How to send a return label to buyer, case closed.

[deala0621]

Hi,

A return request was made Feb 14th, I truly did not see the messages for it, I did not get any notifications (where the bell is on the top right of ebay's website).  

I got no messages from the buyer.  The first day he could open a case, he did, and escalated it because I did not reply to the return request and it was closed in his favor in a few hours. 

I did see a notification that the case was closed.  This is how I found out that there was a return request.

Anyways, I apparently can't do anything; he has a refund and I have to rely on his good will in sending back my item.  I messaged him and said I have a return  label for him to send it back.

This was for a printer, that definitely works, never had any issues with it, it has a low print count and was working up until I packed it.  However, he said it gave him an error message.  Fine.  But I would like to get my item back.

Just looking for insight on anything I can do to try to get my item back or if anyone has had problems with notifications.

Thanks for any help.

[mtgraves7984]

If the buyer's new printer isn't working, how is the buyer to print the return label? 🤔

If you trust the buyer to do the legwork, you could send additional funds to cover the cost of return shipping.

[no_zero369]

The only insight I can provide is something you don't want to hear.

You have no options left other than the kindness of your buyer.  There is NO way to force a buyer to send the item back.  Sounds like this buyer doesn't want to send the item back and could be using the print problem as an excuse.  Of course the buyer could head to Kinkos or something like it to print a label.

Have you asked if they are willing to send you the money and "repay"?  They would have to do that  through PayPal or some other method as there is no way to do it in eBay.  You could invoice them through PP and that would avoid their fees, I believe.

What you need to do is figure out how you made this mistake and then take steps to fix it.  Sure you didn't get a notice from eBay.  Do you periodically check in Seller's Hub the status of everything?  The rules on returns are pretty detailed so perhaps brushing up on the Money Back Guarantee is in order?

It stinks to have a loss, but one can and should put plans and financing in place for when "returns happen."

[stuff4divas]

read over this ebay link to see if your case was erroneously closed or allowed buyer to keep item and get refunded >

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/managing-returns-refunds/handling-return-requests?id=4115

[deala0621]

I have been thinking about how this happened and part of it is because I rely on notifications through the bell icon on ebay's website because I'm always on ebay most days out of the week.  I click on the website bookmark right on my browser and easily check if there's any notifications, and that's essentially how I missed the messages.

I have gotten return requests in the past, and I'm not sure but I think all those times I was also messaged by the buyer - maybe that's how I was aware of them and maybe I've never gotten a return request notification through the bell, and this is the first time I've noticed.

So I didn't get a notification for the return request or for the case being opened, which I think is weird.  Do you guys have any experience with that - if bell notifications for those are sent or not?

I did get emails but I recently changed my ebay email to another email of mine that would be more dedicated to ebay; problem is I have a new phone and I didn't set up notifications for the email on my phone and tbh don't typically ever need to specifically go to check ebay emails since I'm always on the site and doing most things through that bell.

So I've closed the loop holes that I'm now aware of.  Also streamlined my communications from ebay, I get a lot of redundant ebay emails that I figure could make an important email get lost in the clutter.

Still waiting on a reply from the buyer.  It's a great idea to offer to pay him for the handling, perhaps I'll do that.  Thx.

If he doesn't, this will be my biggest lost from ebay so far so I'll be pretty disappointed especially since I put so much effort into packing that thing nice and secure; it's a big printer, all in all it was almost 19 lbs.

But live and learn I guess.  Thankful to the ebay community at these times.