Item is lost in mail, refund is given, Item is delivered

Question

I have an item lost for 2 weeks. Buyer wanted a refund. I gave refund to buyer. Next day item is out for delivery. How do I get my money back from this buyer? They have never responded to any of my messages with zero communication from the time they opened the item not received claim. I can find no help on aBay. The transaction is closed since I refunded their money, so I can't even open a dispute with eBay.

Thank you for your help and Ideas.

an-57470 · Answer

There is no eBay mechanism to recover your funds in this circumstance.

Unfortunately, this now between you and the buyer.

You have recourse civilly (small claims), but I am guessing that it is not worth your time/investment to pursue.

Sorry this happened to you.

comics-scifi-collectibles · Answer

@diecast_fire

I hope you have an honest buyer.

These are the options for dealing with this type of situation. There is no way within eBay to handle this. I hope you have an honest buyer as eBay can not force the buyer to pay you back.

I would contact the buyer and say I see that your X finally arrived, I hope you are enjoying it. I would offer a small discount to encourage them to pay you back since part of your money is better than none.

#1 You will need to ask the buyer for their email address to send them a PayPal invoice

#2 You can share your PayPal email and they can send the money as friends and family or other electronic payment method such as Venmo

#3 They can snail mail you a check

#4 If they no longer want the item and have not opened it they can mark it as refused return to sender.

#5 You can send the buyer a return shipping label in eBay messages as a JPEG. Buy the label on Pirateship.com. They refund you for the label if it's not used within 30 days. They charge the same commercial base rates as eBay.

You are allowed to share contact information after a recent sale.

FOR FUTURE REFERENCE>>

When I see that a package is running late or "stuck" somewhere the first thing I do is sign up for text updates and let the buyer know that I am checking on the package and thank them for their patience.

If the package is 5 days late then I file a missing mail search for it.

I have had buyers tell me that they only were willing to wait longer for their item and not file a not received refund request because I kept them informed. I have had packages go on weeks long "walk abouts" in the totally wrong direction and never had a buyer file a not received case. I always thank buyers for their patience and assure them that they will receive their item or a full refund. My buyers are always willing to wait for the item.

IF a buyer DOES file a not received refund request you MUST refund them before eBay forces a refund from your account or you get a DEFECT and do not get your sellers fees back.