Item sold but didn't arrive. What would you do?

I sold an item (an artbook sold for 20 Euro) about one month ago and shipped from Japan to Italy via SAL (not insured). The buyer has contacted me that it has not arrived and I tend to believe him. As the shipping is not insured there is nothing I can do and I do not feel responsible for lost items.

Still, I can understand his disappointment and was thinking of giving him a partial refund or send him a different item for free worth about the amount I was willing to refund. What do you say? As some of you are also ebay sellers, how do you handle such cases?

 

Apparently, italy is one of the worst country to ship... there is ALWAYS problem when the parcel isn't insured+tracked (I can't tell if its their postman who sux hard) ^^

I would suggest 50/50 to be sure...

 

always always ALWAYS ship traced, no matter how friendly the customer is.

50/50 would be fair but to be honest i would proboably refund the guy the whole thing (minus shipping charge ofcourse).

 

Did the buyer specify he wanted SAL? If so, tough luck for the buyer...he should have requested a trackable or insured method.

 

I have received some items by SAL after 3-4 months. They take veeeerrrryyyy long to get.

 

no, that's surface mate. SAL takes about 10 days to 1 month is unlucky. Italy is bloody awful to ship to. My worst shipping destination in Europe.

Yakumo

 

Well, there IS a reason why I always send with registred letter/package. Since that I can track, and insure at the same time. So if it gets lost, then I can go down, and give the post office a polite hell for the lost package, and get a refund. And if I am sending money, then I also have the bank reciept, if anything goes wrong. Then I can proove what I have sent in the package.

 

Thanks for your thoughts. I'll give it one more week and tell the buyer to contact me again then. Even though he chose SAL I guess I'll offer him a 50% refund. And insured shipping from now on, at least for items to Italy.

 

hang on, if you chose SAL then you have to fill out a large green and white slip that contains a tracking number unless you sent it by Small Packet SAL.

Yakumo

 

It is/was Small Packet SAL. So, no, I don't have a tracking number.

 

Shipments from Japan with SAL (untraceable) to Greece take at least 3 weeks with a record of 3 months to arrive.