Buyer claims item hasn't been delivered after 68 days

[alex_lever]

Hi, I sold an item 68 days ago and sent it a couple of days afterwards as a 2nd class letter. I've now just received a claim to inform me that item hasn't been delivered. I've read up on the ebay's policies quite a lot and so I know my defence has no grounding if I can't prove that it's been delivered. It was sent as a 2nd class letter with a triple-checked address, there is no tracking information although I do have proof of postage.

the buyer created their account within the last year and has about 100% positive feedback from other sellers.

Is the buyer due a refund at this point?

[rusticrye]

The buyer is well out of time for any assistance from Ebay. Read the Money Back Guarantee (on every listing, and in various other places across the site).  A buyer has 30 days from the last delivery estimate on the order in which to open a case they can escalate to Ebay. After that, an opened case is for communication between seller and buyer only. It will auto-close after 30 days.

They could open a case in PayPal, though. PayPal allow 180 days from purchase date, though that is generally to cover international orders, where delivery can take many months.

If you decide to refund, bear in mind that you may be out of time to lodge a claim with Royal Mail for loss in transit. I have no idea what the timeframe is, as I haven't had to make a claim for years. But that is what your Proof of Postage is for, so use it if you're stilll in time, once you've refunded the buyer.

All buyers have 100% positive feedback. They can receive nothing else. Surely you've noticed that when you've left feedback youself...? You can only leave positive feedback for buyers (or none at all).

@alex_lever 

[**peaseblossom**]

 Seems a very long time to wait before complaining.  They may have been able to start a case on ebay but as it's way past the deadine they will not be able to escalate it to get a refund.   It will expire eventually.   So it's up to you.