What is the latest Ebay edict on partial refunds???

[vrsportscards]

I have always issued partial shipping refunds when people purchase multiple items. But I read in several posts in the recent past that some sellers have received (unwarrented) defects for this practice.

I use the "send money to a friend or family member" option in paypal. Just had a buyer purchase 2 postcards with $1.00 shipping on each. If I refund $.75 on one of the cards will I get zapped with a defect????

Thanking you all in advance for your input.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

We have been told that partial refunds results in a defect by an ebay employee. None of us have seen this magically invisible defect, it doesn't show up on any of our dashboards. 

The buyer bought the two postcards and paid, did they ask for a shipping refund? Honestly I think you should just keep the money. If you really are concerned about refunding buyers this tiny bit of money, why don't you set up combined shipping rules? 

[vrsportscards]

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I should look into setting up combined shipping. That's a good suggestion.

No, the buyer did not ask for any type of refund. I've been using this practice for the the 19 years I've been here.

cheers

[best_vintage_photos]

That eBay employee must have been ill informed, because i have never seen a defect for any partial refunds i have given.

[partial*eclipse]

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@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:

We have been told that partial refunds results in a defect by an ebay employee. None of us have seen this magically invisible defect...

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Exactly this: I've seen an eBay employee (from the Community department, not from a policy department) state that you MIGHT get a defect for issuing a partial refund.  

But in all my time here on the boards, I have never seen a seller post about actually getting any penalty for issuing a partial refund such as for a postage credit.  Even on the thread where this was asserted by the eBay employee, all of the sellers who posted on that theread pointed out that this was contrary to their experience.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

I should have bookmarked the thread. We were all in awe of this claim since none of us see any proof this defect exists. I believe it was Trinton who claimed it was true. 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Commonly-Asked-Questions/How-do-I-issue-a-partial-refund/ta-p/27639283

This thread states that a partial refund without any ebay messages showing the reason may result in a defect. 

I really don't believe ebay has the manpower to read every message between buyers and sellers, only bots do, so i don't believe this. 

Better safe than sorry if you do a partial refund to a buyer include a message stating it is postage overage refund. 

[best_vintage_photos]

"Better safe than sorry if you do a partial refund to a buyer include a message stating it is postage overage refund."

Great advise!

[vrsportscards]

Thank you. That sounds like the way to go.

cheers

[d-k_treasures]

The OP is sending the refund thru frends & family, so they can't track that. 

But they should be refunding from the original transaction so they get the tiny bit of fees back from paypal, since ebay won't pony up any FVF refunds. Plus, thats lost money if they have to refund in full.

And yes, we've all used the PP notes to say what the refund is for, but according to the thread, we're supposed to send an ebay message to accompany that postage refund. They are probably tuning up the bots as we type.

[best_vintage_photos]

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@d-k_treasures wrote:

The OP is sending the refund thru frends & family, so they can't track that. 

But they should be refunding from the original transaction so they get the tiny bit of fees back from paypal, since ebay won't pony up any FVF refunds. Plus, thats lost money if they have to refund in full.

And yes, we've all used the PP notes to say what the refund is for, but according to the thread, we're supposed to send an ebay message to accompany that postage refund. They are probably tuning up the bots as we type.

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Well my solution to all of this would be free shipping. When free shipping is used there is no need for combining invoices, revising invoices or issuing refunds of any shipping over payments.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

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@best_vintage_photos wrote:

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@d-k_treasures wrote:

The OP is sending the refund thru frends & family, so they can't track that. 

But they should be refunding from the original transaction so they get the tiny bit of fees back from paypal, since ebay won't pony up any FVF refunds. Plus, thats lost money if they have to refund in full.

And yes, we've all used the PP notes to say what the refund is for, but according to the thread, we're supposed to send an ebay message to accompany that postage refund. They are probably tuning up the bots as we type.

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Well my solution to all of this would be free shipping. When free shipping is used there is no need for combining invoices, revising invoices or issuing refunds of any shipping over payments.

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That would work fine for first class items. I personally don't like it because it implies something that is impossible--free shipping. No. Such. Thing. 

[d-k_treasures]

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@best_vintage_photos wrote:

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@d-k_treasures wrote:

The OP is sending the refund thru frends & family, so they can't track that. 

But they should be refunding from the original transaction so they get the tiny bit of fees back from paypal, since ebay won't pony up any FVF refunds. Plus, thats lost money if they have to refund in full.

And yes, we've all used the PP notes to say what the refund is for, but according to the thread, we're supposed to send an ebay message to accompany that postage refund. They are probably tuning up the bots as we type.

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Well my solution to all of this would be free shipping. When free shipping is used there is no need for combining invoices, revising invoices or issuing refunds of any shipping over payments.

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And no reason to buy multiple items from the same seller ..........

[ersatz_sobriquet]

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@d-k_treasures wrote:

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And no reason to buy multiple items from the same seller ..........

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If there's any "fake news" in ecommerce, it's "free shipping". It doesn't exist. Why train sellers to use this cheesy lingo? Reeks of dishonesty besides looking like a beggar for a sale. Why train buyers to look for this fake news? Trains them to expect something for nothing. It's bad for society overall is my point. 

I'm not using it because it's a lie.