Advice

[le-5262]

Hello! I'm unsure on how to proceed with a return request.

I had a customer purchase an item over the weekend, so it didn't go out for shipping until the following Monday.

A few hours after the package left my post box, I received an angry return request saying he received his order and he received his order and it was a no-name fake.

I live in Illinois...he lives in Texas. There is no way possible his package arrived. Tracking supports this...it hadn't even made it to the sorting center.

My deadline to respond is tomorrow. I assume that if I don't respond or ask Ebay to step in, the buyer will automatically receive the refund.

I've already been in contact with the buyer to give them the benefit of the doubt that he made some sort of error. I've asked him to cancel the fraudulent claim until this can be sorted. After that, he stopped talking.

...and I immediately sent in a mail intercept request in hopes that I could get my merchandise back and simply cancel the transaction.

I'm still on the fence about whether I should report the buyer.

Does anybody have any input as to how I should proceed? I was going to accept the request with the return of the item...but I definitely don't want a rock sent back to me.  Whatever he got, isn't mine...and I don't want that, either. 

[papa486516]

eBay gaffed you an early Christmas present @le-5262 to start the clock on a return that's being intercepted on its outward trip, so it can't be returned as it's not being delivered.

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@le-5262 wrote:

A few hours after the package left my post box, I received an angry return request saying

he received his order and it was a no-name fake.

My deadline to respond is tomorrow. I assume that if I don't respond or ask Ebay to step in, the buyer will automatically receive the refund.

---

Meanwhile, your clock is ticking down on an automatic refund, no return needed.

In some instances, we may not require that an item be returned to the seller. In these situations, we refund the  buyer and may seek reimbursement from the seller, for example if:

-- The return request was opened because the item [doesn't seem authentic]
-- The seller chooses not to accept a return request
-- The seller didn't issue a return label

I stromboli suggest you take care of that? And shut up, as somebody earlier said.

[calntom]

Do not forget to add this buyer to your best buddies list.

https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/BuyerBlock

[le-5262]

Thank you for the input!

Here goes pushing that button...

and being quiet LOL

[le-5262]

haha he has the distinction of being my first...and only 

[monster-deals]

You kinda did everything wrong.

All you needed to do was ask if they had the wrong seller because their package hasn't left Illinois yet.

Now you are certain to have an angry buyer for good reason this time, negative feedback and probably a strike for your troubles.

[le-5262]

oh no...I did contact them immediately with that concern 

AND

not in some rude way, either....just enough to rise to the same level as accusing me of being a criminal. 

Sorry if you got that impression. 

I just had to decide what to do with the formalities...two days and he didn't cancel the return request. 

If it were an honest buyer error, would you not expect that person to give you the courtesy of cancelling the request?  

[monster-deals]

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@le-5262 wrote:

oh no...I did contact them immediately with that concern 

AND

not in some rude way, either....just enough to rise to the same level as accusing me of being a criminal. 

Sorry if you got that impression. 

I just had to decide what to do with the formalities...two days and he didn't cancel the return request. 

If it were an honest buyer error, would you not expect that person to give you the courtesy of cancelling the request?  

---

They don't understand, that's the problem, they think you are someone else. Or they are touched in the melon.

All you are doing is making an angry buyer more angry and charging yourself a package intercept fee for the displeasure.

[le-5262]

I hear you...and I get it

AND

I value it.

I'd have to go into a timeline and a long redundant explanation to try and defend what I did so far.

...and, honestly, I usually come on here just to read other people's posts to learn how to improve my own stuff.

I think I was doomed to take the hit, regardless. 

...and if I get the stupid thing back...I'm not relisting it. 

I bought it. Gonna wear it every day.

[le-5262]

and I did accept the return of course...and just told him my item was still in transit; estimated to arrive Saturday. and that if he wasn't happy with the return to feel free to return my item.

the intercept is not a definite process...and it hasn't come back to me 

[pureinnocenthelp]

I suggest reporting him. I think he is trying to scam you.

[monster-deals]

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@le-5262 wrote:

I think I was doomed to take the hit,

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Probably.

The intercept fee may be cheaper than the return shipping, IDK what you have invested there.

Me I would have let it play out, a lot of times the angry eye gets fixed on someone else and you walk away unscathed.

[le-5262]

If it turns out to be, then I feel pretty obligated to. I have never had to...and I certainly don't like to.

I have fantastic buyers.

Ebay gave me only a few days to formally respond to the "accusation", which leads to having to make a snap decision about the validity of the seller's claim.  

I took someone's previous advice to accept the request and provide the shipping 

so now it's a waiting game to see what the buyer does. 

[le-5262]

$15 if they can actually do it. I believe I read it is calculated as priority mail...which is why I put in the request before it hit the sorting center and then flew a few states away. Unfortunately, before the customer returned my message.  

It's a shame that someone else on here may have possibly ripped HIM off...bad behavior can come from either end. 

I'm not even going to attempt to get the bad feedback wiped off...soon it'll be a distant memory LOL

[calntom]

I think you have a good enough of a attitude to survive here.