HOW LONG DO BUYERS HAVE TO ACCEPT A PARTIAL REFUND???

[urbanrummage]

How long does a buyer have to accept a partial refund??

I cannot seem to find this information anywhere. I know as a seller we only have a few days to react to an opened claim.

I have offered my buyer a partial refund, for what is an obvious remorse buy, which they are lying, abusing the system by saying "doesn't match the description", and are asking for a full refund. But I have not heard anything back regarding the partial refund offer for a few days now. I'm honestly in no hurry to remind them to respond, but I need to know how long my buyer has to either accept or deny the partial refund. 

I am an honest seller, and a very small business, who works hard at doing the best I can in this game, and providing a positive experience for each and every one of my buyers. And I very very rarely have any problems. So I will try to fight back every time when it truly is a bad buyer taking advantage of eBay Money Back Guarantee, or when an eBay policy is truly hurting smalltime Vintage sellers like me. I am not Amazon or Walmart. Everything I sell is hand picked vintage or antique, and it is clearly stated so in each of my listings. eBay should not lump us in with all other sellers on eBay.... Anyways .... I have rambled on enough... I do just need to know how long a seller has to accept partial refund. That way I can set up a date to hopefully close this case out.... Thank you! 

[mama_583368 · Accepted solution]

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@urbanrummage wrote:

I have offered my buyer a partial refund, for what is an obvious remorse buy, which they are lying, abusing the system by saying "doesn't match the description", and are asking for a full refund. But I have not heard anything back regarding the partial refund offer for a few days now.

I'm honestly in no hurry to remind them to respond, but I need to know how long my buyer has to either accept or deny the partial refund.

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Your buyer has until the return request automatically closes 21 business days (29 calendar days or more) to

- accept the partial refund offer, eBay issues the partial, and the case is closed, or

- decline the partial, then either

a. you get to choose any of the remaining options, or

b. the buyer gets ahead of you and escalates to eBay.

During this time @urbanrummage you're held hostage with no action possible, while awaiting the buyer.

[kensgiftshop]

@urbanrummage 

If it's been a couple days, you probably need to accept the return and send a return shipping label before the buyer ask Ebay to step in.

[mtgraves7984]

I'm not a fan of partial refunds, and rarely offer one. I'm with @kensgiftshop in that I'd approve the Return, and refund in full when it's back to you. For what it's worth, I find that if an item sells once, it will again. Good luck to you moving forward, however you proceed.

[urbanrummage]

Thanks for your thoughts. You are probably right... I rarely even have to do returns, so I am not familiar with it... But thing is, if I truly made a mistake in my auction description listing, then I would happily refund the buyer and take the return. But the buyer obviously got caught up in the excitement of an auction on a pretty rare piece, and my description was perfect. And it sold for over $300, and went to Germany. The piece took so long to get there, that they probably were not as excited as they were when bidding on the piece and lost interest, or maybe their wife/husband was upset with them for bidding more than they could afford, etc... It was obvious in their messages to me....  I personally am not aware of any other auction platforms where I can win an auction, then just say I want my money back, and force the seller/auction house to give me all my money back, and have them pay for shipping. Even if the piece doesn't match the description. Nor do I know of any vintage/antique brick and mortar storefronts, where I can walk in and buy a rare old piece, take it home and decide I don't want it anymore and make the store refund me, and make them pay for my gas driving it back there .... If you are a vintage/antique seller, you need to spend the time trying to fight claims like these. Otherwise it will become commonplace. If this buyer gets away with it, then they will just think they can do it whenever for any reason ..... Sad thing is I will probably be forced to accept the return anyways....

[urbanrummage]

Thank you for this! I could not find this info anywhere!! 

[urbanrummage]

That wasn't what I was asking or seeking advice on, and not trying to be condescending here, but we are in much different worlds in comparison of what you are selling and I am selling. Thanks though for thinking of an answer and trying to help... Someone did give provide the exact date range for partial refunds in this thread, in case you ever need to know yourself.... Good info to have!

[kensgiftshop]

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@urbanrummage wrote:

If you are a vintage/antique seller, you need to spend the time trying to fight claims like these.

If you want the item returned before refunding, you don't want to try to fight it.

Ebay could refund the buyer from your account and let them keep the item.

It's best to accept the return, then complain once something is returned, buyer has been refunded and the case has been closed.

[urbanrummage]

Thank you! That is helpful information. I was not aware of this. I figured that if the buyer denies the partial refund, then I could do full refund. Do this step by step, rather than just immediately granting whatever the buyer wants to happen.

If it truly was my mistake, I really have no problem refunding at all. But for a buyer who watches and bids on a 10 day auction, they have plenty of time to ask questions, and read the crystal clear description, making sure this is something they want to buy. All the time it takes finding a special piece, researching it, picturing it, cropping and cleaning up the photo, writing the description, answering questions and sending photos to those who asked during auction, waiting the 10 days to sell, packing it up, etc... Then to have the buyer message me that they don't think it is worth the $330 they bid, before they say it doesn't match the description.... It is obviously a remorse buy. I don't want to be out another $50+ having it shipped back to me from Germany to have it possibly get destroyed or lost. They won the auction by outbidding all the others who may have wanted this piece, and then paid like they should. And my description was great. Not my fault at all they spent so much, or they are not as stoked on the piece by the time it got to them in Germany.... eBay needs to be weeding out buyers like this one, so they don't think its ok to do to the next small business. Because if the buyer wins this one, then they will just keep doing it to others.... It's the principal of it all. All sellers need to speak up against it when it happens to them! 

[luckysky1]

Oh how you post spoke volumes to what I have experienced lately after 20 so odd years with eBay I've recently had this very issue! I definitely am glad however that we can report buyers for abusing eBays policy however this is definitely time and money! I hope you found the answer to this question as I found this post looking for the same answer! I shouldn't have even offered a partial but now that I have I hope they respond quickly so this can be resolved!

[1tuna]

you need to do something and make it happen

ebay does not care about your record or that you feel you should not have to take back a return

no sellers are special enough to get special treatment.

you need to paypal them some money for the return and post the shot on the ebay return

then its up to the buyer.  doing nothing because you feel special is a direct loss

if you did not want to take a return back from .DE then why did you ship there

no one has forced you to charge all that shipping money only to have it slip away

international  sales can go wrong just as this one has

I am sorry but you are going to lose $100 in shipping both ways but that is all explained in the MBG

the alternative is to do nothing and then you will not have to worry about the return at all

@urbanrummage 

[urbanrummage]

They eventually accepted the partial refund!! It is frustrating to even have to deal with. Sorry you are going through the same thing. I never got an answer to the question of how long you have to wait for the buyer to accept a partial refund either... I hope it works out for you in the end! 

[urbanrummage]

It actually worked out in the end. They obviously had buyers remorse, and they accepted the partial refund. eBay should look at certain circumstances and try to protect their sellers in unique situations. Say you describe your auction listing perfectly, then you have multiple buyers bidding over 10 days, then you have a last minute eBay sniper come in at the end and outbid everyone and it sells for a lot. You ship your piece to them internationally. They get the piece and complain about exactly what you described perfectly in your listing. They had 10 full days to ask questions, read descriptions, look at all of the detailed photos, etc... You really think that buyer should be able to just now force a return on a seller?? If you think that kind of buying behavior is ok, then honestly you are a part of the problem. Can you go to an auction house and look at a piece, then bid to win that piece, take the piece home, then decide you are not happy with it and take it back to the auction house forcing them to give your money back? I want to bring these things up to try and make eBay a better place for everyone, both sellers and buyers! If you want to offer free returns on all of your listings, than that business model is great for you and fits your business. That does not fit my business model though. I definitely give returns or refunds when there is something wrong, or I made a mistake. But all my stuff is vintage or antique, and I provide very detailed photos and descriptions.  

[mythriftstoreforyou]

I was wondering myself. A buyer made a purchase on the 20th. It's a clear lie but I offered a partial on the 26th. The following month on August 24th a case was opened. They didn't decline until 30 after the partial was sent. Now being 40 days since the purchase itself. July has 31 days in it. After 21 days of the partial with no response it , my finds were still on hold. This really isn't fair for the seller.. At all. The first INAD she claimed I only sent 2 dirty bottles and came in a damaged box. I feel she is going to swap her old machine for new machine and I loose around $150

 

[ma-647837]

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@mythriftstoreforyou wrote:

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@mama_583368 wrote:

Your buyer has until the return request automatically closes 21 business days (29 calendar days or more) to

- accept the partial refund offer, eBay issues the partial, and the case is closed, or

- decline the partial, then either

a. you get to choose any of the remaining options, or

b. the buyer gets ahead of you and escalates to eBay. 

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I offered a partial on the 26th.

The following month on August 24th a case was opened.

They didn't decline until 30 after the partial was sent.

Now being 40 days since the purchase itself. July has 31 days in it.

After 21 days of the partial with no response it , my finds were still on hold. 

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As predicted @mythriftstoreforyou your buyer 

- got ahead of you and escalated to eBay

- a few seconds after they declined your partial refund offer

- at exactly 21 business days, from July 26, your partial refund offer, to today, August 24.