I'm a seller--Ebay international shipping program sent my item to wrong country! What do I do?

[splitcat3000]

I sold an item at end of August. I shipped it to an eBay international shipping hub and they were supposed to send it to a customer in Canada. I just received a message from a buyer in Mexico who received my item. They want me to send them a shipping label so they can send it back to me (which would also make me responsible for customs--on my own product!).

Eventually, the customer in Canada is going to wonder where their $100 item is!

I never opted into this program, but I have no idea how to get eBay to help me with this problem. 

Any ideas?

[stuff4divas]

@splitcat3000  see if the answer is here>

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/ebay-international-shipping/faqs

[splitcat3000]

Thanks. If I read it correctly, since eBay got my item at the hub, anything that happens after that is 100% the responsibility of eBay and my sale is considered complete. 

I guess I will wait and see what happens. 

[shipscript]

@splitcat3000 

I suspect the packages were swapped at the hub, which means two buyers will have wrong items. You can let the buyer in Mexico know that if they were expecting something else, they should open a "not as described" return request for the item they were actually expecting, and eBay will provide instructions. I do not think that eBay Shipping will collect the misdirected packages and ship to the correct buyers. Instead, they are more likely to take the return locally, refund the buyer, and then liquidate in the local market.

If an international buyer opens a return request, you won't hear about it unless the buyer messages you directly. Those requests would go directly to the international shipping team.

[splitcat3000]

Well. The buyer requested a refund for "item not delivered." That went straight to me with a oh so friendly reminder from ebay that if I don't reply it could impact my seller rating. Nice. The new international program is exactly why I didn't want to sell internationally. A lost package and I may (or may not) be on the hook. Do I just ignore my customer because the excellent customer service department has my back?

Befuddled, be flummoxed, and a little angry. 

Love,

On ebay since 1999.

[shipscript]

@splitcat3000 

If your tracking shows delivery to the hub, then you can post the tracking number to the open case and mention it was delivered to eBay International Shipping (EIS). That should terminate that case.

However, that still leaves the buyer hanging. The buyer should actually open a "not as described" case for a refund because the buyer did receive a package, although it was the wrong item. You may want to guide the customer to open a different request after this one closes.

The buyer should not have been able to open a case against you at all. It should have gone to EIS. I would recommend that you contact customer support and let them know that EIS is not functioning correctly (the swapped product and the case opening against you instead of against EIS).

Scroll to the bottom of this help page, click the "contact us" button, and type "agent" into the chat that opens. You should be shown a callback or human chat option.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/ebay-international-shippin... 

[splitcat3000]

I tried the AI support several times. I "typed" in agent several times and it asks me questions in an endless loop that lead to answers that are not helpful for this case. Probably spent 30 minutes trying different ways to ask, but right back to answers for questions that I wasn't asking. 

The item never arrived to the buyer in Canada. I arrived to another ebayer in Mexico. 

[shipscript]

It is likely that the buyer in Canada did receive "something". But it probably won't matter at this point which type of case they open. It still has to go through EIS. 

Be sure to upload the "hub delivery" tracking to the case.

The chatbot doesn't cooperate with some users, and perhaps it depends on the device. When you click the "Contact us" link and chat opens, does it give you "more options" on the chatbot list? If so, keep selecting "more options" until "contact an agent" appears.