Alright, so I have a little store on half.com, and people order from me frequently. I pack things up within one to two days and take them directly to the post office in a secure, watertight bin.

I've been very good about shipping on time and taking my things to the post office to be shipped.

However, I recieved a message a few days ago that said this:

'R u planning on giving me my money back?'

That was ALL. And it made me go 'huh?' so I wrote back asking if there was a problem with the product, and he sent me this back:

'Yeah, I never got it.'

As you can see, he was being VERY helpful in explaining the situation, and so I sent him a tracking number to see where it could have possibly been. It said that the item was waiting to be picked up, however, there was no other information as to where it was.

I have turned my house upside down looking for it to make sure that it isn't here, and it's not. I also recently printed out a label for shipping, and it says that no information is availible for that tracking code.

I use paypal postal services (an online site) for printing all my shipping labels from home, and the product in question was a DS game. It was going from me (Florida) to him (California).

I'm going to the post office tomorrow to see what the deal is, but I'm not sure if I should refund his money right away or if I'm even responsible for giving him a refund for an item that may or may not be lost in the mail.

The only reason why I'm asking this is because I'm worried that it may be at HIS post office not mine and he has to go pick it up. He hasn't gone to check yet, but his initial message made me very uncomfortable and wary of giving a refund.

So, my question is: Am I being too cautious, or should I just refund his money?

I don’t think you should have to refund him, because if you are [I] sure [/I] you sent it, then it isn’t your fault it is lost at all. You shouldn’t have to pay the price for someone’s mistake. That being said, if you don't agree with me there, don't even think of a refund until you check with your post office to know what the deal is. Like I said, if it isn't your fault, you shouldn't take the fall for it.

Legally, if it doesn't get there in 20 days and cannot be located, you owe him a refund. If you didn't insure it when you sent it you're kind of SOL. It sucks. I had that crap happen a lot when I was retailing silver for my dad. :(

If it IS at that post office and he just won't go get it, then no, you don't.

Alright! Thanks for the advice guys. =3 I'm just still not quite sure what to do about this because if it WAS at the post office and it got lost in the mail, the half.com policy states that I'm not required to give a refund as long as I can prove it was taken to the post office.

I know it's poor customer service, however, and I probably WILL give a refund, I'm just worried because this person apparently has a history of getting items and then asking for a full refund claiming that he didn't get them. It's only five dollars, yeah, but I don't want to refund him if I find out that it's waiting to be picked up by him. It might be because there was just the game cartridge in the package, so they might have thought it was some kind of microchip, IDK. I'll see tomorrow.

Thanks for all the advice, though, guys! =3