Buyer returned wrong item and wants it back, now what?

[gear-house]

A buyer sent back the wrong shoes. They are worth about half the price of what was sold. The buyer contacted me the day they were returned to explain that these shoes should have went to Dick's Sporting Goods, and Dick's received ours.

Now what? I believe the buyer wants this back so it can be fixed, but why would I do that, pay to send these back to him, when eBay is going to automatically be giving a refund in a couple days?

Any way to fix this? Is eBay just giving the money back regardless of the info I submit to them? 

[titipeo]

Me, I wouldn't do anything. Did you at least ask about your shoes, as in how are you going to get them back? If buyer wants his shoes back, maybe ask him to pay for shipping, send it via paypal, same amount or close to what you are going to lose anyway. 

[santamonicajeweler]

Just remember; if shoe was on the other foot, literally, you would have lost item and money. 

[calntom]

Top Rated Sellers who offer 30-day-or-longer returns can deduct up to 50% from the return if the seller does not get back exactly what they shipped.

[janet9988]

Ebay will refund them anyways.  Tell the buyer to ship you the correct pair first, then ask that they pay for shipping the wrong pair back to them.

[wastingtime101]

I'm probably too late with advice here @gear-house, but you haven't posted an update yet so I'll chime in.

If you do not issue a refund before the deadline then eBay will force it. You are TRS and meet other qualifying factors for TRS seller protection so you can deduct 50% from the buyer's refund for sending back a different pair of shoes.

I'm assuming the buyer will not be able to get your shoes back from Dick's because they're a large retailer.

I'd do a 50% refund then resell the shoes that were returned. Sell them at a price high enough to cover the loss if the market will support it.

You could get creative and sell them back to the same buyer - for the other 50% plus shipping plus fees. That would leave you in a state of breaking even financially. The buyer can then return them to the other retailer and get her refund there if she's motivated.