as well for the fees for selling this so you are now in a stronger position.

Hopefully either the buyer will say they now have the item and they will have a black mark against them or at least you haven't lost your money.

If you have already lost money and you think the buyer was a criminal/scammer then you need to open a criminal investigation.

You can also contact a debt collection agency and get them to go around and collect the debt owning to you, if you believe the buyer is lying, one guy did this as someone had reported to ebay that the ipad he sent was just an empty box? It cost him £20 for the collection agency but he got his £500 back from them.

However parcels do go missing, you can now start an investigation at the postoffice or if you believe your buyer is genuine send them the proof of posting and get them to trace it with the post office. That way at least they can get their money back or item should it really have gone missing.