Buyer Returned The Item As An Empty Box
Not sure of the best course of action to take here, but I recently had a tough encounter with a buyer who claimed the item was damaged.
I apologized and offered a refund, as a new seller I unfortunately issued the refund before getting the item back.
It seems as though this buyer took full advantage of this opportunity, kept the item, and shipped the original package empty.
When I asked the buyer the reason for sending me an empty box, they claimed they were not sure & and that USPS packed it up when he left it. (FYI - The package was completely sealed when I received it).
3 comments
stephenmorgan
·2 years agoeBay will probably not do anything for you since you issued the refund and not them. Sometimes if they issued the refund on your behalf and you prove they were wrong to issue the refund they will reimburse you.
You can plead with the buyer to find your item and return it to you. They could ask the person they gave it to at the USPS about what they did with it. Does the shipping label weight match the weight of the empty box you received? If package was shipped one weight and then returned to you another weight, then you may have a USPS insurance claim.
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@alwha-7620
@stephenmorgan
"When I asked the buyer the reason for sending me an empty box, they claimed they were not sure & and that USPS packed it up when he left it. (FYI - The package was completely sealed when I received it)."
Since USPS is not in the business of taking the time to re-package customer's mail (especially AFTER the customer has LEFT!), this sounds like a rooster-and-bovine fairy tale, concocted by the buyer.
The OP admits that he and the buyer had "a tough encounter" regarding doing this return -- and it clearly suggests that the buyer has now pulled a fast one on the OP: get the refund, return an empty box, and keep the item.
There's nothing that eBay can do for you, since you sent the refund before receiving the return. And your buyer is too dishonest to do the right thing and return the item to you.
Write it up as a loss on your 2023 taxes, and move on.
mtgraves7984
·2 years agoWell... if you refunded before it was returned, there's no way to get that back. As a matter of fact, if you refunded without requiring a Return, then the buyer wasn't really even required to return anything at all.
My advice is to always wait until a Return is opened, then approve it and send your buyer a return shipping label. You'll not have to refund until your item is back to you to relist.
We sellers empathize...you're not the first to make this mistake. Many sellers have... well, that one time maybe. Godspeed.