1st class signed for item considered "lost" how long more should i wait before refunding the buyer?

[gieoha]

Hi ebay community,

This is an update from this post.

I called royal mail about two hours ago and they stated that this parcel is now considered lost since posting it on the 30th June (13 days).The item is worth more than the special delivery comepensation limit and i made the stupid decision to send it 1st class signed. My question is how long more shall i give it to arrive before refunding the buyer or is there a little to zero chance of it showing up and should issue a refund immediately?

Another extended question.Tthis whole exchange has put me out of pocket over £1,000. As you might imagine i'm livid since it's my error in putting such good faith in the now known substandard service paid for.  Are there any other options to escalate this to spread awareness of royal mails poor management of mail or perhaps recieve additional compensation, or both?

Already i'm in the process on claiming maximum compensation for 1st class signed which drawfs the true amount **bleep** away into the gentle summery breeze of july.  I'm furious now but shall forget it soon, but before i do how can i maximise this situation. Oh Helpers of ebay, i call upon your words to tell me i will be alright in life with this degree of stupidity.

[m25jet]

You may not like what I'm about to say, but Papso22 hit the nail on the head with the first two lines of his/her post.  Therefore issue the buyer with a total refund before he/she gets the opportunity to escalate the matter to eBay, as if the buyer has to do that in order to get a refund it will leave you with a damaging defect on your selling account.

Unfortuntely posting such a high value item using a postal service that doesn't provide a sufficient level of insurance against potential problems such as this is almost like asking for trouble.  You may be able to get a certain amount of compensation from the Royal Mail due to the item getting lost in transit, but it's not going to be anywhere near as high as it would have been had you paid to use a better postal option that would have provided you with an adequate level of insurance that was more in keeping with the level of insurance needed for posting items of the same value as the one that you've just lost.