Refunding a buyer after EBAY declined to issue refund

Sold item. Package says DELIVERED. Buyer says "I didn't get it". We've all been here, we know what happens. I tell the buyer as long it shows delivered there is nothing I can do, open a case with Ebay. Obviously Ebay closed the case without refunding the buyer because if it shows delivered, there is no case. Done good-bye.

Buyer is now stuck with the loss of a refund and an item. Her responsibility to get with the post office and file a claim.

She gets with the post office, the package NOW shows, it was DELIEVERED but the next scan was RETURN TO SENDER/MOVED NO FORWARDING ADDRESS. She told them, I haven't moved and that is my correct address. Anyway, package is on its way back to me. She wants me to just "pop it back in the mail and return it to her". Well that's not going to happen because the shipping is to CA which was almost $6.50, I'm not eating $6.50 is shipping so I am just going to refund her the amount she paid and she wants to repurchase it.

QUESTION IS: Do I refund her MINUS the selling fees I had to pay or just give her a full refund and I take the hit for the FVF?

audra13

1387 View listings

Posted 2 years ago·Last reply 2 years ago

18 comments

stainlessenginecovers

·2 years ago

5484 View listings

If USPS was at fault, no need in the buyer 'eating' it. If you sell consistently and want to be sure eBay has a good name, you will just ship it back. The 'good will' $6.50 can buy could be much more in the long run and you should NOT be looking a 'each and every sale'...just look at the BIG Picture (for the month, for the year)

audra13

OP2 years ago

1387 View listings

OK SO LET'S GO WITH THIS: I am NOT refunding her because I am out the fees and she won't get her sales tax she paid to eBay. I can have her go to PayPal, send me $6.75 via the Friends and Family option so nobody has to pay fees (unless SHE is using a credit card). Once I get the money in my PayPal account, I will go to the item on my sold page, I go into her item and click on PURCHASE ANOTHER LABEL that way I get the discounted eBay shipping rate. WILL THIS WORK????

If I buy directly from USPS the same label will be $9.00 for the same service. Not making her pay that.

kenneth686321

·2 years ago

53 View listings

@audra13 wrote:
OK SO LET'S GO WITH THIS: I am NOT refunding her because I am out the fees and she won't get her sales tax she paid to eBay. I can have her go to PayPal, send me $6.75 via the Friends and Family option so nobody has to pay fees (unless SHE is using a credit card). Once I get the money in my PayPal account, I will go to the item on my sold page, I go into her item and click on PURCHASE ANOTHER LABEL that way I get the discounted eBay shipping rate. WILL THIS WORK????
If I buy directly from USPS the same label will be $9.00 for the same service. Not making her pay that.

@audrali3 You can do it your way but I would advise against it. You have no guarantee that USPS won't screw up again delivering to her address.

Personally I would cancel the order, get the FVF fees refunded by Ebay, eat the original $6.75 shipping cost and put this transaction behind me and move on.

You should cancel the order using "problem with buyer's address." Since you offered FREE shipping, Ebay will refund the buyer the item price from YOUR account. Ebay will also refund the sales tax to the buyer from THEIR account. Ebay will also refund all FVF fees and PLS fees (if used) back to your account. You would only loose the original $6.75 shipping cost.

cardsnmore2004

·2 years ago

15104 View listings

I would tell the person you will be doing a full refund and that you would not be able to reship without them paying shipping. Explain to them that it did cost you to ship it to them the first time and the USPS will not refund the shipping. Hopefully that should solve your problem. I would not be trying to charge them for any fees. It is very possible the USPS made a mistake. I have actually seen what happen to you happen to me. It was a USPS error. Also this RETURN TO SENDER/MOVED NO FORWARDING ADDRESS. We moved about a year ago and did all the mail forward request twice and still no mail was forwarded. The USPS could not explain and admitted it was the new system they have malfunctioning.

12345jamesstamps

·2 years ago

8707 View listings

I had a problem with the post office a while back.

Package stated no such address of such country.

I returned to post office and gave it to clerk and clerk stated it was an address.

I did not need to do anything except hand it back to clerk in person.

It was a free re-send without added cost.

audra13

OP2 years ago

1387 View listings

I tried that. Guy behind the counter said I would have to re-purchase another label, wouldn't even look up the tracking # to see what this poor package has been through nor the printed messages between me and the buyer and her discussion with her post office.

frankenhobbit

·2 years ago

473 View listings

This is just me, and I understand everyone has different circumstances, 'lines in the sand', etc, but if it cost $6.50 to make the problem go away? That's a no brainer for me. Not going to waste my energy trying to deal with USPS either.

It's worth far more than $6.50 to me for my time and peace of mind. For some sales things go wrong and you lose a little. Price of business.

From the buyers perspective, it doesn't look like THEY did anything wrong, so why should they be put out at all?

audra13

OP2 years ago

1387 View listings

Totally get that, but why should I be out another shipping label when my profits were less than the cost of the NEW shipping rate?

spreadlovelikefire

·2 years ago

33207 View listings

Why not just re-ship it to her since you had free shipping to begin with? If you refund her in full and she re-purchases it you will pay for shipping again unless you change your listing to buyer pays shipping.

audra13

OP2 years ago

1387 View listings

It wasn't "FREE" shipping. The shipping was just calculated into the listing price. If I send it back out my pocket, I am in the negative.

vintage-camerastuff

·2 years ago

14940 View listings

I would give her a refund minus the original shipping cost. If she buys it again she cam pay the shipping charge again.

sextons-sweet-deals

·2 years ago

11053 View listings

Just hold tight until you get it back.

What does tracking show at your end? Usually the tracking will not show / state 'return to sender'. What will probably happen is when you check tracking, it will suddenly show the package is in your area. It's some type of USPS security process.

If you paid for the shipping cost, I would deduct from the refund amount.

audra13

OP2 years ago

1387 View listings

I have received the package back.

wastingtime101

·2 years ago

0 View listings

This is my standard advice for RTS (returned to sender) packages. Take the parts that are relevant to your situation.

You have a few options. You should decide which route you'll be taking and communicate with the buyer, but wait until the item is returned (and delivered) to you before you take any of the following actions.

You can refund the buyer the item cost minus original shipping and minus a portion of your eBay fees (fee credits are prorated on a partial refund so you won't get back fees on the shipping amount you withhold). Go to your orders page, find the transaction and select "send refund." On the next page enter the amount. After that, relist the item and if you still want to work with this buyer you can tell them to repurchase it with the correct name/address.
Have the buyer sort out their address issue then pay for re-shipping. Send them an invoice through PayPal or give them your PayPal e-mail. This is post-sale so it's OK to exchange e-mail addresses. It's also OK to ship to a different address because it's technically not tied to the original transaction. You would not purchase the shipping label through eBay or upload tracking to the transaction. You would purchase it from an alternate site like pirateship.com or paypal.com/shipnow and you can send the buyer the new tracking # through e-mail or eBay messages.
A different way to accomplish buyer payment for re-shipping is to create an eBay listing for the shipping cost (bumping it up to factor in eBay fees) and having the buyer purchase it, entering their correct address at checkout. You could purchase a shipping label through eBay for that transaction.
You can cancel the transaction "problem with address" which will trigger a full refund to the buyer and your FVF would be credited.
You can do nothing. The buyer's MBG protection is voided when there's a package delivery attempt. I don't recommend this because even though you'll win an INR (item not received) claim on eBay, there's nothing stopping that buyer from going to their credit card to file a dispute and why deal with all that? I also think handling it before it gets to this stage with a partial refund is the "right" thing to do if you're not going to make reshipping arrangements.
You might also want to direct the buyer to this page so their address is updated for future purchases: Account Settings: Addresses

audra13

OP2 years ago

1387 View listings

Thank you!

Her address was correct and she has never moved. That was another post office mess up for whatever reason.

Shipping was "free" so there is no shipping or partial shipping to refund her. I'll just refund her payment amount and eat the FVF for now. It's a loss that will eat into my profit but I'm ok with that, Don't want to p*ss anyone off and get a negative feedback. I probably will anyway because that's just how it goes nowadays. If that happens, I'll ask Ebay to remove it.

wastingtime101

·2 years ago

0 View listings

If she insists the address is correct, I'd bring the package to the PO when it arrives to inquire about why it was returned. If they can confirm it was an error they may let you reship with the original label.

I'd also check with the buyer showing her the exact address that was on the order to confirm it's correct before you do that.

audra13

OP2 years ago

1387 View listings

Nope, post office says repurchase another label.

itsjustasprain

·2 years ago

2331 View listings

@wastingtime101 wrote:
If she insists the address is correct, I'd bring the package to the PO when it arrives to inquire about why it was returned. If they can confirm it was an error they may let you reship with the original label.

That has happened to me as well in my selling account - and more than once. If the buyer swears up and down that the address is correct even though the package got returned to me then I just take it in to my PO and ask them if they would please put it through again. My PO has always done that for me at no charge - and in every case (I think maybe 3 times over the years) it was delivered successfully on the second attempt.