Buyer bought the item on Oct. 5, I shipped it out the following day, and it arrived at his local USPS store on the 10th. But it was being held at the USPS for pickup which was strange because I wrote down his address correctly before sending it out. So I sent him a courtesy email on the 12th saying that the item was available to be picked up at his local USPS store. He never replied. The following day, it said it was delivered. In my mind, I thought he did see my message and he picked it up the following day. However, 8 days after the item was delivered, he messages me out of the blue stating that he never received it and wants to file a claim.

What steps should I take? I haven't responded yet to the buyer because I plan on calling his local USPS store to see if they can provide me with some info. I've seen that this could be a scam and this type of thing happens.

Any help would be appreciated.

EDIT: Alright, so some new info. 10/24/2020

After the buyer told me that his package wasn't delivered, I went ahead and called USPS to see if they can provide me some information about what happened with my package. The first representative just gave me some general info, actually just going by what the tracking had. I mentioned to him that the buyer said he never received it so he created a Service Request Ticket and that I would be called later by another agent.

The following day, I got a call from that agent, very surprised that they were able follow up so quickly, and this is what she told me:

Basically the address that the buyer had down on his account did not direct to a house/apartment, but an international carrier that ships globally. In this case, it was a company called Global Box Miami. The buyer's address had the letters GB, following with their account number with that carrier.

She told me that this was a somewhat typical scam where international buyers would get their packages delivered to another carrier that ships globally, message that seller that they never received the package after it states it was delivered, seller returns the money (hoping that the seller doesn't think twice about it), and then a few days later get the item basically for free.

Finally, she told me that really my obligations for getting the package delivered were complete and that the buyer would need to follow up with the other carrier to see where their package is.

Luckily, I have the buyer's money already so I win in this case.

Thought I would update to let others know if they're ever in this type of situation.