Need advice--disputes when selling online

I don't have a lot of experience selling stuff online and what I've sold has mostly been inexpensive--books, a few CDs and DVDs, clothes a few times. I recently sold an old netbook on Amazon Marketplace for $150. I mailed it priority mail (flat rate box) with delivery confirmation but declined signature confirmation and extra insurance (I mean, my ipod cost twice as much as this computer and I'm pretty sure when Amazon sent it, there was no signature required). USPS indicated it was delivered last week. I thought it was done and dusted and was happy to have a little extra cash.

Yesterday, I got a message from the buyer saying she never received it although she indicated that she saw that USPS had delivered it. I sent a message back saying I was sorry there had been a problem and had she checked with the neighbors, etc. She responded this morning saying she had checked with the neighbors and "front office" (I guess she lives in an apartment complex?) as well as the local post office. She says she wants a replacement.  Obviously, I don't have one for her--it's something I personally owned, not an item I have in some warehouse. I'm really at a loss as to what to do--I figured that delivery confirmation would be sufficient. I guess I assume that someone stole it from her doorstep, but it was in a priority mail flat rate box so there was no indication it was anything of value from the outside. It could have been grandma's Christmas cookies for all the thief knew. Or she's lying. I guess I should have paid for signature confirmation/insurance. Has anyone had dealt with this before, whether ebay or amazon or whatever? What's my best course of action when replying to her?

Unfortunately without a signature you're likely going to end up out of pocket  in this situation. You need to make sure everything you send has signed for delivery on ebay for this very reason.
Ebay will almost always side with the buyer in this kind of dispute, in that respect it's a haven for people who want free stuff.

Advise that as far as you're concerned it's delivered and there's nothing more you can do, maybe the buyer will chalk it up to experience, more likely is that the buyer will open a paypal/ebay dispute, ebay will spend a week "investigating" it, and then you'll likely need to refund the buyer their $150.
As you have some proof of postage, you may get lucky and ebay will find in your favour, fingers crossed for you but without insurance you could have shipped a brick so the likelihood is, they wont.

Sorry I don't have better news, but I sell often on ebay, and unfortunately, that's how the cookie crumbles, some people order stuff on ebay specifically looking for people who don't use signed for delivery so they can run this scam.

Best of luck!

I'm not sure how Amazon works, however I had the same thing happen to me on ebay. I mailed the camera bag without signature, it "never arrived", and so I returned the ££ per e ebay dispute. I learned the hard way that you cannot trust anyone in a situation that is not person to person.

There will/should be some FAQ on Amazon that will help you. So sorry I don't have better news!

Ugh, well, I guess I've learned my lesson! If it had been a more expensive computer, I would have required a signature and had insurance but I thought I was covering my bases with delivery confirmation. I read Amazaon's "A to Z Guarantee" FAQs and it only mentioned that they suggested you use a trackable shipment method with higher value items--which I did! Nothing about insurance or signatures. I even bought the postage through them. Ok, I'll let them file a dispute through Amazon and see what happens.

Part of what makes me suspicious is that she's insisting it is a Christmas present. It's a used almost three year old netbook in not perfect condition. For whom did she buy that?

I would buy a used notebook as a Christmas present. My 12 year old niece wanted one for school and we got a good deal on a new one, but we would have considered a used one.

When my husband was looking to buy a netbook his research showed that the best one available was not a current model so he bought a used one. And then bought one as a present for me as well.

Is there a way you can get the registration number on it? Not sure if a netbook is like an iPad where it has a number on it that can be traced? Especially if they have to register it or anything attached to it?

I really hate the fact that UPS/FedEx/USPS can just leave stuff on someone's doorstep. They never used to do that, and I really don't think they're supposed to do it in an apartment building. They (post office) may be liable if they just left it there on her doorstep?

The sneaky side of me would want to call her anonymously and tell her we have her netbook and to come to the police station.... Just to see if she goes! Hehe.... 

Is there a way you can get the registration number on it? Not sure if a netbook is like an iPad where it has a number on it that can be traced? Especially if they have to register it or anything attached to it?

Even if there were, I don't know what it is.

The sneaky side of me would want to call her anonymously and tell her we have her netbook and to come to the police station.... Just to see if she goes! Hehe.... 

Unfortunately, I don't live anywhere near her so I dunno how that would work.

I really hate the fact that UPS/FedEx/USPS can just leave stuff on someone's doorstep. They never used to do that, and I really don't think they're supposed to do it in an apartment building. They (post office) may be liable if they just left it there on her doorstep?

I was wondering this too - could you check with USPS? 

I just did a good bit of searching on this. Apparently had you used Express this could have been a different story. Hindsight is always 20/20. I have read the best you can do is to request that the postal service investigate the package and hope that something will come up. Perhaps the postman will remember handing the package to your customer. You never know. I certainly am sorry that this happened to you and hope it can be straightened out. Since I am a bit wary of taking people at their word when it comes to something like this you could always try to Google her name or see if she has any posts on her Facebook wall like "Yippeeeee new free computer for me!"

Best of luck!

Ebay will almost always side with the buyer in this kind of dispute, in that respect it's a haven for people who want free stuff.

I've had this problem too, where I sent the item, (a used $100 Chemistry text book), and the buyer said it never arrived.  I had about $60 in my bank account at the time, was counting on the sale of the book to help me out a bit, and assumed the book would ship just fine...and that people were honest, so I didn't pay the extra money for special/signed delivery. 

The buyer said it never arrived, (they have to wait something like 28 days to make sure), and eventually Ebay took their side so I had to refund the money. I chalked it up to a learning experience, but am still a bit annoyed about it 3 years later..

Sounds like a big scam to me! I wouldn't be surprised if the girl tries to re-sell it! How sad.

I sent her a "sorry, nothing I can do" message a couple of days ago. I guess I'm going to wait and see if she opens a dispute with Amazon. She hasn't replied or done so yet.

Just wanted to give an update. She filed a dispute with Amazon and I lost. I'm feeling really stupid for not getting a signature confirmation.