How long does a buyer have to return an item once the return has been accepted?

[zigzagg37]

I sold an item to a buyer and it was damaged in the shipping process.  The buyer requested a return/ refund, which I think is totally reasonable and I will I accept (however, I have not yet simply because I want to ask my question below). 

I'm in the US, and the buyer lives in Canada, however, he rents and uses a PO Box in the state of WA.  Therefore, it sounds like he drives across the border to get his mail?  Kind of weird, but that's his choice, I suppose.  In any case, he has requested the return on ebay and then messaged me and told me that he would not be able to make it back to the states to ship the item to me for another 3 weeks.  

From a personal standpoint, I don't really care if it takes him a few extra weeks to ship the item (it's not a big expensive item), but is there a deadline that eBay gives the buyer for sending it back?  i.e. you have 14 days to send the item back from the date the return was accepted? 

[mr_lincoln]

Hi @zigzagg37 

I just glanced through the Help Pages on how long a Buyer has once a Seller Accepts a return ... you have 3 days to Accept it and the Buyer will receive a message stating the date they have to return it by but no time frame is given.  Maybe someone else will know but eBay increased the time period I believe sometime last year ... it could be 2-3 weeks.