Hi everyone,

At the end of December I sold a Chloé bag on eBay - I paid about $1000 for it and ended up selling it for about $250, even though I'd actually only used it a few times.

The buyer wanted postage included in the price, and so I did so because I wanted to sell the bag. When I took it to the post office to send, it cost $29 to send via normal mail but would have cost about $80 via registered mail.

Silly me decided to send it via normal mail, but now the buyer is claiming it hasn't arrived! I posted it on 29 December, and I'm in Australia and she's in the US.

I just spoke to Australia Post and apparently there's no way that it can be known whether it was delivered at all. The buyer has sent me two messages chasing up saying she hasn't received the package.

I'm worried that the buyer might have actually received it, and might just be saying that she hasn't. On the other hand, I don't want to accuse anyone of anything!

I know that it was really stupid of me to not send it registered, I have definitely learnt my lesson! What can I do?!?!

So sorry this is happening to you . Maybe you can call the local post office in the town of the person you were sending it to and see if they have any information on the package . Hopefully they can help !

Did you keep your payment receipt from the post office when you handed in the parcel for posting? If not there really isnt much that can be done. If you sent it regular post maybe it still in transit. Has she paid with paypal? Worst case senario she will have to make a paypal claim. You have no control of the parcel once its posted so dont stress out too much about it, things go missing in the post unfortunately sometimes.

Yep I have the receipt with the Article ID on at least! I'm really hoping that it's just a bit delayed and will turn up soon.

Thanks Bijans and stelstar for your help!

i sure hope for you, your buyer is a honest person. she can easily lie and still get her refund.

I wouldnt be surprised if it turns up in a few days. My husband sells things on ebay quite often and anything being shipped internationally can take a while. I also agree that if you have the receipt then at least you have proof that it was shipped. Good luck! I'm crossing my fingers that its still in transit.

I agree with other posts...it may have been delayed. Holidays and all.

Good luck!

This has happened to me, and it was a Chloe bag too. The customs in the US can delay packages easily for up to 2 months. I stopped selling to buyers in the US as a result. The buyer filed a Paypal dispute and I lost of course even though I had tracking. The package sat so long that over time the tracking number expired. It was the last time I sold something in the US.
Hope you're able to sort it out. It's awful just giving something expensive away for free. Believe me, I know it.

I really hate to say it but as an experiences eBay member, I know that even if you have a postage receipt, PayPal will still side with the buyer if they file a claim. The way it works is that PayPal ask you for your tracking number when the buyer files their claim. You don't have one because you didn't send it tracked so PayPal then refund the buyer and your account is sent into negative if you've already withdrawn the funds, or the funds are taken back from you if they are still there. The idea then is that you file a claim with the postage service to get your money back but I'm not sure if the standard insurance would mean all your money is refunded. I know in the UK I am only covered for £39 with a receipt only and no insurance so I would imagine you wouldn't get it all back. PayPal will just say it's the risk you take by not shipping tracked.

eBay and PayPal are unfortunately all for buyers these days and the sellers get screwed over. It's one reason why I never ship anything without tracking, unless it's very low value items under £10. I'm only a small private seller so I can't afford to offer free P&P either. I just have to think that if people want to buy from me, they have to pay my postage costs or just not bid.

Good luck, I hope this doesn't turn into the kind of eBay nightmare us sellers have had to deal with at one time or another!

Thanks so much for your help everyone, I will keep you all updated on the outcome!

I'm really hoping it's just been delayed in transit somewhere and will turn up soon - I guess it has only been about 3 weeks and there have been several public holidays etc in between.

Thanks for all the helpful advice though!!!

Packages seem to be taken a longer time than expected.

Please ask your buyer to be a litle bit more patient.

Your buyer has 45 days (from date of purchase) to open a claim (INR) so there is still enough time
for that package to get there..

Did you insure the package by any chance???

Good luck & keep us posted...

You only sent it like three weeks ago, your buyer is really impatient. I doubt its lost, its just coming all the way from Australia!

It can take several weeks for a package to arrive at a different country. It happened to me before, and the seller's response was not to worry and wait, which I did; my package took over a month to arrive. Good Luck!

I definitely would say 3-4 weeks is perfectly normal when shipping overseas. Some items get across the pond rather quick, some take even longer. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will show up any day now.

I'm still waiting for a package from the UK (I'm in Germany) that was sent on January 3rd. There's not even customs to take care of within Europe, so maybe there's still a bit of a after-christmas rush going on?!

The buyer needs to be a bit more patient like others have said. I live in the US and it has taken an item up to two months to get to me from overseas. I've just come to expect it at this point. But just cover yourself next time and get tracking and insurance. I had to learn this the hard way too.