How do you refund a buyer for a partial return?

[inhawaii]

Buyer buys 2 hats.

Starts a return for one of them.

As I recall once a return has been started you lose the ability to issue a partial refund, it's all or nothing.

When I receive the hat back, is ebay going to make me refund the entire amount for both hats?

How do I get around that?

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi James, hope you are well.

As for your return: it depends—were the two hats sold as a lot in a single listing?

This is what i found after extensive digging thru the policies. (It was found with the buyer’s instructions.)

”How to return multiple items

How you request the return depends on how you bought them.

• Sets and bundled items – You need to return the whole lot. For example, if you bought a set of paintbrushes, you can't return just one of them.
• Multiples of the same item – You can return some or all of them, but you can only open one return for the order. For example, if you bought five t-shirts from one listing, you can return two, but you won't be able to return the other three later.
• Combined purchases from the same seller – You can return each item individually. For example, you bought three different books from the seller's store and paid for them together at checkout. You need to open a separate request for each book, because they came from different listings.”

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/returns-refunds/returning-item?id=4041

[wastingtime101]

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@inhawaii wrote:

Buyer buys 2 hats.

Starts a return for one of them.

As I recall once a return has been started you lose the ability to issue a partial refund, it's all or nothing.

When I receive the hat back, is ebay going to make me refund the entire amount for both hats?

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No. If the return was opened for 1 item, not 2, then the system should be showing you an amount equal to 1 item, not 2. Go to this page and look at the column towards the right with the amount, or click the 'see details' link and you can see the amount on the next page, too.

https://www.ebay.com/sh/ord/return

[ittybitnot]

When I receive the hat back, is ebay going to make me refund the entire amount for both hats?

@inhawaii 

As @fashunu4eeuh said, it depends.  

Were these two separate listings combined for one shipping price, and counted as one order?  Was it two from the same listing?  Did you send a combined invoice?  Was the buyer able to request a total from the cart or their purchase history? 

I can give you an example of one of my most recent purchases.  Note that this does not involve the complication of the AutoPay block being in place on the seller's account. 

I won two auctions from the same seller a few minutes apart. 

I requested a total for combined invoice, but it threw up one of the usual error messages. 
So "contact the seller" and ask there, and was told they cannot since one of them was free shipping anyway. 

Duh.....

So I go to checkout, pay the total for the two listings with one payment. 
Seller ships both the products together in one package. 

One was a bracelet advertised as sterling, and it was not silver at all.

The other was a bakelite item that fell apart during shipping and was not bakelite either. 

I request a return, for the products, seller accepts, and eBay sends me TWO labels with different tracking numbers to send each item back separately.  

I informed the seller as to what happened, and not to cause her to pay for an additional label, I would send them back together under one of the tracking numbers.  
It went downhill from there.  

She was only able to refund for one, would not let her 'cancel and refund' the other since it had an open dispute/claim and it looked like I never sent it back.  

So again, it just depends.   

[wastingtime101]

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@ittybitnot wrote:

I request a return, for the products, seller accepts, and eBay sends me TWO labels with different tracking numbers to send each item back separately.  

I informed the seller as to what happened, and not to cause her to pay for an additional label, I would send them back together under one of the tracking numbers.  
It went downhill from there.  

She was only able to refund for one, would not let her 'cancel and refund' the other since it had an open dispute/claim and it looked like I never sent it back.  

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Your seller was incorrect @ittybitnot . While it's true she could not cancel due to the open request, what she could do was refund. Through every return request a seller accepts without eBay stepping in, the seller can click the send refund link even if there is no tracking confirming delivery attached to the return.

You did her a solid by saving her on return ship costs and she screwed you by lying about her ability to refund.

Is that return still open? If it is, send me a PM and I'll help.

[ittybitnot]

Is that return still open? If it is, send me a PM and I'll help.

@wastingtime101 

No.  It was resolved.  The seller was relatively new, and I never felt I was being messed around.  After another day (yesterday) she sent me a message, that she finally figured it out and for me to check.  

Since I no longer sell here, I am unfamiliar with most intricacies that involve the seller hub, so I could not give better suggestions to my seller to resolve the problem.  You can't send links to the help pages in eBay messages anymore so that is a hinderance as well.  

All is good, and I appreciate your response.  I hope our OP @inhawaii  is getting the issue resolved as well without having to refund the entire order for one of the two items being  returned.  

[inhawaii]

Thank you!

It was a variations listing where there were four different styles.

The customer bought two different styles from a variations listing.

FORTUNATELY when he checked out he paid for each hat separately.

Two different order numbers.

So there shouldn't be a problem refunding him for one.

But if he did buy 2 hats under the same order number, how would I refund him for one?

I remember having a customer once who bought six items from a variations listing, paid for them all together (one order number)  and returned one of them. Because there was a return case open, I lost my ability to do a partial refund.  It was all or nothing. Has this been "fixed"?   

[toomuchstuffagain35]

Imho nothing about the 'return flow' has been 'fixed'.

[wastingtime101]

Same as I said above @inhawaii . For different items it makes no difference whether buyer paid in separate orders or a single order, whether they were multiples of the same item or different variations or different listings. For multiples of the same item it does matter if the buyer paid together or separate.

For multiples of the same item, they can all go on the same return request if paid for together, but the system goes by the quantity the buyer enters on the return. So if the buyer bought 2 of the same hat but entered quantity 1 on the return request, then the system knows it's a return for 1 hat and the $$ owed is for 1 hat.

For different items (like your situation) if the buyer wanted to return different items the system would force separate return requests and separate return labels, even if paid for together in one order and there was combined shipping involved.

[richard1rst]

You are a top rated seller. That means when you issue a refund you have the option of reducing the refund by up to 50%. If it asks a reason, state bought 2 only returned 1.

[wastingtime101]

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@richard1rst wrote:

You are a top rated seller. That means when you issue a refund you have the option of reducing the refund by up to 50%. If it asks a reason, state bought 2 only returned 1.

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Not quite. James has a 'no returns' policy even though he'll generally accept them when the buyer requests. He'd have to offer a 30 day returns policy to qualify for those TRS partial refund protections.