What would you do?

So I sold a used motor to someone and they PayPal'd me the money. I sent the package out the next morning and have the receipt and delivery confirmation number for the package, but the package hasn't been received by the buyer nor does the package show up in the USPS online tracking system. Apparently, it looks that USPS can't find this package. Now, the buyer is demanding a full refund, but if I give him a full refund I have nothing and I am out of a motor.

What would you do in this situation?

[salteen]

Originally Posted by Apex

So I sold a used motor to someone and they PayPal'd me the money. I sent the package out the next morning and have the receipt and delivery confirmation number for the package, but the package hasn't been received by the buyer nor does the package show up in the USPS online tracking system. Apparently, it looks that USPS can't find this package. Now, the buyer is demanding a full refund, but if I give him a full refund I have nothing and I am out of a motor.

What would you do in this situation?

go to wherever shipped it for you and take it up with them. I have had that happen before and the reason was because the Postnet shop that I took it to, left it sitting on a counter for a week without shipping it. Also, I'm pretty sure that the first $100 of insurance is covered when you ship via USPS so you may be able to get some money if they did actually lose your package.

Very touchy situation... Maybe the guy will settle for half of his money back, but prolly not. I think I would do what he said and take it up with the place where you sent it.

[landscaper]

Apex,
What ended up happening

This is resolved by now I hope, but for future reference I will throw my .02 in. The post office will tell you that you are out, unless you got insurance. They will also tell you that it is the shipper's responsibility to insure, even if you did not think of that when you decided on your price.I always ship with delivery confirmation to be sure. I will insure packages most of the time, or inform the buyer that I am not responsible for usps losing the item. It only costs a couple of bucks which you may be able to work into the price. Saves a huge hassle once in a while.

[Alkaline]

Ya but if the buyer paid via paypal or paid via credit card, you are going to loose regardless if you the buyer chose to pay for insurance or not; paypal will favor the buyer.

Its the seller job to protect themselves, not the buyer, all the buyer has to do is claim they didn't receive something they paid for and that’s it. Read the paypal buyer and seller protection guidelines.

In other words even if you go to paypal saying but he didn't pay for insurance; paypal will say "So that means you can't get your money back from usps, but you still have to pay your buyer back"

Also you can take your local USPS to small claims court if the don't pay you, once again, just because they claim you didn't have insurance its still there responsibility to deliver the package, if they fail to do so, and you can prove what the item was worth, you can get them to pay you back; you just have to twist the arm harder